Monday 8 September 2008

Harewood House,Yorkshire Pt.8

Harewood House is the home of the present Lord Harewood, the 7th Earl. The estate was bought in 1738, the family being sugar merchants, owning plantations in Barbados.

In 1753 the Earl's son, Baron Edwin inherited and commissioned the building of the house.The house was very opulent and the Chippendale furnishings alone cost £10,000 and that was 3 centuries ago. The furnishings were set against Adams architecture and ceilings and can still be seen today.

At the time that William Willberforce was pushing for the abolition of slavery, the then Earl stood against him as obviously his sugar plantations relied on slave labour.

The present Lord Harewood is the Queen's cousin. Princess Mary, who was the daughter of Queen Mary and King George 5th, married the 6th Earl. When she died in 1965 the house was opened up to the public.

In all of the great country houses that I have visited I would say that the below stairs kitchens were the most fully stocked and well preserved that I have ever seen. The house holds outstanding collections of fine art and porcelain.

There are extensive grounds and fine gardens but I took photos of the house and Terrace Garden only as we were becoming tired of getting wet. These were taken in torrential rain.














These sculptures,that were scattered around the terrace, were in memory of those who had fallen in the Civil War 3 centuries ago.

5 comments:

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

You take great photos even in torrential rain showers...

The sculpture on his face in the gravel pathway has his feet on backwards...or am I missing something? I sometimes wonder about the civil war, since many of my own ancestors lived in England at the time...I've no idea which side they were on (probably some of both)...and some came to the colonies around then too.

Kathy said...

I found your blog via "A Haven For Vee". What a blessing! Your holiday is just the sort I dream about as I sit here in Central Vermont, USA! I may just become a "follower". Thank you for sharing the stories and the photos of your vacation. I'm looking forward to reading more.~Kathy

Anonymous said...

Fascinating house Barbara. It's back looks similar to Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire in that colour stone. beautifully laid out formal terrace. Sorry to hear you got drenched. It's horrible weather we've been having.

Vee said...

Interesting way of commemorating the fallen...

I always enjoy enlarging some pictures to see what I'm missing...in this case, I was missing the curtains and drapes at the windows.

Aubrey said...

That house looks amazing. Do you all wish you were gentry so you could live in those big, fabulous houses? I think my little one would fit on the terrace!