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Tottenham House

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51°22′26″N 1°38′35″W / 51.374°N 1.643°W / 51.374; -1.643

Tottenham House, Wiltshire, east front, in 2006

Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England, about 5 miles south-east of the town of Marlborough, from which it is separated by Savernake Forest, part of the Tottenham estate. The house, containing more than one hundred rooms, mostly dates from the 1820s, having then been remodelled by Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury, but also incorporates parts of earlier houses on the site, built by the Seymour family formerly of nearby Wulfhall, about one mile to the south, also in the parish of Great Bedwyn.

Descent

Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (1539-1621)

Arms of Seymour: Gules, two wings conjoined in lure or

It was probably Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (1539-1621), of nearby Wulfhall, who in about 1575 built the first house, known as Tottenham Lodge, and enclosed its surrounding land to form a deer park. He was the son and heir of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (executed 1522), brother of Queen Jane Seymour. The Seymours were hereditary Wardens of Savernake Forest, which office together with most of their Wiltshire estates had been inherited by marriage to the daughter and heiress of Sir William Esturmy (died 1427), of Wulfhall, Speaker of the House of Commons and hereditary Warden of the royal forest of Savernake. The house was still known as the Lodge in 1623, in which year the parish register of Great Bedwyn records the baptism of the 1st Earl's great-granddaughter Frances Seymour, the daughter of Sir Francis Seymour (c.1590-1664) (later created Baron Seymor of Trowbridge), which was performed "at the Lodge in the Great Parke by Henrie Taylor, Vicar of Great Bedwin".

William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1587-1660)

William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1587-1660), grandson, inherited the estates on the death of his grandfather the 1st Earl, his father having predeceased the latter.

William Seymour, 3rd Duke of Somerset (1652-1671)

William Seymour, 3rd Duke of Somerset (1652-1671), grandson of the 2nd Duke. He inherited at the age of 8 and died aged 19 when his heir became his uncle John Seymour, 4th Duke of Somerset (1629-1675). However, the heir to his estates in Hampshire, namely Netley Abbey (where the 1st Earl had died) and Hound, was his sister Elizabeth Seymour, wife of Thomas Bruce, 2nd earl of Ailesbury, which were soon sold in 1676 to the Marquess of Worcester.

John Seymour, 4th Duke of Somerset (1629-1675)

John Seymour, 4th Duke of Somerset (1629-1675), uncle, inherited the estate in 1671 on the death of his nephew the 3rd Duke, and in 1672 he rebuilt Tottenham Lodge and redesigned the deer park, which at that date included long tree-lined walks and a deer "chase". The topographer John Aubrey (1626-1697) visited Wiltshire in 1672 and wrote of Wulfhall, about one mile to the south:

"The ancient seate of the Sturmeys, which house has been much bigger, and great parte pulled downe within these 10 years to build the house of Tocknam Parke. I remember a long gallery. It was never but a timber house, v(ide) Camden. Here is a very long barne of ..... bays, and 3 porches of timber and thatcht; in this barne was the wedding kept for Queen Jane, then hung with tapistry. Hard by is Tocknam Park, which is a most parkely ground and romancy pleasant place; several walks of great lengths of trees planted. Here the Duke of Somerset hath his best seate, which is now (1672) to be made a compleat new pile of good architecture; both in the parish of Bedwyn Magna".

He did not live long to enjoy his new house and died in 1675, aged 46, only three years after having started the rebuilding.

Elizabeth Seymour

The 4th Duke of Somerset was childless, and faced with the Dukedom passing by law to his first cousin once removed and heir male the 5th Duke, who was seated at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, he bequeathed the unentailed Seymour estates to his niece Elizabeth Seymour, the wife of Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury (1656-1741), and thus the Seymour estates passed to the Bruce family.

Charles Bruce, 3rd Earl of Ailesbury (d.1747)

Arms of Bruce: Or, a saltire and chief gules on a canton argent a lion rampant azure
Tottenham House, depicted circa 1790, the Palladian building designed by Lord Burlington circa 1721, largely lost following remodelling in the 1820s
Prospect of Tottenham Park, Wiltshire, by Pieter Andreas Rysbrack (c.1684–1748), commissioned by Charles Bruce, Viscount Bruce (1682-1747), from 1741 4th Earl of Elgin and 3rd Earl of Ailesbury

Elizabeth Seymour's son and heir was Charles Bruce, 3rd Earl of Ailesbury (d.1747), who in 1721 rebuilt Tottenham Lodge to the design of his brother-in-law the pioneering Palladian architect Lord Burlington. Henry Flitcroft was the executant architect. The 3rd Earl added wings to Burlington's block in the 1730s, and also built in 1743 a Banqueting House in the park to the design of Burlington (demolished in 1824). In 1746, one year before the death of the 3rd Earl, who had no son, it was apparent that on his death the Earldom of Ailesbury would become extinct and his other Earldom of Elgin would pass to a distant cousin and heir male. The former Seymour estates however he was free to dispose of as he pleased. He persuaded the king to create him Baron Bruce of Tottenham, with special remainder to his younger nephew Hon. Thomas Brudenell (1739-1814), 4th son of George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan (1685-1732) by his wife Elizabeth Bruce, to whom he also bequeathed his estates with the proviso that he should adopt the additional surname of Bruce, thus having created a new noble family bearing doubly the Bruce name, to continue the custodianship of the Seymour lands.

Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury (1739-1814)

Arms of Brudenell: Argent, a chevron gules between three caps of maintenance (azure?) their fronts turned towards the sinister

On the Earl's death in 1747 his 8 year old nephew Thomas Brudenell duly became Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Baron Bruce of Tottenham, having inheited the barony, the estates and the Wardenship of Savernake Forest. In 1776 King George III created him Earl of Ailesbury. In 1814 he was succeeded by his son Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury (1773-1856).

Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury (1773-1856)

Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury (1773-1856) in 1818 added stables to the design of Thomas Cundy. In 1821 he was granted three further titles, Viscount Savernake, Earl Bruce and Marquess of Ailesbury. In 1823-26 he enlarged and re-modelled the house to the designs of Thomas Cundy.

Modern use

The Ailesbury family lived there - sharing it in the Second World War with the US Army - until moving out in 1946. Thereafter it was used by Hawtreys Preparatory School until 1994 when Hawtreys merged with Cheam School, Newbury. It was then leased for ten years to a charity called the Amber Foundation which helps unemployed troubled young people to rebuild their lives, but its work there ended due to cuts in government support.

David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan (born 1952) owns 49% and his son Thomas James Brudenell-Bruce, Viscount Savernake (born 1982), owns 51%. In recent years, the impoverished Earl of Cardigan has been involved in a bitter battle with the trustees.

In 2006 the house, with its 50-horse stable block, outbuildings and some farmland, was leased for 150 years to a consortium of Golf Club Investment Holdings, Conduit Investments, and (as Operator) the Buena Vista Hospitality Group of Orlando, Florida, with the intention of creating a luxury hotel, conference, spa, and golfing centre. Full Planning Permission was obtained, with the co-operation of the local Planning Authority and English Heritage, and an investment in the project of £50 million was announced. However 18 months later, before starting any building work, the consortium failed during the recession, and the lease ended.

In 2014 the trustees sold the house and 800 acres for £11.25m to an undisclosed buyer (believed to be Conservative Party donor and multi-millionaire property developer Jamie Ritblat) after overcoming a legal challenge from the Earl of Cardigan. In November 2014 the 61-year-old Old Etonian David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan, son and heir of the Marquess of Ailesbury, was reported in the Daily Telegraph nnewspaper to be living with his second wife and baby daughter in an unheated lodge in the grounds of Tottenham House on a £71-a-week jobseeker’s allowance while training to be a lorry driver. He is still theoretically the hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest and has stated he was: "put on this earth to take care of Savernake and I will never let it go". He is due to benefit from the sale proceeds and will still own jointly with the trustees 3,700 acres, mainly woodland, in Savernake Forest.

In popular culture

The house featured as the boys' school in the 1995 film A Feast at Midnight, starring Christopher Lee. In 2013, the house and Savernake estate were used as the location for a short film commissioned by British electronica pioneers Goldfrapp to promote the song 'Drew' from their album Tales of Us. Shot in black and white by film editor Lisa Gunning, the internal and external aspects of the house and surrounding forest feature extensively in the five-minute film.

Further reading

  • Lennon, Ben, Burlington, Brown and Bill: The Landscaping of Tottenham Park and Savernake Forest in the Eighteenth Century

References

  1. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000472
  2. Collectanea Topographica Et Genealogica, Volume 5 edited by Frederic Madden, Bulkeley Bandinel, John Gough Nichols, p.31
  3. "Marquess of Ailesbury, 1962", quoted in
  4. Aubrey,John, An Essay Towards the Description of the North Division of Wiltshire, 1672, (ed. Sir T. Phillipps), 1838 Edition, p.71
  5. Rudolf Wittkower, in Architectural Journal 102 1945, noted in Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 3rd ed. 1995, s.v. "Boyle, Richard, Earl of Burlington".
  6. Colvin, "Boyle".
  7. Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.44, Marquess of Ailesbury
  8. Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 3rd ed. 1995, s.v. "Cundy, Thomas", "Wyatville, Sir Jeffry".
  9. ^ Natalie Clarke, I'm so broke I'm trying to get a job as a lorry driver: Earl of Cardigan on moving out his stately pile and why he's living on benefits, The Daily Mail, February 01, 2013
  10. Simon de Bruxelles, 'Penniless earl claims jobseeker's allowance after ex-wife's entire £1.5m estate goes to the children', The Times, March 07, 2013, No. 70826, p. 3
  11. "Earl of Cardigan loses appeal over sale of Tottenham House". BBC. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  12. Daily Telegraph, 15 November 2014
  13. Daily Telegraph, 17 Oct 2014
  14. Daily Telegraph, 17 Oct 2014
  15. A Feast at Midnight at IMDb

External links

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