Pierrepont and the second Thoresby Hall.

 THE STORY SO FAR:

 On 4th March 1745, only 58 years after it was built, the first Thoresby Hall was very badly damaged by fire, and much property lost.

READ ON...

Evelyn the 2nd Duke of Kingston, who had already invested a lot of time extending the lake for his boats, decided on building a second hall on the same site as the first. During the years between the fire and the completion of a second Hall, he used Holme Pierrepont Hall as his main local residence until work was completed in 1772. He was to die there one year later.

Above: A print from a painting by John Preston Neale.

The second Thoresby Hall, designed by John Carr, was described as a Georgian country house in the Palladian style. Being more modest than the first hall it was often criticised as being too plain. It had a rustic stone basement, and two storeys of bricks. On the other side of the Lake were formal gardens in the "German" style which included the Duke's carriage way to Ollerton and Newark beyond.

Above: “Hall” marks the location of both the first and second Hall as depicted on Chapman's map of 1774 and Google satellite today. The formal line of trees leaving the bottom of the picture would have taken the Duke's carriages to Buck Gates.

When Evelyn died without heir, his nephew Charles Meadows (1737 - 1816) inherited the Pierrepont surname by Royal Licence, becoming the 1st Earl Manvers in 1806. He moved into the second Thoresby Hall in 1789, soon expressing his displeasure with its landscaping and cold damp location so close to the lake, a distance of just 100 yards,

So in 1791 Charles consulted distinguished landscape gardener Humphry Repton for advice on how to improve the grounds around Thoresby Hall. Their concerns involved the ground floor being level with the nearby Lake; the formal straight lines of the canal running 200 yards from the front entrance of the House to a corn mill 600 yards away; the location of Stone Bridge (now Green Bridge) which presented an unfavourable straight-on view of the hall; and the grassy area leading to the entrance lacking a gravel road.

Above: James Seymour's painting (1750) depicts the Duke of Kingston’s chestnut racehorse Jolly Roger led by a mounted groom. This is of particular interest as the date is five years after the first Thoresby Hall burnt down and construction on the second was in progress.

 When Charles Meadows Pierrepont died in 1816, he was succeeded by his son Charles Herbert, 2nd Earl Manvers, Lord Newark, who kept the tradition of having large boats on Thoresby Lake. This second Hall would be demolished in 1864 by Sydney William Herbert Pierrepont (1825 - 1900), the 3rd Earl Manvers.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Pierrepont and the first Thoresby Hall.

The Pierrepont family came to England as a result of the Norman Conquest. In the first part of the 17th Century, Robert Pierrepont (1584 - 1643), 1st Earl of Kingston-Upon-Hull, had two sons:

The first son, Henry (1606 – 1680), 2nd Earl of Kingston-Upon-Hull, was the instigator for the first Thoresby Hall being built c.1670 - 1683. An older mansion already existed by the lake, built c.1590, believed to be Elizabethan in character. But Henry’s first Thoresby Hall was a rectangular red brick building with stone dressings, designed by William Tallman, influenced by Italian Palaces. It had two storeys plus an attic, and 13 bays along its front. (Above: Print by J. Walker.)

 The second son of Robert 1st Earl of Kingston upon Hull, was William (1607 – 1678). He was a Parliamentarian, referred to as "William the Wise" because his opinions were much valued. His moderate attitude and respect for the King, made him an obvious choice for mediator and negotiator between Charles 1st and the Roundhead movement. It is a fact that Oliver Cromwell himself spent the night at Thoresby in 1651 on his way to the Battle of Worcester at Evesham. 

When Henry the first son died without heir, his great nephew, Robert, became 3nd Earl of Kingston upon Hull, but he also died without heir, making his brother William (1662 – 1690), 4th Earl of Kingston upon Hull. It was this 4th Earl who combined what he already possessed in Perlethorpe and Thoresby to form Thoresby Park.

Above: Leonard Knyff's painting of the first Thoresby Hall c.1705. The Stone Bridge (a.k.a. the Green Bridge) is in its original position, leading the Duke's carriage towards Ollerton and Newark beyond.

 Below: Peter Tillemans 1715 painting captures the creation of Thoresby Lake.

William the 4th Earl also died without heir, and so was succeeded by his brother Evelyn Pierrepont (1665 - 1726), the 5th Earl of Kingston upon Hull, later upgraded to 1st Duke of Kingston upon Hull in 1715. Evelyn's only son died of smallpox and so he was succeeded by his grandson, also called Evelyn, the 2nd Duke of Kingston. It is this Duke who can be seen in Tillemans painting of 1725 below.

On 4th March 1745, only 58 years after it was built, this first Thoresby Hall was badly damaged by fire, and much property lost. 

TO BE CONTINUED...