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{{EngvarB|date=November 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2013}}
[[File:HamBelton House (7776599228)South Elevation.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[HamBelton House]] is an English country house in [[Richmond, London|RichmondLincolnshire]], England.]]▼
 
An '''English country house''' is a large house or [[mansion]] in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a [[Townhouse (Great Britain)|town house]]. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the [[landed gentry]] who ruleddominated rural Britain until the [[Reform Act 1832]].<ref>As documented in ''The Purefoy Letters, 1735–53'' by L. G Mitchell.</ref> Frequently, the formal business of the [[Historic counties of England|counties]] was transacted in these country houses, having functional antecedents in [[manor houses]].▼
▲[[File:Ham House (7776599228).jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Ham House]] is an English country house in [[Richmond, London|Richmond]], England.]]
 
▲An '''English country house''' is a large house or [[mansion]] in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a [[Townhouse (Great Britain)|town house]]. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the [[landed gentry]] who ruled rural Britain until the [[Reform Act 1832]].<ref>As documented in ''The Purefoy Letters, 1735–53'' by L. G Mitchell.</ref> Frequently, the formal business of the [[Historic counties of England|counties]] was transacted in these country houses, having functional antecedents in [[manor houses]].
 
With large numbers of indoor and outdoor staff, country houses were important as places of employment for many rural communities. In turn, until the [[Great Depression of British Agriculture|agricultural depressions of the 1870s]], the estates, of which country houses were the hub, provided their owners with incomes. However, the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the swansong of the traditional English country house lifestyle. Increased taxation and the effects of World War I led to the [[Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain|demolition of hundreds of houses]]; those that remained had to adapt to survive.
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==Stately homes of England==
[[File:Longleat House.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|left|In the 20th century [[Longleat House]] was the first country house to open to the paying public, and also claims the first [[safari park]] outside Africa.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article737168.ece The lions and loins of Longleat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629121155/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article737168.ece |date=29 June 2011 }} ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' Retrieved 18 February 2011</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=trZX7dbuW54C&pg=PA554&dq=longleat%20first%20safari%20park+first+safari+park&hlpg=en&ei=OERgTfLoD46P4Qb62p3YCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=longleat%20first%20safari%20park&f=falsePA554 ''New Scientist'' 2 Dec 1982] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521085347/https://books.google.com/books?id=trZX7dbuW54C&pg=PA554&dq=longleat%20first%20safari%20park&hl=en&ei=OERgTfLoD46P4Qb62p3YCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=longleat%20first%20safari%20park&f=false |date=21 May 2016 }} Retrieved 18 February 2011</ref> It became the first property in what later was known as the stately home industry.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}]]
 
The term ''stately home'' is subject to debate, and avoided by historians and other academics. As a description of a country house, the term was first used in a poem by [[Felicia Hemans]], "The Homes of England", originally published in ''[[Blackwood's Magazine]]'' in 1827. In the 20th century, the term was later popularised in a song by [[Noël Coward]],<ref>"The Stately Homes of England" by Noël Coward (1938) was featured in his musical [[Operette (musical)|"Operette"]], which premiered in the same year.</ref> and in modern usage it often implies a country house that is open to visitors at least some of the time.{{Citation needed |date=November 2019}}
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It was during the second half of the reign of [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]], and under her successor, [[James I of England|James I]], that the first architect-designed mansions, thought of today as epitomising the English country house, began to make their appearance. [[Burghley House]], [[Longleat|Longleat House]], and [[Hatfield House]] are among the best-known examples of the showy [[prodigy house]], often built with the intention of attracting the monarch to visit. By the reign of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], [[Inigo Jones]] and his form of [[Palladianism]] had changed the face of English domestic architecture completely, with the use of turrets and towers as an architectural reference to the earlier castles and fortified houses completely disappearing. The Palladian style, in various forms, interrupted briefly by [[baroque]], was to predominate until the second half of the 18th century when, influenced by ancient Greek styles, it gradually evolved into the [[neoclassicism]] championed by such architects as [[Robert Adam]].
[[File:Brympton dEvercy 03.jpg|thumb|left|[[Brympton d'Evercy]] in Somerset evolved from the Medieval period; its provincial architects are long forgotten. Yet, [[Christopher Hussey (historian)|Christopher Hussey]] described it as "The most incomparable house in Britain, the one which created the greatest impression and summarises so exquisitely English country life qualities".<ref name="Country Life 1927">Country Life, Saturday, 7 May 1927.</ref>]]
Some of the best known of England's country houses were builtthe bywork of only one architect/designer, atbuilt onein a relatively short, particular time: [[Montacute House]], [[Chatsworth House]], and [[Blenheim Palace]] are examples. While the latter two are [[Duke|ducal]] [[palace]]spalaces, Montacute, although built by a [[Master of the Rolls]] to Queen Elizabeth I, was occupied for the next 400 years by his descendants, who were gentry without a London [[townhouse]], rather than aristocracy. They finally ran out of funds in the early 20th century.
 
However, the vast majority of the lesser-known English country houses, often owned at different times by gentlemen and [[peerage|peers]], are an evolution of one or more styles with facades and wings in different styles in a mixture of [[ High style architecture |high architecture]], often as interpreted by a local architect or surveyor, and determined by practicality as much as by the whims of architectural taste. An example of this is [[Brympton d'Evercy]] in Somerset, a house of many periods that is unified architecturally by the continuing use of the same mellow, local [[Hamstone|Ham Hill stone]].
 
The fashionable [[William Kent]] redesigned [[Rousham House]] only to have it quickly and drastically altered to provide space for the owner's twelve children. [[Canons Ashby House|Canons Ashby]], home to poet [[John Dryden]]'s family, is another example of architectural evolution: a medieval farmhouse enlarged in the [[Tudor era]] around a courtyard, given grandiose plaster ceilings in the [[Stuart period]], and then having [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] façades added in the 18th century. The whole is a glorious mismatch of styles and fashions that seamlessly blend together. These could be called the true English country house. [[Wilton House]], one of England's grandest houses, is in a remarkably similar vein; although, while the Drydens, mere squires, at Canons Ashby employed a local architect, at Wilton the mighty [[Earls of Pembroke]] employed the finest architects of the day: first [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Holbein]], 150 years later Inigo Jones, and then Wyatt followed by Chambers. Each employed a different style of architecture, seemingly unaware of the design of the wing around the next corner. These varying "improvements", often criticised at the time, today are the qualities that make English country houses unique.
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{{quote|Wealthy and influential people, often bored with their formal duties, go to the country in order to get out of London, the ugliest and most uncomfortable city in the world; they invented the long week-end to stay away as long as possible. Their {{lang|fr|métier}} is politics; they talk politics; and they make politics, quite spontaneously.|[[John Gunther]], 1940<ref name="gunther1940">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.149663/2015.149663.Inside-Europe#page/n309/mode/2up | title=Inside Europe | publisher=Harper & Brothers | author=Gunther, John | author-link=John Gunther | location=New York | year=1940 | page=287}}</ref>}}
 
There are no written terms for distinguishing between vast country palaces and comparatively small country houses; the descriptive terms, which can include ''castle'', ''manor'' and ''court'', provide no firm clue and are often only used because of a historical connection with the site of such a building.<ref>The term palace is very seldom used in England at all, especially for a country house, and when it is used, it can be for a fairly small house such as [[Eltham Palace]] with former royal connections or a monumentally huge house such as [[Blenheim Palace]].{{Citationcitation needed|date=May 2011}}</ref> Therefore, for ease or explanation, Britain's country houses can be categorised according to the circumstances of their creation.{{by whom|date=May 2023}}
 
=== Power houses ===
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The country house, however, was not just an oasis of pleasure for a fortunate few; it was the centre of its own world, providing employment to hundreds of people in the vicinity of its [[estate (house)|estate]]. In previous eras, when state benefits were unheard of, those working on an estate were among the most fortunate, receiving secured employment and rent-free accommodation. At the summit of this category of people was the indoor staff of the country house. Unlike many of their contemporaries prior to the 20th century, they slept in proper beds, wore well-made adequate clothes and received three proper meals a day, plus a small wage. In an era when many still died from malnutrition or lack of medicine, the long working hours were a small price to pay.<ref>Robinson, 72-79, 83-85, 166-167, 181-187</ref>
 
As a result of the aristocratic habit of only marrying within the aristocracy, and whenever possible to a sole heiress, many owners of country houses owned several country mansions,<ref>Worsley, p. 10.</ref> and would visit each according to the season: [[Grouse]] shooting in [[Scotland]], [[pheasant]] shooting and [[fox hunting]] in England. The [[Earl of Rosebery]], for instance, had [[Dalmeny House]] in Scotland, [[Mentmore Towers]] in Buckinghamshire, and another house near [[Epsom]] just for the racing season.<ref>McKinstrey, p181.</ref> For many, this way of life, which began a steady decline in 1914, continued well into the 20th century, and for a very few continues to this day.
 
=== Minor country houses ===
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=== Victorian houses ===
[[File:WaddesdonManor.JPG|thumb|[[Waddesdon Manor]], [[Buckinghamshire]]. During the Victorian era, vast country houses were built in a variety of styles by wealthy industrialists and bankers.]]
Following the [[Industrial Revolution]] of the 18th century, a third category of country houses was built as newly rich industrialists and bankers were eager to display their wealth and taste. By the 1850s, with the English economy booming, new mansions were built in one of the many [[Revivalism (architecture)|revivalist]] architectural styles popular throughout the 19th century.<ref name="Hall, p25">Hall, p25.</ref> The builders of these new houses were able to take advantage of the political unrest in Europe that gave rise to a large trade in architectural salvage.<ref name="Hall, p25"/> This new wave of country house building is exemplified by the [[Rothschild properties in the Homehome counties]] and [[Bletchley Park]] (rebuilt in several styles, and famous for its code-breaking role in World War II).
 
== Decline ==
{{See also|Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain}}
[[File:TrenthamBalustrade.jpg|thumb|[[Trentham Gardens|Trentham]], [[Staffordshire]]. During the 20th century, thousandsmany hundreds of country houses were demolished, their stone and fixtures sold. During this era, many fine architectural features were transported to the US.]]
 
The slow decline of the English country house coincided with the rise not just of taxation, but also of modern industry, along with the agricultural depression of the 1870s. By 1880, this had led some owners into financial shortfalls as they tried to balance maintenance of their estates with the income they provided. Some relied on funds from secondary sources such as banking and trade while others, like the severely impoverished [[Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough|Duke of Marlborough]], sought to marry American heiresses to save their country houses and lifestyles.<ref>Stuart, p. 135.</ref>
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== Today ==
Today, many country houses have become hotels,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.aglaiamagazine.com/burley-manor-new-forest-review/|title=Staying at an English Manor House|date=2018-11-06|work=AGLAIA Magazine|access-date=2019-01-19|language=en-GB|archive-date=19 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119174832/https://www.aglaiamagazine.com/burley-manor-new-forest-review/|url-status=live}}</ref> schools, hospitals, museums and prisonsmuseums, while others have survived as conserved ruins, but from the early 20th century until the early 1970s, [[Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain|hundreds of country houses were demolished]]. Houses that survived destruction are now mostly Grade I or II [[Listed buildings in England|listed]] as buildings of historic interest—andinterest onlywith therestrictions most faithful, most accurate, and most preciseon restoration and re-creation are permittedwork. SuchHowever such work, however, is usually very expensive,. althoughSeveral thehouses systemhave doesbeen ensurerestored, thatsome everythingover ismany doneyears. correctlyFor andexample authentically.at The[[Copped negativeHall]] sidewhere isthe thatrestoration manystarted ownersin cannot1995 affordcontinues theto workthis day.
 
Although the ownership or management of some houses has been transferred to a [[Trust law|private trust]], most notably at [[Chatsworth House|Chatsworth]], other houses have transferred art works and furnishings under the [[Acceptance in Lieu]] scheme to ownership by various national or local museums, but are retained for display in the building. This enables the former owners to offset tax, the payment of which would otherwise have necessitated the private sale of the art works. For example, tapestries and furniture at [[Houghton Hall]] are now owned by the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]. In addition, increasing numbers of country houses hold licences for weddings and [[Civil ceremony|civil ceremonies]]. Another source of income is to use the house as a venue for parties,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.landedhouses.co.uk/parties|title=Large Houses to Rent for Parties|date=2012-06-09|work=Mansions & Large Houses for Rent for Parties & Weddings UK|access-date=2017-03-22|language=en-GB|archive-date=8 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208103928/https://www.landedhouses.co.uk/party-houses/|url-status=live}}</ref> a [[Filming location|film location]] andor a [[corporate entertainment]] venue. While many country houses are open to the public and derive income through that means, they remain inhabited private houseshomes, in some cases inhabited by the descendants of their original owners.
 
The lifestyles of those living and working in a country house in the early 20th century were recreated in a [[BBC]] television programme, ''[[The Edwardian Country House]]'', which was filmed at [[Manderston House]] in Scotland. Another particularly popular television programme thatwhich features the dynamics of life in country houses is ''[[Downton Abbey]]'', which aired onthe [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] in theseries'' [[UnitedDownton Kingdom]] and [[PBS]] in the [[United StatesAbbey]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/downton-abbey/|title=Downton Abbey on MASTERPIECE on PBS|website=[[PBS]]|access-date=29 October 2019|archive-date=26 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026091952/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/downton-abbey/|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
== See also ==
{{portal|England|Housing}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
<!-- listed alphabetically -->
* [[HistoricBanqueting house]]▼
* [[British country house contents auctions]]▼
* [[Country house poem]]▼
* [[Country house theatre]]▼
* [[English country houses with changed use]]
* [[Estate houses in Scotland]]
* [[Estate (land)]]
* [[Great house]]
* [[Historic house]]
* [[English landscape garden]]
* [[Licence to crenellate]]
* [[List of castles in England]]▼
* [[List of country houses in the United Kingdom]]
* [[List of National Trust properties in England]]▼
* [[List of English Heritage properties]]
▲* [[List of castles in England]]
* [[List of historic buildings of the United Kingdom]] – country house architectural periods and styles
▲* [[List of National Trust properties in England]]
▲* [[Historic house]]
* ''[[The Edwardian Country House]]'', a [[Channel 4]] series▼
* ''[[Downton Abbey]]''▼
* [[Manor house]]
* [[Mansion]]
* [[Prodigy house]]
* [[Roman villa]]
* [[Servants' quarters]]
▲* [[British country house contents auctions]]
▲* [[Country house theatre]]
▲* [[Country house poem]]
* [[Treasure Houses of England]]
<!-- listed alphabetically -->
* ''[[Country Life (magazine)|Country Life]]''▼
{{div col end}}
 
=== Media ===
▲* ''[[Country Life (magazine)|Country Life]]''
▲* ''[[Downton Abbey]]''
▲* ''[[The Edwardian Country House]]'', (a [[Channel 4]] series)
* ''[[Country House (song)|Country House]]''
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources and further reading==
 
;Sources
* {{Cite book
| last = Airs
Line 115 ⟶ 126:
| isbn = 0-85139-378-0
}}
* Coutu, Joan, et al. eds. ''Politics and the English Country House, 1688–1800'' (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59643 online book review]
 
* {{Cite book
| last = Girouard
Line 135 ⟶ 148:
| location = London
| isbn = 978-1-84513-457-0
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Harris
| first = John
| author-link = John Harris (curator)
| year = 1998
| title = No Voice From the Hall: Early Memories of a Country House Snooper
| publisher = John Murray
| location = London
| isbn = 0-7195-5567-1
}}
* {{cite book
Line 166 ⟶ 189:
| isbn = 1-85145-551-5
}}
 
*[[John Martin Robinson|Robinson, John Martin]], ''The English Country Estate'', 1988, Century Hutchinson/ National Trust, ISBN 0712622756▼
* {{cite book
| last = McKinstry
Line 186 ⟶ 209:
| isbn=978-0-9524322-5-8
}}
▲*[[John Martin Robinson|Robinson, John Martin]], ''The English Country Estate'', 1988, Century Hutchinson/ National Trust, ISBN 0712622756
* {{cite book
| last = Stuart
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* [http://www.nts.org.uk The National Trust for Scotland]
* [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk English Heritage]
* [http://www.hha.org.uk Historic Houses Association] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224084651/https://www.hha.org.uk/ |date=24 February 2018 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080514000859/http://www.hudsonsguide.co.uk/ Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens] – [[Norman Hudson|Hudson's]] list of 2,000 properties open to the public
* [http://www.dicamillocompanion.com The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509194114/http://www.dicamillocompanion.com/ |date=9 May 2008 }}
* [http://www.lostheritage.org.uk Lost Heritage – A Memorial to the Lost Country Houses of England]
 
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[[Category:Country houses in England| ]]
[[Category:Architecture ofin England|Country house]]
[[Category:House types in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:House styles]]
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