Belton House

Belton House is a Carolean-style country house near Grantham, Lincolnshire, that belonged to the Brownlow family and their heirs for three centuries. Now owned by the National Trust, Belton House is surrounded by parkland and formal gardens that visitors can explore. The interior of the house reveals the rooms as they looked at various points in history, allowing individuals to imagine life in the grand building.

The Brownlow family purchased the Belton estate in 1609 for £4,100 (£11.4 million today), agreeing that the previous owners could live in the small manor house until their deaths. Unfortunately, the Pakenham’s lost a lot of money and could not afford to remain in their home, so sold the house to Richard Brownlow (1553-1638), the Chief Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. The Brownlows did very little with the land, although Richard eventually erected a church tower in 1638, shortly before his death.

When Richard died, the Belton estate was passed down to his son, Sir John Brownlow (1590-1679). John served as the Sheriff of Lincolnshire and is remembered by a monument in the nearby church, along with his wife, Alice (1606-76). Unfortunately, the couple had no children, so Belton was inherited by John’s great-nephew, Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Baronet (1659-97). Known as the ‘Young’ Sir John to differentiate him from his great-uncle, Brownlow approached the architect William Winde (1642-1722) to design a new manor house to replace the now derelict building on the Belton estate. With the help of the master mason William Stanton (1639-1705), Winde designed a stately home based on Clarendon House in London. Clarendon House was demolished in 1683, a year before building work began at Belton.

The Palladian-style building focused on four central rooms: the Marble Hall, the Great Parlour, the Great Dining Room and the State Bedroom. The other rooms were placed in symmetrical fashion around the centre, with space for the domestic staff in the basement. The furnishings were initially simple, but Brownlow and his wife, Alice Sherard (d. 1721), purchased more opulent furniture in the future. The purchases may have coincided with a visit from William III (1650-1702), who granted the Brownlows permission to enclose the parkland. Brownlow immediately created an expanse of formal gardens and planted thousands of trees across the estate.

In 1697, ‘Young’ Sir John passed away at the age of 39. Some say this was the result of a shooting accident, and others claim he committed suicide after suffering from severe gout. John and Alice only had daughters, so Belton passed to his brother William (1665-1701), who died four years later. Williams eldest son, John (1690-1754), who incidentally married Eleanor (d.1730), the daughter of ‘Young’ Sir John, inherited the estate.

Sir John Brownlow, also known as Viscount Tyrconnel, served as an MP for Grantham, although records suggest he did not excel at politics. Tyrconnel spent his money on furnishing and decorating Belton House, including tapestries and paintings. Tyrconnel commissioned French artist Philippe Mercier (1689-1760) to paint a scene featuring the south facade of the house. In the centre stands Tyrconnel with his wife in an invalid chair, next to her cousin on a swing. It was one of the first informal portraits, known as conversation pieces, painted in Britain.

Tyrconnel’s wife, Eleanor, passed away in 1730, and two years later, he married Elizabeth Cartwright. The Viscount continued to spend money on the house, replastering the Marble Hall ceiling for £29 17s 4d (£51,000) in 1742. He also spent over £250 5s (£403,000) on the old parlour, added a bed and turned it into the most expensive bedroom at Belton.

Despite two marriages, Viscount Tyrconnel died childless, so Belton passed to his eldest nephew, Sir John Cust, 3rd Baronet (1718-70). Cust made little impact on the estate, focusing more on his career in politics. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1761 until he died in 1770. His heir, the recently married Brownlow Cust (1744-1807), took up possession of Belton House and arranged for many repairs on the building.

Cust’s first wife, Jocosa Katherina Drury, passed away in 1772, and he married his second, Frances Bankes, in 1775. The following year, Cust was raised to the peerage as Baron Brownlow of Belton in the County of Lincoln. With the extra income this entailed, Cust decided to drastically alter the house, employing James Wyatt (1746-1813), a leading architect, to design the changes. Wyatt updated the building to the preferred Carolean or Restoration style, which involved altering the shape of the main entrance and bricking up some windows to create niches.

As well as external changes, Wyatt redecorated four interior rooms. On the first floor, he converted a bed-chamber into a dressing room and another chamber into a drawing-room, sacrificing the servants’ rooms in the attic to create a vaulted ceiling. Wyatt also designed the Yellow Bedroom in the southeast wing, as well as the Blue Bedroom on the floor below. In the latter room, only the chimney-piece, dado and cornice frieze survive, which are dominated by a towering state bed that was introduced to the house much later. Fans of Jane Austen (1775-1817) or Colin Firth (b. 1960) may recognise the bed and room from the 1995 British television drama Pride and Prejudice. The production team used Belton House as the filming location for Rosings Park, the home of Mr Darcy’s aunt, and the Blue Bedroom as Darcy’s private rooms.

When Baron Brownlow passed away in 1807, he left the estate to his eldest son, John (1779-1853), who became Earl Brownlow and Viscount Alford in 1815. The Earl is responsible for the large collection of silver and Italian books at Belton. He also employed James Wyatt’s nephew, Jeffry Wyatville (1766-1840), to make additional changes to the house. Wyatville designed the Orangery, stable courtyard and several cottages in the nearby village. He converted the old kitchen into a room to store the Earl’s growing collection of books and remodelled several other rooms, including the ceiling in the Marble Hall.

The Earl’s eldest son, John (1812-51), predeceased him by two years. As a result, the Earl bequeathed the estate to his grandson, John William Egerton Cust (1842-67). Since John, now the 2nd Earl Brownlow, was only 11-years-old, his mother, Lady Marian Alford (1817-88), oversaw the management of Belton until John came of age. Unfortunately, he had little time to enjoy his inheritance before passing away at 25. On his death, the estate and title passed on to his brother Adelbert Wellington Brownlow-Cust, the 3rd and final Earl Brownlow.

Lord Adelbert “Addy” Brownlow (1844-1921) spent a lot of time in London where he served as a volunteer Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria (1819-1901), Edward VII (1841-1910) and George V (1865-1936). He married Lady Adelaide Chetwynd-Talbot, although he never had any children. As a result, the Earldom of Brownlow and Viscountcy of Alford became extinct upon his death. Nonetheless, he spent a lot of money on Belton, restoring the house to its original Carolean appearance.

Addy and Adelaide rediscovered the tapestries purchased by Sir John Brownlow, Viscount Tyrconnel, in the 18th century. They converted a small dining room into an oak-panelled Tapestry Room, where the four woven scenes are still displayed today. Identified as Mortlake Tapestry, they come from a series of seven scenes depicting the life of the philosopher Diogenes of Sinope (412/403–324/321 BC). Famous as the founder of Cynicism, Diogenes aimed to live in virtue and agreement with nature.

One tapestry is titled Alexander Visiting Diogenes and depicts a scene described in the 3rd-century AD text The Lives of the Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius. At the meeting, which took place in Corinth, Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) asked the philosopher if he could do anything for him. Allegedly, Diogenes, who was sunbathing, replied, “Yes, stand out of my sunlight.” Next, Alexander, who was overawed in the philosopher’s presence, declared, “If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes.” To which Diogenes replied, “If I were not Diogenes, I would still wish to be Diogenes.”

When the 3rd Earl of Brownlow passed away, Belton went to his second cousin, Adelbert Cust, 5th Baron Brownlow (1867-1927). The family finances were depleted due to the previous renovations, so Cust sold many of his other holdings to keep Belton afloat. At the beginning of the 20th century, many country houses of great architectural value were demolished, and Belton House was lucky to survive.

Adelbert’s son, Peregrine Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow (1899-1978), inherited Belton House just under a decade before the abdication crisis of 1936. As a close friend of Edward VIII (1894-1972), Peregrine was appointed Lord in Waiting. When the government pressured the King’s mistress, Wallis Simpson (1896-1986), to leave the country, Peregrine feared the King would follow her and abdicate. In an attempt to prevent the inevitable, Peregrine invited Wallis to Belton to prevent the King from doing anything hasty. Peregrine advised Wallis to give up the King and helped her word a statement, which he read to the press. Unfortunately, it was too late, and Edward VIII’s abdication farewell was broadcast to the nation on the evening of 10th December 1936.

Peregrine and other friends of the former King were berated by the Archbishop of Canterbury for “consuming” Edward and causing his downfall. Following this, Peregrine retreated from public life and left Belton House to fend for itself. By the 1960s, the house needed urgent repair and received a grant from the Historic Buildings Council. After the renovations, Peregrine opened Belton to the public. Following his death in 1978, his son sold the estate to the National Trust.

The gardens at Belton developed over the centuries per the latest styles and the preferences of the owners. ‘Young’ Sir John landscaped the majority of the estate, but his descendants have added aspects over time. The 1st Baron Brownlow employed William Emes (1729-1803) to make some alterations, including an open pleasure ground. The 1st Earl added an Italian garden, and the 3rd Earl a Dutch garden.

When the 1st Earl inherited the estate, the land at the back of the manor house belonged to the kitchen gardener. When Jeffry Wyatville remodelled the house in 1816, he added an orangery and fountain, which led to the creation of the Italian garden. The 3rd Earl added boxed-edged parterres and planted several beds of violas. The herbaceous border and flowerbeds are full of colour from spring until late autumn.

The Dutch garden reflects the geometric style favoured in the Netherlands. It is part of the 3rd Earl’s aim to restore Belton to its former Carolean fashion. Forty flowerbeds once divided the garden, surrounded by golden and Irish yew hedges. Several beds have since merged, incorporating expanses of lavender and seasonal plants so that colour remains in the garden all year round.

Several statues feature around the estate, including a limestone sundial in the Dutch Garden. The dial, carved by Danish sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber (1630-1700), depicts Eros, the Greek god of love, with Cronos, the Greek god of time. William III appointed Cibber the “carver to the king’s closet”. The sundial was purchased for Belton by Viscount Tyrconnel.

In 1987, author Helen Cresswell (1934-2005) brought attention to Belton when the sundial inspired her children’s novel Moondial. In the story, which was televised in 1988 and released on DVD in 2009, a young girl called Minty discovers the sundial (called a moondial in the book) has the power to take her back in time, where she meets children from the past, who need her help. Today, children from local schools enjoy re-enacting the story around the “moondial”.

The Pleasure Grounds look different from ‘Young’ Sir John’s original design. John intended the formal grounds for gentle walks amongst trees, but as time went on, the expanse of grass was adapted for modern pursuits and enjoyed by energetic children. Rather than maintain the grounds in the same manner as the Italian and Dutch gardens, the plants and trees are left to grow naturally. In 1685, John planted 21,400 ash trees, 9,500 oaks, 614 fruit-bearing trees, 260 lime trees, 2,000 roses and 100 gooseberry bushes. Some of these remain, along with snowdrops, primroses, daffodils and bluebells that bloom every year. The oldest tree is a beech and predates John’s ownership of Belton. It is located beside the Mirror Pond in the Pleasure Grounds.

As well as the Mirror Pond, the Pleasure Grounds include a lake, where many wildlife live. Often spotted in the area are water voles, nocturnal white-clawed crayfish, and several fish, which families at Belton enjoyed catching in the summer. On the lakeside sits a Boathouse designed by Anthony Salvin (1799-1881) in 1821. The Swiss chalet-style hut was once the centrepiece of the Pleasure Grounds, where the Brownlows often picnicked. Today, the Boathouse is rented out for special occasions.

As well as Belton House and gardens, the National Trust purchased the surrounding park, which is home to a herd of around 300 fallow deer. They are direct descendants of the wild herd that lived there when ‘Young’ Sir John enclosed the area in 1690. The park is open to the public daily between 9:30 am and 4 pm.

Visitors are often surprised at the size of Belton, of which the house and formal gardens only take up a small percentage. The National Trust protects the green areas from contemporary developers to preserve the historical estate and give visitors a glimpse of life at Belton House through periodical furnishings that are rotated every year. On one visit, the drawing-room may look how the room appeared during Wallis Simpson’s stay, and on the next visit, may resemble a room the 1st Earl would find familiar.

Belton House is closed for refurbishment until March 2022, but the gardens and park remain open at a reduced price. For more information, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/belton-house.

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Belvoir Castle

Situated on a hill in the north corner of Leicestershire, with views over the counties of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, is Belvoir Castle, the stately home of David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland (born 1959). Four castles have stood on the site since the Norman Conquest in 1066, and the surviving structure is a grade I listed building from the 19th century. Whilst the castle remains the home of the Manners family, several rooms are open to the public.

The castle gets its name from the Vale of Belvoir, which derives from the Norman-French for “beautiful view”. When the French-speaking invaders named the area, the Anglo-Saxons could not pronounce the word in their accent, preferring to call it “Beaver”. This pronunciation remains in use today, often confusing the tourists.

The first castle on the site was built before the completion of the Domesday Book in 1086, which records Robert de Todeni as the owner of the land. Todeni was a nobleman and the founder of the now-destroyed Benedictine Belvoir Priory. On his death, the motte-and-bailey castle was given to William d’Aubigny (d. 1236), who rebelled against King John (1166-1216) and became one of the twenty-five barons to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. On his death, he left Belvoir Castle to his daughter, Isabel, who married Robert de Ros (d. 1285). Although the castle did not belong to royalty, De Ros received a licence to crenellate the building.

On the death of Isabel, her eldest son William Ros, 1st Baron Ros of Helmsley (1255-1216) inherited the Belvoir estate. William was also one of the thirteen claimants to the Scottish throne when the seven-year-old Queen Margaret passed away in 1290. William’s great grandmother was the illegitimate child of William I of Scotland (1142-1214). The ownership of the Belvoir estate continued down the male line until 1508 when Edmund Ros, 10th Baron Ros of Helmsley (1455-1508), died without a male heir. It then became the property of the eldest daughter, Eleanor Ros, who bequeathed it to her son, George Manners, 11th Baron Ros (1470-1513).

Unfortunately, the castle suffered during the War of the Roses between 1455 and 1485. The Ros family, who supported the Lancastrians, lost a great deal of their estate when the Yorkists took the throne of England. The family fought to retain the castle, but the new landowner, Lord Hastings, attacked the building, stripping lead from the roof and destroying much of the stonework. When George Manners inherited the castle, it was in ruins.

George Manners left the castle in its derelict state, but his son, Thomas Manners (1497-1543), constructed a new castle. The medieval design incorporated some of the original building, plus stones from Croxton Abbey and Belvoir Priory following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The building was completed in 1555, and Manners made it his main residence.

In 1525, Henry VIII (1491-1547) appointed Thomas Manners a Knight of the Garter and made him the Earl of Rutland. Manners’ grandmother was Anne of York (1439-76), the elder sister of Edward VI (1442-83). Anne’s niece, Elizabeth of York (1466-1503), was the mother of Henry VIII, so Manners was distantly related to the king. Due to this family connection, Manners became a great favourite of the king and was appointed the lord chamberlain of Anne of Cleves (1515-57). The extra money earned working for Henry VIII went towards the building of Belvoir Castle.

Upon Thomas Manners’ death, his son Henry (1526-63) took possession of the castle and became the 2nd Earl of Rutland. Subsequently, the building and title were passed to his eldest son, Edward (1549-87). When Edward died without a male heir, his brother John (1559-88) became the 4th Earl of Rutland. John’s eldest son, Roger (1576-1612), 5th Earl of Rutland, was proposed as a candidate for the authorship of William Shakespeare‘s work during a debate about Shakespeare’s authenticity.

When Roger died childless, his brother Francis (1576-1632) became the next earl and entertained James I (1566-1632) at Belvoir Castle in 1612. Francis also died without an heir, so the next brother, George (1580-1641), inherited the peerage. When George also failed to produce a son, his second cousin, John Manners (1604-1679), became the 8th Earl of Rutland. The Manners family supported Charles I (1600-49) during the English Civil War. Three years after the king’s execution, Parliament ordered the demolition of Belvoir Castle as a punishment.

Following the restoration of the monarchy, the 8th Earl instructed the English architect John Webb (1611-72) to design a classical mansion to replace the old castle. Costing £11,730 (£2.06 million today), the building was completed in 1668, by which time the 9th Earl, also called John (1638-1711), had inherited the estate. Following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of James II (1633-1701), Manners entertained Princess Anne (1665-1714), the future Queen of England, at Belvoir Castle. When Anne succeeded the throne, she created Manners the Duke of Rutland and Marquess of Granby.

The ownership of Belvoir Castle continued to pass down the male line. John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland (1676-1721), stood as a member of parliament until the death of his father. His heir, also called John (1696-1779), made several improvements to the castle and developed a large art collection, which he later sold for unknown reasons. As well as art, the 3rd Duke held great interest in music and served as one of the directors of the Royal Academy of Music. He also supported the creation of London’s Foundling Hospital.

The 3rd Duke outlived his son, so the dukedom went to his grandson, Charles (1754-1787), who was also interested in art. Charles Manners collected objets d’art to decorate Belvoir Castle, almost bankrupting the family. When he died aged 33, the castle was abandoned until his son, John Henry Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland (1778-1857), came of age.

The 5th Duke’s wife, Lady Elizabeth (1780-1825), who had a passion for design and architecture, refurbished the derelict building. She supervised landscaping works on the estate and employed James Wyatt (1746-1813), a neoclassical and neo-Gothic architect, to renovate the house. Wyatt was known for his improvements to Windsor Castle, some of which he replicated at Belvoir Castle. Due to these similarities, Belvoir is often used as a Windsor Castle substitute in film and television dramas.

In 1816, when the expensive project was near completion, a fire destroyed the majority of the castle. It resulted in an estimated £120,000 (£9.39 million today) of damages, which included furnishings, objets d’art and paintings by Titian (1488-1576), Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), and Joshua Reynolds (1723-92). After raising a further £120,000 (£11.6 million today), building work began again. Today, one of the staterooms, the Elizabeth Saloon, is named after the wife of the 5th Duke.

Visitors to Belvoir Castle following its completion included Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857), a friend of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). The Duchess is famed for creating the British “afternoon tea”. According to letters existing from the 1840s, Belvoir Castle served dinner between the hours of 7 and 8 pm. Whilst they included a light luncheon at midday, which was a fairly new invention at the time, the Duchess claimed guests were feeling faint by the time they dined in the evening. She discovered having a midafternoon meal of tea (usually Darjeeling) and cakes or sandwiches provided the perfect balance. The Duchess often invited her friends to join her for afternoon tea, and the tradition quickly spread across the country.

John and Elizabeth’s eldest son, Charles (1815-88), inherited the estate and dukedom after his father’s death, but he never married. When Charles passed away in 1888, his brother John (1818-1906) became the 7th Duke of Rutland. John was made a Knight of the Garter in 1891, as was his son and heir, Henry Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland (1852-1925), in 1918. The 9th Duke of Rutland, John (1886-1940), fought in the First World War but passed away from pneumonia at the start of the Second. His son, Charles (1919-1999), who was serving in the Grenadier Guards at the time, became the 10th Duke. Charles was the father of the current Duke of Rutland, David Charles Robert Manners.

Visitors to Belvoir Castle enjoy self-guided tours around some of the most notable rooms of the house. The entrance hall, also known as the guardroom, is an example of the Gothic Revival style combined with Victorian modernisations. On the walls hang weapons, such as Brown Bess muskets of the Leicestershire Militia and circles of 18th-century swords embossed with the profile of the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852). Many of these weapons were collected by the 5th Duke of Rutland. In a letter to his agent, he wrote, “Where is the harm of old armour in a hall intended to look as if it belonged to days of yore?”

More of the 5th Duke’s antiquities are displayed on the staircase leading from the entrance hall to the landing. A canon from the First Sikh War (1845-46) is flanked by two sets of armour dating from the 16th century. On the landing above, aptly named the Carriage Landing, rests the 7th Duke’s Victorian invalid carriage, in which he was pushed around the castle during his 80s.

Upstairs, the Ballroom is lined with paintings of past Dukes of Rutland and their families. The room is also known as the Grand Corridor. Its use as a ballroom went out of fashion after the Regency Period. The 8th Duke used the 120-foot long space for informal family concerts, as recorded in Duchess Violet’s diary: “We have sung a lot in the ballroom and Marjorie and her voice will always be remembered by its walls.” Marjorie was the eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess.

One of the most picturesque rooms in the castle is the aforementioned Elizabeth Saloon, named after the 5th Duke’s wife. The style reflects the Louis Quatorze fashion of early 19th-century France, which the Duchess admired during a trip to the continent. Unfortunately, Elizabeth passed away from appendicitis before the room’s completion. As well as naming the room in her honour, the room’s decorator Matthew Cotes Wyatt (1777-1862) sculpted a marble statue of Elizabeth, placed in front of a floor-to-ceiling mirror, making it appear as though she is walking into the room. In respect of the Duchess, the decoration of the Elizabeth Saloon remains as she intended, despite the numerous family parties that have traipsed through the room. It is where Winston Churchill (1875-1965) sat and wept after hearing about the abdication of Edward VIII (1894-1972), and more recently, it was a filming location for Young Victoria (2009).

Adjacent to the Elizabeth Saloon is the State Dining Room. The decor and architecture were inspired by the 5th Duke and Duchess’ visit to Rome. The ceiling replicates the coffered version in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the first churches built in honour of the Virgin Mary. The room is furnished with a long, mahogany table, sideboard and chairs, with enough room to seat 16 guests.

On either side of the Dining Room fireplace, hang two full-length portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds. One depicts Lieutenant-General John Manners, Marquess of Granby (1721-1770), the eldest son of the 4th Duke of Rutland who predeceased his father. The Marquess served in the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) as the commander of the British troops, for which he was rewarded with the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. Due to his popularity with the troops, many pubs and inns across Britain are named after the Marquess. This painting originally hung at Windsor Castle, but the Prince Regent gifted it to Belvoir after the fire destroyed their copy of the portrait. The other painting in the Dining Room depicts Charles Manners, the 4th Duke of Rutland.

The majority of the artwork belonging to the Manners family is located in the Picture Gallery, including a family portrait of the present Duke by the Russian artist Vasili Smirnov (b. 1975). Other notable paintings include a full-length portrait of Henry VIII, purchased for the 4th Duke in 1787, Turk, A Dog by George Stubbs (1724-1806), depicting the 4th Duke’s dog, and The Last Supper by Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-50).

Also located in the Picture Gallery is a four-poster bed made for Katherine, Countess of Rutland, in 1696. It is one of the few items of furniture that survived the fire of 1816. The King’s Rooms, containing a bedroom and sitting area, also survived the worst of the fire. The rooms were used by visiting members of the Royal Family, including the Prince Regent and Queen Victoria. Allegedly, when the fire broke out, someone bricked up the doorway to prevent the flames from spreading into the newly decorated room.

In honour of the Prince Regent’s visit, the 131-foot gallery adjoining the King’s Rooms was named the Regent’s Gallery. As well as regency furniture and decor, the room features the Louis XV Gobelin tapestries, bought by the 5th Duke in 1814. The tapestries tell the story of Don Quixote, a fictional character invented by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616). At the top of each tapestry is the image of a peacock. The symbol is coincidently the crest of the Dukes of Rutland.

Within Belvoir Castle is a chapel that survives from the third castle on the site. On the left of the alter is a sculpture of the elder brother of the 9th Duke, who died aged nine. Three Mortlake tapestries adorn the walls depicting episodes from the New Testament based on paintings by Raphael (1483-1520).

Visitors can also explore “below stairs” where the servants used to work. The kitchen was large enough for 35 members of staff to work simultaneously to provide meals and refreshments to the family and their guests. The cook and kitchen maids usually slept in bedrooms near the kitchens and ate in the Servants’ Hall. The more senior members of the household staff ate in the Stewards’ Dining Room, which is now used as a restaurant.

Three sections of the cellar were reserved for beer barrels, which the dukes purchased from the Brewhouse in Belvoir Village. Some barrels were kept for special occasions, such as the “Robert de Todeni” barrel, which could hold 1,300 gallons.

Earlier in the castle’s history, the Manners family consulted the landscape architect Capability Brown (1716-83) about the layout of the estate, which encompasses almost 15,000 acres (61 km2). Brown proposed a subterraneous passageway to transport produce and servants into the castle since they could not use the grand entrance. Known as the Dooms for its dungeon-like atmosphere, the tunnel also transported coal on rail tracks from the family’s mines in Derbyshire.

Capability Brown’s designs for the castle gardens never came to fruition during his lifetime, but the current Duchess oversaw a project to bring some of Brown’s lost plans to life. Yet, the restoration project also kept some of the additions added by the wife of the 8th Duke of Rutland.

Designed by Harold Peto (1854-1933) for Duchess Violet, the Rose Garden reflects the Italian Renaissance era and features a marble column from Bologna in Italy. Dotted around the garden are a series of statues representing the seasons created by the Danish sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber (1630-1700). These were commissioned by the 1st Duke of Rutland in 1680. There is also a statue of Juno, a Roman goddess and wife of Jupiter, whose insignia is a peacock, the same as the Manners family crest.

Today, only a corner of the castle is used by the Manners family. The rest is open to the public at various times throughout the year. The castle is also a popular location for film and television and was used most recently as a stand-in for Windsor Castle in the second series of the British television series The Crown (2017). Belvoir Castle has also featured in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), The Da Vinci Code (2006) as Castel Gandolfo, Young Sherlock Holmes (2008) and The Haunting (1991).

For opening times and special events, please visit the website: https://www.belvoircastle.com/

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Grimsthorpe Castle

Rising majestically within a 3,000-acre park of rolling pastures is Grimsthorpe Castle, a country house in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. Managed by the Grimsthorpe & Drummond Castle Trust, the house and its gardens are open to the public from Sunday to Thursday. Visitors enjoy long walks around lakes and a woodland landscaped by famous gardener Capability Brown (1716-83). Whilst the Trust welcomes everyone to explore the park and building, it remains the home of Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. Grimsthorpe has been the home of the de Eresby family since 1516.

Grimsthorpe Castle is not a castle in the conventional sense of the word, but any buildings with crenellated towers had the right to apply for castle status. The impressive front of the house was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726), who is perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace. Yet, Grimsthorpe dates back much further than the 17th-century. During the 13th century, Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln (1126-56), built a defensive tower on the land, known as King John’s Tower. Since the dates of Gilbert de Gant and King John (1166-1216) do not match up, the name came later than the construction.

When Gilbert de Gant died in 1156, the tower fell into the hands of the Earl of Chester and Grimsthorpe. Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester (1172-1232), who worked for the king, may have been the person to name the tower “King John’s Tower”. After this, the ownership remained obscure until the late 15th century, when it belonged to Lord Francis Lovel (1456-87). Lovel supported King Richard III (1452-85) during the War of the Roses. Legend says he was the king’s best friend and, after Richard was defeated by Henry VII (1457-1509), his property was confiscated by the crown.

In 1516, Henry VIII (1491-1547) granted Grimsthorpe to William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby (1482-1526), as a wedding present. Willoughby had recently married María de Salinas (1490-1539), the lady-in-waiting to the king’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). When Willoughby passed away, his only daughter, Catherine (1518-90), inherited the barony and the estate. Usually, prestigious titles could not pass down to female children, but baronies are one of the few English titles that can descend through the female line.

Catherine was only seven when her father died, yet she inherited Grimsthorpe and 90 other manors in Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, worth around £900 per annum (approximately £500,000 today). She was one of the wealthiest heiresses of her generation, but at the time, too young to claim her estates. Catherine immediately became a Ward of Court, meaning she belonged to the king. In 1528, Henry VIII sold the wardship to his sister’s husband, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1484-1545). Rumours claim Henry intended to make Catherine his wife, but after Mary Tudor (1496-1533), Brandon married her instead.

The Duke of Suffolk set about renovating his wife’s house at Grimsthorpe, using stone from the nearby Vaudey Abbey. The Cistercian abbey, founded in 1147, was demolished following the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536. After rushing to complete the building project, Grimsthorpe Castle was ready to welcome Henry VIII in 1541. The king only stayed one night on his way to York to meet his nephew, James V of Scotland (1512-42), the father of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-87). The hastily constructed parts of Grimsthorpe Castle began to sink into the ground over the following centuries and required substantial repairs.

After Charles Brandon’s death, Catherine married Richard Bertie (1516-82), who formerly served as her Master of the Horse. The marriage was a love match, and many considered Bertie below Catherine’s status. Bertie was also a religious evangelical, which put the couple in danger when the Catholic Mary I (1516-58) came to the throne. Catherine and Bertie fled to the Continent to escape Mary’s persecution of religious reformers. They were among the 800 “Marian exiles” who fled to Protestant countries, such as the Low Countries, Germany, and Switzerland, between 1553 and 1558.

When Elizabeth I (1533-1603) succeeded her sister as queen, Catherine and her husband returned to Grimsthorpe in 1559 with their children, Susan (b.1554) and Peregrine (1555-1601). Peregrine Bertie was allegedly named for their peregrinations in exile. Susan left Grimsthorpe at the age of 16 when she married Reginald Grey of Wrest (1541-73), who later became the Earl of Kent.

In 1578, Catherine gave Grimsthorpe to her son on his marriage to the English noblewoman Mary de Vere (d.1624). He did not inherit the title of 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby until his mother’s death two years later. Peregrine spent several years as a soldier, fighting in the Netherlands against the Spanish. He finally returned to England in 1598 but died three years later due to poor health. His eldest son, Robert Bertie (1582-1642), whose godmother was Elizabeth I, inherited Grimsthorpe.

In 1625, Robert Bertie was appointed Lord Great Chamberlain, which allowed him and his heirs to take unwanted furniture from the royal court as a form of payment. It is for this reason that Grimsthorpe Castle contains several thrones, such as those used by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and the morbidly obese George IV (1762-1830).

In 1626, Robert Bertie was created Earl of Lindsey for his services to the king. During the Civil War, Lindsey fought on behalf of Charles I (1600-49). Whilst participating in the Battle of Edgehill in 1642, Lindsey received a shot through the thigh bone. Despite attempts to save his life, Lindsey died the following morning. The Earldom passed on to his eldest son, Montagu Bertie (1606-1666), who, at that time, was imprisoned in Warwick Castle.

As well as 2nd Earl of Lindsey, Montagu Bertie assumed the name Baron Willoughby de Eresby. He was released from prison 18-months after his father’s death and sold some of the timber from Grimsthorpe to support the Royalist cause. Montagu continued to attend to the king until Charles’s execution in 1649. Legend suggests the Earl of Lindsey was one of several men who tried to buy the king’s life with their own but were refused. Instead, Montagu and three other peers were responsible for burying Charles I’s body.

Parliament fined Montagu Bertie £647.13 for supporting the Royalist cause and a further £300 each year that he lived at Grimsthorpe during the Commonwealth. The 2nd Earl of Lindsey lived to see the monarchy restored and assisted as Lord Great Chamberlain at the Coronation of Charles II (1630-85). As payment, Montagu claimed the Indo-Portuguese bed, which the king used the night before the coronation. The bed still resides at Grimsthorpe Castle today.

Following Montagu Bertie’s death in 1666, his eldest son Robert became the 3rd Earl of Lindsey (1630-1701). Robert’s first marriage to Mary Massingberd provided the Earl with much-needed money, as did his second marriage to Elizabeth Wharton (d. 1669). In 1670, Robert married a third time to Lady Elizabeth Pope, who oversaw the rebuilding of the north front of Grimsthorpe Castle. She also arranged for the re-laying of the formal gardens.

In 1701, the Earldom passed on to another Robert (1660-1723), who received many titles during his lifetime. As well as the 4th Earl of Lindsey, Robert was styled as 17th Baron Willoughby de Eresby until 1706, after which he was made the 1st Marquess of Lindsey by Queen Anne (1665-1714). Following the queen’s death, Robert was created the 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven. This honour could only pass down the male line, so if a future heir only had a daughter, the title would die out.

While living at Grimsthorpe, the Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven employed Stephen Switzer (1682-1745) to design a fortified garden, although little remains of it today. Robert Bertie also hired Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) to create a baroque-style front to the house to celebrate his ennoblement as Duke. The design is Vanbrugh’s last masterpiece and encompasses the two-storey Stone Hall, State Dining Room, State Drawing Rooms and several bedrooms.

The Stone Hall, also known as the Vanbrugh Hall, features full-length paintings of English kings by Sir James Thornhill (1675-1734), which resemble statues standing in alcoves. The State Dining room is lit by an impressive Venetian window and the State Drawing Room contains a chimneypiece thought to be “one of the most elegant in England”. Vanbrugh also redesigned corridors at the south and west of the building, which now contain the thrones used by George I and Victoria, as well as many portraits of the Willoughby de Eresbys.

Vanbrugh died before the completion of Grimsthorpe Castle. It is not known for certain who took up the work, but it was not complete until 1730. When the 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven died, the castle and title passed on to his second eldest son, Peregrine (1686-1742), who oversaw the remainder of the building work. The eldest son predeceased his father by 19 years.

In 1742, the 3rd Duke of Ancaster, also called Peregrine, focused on decorating the interior of Grimsthorpe Castle. He brought the decor up to date by introducing the Rococo style. He also employed Capability Brown to landscape parts of the park. The fishponds that the 1st Earl of Lindsey dug were landscaped into a lake, and a knot garden, hedged rose garden, and a terrace with herbaceous and shrub borders were introduced.

Robert Bertie (1756-79) succeeded his father as 4th Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven but died a year later. With no children, the Dukedom passed on to his uncle Brownlow Bertie (1729-1809). Brownlow had no male children, so the Dukedom became extinct on his death in 1809. His only daughter predeceased him, so the Barony of Willoughby de Eresby passed to the 4th Duke’s eldest sister, Priscilla (1761-1828).

When Priscilla, 21st Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, arrived at Grimsthorpe, she found that the various alterations over the past century had achieved little to improve the building. Vanbrugh’s style of architecture was no longer in fashion, but Priscilla opted to keep it and hired Samuel Page to carry out a sympathetic restoration. Unfortunately, this work removed much of the original features of the Tudor parts of the house.

In 1828, Peter Robert Drummond-Burrell (1782-1865) succeeded his mother as 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby. Eight years previously, on the death of his father, he inherited the title 2nd Baron Gwydyr. Peter was a Member of Parliament for Boston in Lincolnshire, initially for the Whigs but changed his allegiance to the Tories later in life. At the Coronation of Queen Victoria, Peter had the privilege of holding the queen’s crown. Through his marriage to Sarah Clementina Drummond (1786-1865), he became the owner of Drummond Castle in Scotland.

When the 22nd Baron inherited Grimsthorpe, his mother’s will stipulated that all the furniture must be sold, and the proceeds shared with his sisters. The majority of the ornate furniture in the house today was purchased by Peter from various locations across the continent with his portion of the money.

Albyric Drummond-Willoughby (1821-70) succeeded his father as both 3rd Baron Gwydyr and 23rd Baron Willoughby de Eresby but died childless. The Barony passed to his older sister, Clementina (1809-88), a 60-year-old widow. She made little use of Grimsthorpe, but her son, Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby (1830-1910), used it for occasional winter shooting parties.

Gilbert became the 1st Earl of Ancaster, a title that passed to his eldest son, also called Gilbert (1867-1951). Finally, Grimsthorpe became a family home once more. The British Conservative politician and his American wife, Eloise Lawrence Breese (1882-1953), restored and modernised the house, which had been neglected for over 40 years. Arts and Crafts designer Detmar Blow (1867-1939) introduced bathrooms, electricity and central heating to the building.

When a relative passed away, Grimsthorpe received many furniture and tapestries. Many of the statues in the garden also come from the relative, whose estate at Normanton Park was sold and demolished in 1924. Eloise landscaped parts of the garden to accommodate the new stone arrivals.

During the First World War, the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force used Grimsthorpe Park as an emergency landing ground. The estate was also used during the Second World War by a company of the Parachute Regiment. While they were there, they whitewashed the walls of the Vanbrugh Hall and broke a pane of glass engraved with the names of James I (1566-1625) and his wife, Anne of Denmark (1574-1619). Fortunately, this was the only damage Grimsthorpe received during the war.

On the death of the 2nd Earl of Ancaster, his son James (1907-83) spent the post-war years putting the house back in order. He demolished the service block, which once occupied the courtyard. James’s wife, Nancy Phyllis Louise Astor (1909-1975), oversaw the redecoration of the interior. Her mother, Nancy Astor (1879-1964), the first female Member of Parliament to take her seat, spent her final years at Grimthorpe, passing away on 2nd May 1964.

James’s son and heir Timothy (b. 1936) disappeared at sea in 1962, so his daughter inherited the barony in 1983. Lady (Nancy) Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby (b. 1934) is the 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. Lady Willoughby was one of the six Maids of Honour at the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926). She created the Grimsthorpe and Castle Trust, which safeguards the house, its contents and park. Lady Willoughby never married and thus has no children. There are currently two co-heir presumptive: cousins Sebastian St Maur Miller (b. 1965) and Sir John Aird (b. 1940).

Grimsthorpe Castle remains an impressive building with beautifully landscaped gardens. On the east side of the house, a 19th-century copy of a Gladiator in the Borghese Gardens in Rome stands proudly amongst the carefully landscaped flowerbeds. Several more sculptures are located around the grounds, including those in the Old Walled Garden. Produced as part of an exhibition by the Lettering Arts Trust, the artworks celebrate the beauty of the hand-made letter.

One of the artworks in the Old Walled Garden was originally designed for installation in the Park at West Dean in West Sussex. Inspired by the artist David Crowe, 11-metre high chalk letters spell out the word “fragile”. The artist wanted it to appear carved into the ground to remind people that the world needs to treat the natural environment with care.

Nearby, a labyrinth made of turf and box plants represents medieval beliefs. Unlike a maze, which gives people choices of direction, the labyrinth twists and turns in coils until it reaches the middle. Ancient civilisations believed their lives were mapped out in the stars and that their fate was already decided.

For £7 (£3 for children), Grimsthorpe welcomes visitors to explore the extensive gardens and parklands. Those wishing to visit the house, as well as the gardens, can purchase tickets for £13 (£5.50). Photography is not allowed inside the house, but visitors have the opportunity to join a guided tour and learn all about the rooms and the long line of the de Eresby family.

Tickets must be purchased in advance on the Grimthorpe Website.

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Woolsthorpe Manor

The past year and a half has been challenging for everyone. For some, it has resulted in the death of loved ones, loss of jobs, ill health, depression and anxiety. Yet, for others, it has been an opportunity to spend time with family, take up new hobbies, redecorate the house, and learn something new. Perhaps someone has even made a scientific discovery. At least, that is what Sir Isaac Newton achieved during the Great Plague of 1665-1666. Known as his Annus Mirabilis or ‘Year of Wonders’, Newton spent lockdown at his childhood home in the countryside, where he filled his time learning and discovering new things about the world.

On Christmas day in 1642, Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe Manor in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, to Hannah Ayscough (1623-79). Christmas day babies were special, but Newton was also considered blessed because he was born three months after the death of his father, also called Isaac. When Hannah remarried the rector, Barnabas Smith (1582-1653), from North Witham, three-year-old Newton remained at Woolsthorpe Manor with his maternal grandparents.

Woolsthorpe Manor was a yeoman’s farmstead, which principally reared sheep. While Newton was not adept at farming, the environment and landscape inspired his curious mind to observe and experiment with nature. His quiet, contemplative personality set Newton apart from other boys his age, particularly when he started attending the Grammar School in Grantham at the age of 12.

Rather than travel several miles to and from school, Newton lodged with Mr Clark, an apothecary. Mr Clark’s daughter remembered Newton as “a sober, silent, thinking lad who never was known scarce to play with the boys abroad.” Newton paid little attention to his lessons, preferring to study the workings of mechanical devices, such as the newly built postmill nearby. As soon as he had an opportunity, Newton constructed a working model of the postmill from wood.

Visitors can see an example of Newton’s postmill model at Woolsthorpe Manor, which now belongs to the National Trust. The house has been refurbished since Newton lived there, but recent discoveries suggest some sections remain as they were in the 17th century. On a wall in the kitchen, a faint carving of a postmill suggests Newton drew on the walls as a child. Other carvings have also been discovered around the room.

Newton’s notebooks reveal some of the experiments he undertook at school and home during his childhood. These included staring at the sun until he almost went blind and squeezing his eye-ball with a large blunt needle to see what would happen. He also had a keen interest in astronomy, time and mathematics.

At 17, Newton’s mother removed him from school and set him to work on the farm. Rather than look after the sheep, Newton spent his time reading or designing waterwheels and such-like. A disastrous nine months persuaded Newton’s mother to send him back to school, where he gained enough knowledge to enter the University of Cambridge. In June 1661, at the age of 18, Newton left his rural lifestyle behind in exchange for the city.

History books about the Great Plague tend to focus on London, but most major cities across England were affected. In 1665, Charles II (1630-85) tried to halt the spread of the plague by imposing a lockdown to prevent people from mixing. This was not too dissimilar from Boris Johnson’s decisions in 2020. Likewise, if someone came into contact with a plague victim, they had to quarantine for 40 days, painting a red cross on their door to warn others to stay away. Those who could, fled to the countryside where the population was much lower than in the cities.

Newton retreated to the safety of his childhood home in the summer of 1665. Despite being away from his university studies, Newton’s lockdown resulted in some of his best theories that changed the course of science. “For in those days, I was in the prime of my age for invention & minded Mathematics & Philosophy more than at any time since.” (Isaac Newton)

One of Newton’s aims was to understand how light worked. He observed that glass used in chandeliers sometimes changed white light into a rainbow of colours. With a glass prism, Newton experimented with light in his bed chamber. By boring a hole into the wooden shutters, Newton let a thin beam of light into his darkened room. When he placed the glass prism in the line of light, the colour changed, creating a rainbow pattern on the opposite wall. To ascertain whether the prism caused the light to change colour, Newton placed a second prism in the path of a single-coloured beam coming from the first prism. He noted the colour remained the same, thus proving that the glass had not altered it. From this experiment, Newton inferred that white light was made up of several colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Renovations to the house removed any evidence of Newton’s experiments, but his notebooks reveal the measurements of the room he used. Newton recorded the room had a width of “22 feet from the south-facing shutter to the wall”. Only one room in the manor house fits this description and has since been known as Newton’s chamber. For the benefit of visitors, the National Trust has filled the room with furniture from the 17th century and decorated the white walls with diagrams from Newton’s notes. Despite the carved drawings in the kitchen, it is unlikely that Newton wrote his findings on the wall. To demonstrate Newton’s experiment, a torch shines a light onto a prism, which produces a rainbow on the wall above the bed.

During his time at Woolsthorpe Manor, Newton contemplated the workings of the universe. While sitting under an apple tree outside the house, he observed an apple fall to the ground. This incident sparked questions, such as, why did the apple fall straight down and not to the side? Many who have heard this story believe this was the moment Newton “discovered” gravity, yet gravity was hypothesised by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) in 1604 and confirmed by Italian Jesuits, Grimaldi (1618-63) and Riccioli (1598-1671), in the 1640s.

The apple incident encouraged Newton to explore the theory of gravity in greater depth. He theorised that gravity was a key component in the working of the universe. Through numerous calculations, Newton developed a universal law of gravitation, which explained that all things with mass or energy are attracted to one another. Newton expanded upon theories suggested by Ismaël Boulliau (1605-94) and Giovanni Borelli (1608-79), who claimed the planets in the solar system are drawn towards the sun. Newton continued to explain that all planets, stars, galaxies, and even light are attracted to one another.

Newton did not tell the story of the apple tree until much later in life, leaving many people wondering if it actually happened or whether it was an example of gravity in action. Nonetheless, the incident was immortalised by Newton’s biographer, William Stukeley (1687-1765), who wrote, “the notion of gravitation… was occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood.” Legend or not, there is an apple tree standing by Woolsthorpe Manor, which has enticed pilgrims and tourists to the area since Newton’s death in 1727.

An apple tree has stood at Woolsthorpe Manor for at least 400 years. Many visitors ask if the tree is the same one Newton sat under, but the answer is not straightforward. In 1820, a storm blew the tree down, prompting many people, including students at Cambridge, to attempt to preserve it. Parts of the broken tree were used to make wooden trinkets and such-like, but the roots remained embedded in the ground. From these roots grew another tree, which remains at Woolsthorpe today. Dendrochronologists have determined it is technically the same tree, and the Tree Council has listed it as one of 50 Great British Trees.

Since the National Trust took over the property, the apple tree has been regularly pruned and looked after. It is a Flower of Kent tree, which produces green-red cooking apples. This type of tree was first mentioned in the 15th century and, despite its name, originated in France. At certain times of the year, the apples are used in the cafe at Woolsthorpe Manor.

Not only are these apples famous for their association with Isaac Newton, but they are also rather rare. After almost losing the tree in the storm of 1820, a graft was taken by Reverend Charles Turnor (1768-1853), who propagated the tree at Belton Park in Lincolnshire. During the 1930s, the Fruit Research Station at East Malling in Kent took grafts of the tree at Belton and gave them to the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. In the 1970s, Kew Gardens in London grew apple trees from the stock in Cambridge, one of which stands outside the Physics Department at the University of York.

Newton’s laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation, which derived from the incident with the apple tree, were recorded in his most important written work, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published in 1687. Shortened to Principia, the Latin document includes details about Newton’s experiments during lockdown and his further studies at Cambridge University. Whilst at Woolsthorpe Manor, Newton also produced three papers on calculus, which he continued working on once life returned to “normal”. Six months after returning to Cambridge, he was elected as a Minor Fellow of Trinity College. Then, two years later, he was appointed as the second Lucasian Professor. 

Principia is one of the most important books in the history of science and brought about the beginning of the Age of Reason. Yet, Newton usually kept to himself at Cambridge, almost in a state of self-isolation and rarely discussed his ideas with others. Without the prompting of one student and future astronomer, Edmond Halley (1656-1742), Principia may never have been printed. Halley coaxed Newton through the writing process by asking questions and demanding written proof. The young astronomer even paid for the publication of Newton’s work.

Although science has moved on since Newton’s era, Principia remains a respected piece of work. When asked to name his 2015 mission to the International Space Station, British Astronaut Tim Peake (b. 1972) chose Principia in honour of the famous scientist and mathematician.

“Not only does it have the link with space and gravity but also it’s a celebration of science and that is what the space station is about now.”
Tim Peake

As well as an English translation of Principia, Peake took seeds from the tree at Woolsthorpe Manor on his trip to the International Space Station. Peake and the seeds spent six months floating in microgravity before returning to Earth in 2016. Then the UK Space Agency, the National Trust and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew took care of the seeds, nurturing them into saplings.

In January 2020, one of the “Space Saplings” returned to Woolsthorpe Manor, where Tim Peake planted it a few yards from the original tree. Many people have joked about potential alien DNA picked up by the seeds while in space, but chances are the sapling will grow into a normal Flower of Kent tree.

A competition was held to find homes for the remaining saplings. They have since been planted at the Eden Project in Cornwall, the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre in Cheshire, the Brogdale Collections in Kent, the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Cheshire, Bushy Park in London, the Rosliston Forestry Centre in Derbyshire, and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna. To win the competition, the applicants demonstrated their commitment to science, physics, space and horticulture. As well as looking after the young trees, the centres are expected to encourage education, break down barriers to allow access to science for people of all ages, genders and abilities, and inspire potential future Isaac Newtons.

Whilst the apple tree is one of the greatest draws to Woolsthorpe Manor, the museum-like house provides an insight into Newton’s everyday life. By studying Newton’s diaries and letters from his family and friends, the National Trust has recreated Newton’s childhood home to the best of its ability. Newton had very few possessions and not much wealth of which to speak. From the outside, his home life appeared typical of the seventeenth century, yet Newton saw the world in a very different way.

The house reveals Newton’s human needs, making him appear no different from everyone else. Despite his genius status, Newton had his foibles and, according to a list of sins, quite a temper. Newton’s background did not reflect his achievements, which may give hope to many young visitors who feel their circumstances hinder them from reaching their full potential. In the barns and stables, hands-on activities demonstrate some of Newton’s ideas and discoveries. Not everyone can understand the workings of Newton’s mind, but seeing things in action certainly helps break Science down into manageable portions.

Woolsthorpe Manor is open from Thursday to Monday between 11am and 5pm. Access to the Manor House is by guided tour only, which can be booked online. Tickets cost £9.50 for adults and £4.75 for children over the age of five. National Trust members can visit for free.

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Simeon goes to Grantham

Dear Secret Agent Simeon. The miserable malcontent Ivor Grudge is up to his old tricks again. This time he has planted a device in the Bell Tower of St Wulfram’s Church. The device is set to explode at the stroke of midnight. You must act quickly to find the code to deactivate the device and save the Church and the resident Peregrine Falcons who nest there.
Regards, Treasure Trails

Once again, Simeon, the red-haired gibbon (toffee-coloured, if you please), is called in to save the day. After receiving Top Secret Spy Mission Documents from Treasure Trails in the post, Simeon headed to the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire to follow a trail of clues around the town of Grantham. The two-mile trek took Simeon past some notable sights, including the birthplace of the UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the school attended by Sir Isaac Newton.

Grantham was once an Anglo-Saxon “homestead by gravel”. Names ending in ham were usually medieval homesteads, and “Grant” comes from the Old English word for gravel. Today, the urbanised town contains shopping centres, many pubs, industrial estates and high street shops. Yet, as Simeon discovered, there are plenty of buildings dating back hundreds of years.

According to the Domesday Book of 1086, Edith the Fair (c. 1025-66), the first wife of King Harold Godwinson (c. 1022-66), had a hall or house in Grantham before the Battle of Hastings in 1066. After this, William the Conqueror (1028-87) established a manor house, and the area became a valuable asset to future kings. Records also reveal St Wulfram’s Church existed at the time of the “Great Survey”. Yet, the building Simeon set out to save was built at a later date.

Simeon’s trail of clues passed through St Wulfram’s churchyard, and Simeon could not resist having a peek inside the church. The building is named in honour of St Wulfram of Fontenelle (c. 640-703), who served as the Archbishop of Sens in France during the 7th century. Wulfram took holy orders hoping for a quiet life, but instead, he became a missionary to Friesland in Germany. He succeeded in converting the pagan King Radbod (d. 719) to Christianity before retiring to Fontenelle. After his death, Wulfram was canonised, and he is remembered for several miracles. He is credited with the miraculous delivery of a stillborn baby, thus saving the mother’s life, preventing the death of a hanged man, and rescuing two boys who the king had sacrificed to the sea during a pagan ritual.

There are only four churches dedicated to St Wulfram, two in France and two in England. One is in Ovingdean, Sussex, and the other in Grantham. Only a few stones of the original Saxon church remain in Grantham, which was altered and expanded by the Normans after 1066. Likewise, not much is visible of the Norman building due to a lightning strike in 1222.

In 1280, after rebuilding the nave, the church expanded towards the west, taking over the space once belonging to a Saxon marketplace. Supporting piers or columns in the church feature mason marks, which indicate the gradual process of building the tower. Simeon, being on the small side, could not see these marks from ground level, but he felt awe-inspired by the height of the spire, which is visible across the town.

The spire reaches an impressive height of 86.2 metres (283 ft), making it the tallest church in England at the time of completion. Many churches and cathedrals are now taller than St Wulfram’s, but it takes credit for inspiring architects to aspire to reach such heights. One side of the spire is wider than the other to incorporate a spiral staircase leading to the belfry. “That’s where the nasty Ivor Grudge has planted his device,” realised Simeon. “I must prevent him from destroying this beautiful church.”

Simeon hurried off to complete his mission after temporarily getting distracted by the beautiful stained glass windows. The oldest windows date to the Victorian era and illustrate scenes such as the Last Supper, Christ’s early years, the Evangelists and the biblical Prophets. Others depict the four Lincolnshire saints: Regimus, Hugh, Botolph and Gilbert of Sempringham, and the Latin Fathers: Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory and Augustine.

Four windows are relatively modern in comparison to the Victorian stained-glass. One, known as the Catlin window, depicts a war in heaven, as described in Revelation 12:7-12. Designed by Henry Harvey of York in 1962, the window shows the archangel Michael holding the scales of justice and a spear. On one side, a man, surrounded by chaos, begs the angel for help. On the other, a defeated Satan and the condemned fall into hell. This window was donated by Lewis Catlin in memory of his family.

The Porter Window (1969), named in memory of Jessie Porter, depicts the birth and life of Christ. Jessie came from a family of shoemakers in Grantham, so the designer Leonard Evetts (1909-1997) included shoemaker tools in the design. John Hayward (1929-2007), who made nearly 200 stained glass windows in his lifetime, produced the other two contemporary windows. Donated by Thomas Hall in memory of Minnie Hall in 1970 is a window depicting Jesus walking on water. His disciple, Peter, tries to follow suit but begins to sink. “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:31, NIV)

Hayward designed the other window in 1974 for Lily Pinchbeck in memory of members of her family, who regularly attended St Wulfram’s Church. The design symbolically represents the seven Sacraments: baptism (font and scallop shell), eucharist (bread and wine), confirmation and holy orders (bishop’s mitre), reconciliation (tears), anointing of the sick (oil), and marriage (ring). The window also represents the Pinchbeck family with references to baptism, singing in the choir and serving at the altar.

Having finished admiring the interior of St Wulfram’s Church, which Sir Gilbert Scott (1811-78) expertly restored in the 1860s, Simeon ventured outside to search for clues along Church Street. Several old buildings surround the church, including the original building of the King’s School (the present school is situated on Brook Street). On closer inspection, Simeon discovered that Isaac Newton (1642-1726) once attended the school between 1655 and 1660.

The school’s history dates back to the early 15th century, but few records exist until Bishop Richard Foxe (1448-1528) refounded the establishment in 1528. This suggests the school fell into disuse towards the beginning of the 16th century. Foxe came from Ropsley, a village near Grantham and served as Lord Privy Seal to Henry VII (1457-1509). Foxe also refounded Taunton Grammar School in Somerset (1522) and set up Corpus Christi College in Oxford (1517).

During the 16th century, the school officially became known as the Free Grammar School of King Edward VI. At first, not many attended the school, so classes were not large when Newton began studying in 1655. The future “natural philosopher” started attending King’s School at the age of 12, where he learned elementary mathematics, Latin and religion. He lodged with an apothecary’s family in the high street, who noted he was “a sober, silent, thinking lad,” yet records suggest Newton could also defend himself in a physical fight.

Newton paid little attention to his lessons, preferring to make mechanical devices and discover how things worked. (“I would rather climb trees,” says Simeon.) As he approached his 17th birthday, Newton’s mother called him home to work on the family estate, but he proved useless at manual labour and frequently had his head in a book. Newton’s uncle and Mr Stokes, the schoolmaster at King’s School, persuaded Newton’s mother to return him to school. After another year of education, Newton earned a place at Trinity College, Cambridge. As was customary for King’s School scholars in the 17th century, Isaac Newton carved his signature on the wall of the school library.

Isaac Newton is remembered fondly in Grantham, and Simeon spotted many references to the scholar around the town. The primary shopping centre is named the Isaac Newton Centre, which houses the public library as well as a range of shops. Opposite the centre is a statue of Newton, which the town erected in 1858. The sculptor, William Theed the Younger (1804-91), a favourite of Queen Victoria (1819-1901), made the statue from the bronze of a Russian cannon used during the Crimean War. It cost the public £1800 to produce this statue of Newton, which is the equivalent of £230,000 today.

During his search for clues, Simeon discovered another statue dedicated to Sir Isaac Newton. Situated in Wyndham Park Sensory Garden is a large hand holding an apple. Newton developed his Law of Gravitation after witnessing an apple falling from a tree. Nigel Sardeson, a self-taught woodcarver, produced the statue from the remains of a horse chestnut tree in 2010. Unfortunately, the roots and interior of the tree stump began to decay, and the statue sprouted fungus.

An urgent preservation project took place in 2015. The statue was removed from the ground and taken away for treatment. A year later, the Mayor of Grantham, Linda Wootton, unveiled the refurbished apple sculpture, which now sits upon a concrete base.

The apple statue is one of many attractions in Wyndham Park. As Simeon made his way through the grass and trees, he came across an open-air paddling pool, a model boating lake and the River Witham. Carefully skirting these for fear of getting wet, Simeon searched the area of clues.

The park is named after Lieutenant The Hon. William Reginald Wyndham of the 1st Life Guards, who died in action in 1914 at the beginning of the First World War. His mother, Constance Evelyn Primrose, Lady Leconfield (1846-1939), officially opened the park in 1924. The model boating lake predated the park by almost forty years and was once used for bathing.

While walking beside the River Witham, Simeon spotted a bench dedicated to Mr James Bench, the inventor of the bench. Scratching his head, Simeon moved on, convinced someone was pulling his leg. Soon, Simeon was distracted by a sign marking the way to “Grantham’s Oldest Resident”. Intrigued, Simeon eagerly took that path, eyes peeled to spot something very old.

After walking almost a mile (a very long way for a little gibbon), Simeon finally came face-to-face with “Grantham’s Oldest Resident”: an oak tree. Resisting his animal instincts, Simeon looked up in awe at the huge tree rather than climb up its 600-year old trunk. The tree is an ancient English oak (Quercus Robur) with a girth of over 7 metres. That’s more than 30 Simeons!

The tree’s exact age is indeterminable, but the Woodland Trust suggest it may have been a sapling when Grantham was attacked during the War of the Roses in 1461. The tree has seen Grantham grow from a relatively small village into a large town with a population of over 44,000 people. In 2018, construction work threatened the Grantham Oak, whose roots stretch almost 7 metres. The Woodland Trust and the South Kesteven District Council intervened, placing protective measures around the tree and its roots to protect it from damage. It is unusual to find an oak tree as old as this in an urban setting. Most are cut down to make way for roads and buildings, so the Grantham Oak’s survival makes it even more special.

Back in the town centre, Simeon spotted the much thinner Market Cross. Demolished and rebuilt several times over the centuries, the cross is a reminder of Grantham’s early days as an 11th-century market town. Grantham played a large role in the wool trade, which helped raise funds to build St Wulfram’s Church. The nine metre-high cross sits in the centre of the historic part of the town on octagonal limestone slabs.

Not far from the Market Cross, Simeon found a tea room (or gibbon refuelling stop, as he calls it) and treated himself to a chocolate brownie. Being an observant gibbon, Simeon noticed the strange name of the tea room, The Conduit. “I wonder why it has that name,” thought Simeon. He did not need to look far to find out. On the pavement outside stood a strange little building, also called The Conduit. This is the remains of Grantham’s first public water supply.

The first water conduit was constructed in 1134 by the Greyfriars, a group of Franciscan monks who lived near the marketplace. They used lead pipes to convey water from a nearby spring to their house. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the water was rerouted to the strange little building outside the tea room in 1597. The inhabitants of Grantham could draw water from the conduit instead of springs or streams, and by 1680, water carts delivered water directly to houses for a fee of £3 a year. The conduit needed several repairs throughout its lifetime, and the lead pipes were replaced with iron pipes. Eventually, the conduit fell out of use due to the advent of modern water systems.

While looking for clues, Simeon came across a whole range of interesting things, including the birthplace of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013). Thatcher, née Roberts attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, which was established in 1910. The King’s School, attended by Newton, only admits boys.

Thatcher and Newton are not the only notable people from Grantham. Edith Smith (1876-1924), the first woman police officer with full arrest powers, patrolled the streets of Grantham. Thomas Paine (1737-1809), the author of Common Sense, briefly worked in the town as an Excise Officer. There are also many past and present politicians and sportsmen who hail from the area. Simeon also came across a family of bees living in a hive outside the Beehive Inn. South African bees have inhabited the hive since 1830.

After walking the many streets of Grantham, Simeon solved all the clues, cracked the code and saved St Wulfram’s Church from destruction. He learned so much about the town along the way and thoroughly enjoyed himself. When in the area, Simeon recommends visiting Belton House, built in the 17th century. It is located 3 miles from Grantham and has extensive parklands. It was also one of the locations for the BBC’s 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.

To purchase the Grantham Treasure Trail, visit treasuretrails.co.uk

Read about Simeon’s previous adventures here:
Simeon goes to Amsterdam
Simeon and the Bloomsbury Treasures
Simeon Visits Rainham Hall
Simeon, the Cliffs and the Sea
Simeon Encounters Antwerp
Simeon Investigates Covent Garden
Simeon and the Green Witch’s Treasure
Simeon Conquers York
Simeon’s Bristol Highlights
Simeon Returns to Bristol: Part One
Simeon Returns to Bristol: Part Two

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