The history of stately homes is the history of British community

I've been away from here for far too long. Life has been busy and all the stories I have had to tell recently have been swallowed by other platforms, but I finally have something new for you. A while back I had a conversation with another architect- Libby of Liberty Rose Architects- about her passion for country houses, their past, their precarious present, and their future. Her passion and expertise catalysed some enjoyable delving down research rabbit holes of my own and, well…

The history of stately homes is the history of British community. These were not houses designed for one nuclear family to live in; reaching back as far as the middle ages (and probably further) ‘the big house’ has formed a focus for community life.

In Medieval times the manor house functioned as shelter for the household- essentially a small village of people- providing employment and protection. It was centred around a great hall- with private spaces off it for the Lord of the Manor and his immediate family. This hall functioned as a communal place to eat, drink, sleep and socialise. Over time these halls have been swallowed by layers of later additions but can still be found in many stately homes if you know where to look. Medieval halls and castles also served a defensive function, providing shelter for the village or town or a stronghold during times of turbulence.

The relative security of the Tudor monarchs however reduced this need and country house architecture from the 1500s onwards becomes increasingly comfortable and less defensive- large windows, more open aspects, fewer rings of defences. The dissolution of the monasteries in the late 1530s saw former ecclesiastical properties added into Britain’s wealth of country homes and the influx of wealth to noble families from this dissolution saw a house building boom which followed through into the reign of Elizabeth I. The houses built in this period were grand and imposing- comfortable palaces designed to impress visiting monarchs and display the wealth of their owners.

However, even the more modest Elizabethan country homes were still not designed to be the private family home we consider normal today- they were designed for large numbers of visiting family, friends and connections- perhaps even the royal court- and took small armies of staff to run and maintain. These houses were still a community building, only feasible because they were supported by the income from the land that surrounded them and the work of those who lived and farmed in the adjacent villages and tenant farms. In fact so important was the communal focus of these houses perceived to be that during the English Civil War many country houses were destroyed to prevent them becoming royalist strongholds in the future.

As society continued to move away from the medieval feudal structure the houses and their families had to adapt. By the 1870s agricultural depression and increasing taxes meant that the families that owned the homes began to struggle to keep the estates together, some selling, some downsizing or finding different ways of making money. There was a brief trend for heirs marrying wealthy American heiresses (as Lord Grantham is so famously depicted doing in Downton Abbey). The industrial revolution also saw an urbanisation of Britain’s population as the working classes moved to cities seeking more freedom, better jobs and higher income. The wealth redistribution of the new socioeconomic environment saw a growing middle class and expectations of privacy began to increase. It became more usual for family homes to be the private enclave of just one family and only one or two servants. The feudal manor house providing shelter had made way for the show palace and was now beginning to adapt again as society democratised. The age of luxury was making way for the age of comfort.

So much of the architectural interest of these homes is the exploration of this architectural palimpsest- the layering of history as rooms are added and removed, adapted and expanded. As society increasingly celebrated the nuclear family privacy became more of an expectation and back stairs and servants quarters were added to give ‘the family’ greater privacy from their staff. From sharing the communal great hall with the family staff became an almost invisible ‘downstairs’ presence. Enfilades of rooms- one opening to the next in a grand and theatrical procession may have been walled off with corridors in the pursuit of privacy and concessions to comfort and modern life- heating, modern bathrooms, electricity have also found their way into the country home. Some homes show this layering even more starkly such as Felbrigg Hall in North Norfolk (a National Trust property) which from one aspect appears Tudor and from another Georgian as subsequent owners extended in the architectural fashion of their day.

The two world wars accelerated the move towards a more equal society, and increased employment opportunities made it ever harder for country homes to attract or afford the quantity of domestic staff needed to run or maintain them. Furthermore many houses were requisitioned for military or medical uses leaving them in poor condition when they were returned to their families. Maintenance bills, death duties, often multiplied quickly with the death of multiple heirs in succession on the battlefield, and low income from land led to more families seeking an end to their stately home problem. Some were sold but many were left to rot; an exhibition in 1974 ‘The destruction of the country house’ reported that well over a thousand had been demolished in the previous century.

In 1937 the UK government, recognising the heritage they were loosing introduced the National Trust Act allowing houses to be gifted to the National Trust tax free. The Act meant the survival of a large number of homes that may otherwise have been lost to history, but it had consequences...

… and for today I will leave it here, but i’ll be in touch soon to continue the tale.

Eleanor