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| Wothorpe Towers | |
|---|---|
 The ruined Wothorpe Towers | |
  Location within Cambridgeshire | |
| General information | |
| Type | Country house |
| Architectural style | Elizabethan Jacobean |
| Location | Wothorpe, Cambridgeshire |
| Coordinates | 52°38′07″N 0°29′11″W / 52.635412°N 0.486286°W |
| Completed | By 1625 |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Designated | 19 March 1962 |
| Reference no. | 1265972 |
Wothorpe Towers are the remains of Wothorpe Hall or Wothorpe Lodge, a late Elizabethan, early Jacobean country house in Wothorpe, Cambridgeshire, England. Built for the Cecil family, the house was occupied for 150 years before it was partially demolished, with only the towers and outer walls surviving. Both are Grade I-listed with English Heritage. Wothorpe House has been undergoing renovation since the early 21st century; the ruined towers are a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are being preserved.
Wothorpe Towers is about two miles from the town of Stamford, Lincolnshire, and a mile from Burghley House.
History
The lodge was built between 1613 and 1625 for Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, the eldest son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Lord High Treasurer to Elizabeth I. It was once part of the Burghley House estate and as such was eclipsed by the famous seat of the Cecil family. According to Thomas Fuller, Exeter built Wothorpe Towers as a lodge "to retire to out of the dust while his great house was a sweeping". Little else was recorded of its history. William Camden referred to it as a "handsome seat" surrounded by a "little park wall'd about", but there were no contemporary reports detailing its interior.[1][2]
After Exeter's death, the Towers were leased to the Duke of Buckingham. From 1755–65, it was used as a dower house for Hannah Cecil, the Dowager Countess of Exeter. The house was eventually partly demolished, and many of its stones were reused for an eyecatcher in the newly landscaped Burghley park.[3]
Wothorpe Towers fell to ruins and were on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register. In 2004, they were purchased by barristers Janet and Paul Griffin, who began the process of restoration and preservation. The work done so far led to Wothorpe Towers being removed from the At-Risk Register.[4]
In 2010, the site was formally opened to members of the public for the first time in its history.[4]
Architecture
At the cusp of Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture, Wothorpe Towers exhibits "the gradual hardening process that changed the free and light-hearted treatment of Elizabeth's time into the more formal and laboured work of the middle and end of the 17th century."[1]
Constructed of ashlar, the cruciform-shaped lodge consist of a central three-storey block with four square four-storey angle towers. The towers are octagonal with circular openings in the parapets, and the stone ogee roofs no longer remain. The towers have tall rectangular window openings under moulded architraves, as well as small square over-windows with cornices and flat volute decorations.[5]
The tower block is partially enclosed by the listed gateway and stone walls, which rise to about 18 ft in height at the south-east end. The ashlar gateway has a moulded architrave, cornice, and high-stepped gable with oval and circular openings.[6]
Filming location
Wothorpe Towers was used as a filming location for an episode of Doctor Who in the 1980s.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b Adkins, Sir William Ryland Dent; Serjeantson, Robert Meyricke; Salzman, Louis Francis; Page, William (1906). The Victoria History of the County of Northampton. A. Constable, Limited. p. 526. ISBN 978-0-7129-0450-6. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Fumerton, Patricia (15 December 1993). Cultural Aesthetics: Renaissance Literature and the Practice of Social Ornament. University of Chicago Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-226-26953-5. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Findlay, Cait (3 February 2024). "The peaceful walk on the edge of Cambs which takes you past a ruined tower". Cambridgeshire Live. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ a b Stewart, Jackie (17 March 2021). "Thomas Cecil's stately bolthole – The Village Diary". The Village Diary. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ Historic England. "Wothorpe Towers (Grade I) (1265972)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Historic England. "Gateway and Walls to Rectangular Enclosure, North East, East and South East of Wothorpe Hall (Grade I) (1127450)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "The History Man". Moment Magazine. 25 July 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
External links
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