Wrest Park

From the Middle Ages, until the early 20th century, Wrest belonged to the de Grey family.^[1][2] Thomas Carew (1595–1640) wrote his country house poem "To My Friend G.N. from Wrest" in 1639 that described the old house that was previously at Wrest Park.^[3]

Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent, was responsible for creating the woodland gardens in the early 18th century,^[4] he also commissioned baroque architect Thomas Archer to design The Archer Pavilion, which was built between 1709 and 1711. The pavilion was used for banqueting and had a kitchen in the basement. It is grade 1 listed and described as being one of the most "accomplished and characteristic works of Thomas Archer".^[5] It has a central cupola that is very similar to one in St Philip's Cathedral in Birmingham, which Archer also designed, and a central hexagonal chamber.^[6]

Jemima, 2nd Marchioness Grey, inherited Wrest Park in 1740, from her grandfather Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent, on the condition that she marry Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, the Lord Chancellor's son, who resided at Wimpole Hall. The marriage went ahead and in 1743 the couple moved into Wrest Park.^[7] Along with employing Lancelot “Capability” Brown,^[4] the couple were known for their literary circle of friends and family that they named Wrestiana, that included Charles Yorke, the antiquarian Daniel Wray, historian and writer Thomas Birch, author Catherine Talbot, and poet Thomas Edwards.^[7] The group created a manuscript of poems, plays and inscriptions, with one such inscription included on the gothic folly at Wimpole.^[8]

Amabel Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess De Grey, the daughter of Philip and Jemima, became the 5th Baroness Lucas of Crudwell, when her mother died in 1797 and became 1st Countess de Grey of Wrest in 1816. Upon Amabel's death in 1833, Wrest Park was inherited by her nephew Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey.^[9][10] Thomas was responsible for creating the Upper Gardens at Wrest Park.^[4]

In the 1830's, the old house was demolished and Thomas designed and built the present house. Thomas was an amateur architect and the first president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who was inspired by buildings he had seen on trips to Paris. He based his house on designs published in French architectural books such as Jacques-François Blondel's Architecture Française (1752). The works were superintended as clerk of works on site by James Clephan,^[11] who had been clerk of the works at the Liddell seat, Ravensworth Castle in County Durham, and had recently served as professional amanuensis and builder for Lord Barrington.

Although Nikolaus Pevsner previously stated that Clephan was a French architect who designed the present house instead of De Grey the amateur architect, as Charles Read has shown in his biography of De Grey, Clephan (born Clapham) in fact only produced drawings of the service infrastructure, such as plumbing and drainage. The decorative layout and features of the house were produced by De Grey himself.^[12]

Wrest has some of the earliest Rococo Revival interiors in England. The Countess's sitting room is a very fine example of this.^[13] A room on the first floor, in the north-west corner includes wallpaper in an El Dorado pattern that was made by French company Zuber & Cie in 1849, which is very rarely found in England.^[2]

When Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey died in 1859, his daughter Anne Florence, Countess Cowper, the wife of George Cowper, 6th Earl Cowper, inherited Wrest Park and was responsible for remodelling the Chinese summerhouse and rebuilding the Chinese bridge.^[14]

In 1905, Wrest Park was leased to United States diplomat Whitelaw Reid,^[15] at a cost of £1,500 per annum.^[16] During this time he was Ambassador to the Court of St. James.^[17] In 1909, he wrote to President Roosevelt sharing the details of his recent shooting excursions at Wrest Park.^[18] In the same year he also entertained King Edward VII at Wrest Park.^[19]

Nan Ino Cooper ran Wrest Park as a military hospital during World War I, although a fire in September 1916 halted this usage of the house.^[20][21] Following the death of her brother Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas, she inherited his title and put Wrest Park up for auction in 1917.^[16] It was sold after World War I to John Murray, who was associated with cricket in Bedfordshire. During his tenure, some of the garden statuary was sold, while felling stripped the garden of some old trees.^[22]

Wrest Park was later purchased by Sun Insurance (who became Sun Alliance Insurance and are now known as RSA Insurance Group) who moved from offices in Threadneedle Street to Wrest Park, during World War II, building 12 huts and converting stables to house 300 employees.^[23] After the war it became a centre for modern agricultural engineering research. English Heritage took over the house and gardens in 2006 and began a 20-year restoration project.^[24]

Wrest Park has an early eighteenth-century garden, spread over 92 acres (37 ha),^[25] which was probably originally laid out by George London and Henry Wise for Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent, then modified for his granddaughter Jemima, 2nd Marchioness Grey by Lancelot "Capability" Brown in a more informal landscape style.

The park is divided by a wide gravel central walk, continued as a long canal that leads to a Baroque pavilion banqueting house designed by Thomas Archer and completed in 1711.^[26] The interior of the pavilion is decorated with impressive Ionic columns in trompe-l'œil. The garden designer Batty Langley was employed in the 1730s, who is credited with creating the Bowling Green House.^[27] In 1736 Horace Walpole visited Wrest on a progress through Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. He noted monuments in the garden in memory of the Duke of Kent's children who all predeceased him, as well as a monument to Kent himself, at that time still alive.^[28] The gardens and garden houses were mapped by John Rocque twice, in 1735 and in 1737.^[29][30]

There is a statue of Jemima, 2nd Marchioness Grey reading a book in the gardens, thought to have been made by John Cheere in 1748.^[31] Boundary canals were altered to take a more natural shape by Capability Brown, who worked there between 1758 and 1760.^[29] The Bathhouse (sometimes referred to as a Roman bath, a hermitage and a grotto) was built, and its grounds laid out, between about 1769 and 1772.^[32][33]

Between 1834 and 1839, whilst Wrest Park was owned by Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, he designed a substantial walled garden, that incorporates earlier sculptures by Peter Scheemakers.^[34] During 1835 an orangery was added and a fireplace from the house was re-erected on the west wall of it.^[35]

A Wellingtonia planted in 1856 was in its earlier years brought into the house annually to serve as a Christmas tree, one of the earliest surviving examples known in the U.K.^[36]

Capability Brown memorial

There is a memorial column dedicated to Lancelot "Capability" Brown. It was originally placed near the Bowling Green House, but is now located in the eastern part of the gardens. The column has the inscription: "These gardens, originally laid out by Henry Duke of Kent, were altered by Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima Campbell, 2nd Marchioness Grey with the professional assistance of Lancelot Brown Esq. in the years 1758, 1759, 1760." The monument is attributed to architect Edward Stevens and is grade II listed.^[37]

Chinese summerhouse and bridge

The Chinese summerhouse, also known as the Chinese temple, is located on the south side of the north broad water. It was commissioned by Jemima, 2nd Marchioness Grey and was built around 1760, possibly to the designs of William Chambers. It was remodelled in 1876 and is a grade II listed building.^[38]

Located close to the Chinese summerhouse on the north broad water, the bridge was designed by Countess Cowper and built in 1876. This stone and brick bridge replaced a previous timber bridge in the same location that was built in the 1760's. There are stones that have a monogram of the construction date and Countess Cowper's initials. The bridge is grade II listed.^[14][39]

During restoration work in 2006, English Heritage uncovered rare 18th century Chinese wallpaper in two rooms in the south front, on the first floor. The wallpaper in one room includes a bird and flower pattern and in the other room the pattern depicts scenes of life and occupations in China. They were subsequently restored.^[2][40]

In the autumn of 2007 English Heritage announced that the Wolfson Foundation had pledged up to £400,000 towards the restoration of the Wrest Park estate.^[41] English Heritage subsequently unveiled extensive plans to restore the Grade-I-listed Wrest Park house and gardens to their original splendour.^[25] In July 2010 English Heritage announced that it had secured over £1m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop a new visitors centre, car parking, exhibition space and accessible paths.^[42] Work was completed in summer 2011^[43] and the park opened to the public on 4 August 2011.^[24]

English Heritage and Historic England have undertaken a number of in-depth investigations of the gardens at Wrest as part of the restoration process, including archaeological^[44] and geophysical surveys.^[45][46][47] The removal of an overgrown yew hedge, which maps suggested existed in 1717, led to a dendrochronological investigation on the trunks to discover if the trees removed were original or part of later re-plantings. The wood was found to date to 1780–1800.^[48]

A painting of sisters Jemima, Airmine and Elizabeth Crew by artist Jacob Huysmans, that was completed in the 17th century (around 1682) was acquired by English Heritage in 2015. Jemima Crew married Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent and brought the painting to Wrest Park, but it left when it was sold in 1917. The painting has been restored and is on display at Wrest Park.^[49]

The grounds at Wrest Park have over 70 monuments and statues. In 2021, English Heritage began restoring 18th century statues by sculptor John Cheere in the parterre garden, as part of a wider restoration effort, after paint had begun to peel on the statues.^[50] The statues are part of a set of four depicting Aeneas and Anchises, the Abduction of Helen of Troy, Venus and Adonis, and Meleager and Atalanta, and are listed.^[51]

Wrest Park has been used as a location for filming and events including: the video for the 2008 song "The Fear" by Lily Allen;^[52] a 2013 concert by Status Quo;^[53] episodes of BBC's Flog It!^[54] and The Serpent; the films Flyboys and The Death of Stalin; and drama series The Royals,^[52] Belgravia,^[55] and Bridgerton.^[56]

• De Grey Mausoleum