HISTORY

Inspiring Kelmarsh

Laura Malpas explores the history and enjoys the interior design of this delightful historic Northamptonshire home.

Do you ever play this game when visiting one of Northamptonshire’s wonderful historic country houses? The one that starts ‘if this was my house, how I would redecorate it’? Kelmarsh Hall has a long tradition of inspiring design, and this year is no exception. There are newly opened rooms upstairs, a gentleman’s suite with a perfectly comfortable ‘man cave’ for gaming (not exactly Xbox, more cards, cribbage and chess!) And a new collaboration with a modern interior design company who have re-imagined the boudoir for the lady of the house. The game, done for real!

Like so many places in Northamptonshire, its history goes back a long, long way. The surrounding landscape bears traces of Roman, Saxon and Medieval settlements. The name Kelmarsh has a Saxon origin describing poles cegel, marking a marshy area mersc, reflecting its proximity to the river Ise, and the settlement is mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086.

Kelmarsh village quickly grew in stature, though no one is entirely sure where the earliest manor house was, as subsequent building and rebuilding have hidden its traces.

The Hall as it stands today was built nearly three hundred years ago, commissioned by William Hanbury, who had married a wealthy heiress. This meant that William was able to employ the services of the famous and fashionable architect James Gibbs, whose other works included Oxford’s Radcliffe Camera, and the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. His Palladian style Hall is still considered to be the epitome of restrained perfection, and full of interest both inside and out. The building was completed using the best craftsmen available and the stucco plasterwork in the Great Hall and Staircase Hall is especially fine. The Hall changed hands over subsequent years and was extended and embellished as fortunes allowed. The last family to both own and live at Kelmarsh was that of the Lancasters, industrialists from the Northwest of England. In 1907, sadly, the purchaser, George Granville Lancaster died relatively young, aged fifty-four. Claude, his only son and heir, was nine years old, and the will prevented Claude inheriting before his twenty fifth birthday. So the Hall was let, and the remaining family moved into a smaller, easier to manage house on the estate.

The Hall was falling into disrepair and needed updating, so in 1928 Claude offered to let the property to his friends Ronald and Nancy Tree. They were aspirational, ambitious, and upwardly mobile. Ronald wanted to join the hunting set and to become a country gentleman and MP.

Nancy was an American with a taste for luxury and a well-educated sense of style. She fell quite in love with Kelmarsh, making it much more modern, installing heating, electricity, and even ensuite bathrooms. She made the Hall a comfortable place to live, work and entertain. Sadly for Nancy, her husband became even more successful, and his ambitions required them to move to an even grander house. The couple surrendered the Kelmarsh lease back to Claude Lancaster in 1937.

Kelmarsh Hall

Staircase Hall

Nancy truly was the star of the twentieth century as far as Kelmarsh was concerned. Her energy, artistry and charismatic glamour enhanced the classical beauty of the Hall.

Detail of the Chinese Room

However, the attraction of Kelmarsh was such that Nancy divorced Ronald, and married Claude, returning to the Hall. Her son commented that she had really married Kelmarsh Hall itself.

The Walled Garden

Nancy truly was the star of the twentieth century as far as Kelmarsh was concerned. Her energy, artistry and charismatic glamour enhanced the classical beauty of the Hall. Her decorative schemes in the principal rooms are pretty much intact. These include extravagant but comfortable furnishings, beautiful fabrics encouraged to fade naturally in sunlight to produce a subtle and understated colour palette, and of course the best and most efficient household appliances. She loved to locate interesting objects using them to offset and enhance her surroundings. My absolute favourite is the hand painted eighteenth century Chinese wallpaper, repurposed from another house about to be demolished. It’s stunning. Using her divorce settlement, Nancy purchased the interior design studio Colefax and Fowler. She developed her natural style into a comfortably luxurious look she christened ‘shabby chic’. Her ‘three essentials’ included real candlelight, open wood fires, and fresh garden flowers, still desirable today.

Above and right: Nancy Lancaster’s bedroom re-imagined by Oka Below: The Victorian laundry Colefax and Fowler went on to become the leaders of the ‘English Country House Style’, and Nancy herself is regarded as one of the most inspirational designers of the twentieth century. And her influence also reached outside to the beautiful gardens. The horticultural style Nancy favoured captures the romantic, lush, fragrant excesses of her domestic interiors. She employed garden designers who shared her vision of a formal layout overflowing with verdant planting with varied heights forms and textures.

Today the Hall is cared for by the Kelmarsh Trust, and a dedicated team of friendly and imaginative staff and volunteers. In addition to enjoying the delights of the principal rooms, the domestic quarters have been reopened and interpreted for visitors in a most engaging way. We can peer into the various rooms and learn the domestic duties of the staff, and even watch a slightly ghostly ‘augmented reality’ butler chatting about his day. I particularly enjoyed the laundry, set away from the house to prevent disturbing the grand folks in the house. Mangles, scrubbing boards, dollies all reminded me of my Granny’s equipment. My husband was very excited to see the ‘Coalmarsh’ exhibition, featuring a working model railway.

Perhaps for me the most pleasing new exhibition is the collaboration with Oka, a British interiors brand, which prioritises beauty, comfort and style, just like Nancy Lancaster. They have reinterpreted her ensuite bedroom with modern furnishings whilst staying true to her design ethos. The result is delightful, a calm and restful boudoir which I would be happy to move into today. This sort of collaboration I find very satisfying, demonstrating how our past heritage can inspire and inform our lives today.

> Kelmarsh Hall opens for the season in April, there are all sorts of exciting events planned for 2022, so for more information, please visit

www.kelmarsh.com

Andrew with Duston School Head Sam Strickland

Learn to Paint and Draw at Weekly Art Classes

with Flower T Pot Original Art

Try a taster session for £16.50

• Stretch yourself creatively in a fun, relaxed environment • Sociable & friendly atmosphere • Suitable for beginners and experienced artists alike • Different mediums: pencil, pen, charcoal, soft & oil pastel, watercolour, acrylic & oil paint • Tuition & images provided • Art materials available at wholesale prices • Tea, coffee & home made cakes • Morning, afternoon & evening classes available

When: Tuesday Where: Village Hall Guilsborough Northampton Times: 11:00am - 1:30pm 2.00pm – 4.30pm

When: Thursday Where: Baptist Rooms Nether Heyford Northampton Times: 10:00am - 1:00pm 6.30pm – 9.30pm

For more information and to sign up contact Veneeta Rayner on

Tel - 07729 105 584 or

Email - flowertpotart@gmail.com or go to Website - flowertpotart.square.site

Flower T Pot Original Art

Antiques Centre

Building 1, The Royal Ordnance Depot, Weedon Bec, NN7 4PS

OPEN: Wed to Mon 10am-4pm, CLOSED: Tues Facebook: @vintiqueltd Instagram: vintique.limited T: 01327 341 980 E: info@vintique.co W: vintique.co

Andrew with Sara Homer CEO of Brackmills Business Improvement District

Andrew with Northampton University Faculty of Health Education & Society

Round and About

Since the Covid restrictions ended it was a game of catch up, meeting up with local organisations to discuss some of the key local and national issues and challenges. Here are just some of the meetings I have had. There is a health and education theme through most of these.

Health Minister Ed Argar came to Northampton to have a look at progress on the new A&E building which should be ready to open this May.

I took up an invitation to meet with Dr Sinead Rogers and her St Luke’s GP surgery management team in Duston to be briefed on how they are coping with seeing patients and the increase in demand.

I also met with East Midlands Academy Trust CEO Josh Coleman and Duston School Head, Sam Strickland to discuss a number of educational issues and also met up with Brackmills Business Improvement District CEO Sara Homer to look at possible transport improvements from Northampton Town Centre and Brackmills. Finally, if you are my constituent and you would like to come down to London for a tour of the Houses of Parliament, I am very happy to arrange this. Please email andrew.lewer.mp@parliament.uk

CONTACT DETAILS: Tel: 01604 978080 Email: andrew.lewer.mp@parliament.uk www.andrewlewer.com

CONSTITUENCY OFFICE:

42 Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5DE