1866 The 6th DUKE of GRAFTON, letter from WAKEFIELD LODGE, Stoney Stratford

Description: 1866 The 6th DUKE of GRAFTON, letter from WAKEFIELD LODGE, Stoney Stratford, replying to the persons unknown regarding an enquiry regarding a Portrait painting of The Countess of Derby by Sir Joshua Reynolds. William Henry Fitzroy, 6th Duke of Grafton (5 August 1819 – 21 May 1882), styled Viscount Ipswich until 1847 and Earl of Euston between 1847 and 1863, was a British peer and Liberal Party politician. He was born in London and educated at Harrow, and after went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was the son of Henry FitzRoy, 5th Duke of Grafton and his wife Mary Caroline Berkeley, who were married on 20 June 1812 in Lisbon. At the time his father was an officer fighting with the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War. At the 1847 general election he was elected unopposed as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Thetford in Norfolk,[1] a seat held by his father from 1834 to 1841. He was returned unopposed at the next three general elections,[1] and held the seat until he succeeded to his father's peerage in 1863.[2] As well as the titles he inherited almost 26,000 acres. Grafton married the Honourable Marie Anne Louise Baring (18 November 1833 – 8 April 1928), the daughter of Francis Baring, 3rd Baron Ashburton, on 10 February 1858. He spent the winter and spring each year at Hyères because he and his wife both suffered from ill health. In 1860 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in command of the 1st Administrative Battalion of Northamptonshire Rifle Volunteers. He died childless in 1882, aged 62, in London and was succeeded as Duke of Grafton by his younger brother, Augustus. Wakefield Lodge remained the Northamptonshire seat of the dukes of Grafton until 1921 when the estate was sold. Although the house had become very substantial by this time only the Kent wing was to survive the demolition which was undertaken in 1948. Wakefield Lodge, a landscape park designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in the mid-C18, is registered at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Designer: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716-83) was the pre-eminent English landscape designer of the mid to late C18 who had a profound influence on the parks and gardens surrounding many country houses; * Historic interest: Wakefield is one of Brown’s earliest major landscaping commissions and one of his first to lay out water. The other features that came to be so closely associated with his style – the carefully composed clumps of trees and vistas focussed on outlying landmarks – are also present in this design, creating a suitably impressive setting for the newly aggrandized Lodge; * Preservation: the key elements of Brown’s design, notably the sinuous lake, long avenue, and vistas, all remain, along with his enhancement of the existing lawn by means of planting carefully positioned trees; * Group value: the park has strong group value with the Grade II listed walled garden, and together with the house and stable block which are both listed at Grade II*, it forms an ensemble of historical significance that aptly demonstrates the taste and aesthetic quality associated with the Georgian period. History Wakefield Walk formed one large division of the six thousand acre medieval forest of Whittlewood, and a deer park is first recorded in the vicinity of Wakefield Lodge in 1230. Whittlewood Forest formed part of the Honor of Grafton which was created by Henry VIII in 1541. An enclosed park is shown on Saxton’s map of 1576, and a map of c1608 shows a forest keeper’s lodge to the south of a triangular fishpond. The most striking feature was Wakefield Lawn which had been enlarged around 1600 by James I and was enveloped by woodland. The lawn was overlooked by Wakefield Great Lodge, a royal hunting lodge which became the residence of the keeper, and then the lieutenant of the forest. In about 1670 the Honor of Grafton was granted to Queen Catherine, and following her death in 1705 it passed to Charles Fitzroy, the second Duke of Grafton. He and his heirs were made Wardens of Whittlewood Forest from 1712. In 1747 the second Duke commenced extensive improvements which turned Wakefield into a handsome country seat. A large northern wing designed by William Kent (c.1685-1748) was added to the house, and a stable block was built on the east side of the house. Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716-83) was engaged to landscape the park at Wakefield Lodge following William Kent’s death in 1748, having previously worked with Kent at nearby Stowe, where Brown was still employed. Brown became England’s leading and most influential landscape designer of the mid to late C18. Born in Kirkharle, Northumberland, where he was first employed as a gardener, he began to work on improving parks elsewhere, and by 1741 his reputation was such that he was taken on as head gardener for Lord Cobham at Stowe. From 1745 he worked on successive major commissions, and established a very successful practice. Developing on a much grander scale the idea of the naturalistic landscape promoted by William Kent, Brown’s signature features – ‘Capability’ referring to his ability to realize the capabilities, that is the inherent possibilities, of landscapes – included gently rolling parkland separated from the house by a ha-ha, clumps of trees, a sinuous lake in the middle distance and shelter belts around the park edge screening the world beyond. There is no commissioned plan for Brown’s work at Wakefield Lodge but the estate accounts in August 1749 record the Great Pond being staked out by Robert Greening. This was achieved by substantial enlargement of the triangular medieval fishpond to the north of the house. Brown built an earth and stone dam in order to raise the water level in the valley by 25 feet, and in 1754 he created another smaller lake to the east of the dam which was fed by the Great Pond. Brown enhanced Wakefield Lawn by adding perspective and punctuating its expanse using his characteristic clumps of trees. He bought in beech trees and had laurels sent over from Stowe. Vistas were created by cutting a view through Hill Coppice from The Pheasantry to focus on the church spire at Hanslope; and existing ridings through to Hallow’s Brook were made broader in order to open two more vistas to the villages of Grafton Regis and Potterspury. The road running from the Lodge through Steer Coppice was extended further eastwards to form the main approach from Potterspury. In the mid-C19, when Whittlewood was disafforested and enclosed, the 5th Duke of Grafton was allotted Wakefield Lodge and grounds as compensation for his loss of office as Keeper of Whittlewood. Around this time a new dairy farm was built to the north-east of the main house, and detailed accounts record that a kitchen garden was built to the east in the 1860s. The first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1884 shows the garden divided by paths into four sections, and the second edition map of 1900 shows a gardener’s cottage built into the north-east corner. A vista was created running for more than a mile westwards from the house, on the same axis as the eastern approach from Potterspury. Remnants of a more formal landscape survive which mapping suggests may also have been a largely Victorian creation. The ha-ha in front of the house is not shown on maps until the 1884 OS map which depicts a hexagonal feature within the semi-circle; and to the west of the house is a series of formal parterres. Both these features now only survive as very slight earthworks. : Powered by SixBit's eCommerce Solution

Price: 40 GBP

Location: Maryport

End Time: 2024-12-12T12:35:05.000Z

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