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Basildon Park, Berkshire

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In many ways Basildon Park in Berkshire is an historical oddity, a house seeking historical grandeur when all it really found was a kind of Blackadder farce. Building of the house began in 1776, for Francis Sykes. Sykes was originally a farmer's son, who went to India to make his fortune. Out in India it seemed the population were a little freer from the social restrictions which held people back in Britain. Sykes worked for the British East India Company and became very rich. His fortune supported a political career which saw him become governor of Kazimbazar. Returning to England in 1771 a rich man, Sykes decided to buy the estate at Basildon, since this was an area where many men who had made good in India tended to settle with their money. But by now Sykes' career was not going so well. He did manage to win a baronetcy, and become an MP, but work on the house he commissioned at Basildon was slow, probably reflecting financial difficulty. Sykes struggled on with the building of his grand house, in a palladian style which was already going out of fashion. When Sykes died in London in 1804 Basildon Park remained unfinished. Sykes' son inherited the property, but he too died within a few weeks, and the new owner , Sykes' grandson, Francis Sykes the third baronet, was only five years old. With little money, ownership somehow remained with the boy, who at age 14 started entertaining Prince George, the Prince Regent, later George IV, at the house. Prince George was famously dissolute, and Sykes' association with him only drained the family fortune further. With the family in a state of financial turmoil Basildon Park was offered for sale. Just for good measure, personal turmoil was also thrown into the mix, when Sykes' wife Henrietta started having an affair with future prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. Henrietta also had an affair with the painter Daniel Maclise. When her husband denounced Maclise he broke the unwritten rule that such goings on in high society should be kept discreet. As a result, Charles Dickens, a friend of Maclise, decided to use the name Bill Sykes for a villainous character in a new book he was writing. Oliver Twist, complete with Bill Sykes, was published in 1838 and Francis Sykes was humiliated. He finally sold Basildon Park that year.

 

Basildon was then owned by the wealthy Morrison family until 1910, before being bought by the 1st Lord LIiffe, who used the house mainly for spare building materials for another property in London. In 1929 Basildon Park fell into the hands of a developer who stripped the site, and offered to transfer the entire building to America for any American willing to part with one million dollars. The Second World War saw the house used as a billet for troops, and suffered extensive damage when a fire broke out. By 1952 Basildon Park was derelict, and it was only the intervention of Mrs Langton Lliffe, daughter in law of the 1st Lord Lliffe, which saved it. Over a twenty five year period the 2nd Baron and Lady Lliffe completely restored the building.

So finally Basildon Park was finished, as the vision of historical grandeur that the original Francis Sykes had always wanted. As an illusion of historical grandeur it is fitting that Basildon Park is often used as a film location. Pride And Prejudice and Marie Antoinette were filmed here in 2006, and The Duchess in 2008.

There is a tearoom and gift shop.

 

Opening Times: opening hours at National Trust properties are complex. Please use contact details below.

Directions: Basildon Park is seven miles north west of Reading off the A329. Click here for an interactive map centred on Basildon Park.

Address: Basildon Park, Lower Basildon, Reading, Berkshire, RG8 9NR

Access: Grounds are partly accessible with loose gravel paths, slops and some areas of cobbles. ramped access to first floor of house, but access to second floor only via stairs.

Contact:

telephone: 0118 984 3040

e-mail: basildonpark@nationaltrust.org.uk

fax: 0118 976 7370

web site: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-basildonpark.htm