Historic Homes of England
The spectacular Holkham Hall in Norfolk
Thomas Coke brought ancient Rome to the farmlands of Norfolk – and the result, says Katherine Sorrell, is one of the most impressive houses in England
WHEN England’s grandest country houses were built, they were intended to demonstrate their owners’ wealth and power. This was especially true when it came to entrances and state rooms, which were designed to impress even the most important of visitors.
The Marble Hall at Holkham fulfils this brief superbly. Described as the grandest entrance hall in any English country house, it reaches an extraordinary 15 metres high, with lower walls faced in pink Staffordshire alabaster (not, in fact, marble) that incorporates Greek key detailing and a grand staircase leading to the upper floor, where ionic columns rise up to an immense, vaulted ceiling that is based on the Pantheon in Rome.
The hall is, however, only a precursor to the splendour inside. From the gallery of fine Roman statues to the three libraries that contain some 10,000 books and manuscripts; from the Old Masters that fill the Landscape Room from floor to ceiling to the opulence of the Saloon, with its huge paintings by Rubens and van Dyck, this is truly a place of superlatives.
It is hardly surprising that it was used to portray the interiors of Buckingham Palace in the BBC docudrama Victoria and Albert.
It was a brilliant 16th-century lawyer, Edward Coke, who paved the way for the establishment of Holkham Hall and its extensive estate near Wells-next-the-Sea, which now comprises 25,000 acres, including a deer park, beach and nature reserve, boutique hotel, holiday park, seven family farms, serviced offices and a wedding and events space.
Sir Edward was attorney general to both Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, and amassed a fortune, much of which he shrewdly invested in land in Norfolk, where he had been born.
Fast-forward a century or so and Edward’s great-great-great-grandson,
Thomas, spent his early years in a manor house on the Holkham Estate.
Orphaned at the age of ten, Thomas went to Derbyshire to live with guardians but, by the time he was 15, his interest in cockfighting (and associated gambling) had become problematic. He was sent to Europe to undertake a six-year Grand Tour, where he fell in love with Italy.
Despite being just out of his teens, he bought a huge number of valuable works of art, statues, books and manuscripts, and returned to his estate in 1718 to build a temple to the arts, to be filled with his collection.
Thomas worked with the classical architect William Kent, whom he had met in Italy, to draw up plans for a Palladian-style mansion. The first foundations were dug in 1734, and the work, supervised by estate architect Matthew Brettingham, was to continue for three decades.
Sadly, Thomas died in 1759 and never saw the completion of his dream, but his formidable widow, Lady Margaret Tufton, finished and furnished the house exactly according to his plans and ruled over it with a rod of iron for the next 17 years.
“The house is still very much what Thomas Coke created,” archivist Lucy Purvis says. “Descendants made only minor changes and adjustments, so it is easy to imagine that you’re stepping back into Georgian England.”
After the death of Lady Margaret, Holkham passed to Thomas’s nephew Wenman Roberts, who changed his name to Coke, but died 12 months later. His son, Thomas William, became master of the estate and was one of its most notable inhabitants.
“He came to live at Holkham in 1776, and will be remembered for his stewardship of the estate,” Purvis says. “It was his annual Holkham sheep shearing that developed into the county shows enjoyed today. Many of the farm buildings were developed, and his legacy can still be seen across the estate in the farmhouses and farmyards designed by Samuel Wyatt.”
Thomas, who was known as “Coke of Norfolk”, was a Whig politician for more than 50 years, and was elevated to the peerage in 1837 by a very young Queen Victoria.
Another of Coke of Norfolk’s achievements was to plant more than
a million trees, creating a stunning park and a wonderful habitat for wildlife that still exists today. He made few changes to the Hall itself, but his son, also Thomas William (the second Earl), carried out alterations in the 1850s, including adding a new vestibule, orangery, terraced gardens, stable block and offices, and installing central heating and a new water supply system, which is still in use today.
Modern visitors to the hall will find no fewer than 12 state rooms available for public viewing, with occasional access to some of the private apartments, including the libraries, Chapel and the Parrot Bedroom, so named because of its vibrant painting of parrots and macaws by the Flemish artist Frans Snyders.
“The room is dominated by a dramatic, Regency-style four-poster bed with a gorgeous silk canopy edged with gold brocade, tassels and swags,” Purvis says. “The bed is highly gilded, and above the canopy are ornate coronets of the Earl of Leicester. I love the details and vast range of colours used in the painting of the parrots’ feathers. It is so vibrant, and I can easily imagine the parrot taking off and flying around the Hall.”
Believe it or not, this is not the most lavish of the bedrooms in the Hall. That honour goes to the Green State Bedroom, which was used by kings and queens – and as a disco for the current Earl’s 21st birthday party.
“This is the room that Princess Victoria slept in when she visited with her mother in 1835,” Purvis explains. “It is the tapestries that I find particularly fascinating. These represent the four continents: Europe, Africa, America and Asia. There is no Australasia, as it hadn’t been discovered yet! I particularly like America, with the crocodile snapping around the ankles of an unknown princess and ships from the old world in the background. The colours in the tapestries are still vivid, even though they are well over 250 years old.”
Another highlight is the North State Sitting Room, lined with four huge
Brussels tapestries. Purvis points out that its “Cornucopia” suite of a sofa and four chairs is also magnificent.
“It sums up the understated design seen throughout the Hall,” she says. “The design is attributed to William Kent and is dated mid-18th century, when the Hall was being built. The carving is rich in detail and includes harebells, shells, floral garlands and Greek key pattern. The lions on the armrests of the sofa look rather timid,
and not at all fierce! It was conserved in 2014 and looks as striking now as it must have done when it was part of Lady Margaret’s dressing-room.”
In the 1970s, the fifth Earl died, leaving three daughters. As the estate can only pass through the male line, his
South-Africabased cousin, Anthony Louis Lovel Coke, inherited and became the sixth Earl but, choosing not to relocate, passed the responsibility to his son, Edward, who moved to England and later became the seventh Earl.
Edward spent more than 30 years running Holkham, modernising its farm and winning an award for his contribution to conservation. He also restored the Hall and its contents to their former glory, reinstating the 18th-century glazing replaced with plate glass by the second Earl.
Edward’s son, Thomas, the eighth Earl, has continued diversifying the estate towards leisure, tourism and property development and renewable energy. The estate has installed three bio-mass boilers which use woodchips from its woods, a ground source heat pump for its new offices, and a large solar-electricity field. An anaerobic digestion plant, fed with maize and rye, produces gas for the National Grid.
For Tom Leicester, wife Polly and their children, Holkham is very much a family home, which they are proud to share with visitors.
He says: “We do not treat the house as a museum. We encourage our visitors to walk on the carpets and to get close to the ancient statues and treasures, as we do.”
Holkham Hall, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk NR23 1AB; 01328 713111; holkham.co.uk