Hatfield House
DON’T MISS
• The Longitude Dial: Midsummer’s Day This polished steel precision timepiece will be unveiled on 23 June. With no moving parts, it relies upon the motion of the earth to tell the time to the nearest minute.
• 400th Celebration
Weekend: 9-11
September. Choral pieces commissioned from James MacMillan and performed by Harry Christophers’ Sixteen will be among other premieres at a series of concerts with fireworks.
• Anniversary Exhibition, running
until 30 September, marks two of the outstanding events
from 1611: the building of Hatfield House, and the completion of the King James Bible.
• Moore at Hatfield, running
until 30 September, will feature the largest collection of Henry Moore’s monumental works ever exhibited in the grounds of an historic house.
He also laid the pleached lime avenues below the south front of the house with asphalt, so that he could ride his state-of-the-art tricycle up and down. This asphalt was replaced with fine gravel by the present
Dowager Marchioness, who did much to reinvigorate the gardens in the last three decades of the 20th century. A celebrated garden designer who has advised, among others, Prince Charles at Highgrove, she created a new scented garden, and replanted the Privy Garden. Asphalt in the Holly Walk has become mown grass, and the Wilderness Garden has been planted up with wild flowers, bulbs, shrubs and trees. She also made a Knot Garden in front of the old Tudor Palace. “I tried,” she says, “to re-make the gardens as they might have been, and bring them back into sympathy with the great unchanging house.” The present Marchioness is following in her mother-in-
Clockwise from top left: The present Marquess, Lord Salisbury; The Chapel, consecrated in 1614; The beautiful gates; The Long Gallery, with gold-leaf ceiling
George III. His wife, the chief Tory hostess of the day, redecorated Hatfield and refurnished the King James Drawing Room with elegant 18th-century furniture. (Much of her work was undone by her son, who restored the Long Gallery in Elizabethan style – once again in fashion – covering the ceiling with gold leaf.) The marquess also attempted to take the gardens back to their Jacobean glory days by making the terraces around the house, and laying out new parterres and the maze. The house soon became a social and political hub, as the
marquess’s wife was a friend of the Duke of Wellington. In 1846, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed at Hatfield, and to mark the occasion, bedrooms were redecorated and three pairs of ornamental iron gates, cast in Paris, were erected. The kitchens, which also date from this period, have recently been restored to display how the staff would have prepared the banquet for Victoria’s visit. One of the family’s most eminent members was the 3rd
Marquess (1830-1903): leader of the Conservative Party, Prime Minister three times, fellow of All Souls’ College and chancellor of the University of Oxford. Gladstone, Disraeli and Lewis Carroll were all visitors to Hatfield during this time. The marquess was also a religious man, and keenly interested in science: he redecorated the chapel, and introduced both telephone and electricity to the house.
26 BRITAIN
law’s footsteps by planting more than 400 new roses in the borders, and creating a new blue and silver border for the West Garden. A new rose, ‘Lady Salisbury’, will be launched at the Chelsea Flower Show by David Austin in her honour, and to mark Hatfield’s 400th anniversary. In this anniversary year, her son, the 7th Marquess of
Salisbury, is also keen to strengthen links with the past, bringing alive centuries of history to the thousands of visitors who pass through Hatfield each year. One of the key events of the celebration will be an exhibition of the works of Henry Moore. “Hatfield was built in the early 17th century by an enthusiastic patron of sculpture,” he says. “It is exciting to think that for our 400th anniversary we are reviving that tradition. Doing so with our Hertfordshire neighbours, The Henry Moore Foundation, makes it a particular joy.”
Hatfield house is 21 miles from Central London and a 20-minute train journey from King’s Cross. The house is open Wednesday to Sunday, and Bank Holiday Mondays from April to the end of September. The West Garden, Lawn Farm and Park are also open on Tuesdays; the private East Garden is open only on Tuesdays. Admission is £9 for the house and park (see website for more detailed pricing and admission information). Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 5NQ, tel (01707) 287010;
www.hatfield-house.co.uk
www.britain-magazine.com
ALL PHOTOS: HATFIELD HOUSE
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