ACTIVITIES
A day out at
Lamport Hall D
Sue Dobson finds history – and gnomes – in a stately setting
uring the Civil War, it was a brave man who flaunted his Royalist sympathies. In 1655, Sir Justinian Isham of Lamport Hall hung a massive painting of King Charles I in the grandest room in his house. He paid for his impudence with a prison sentence. He’d already caused a stir in the county by commissioning a ‘reception suite’ in the Classical style to extend the Tudor manor house. Its design, by John Webb, principal assistant to the renowned architect Inigo Jones, was considered much too extravagant for the Puritan tastes of the time. Today its façade can be appreciated as the stylish centre of the southwest front and its interior as the spectacular High Room. There’s a 1638 Bible that once belonged to King Charles I on show in the splendid library, given by the king’s chaplain to ‘his dearest friend, Sir Justinian 2nd Baronet.’ The 3rd Baronet went on an extended Grand Tour of Europe in 1676 and filled the house with treasures, while the eccentric Victorian 10th Baronet brought the first garden gnomes to England from Nuremburg and built a towering alpine rockery to house his collection of ‘little people.’ Surrounded by vistas of rolling hills and calm Northamptonshire countryside, stately Lamport Hall has been home to the Isham family for over 400 years. Across the generations, as family fortunes waned and flourished, the Hall experienced many changes. Seeing it now, it’s hard to imagine that in the mid-20th century it was in dire straits, battered and bruised by its use as a British and Czech army base and Italian prisoner of war camp, and riddled with dry rot. Sir Gyles Isham, 12th Baronet, became its saviour. After a brilliant career at Oxford he’d found fame as an actor, on the Stratford and London stage and with MGM Studios in Hollywood, appearing in films with Greta Garbo and Maureen O’Sullivan, until the Second World War intervened. Returning from active service in the Middle East, he was so shocked by the state of the Hall that he dedicated the rest of his life to saving his family home and in 1974 established the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust, with the wish that the house should be restored and run for the benefit of the public. The restoration programme of the Hall, its estate and gardens, carried out by the Trust since 1986, has been a triumph. There are splendid
parkland views from Georgian shuttered windows as light streams into rooms furnished in period style and walls painted in soft pastel shades hung with family portraits and treasured paintings. Leather bound books, many of them rare and unique, fill floor-toceiling shelves in the fine Library, where an 1877 terrestrial globe stands centre stage. Imposing portraits watch over elegant 18th and 19th century furniture and china in the Drawing Room, where French windows overlook the Italian garden and lawns beyond. The superb 17th-century wood panelling lining the Oak Room comes with a strange history, for it was installed in 1907 by a tenant, Lord Ludlow, and kindly left for posterity. With the sweeping, carved wood staircase as a backdrop, the room is a romantic setting for civil weddings. King Charles I astride his white steed seems to be riding straight into the High Room, where the exquisite ceiling is a masterpiece of the plasterers’ art. The vast Van Dyk painting, used as a political statement by Sir Justinian in 1655, occupies one wall of this magnificent room. Opposite, a grand portrait by Paulus Van Somer of Anne of Denmark, wife of James I and mother of Charles I, underlines his Royalist credentials. Upstairs, four-poster beds, fine period furniture and paintings fill bedrooms, while corridor displays reveal insights into the family, their lifestyles and collections. Back downstairs, tea and scones are served in the Victorian Dining Room, hung with 19th-century portraits and prints. Outside, 10-acres of gardens and parkland await, including the walled cutting garden, one of the largest in England and full of vibrant colour. • Lamport Hall and Gardens, Lamport, Northamptonshire NN6 9HD. Tel: 01604 686272. Open Easter Sunday to 14th October. Guided tours Wednesday and Thursday at 2.15 and 3pm; non-guided tours Bank Holiday Sundays and Mondays, May 19/20, October 13/14, 2-4pm. Admission: adult £8, senior £7.50, child (11-18) £2.50. An array of events, including live theatre, traditional jazz, shows, arts and festivals as well as gardening and art study days are held throughout the year. For a full listing see www.lamporthall.co.uk
NENE VALLEY LIVING MAY 2012
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