Regency Estates: Ashridge

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Nestled in Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, Ashridge home and estate was a fine example of Gothic Revival estates built during the Regency.  The third Duke of Bridgewater had commenced demolition of the medieval priory buildings on the land to build a new country home.  It wasn’t until the seventh Duke of Bridgewater, who commissioned James Wyatt to design Ashridge, that the new home began to take shape in 1808.  Wyatt died unexpectedly in 1813, halfway through construction, and the project was continued by his nephew Jeffry Wyatt.  It continues pieces of the old priory building, reflective of the site’s history.

It was and is an expansive mansion, featured a facade of Totternhone stone, castellated parapets and low slate roofs, casement windows with pointed arches, and a grand front entrance.

For more images in this collection:https://www.thedicamillo.com/house/ashridge-ashridge-park-ashridge-house/

Ashridge House At a short distance from the Berkhampstead Station of the London and North Western Railway lies the magnificent domain of Ashridge which for upwards of six centuries and a half has been a site of great interest It is an extensive pile of buildings as large as half a dozen German or Italian palaces and with its beautiful church lovely gardens and noble avenues of beech and chestnut trees forms one of those pictures of combined architectural and sylvan picturesqueness which can only be seen to perfection in England The present mansion was built between 1808 and 1814 on the site of an ancient monastic edifice parts of which have been preserved and incorporated with the modern edifice Its principal front is to the north to the east and west are double lines of stately elms and limes the frontage from the eastern to the western tower extending one thousand feet The spire of the chapel with the embattled tower of the mansion and noble Gothic doorway with large oriel windows present an impressive architectural group The entrance hall is separated from the grand staircase by a rich screen of arches and open galleries The hall round which the staircase turns in double flight is 38 feet square and 95 feet high and is adorned by statues Gobelin tapestry armorial bearings and ancient brasses A magnificent suite of apartments each 50 feet by 30 extends at one end into a green house and orangery and at the other into a conservatory the dining room drawing room and library open by deep oriel windows upon the garden lawn The conservatory again opens into a Gothic chapel with windows of ancient painted glass brought from the Low Countries The historical associations of Ashridge render it doubly attractive in its memorials of the past On going over it we see here a fine crypt there a stately Gothic doorway here a cloister there a monu mental brass here the arches of monkish sepulture there a flourishing tree planted by the hand of Queen Elizabeth in one room embroidery worked by the maiden Queen when she was residing in the Old Timbs, J., Gunn, A. (1872). Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales: Midland. United Kingdom: Frederick Warne and Company.House and in another apartment the portrait of the Lady for whom Milton wrote his Comus The monastic history of Ashridge may be thus briefly told About the year 1221 there came over to England an order of preaching friars nearly allied to the Albigenses Edmund Earl of Cornwall a grandson of King John founded at Ashridge an Abbey for an order of these friars called Bonhommes which edifice was completed in 1285 The statutes and ordinances of this College are still pre served among the family papers at Ashridge and an epitaph written by one of the monks is still extant for the tomb of the founder whɔ it appears died at the College Among the registers are entries of donations from the Black Prince with many curious ordinances and customs of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries One of the last entries in the register refers to the fall of the College and the expulsion of the monks under Henry VIII After relating the decapitation of Anne Boleyn the writer says in Latin In this year the noble house of Ashridge was destroyed and the brethren were expelled He adds with extreme anger In this year was beheaded that great heretic and traitor Thomas Cromwell who was the cause of the destruction of all the religious houses in England After the dissolution of the College Ashridge became a royal resi dence and subsequently to the reign of Henry VIII was given to the Princess Elizabeth by her brother Edward VI after whose death she continued to occupy Ashridge during the reign of Queen Mary Letters exist in the British Museum from her both to Edward and Mary dated from Ashridge and after her retirement from the of her sister Elizabeth resided there constantly until she was suspected of conniving at Sir Thomas Wyat's rebellion Then a troop of horse was dispatched to Ashridge and although she was confined to bed from illness she was taken prisoner to London Timbs, J., Gunn, A. (1872). Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales: Midland. United Kingdom: Frederick Warne and Company.

Today, Ashridge is owned by the National Trust, and is home to Hult Ashridge, an executive education/international business school. In some ways it is fitting, returning to its collegiate roots.

The woods by the home have appeared in numerous films, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the home was recently used in The Crown and Pennyworth.

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