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Houghton Hall, Norfolk

Houghton Hall was the home of the eighteenth century prime minister Robert Walpole. Walpole is credited with being Britain's first prime minister. Usually the rise of Parliament and the office of prime minister is thought of as the advance of sensible democracy over old superstitions of monarchy. But a visit to Houghton Hall is sobering in that regard.

From as early as the fourteenth century the Walpole family was established as a leading family in the area of King's Lynn, north Norfolk. This predominance may have had something to do with favour granted to a Walpole who fought at the siege of Acre in 1191 during the Crusades. The first house on the site was built in the late fourteenth century, and for four hundred years the Walpoles used Houghton Hall as their home. By the eighteenth century they remained a leading local family, who had contributed a few MPs to Parliament. Colonel Robert Walpole was particularly energetic. He became an MP in the parliament of William and Mary following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. But it was the colonel's son Robert who was to become the most famous of the Walpoles. Born on 26th August 1676 at Houghton Hall, Robert Walpole would inherit his father's seat in Parliament in 1701, and would become first lord of the Treasury in 1721. He is now considered to be Britain's first prime minister, although that term was never applied to him, except as an accusation that he was taking too much power for himself. Whatever his title, Robert Walpole, a controversial figure, held great power in the 1720s. The physical evidence of this power remains at his home of Houghton Hall, rebuilt lavishly at this time. Robert Walpole needed "visible evidence of success in the form of a house and park" (B.W. Hill Robert Walpole P106). Houghton was to be his symbol. It was decided that extension of the old building would not be enough, so this was pulled down to make way for a house in the fashionable palladian style. The foundation stone to Walpole's enlarged mansion at Houghton was laid in 1722. Landscaping for a vast park surrounding the house was undertaken by Charles Bridgeman. The park would be surrounded by fencing and ditching twelve miles long. Plans were so ambitious that the village of Houghton was not considered in keeping with the house, and had to be demolished, before being rebuilt a mile further away. By 1732 Walpole was entertaining lavishly at his new house.

 

Visiting Houghton Hall you get the sense not of a politician leading the way to a new democratic form of government, but of a French king before the Revolution, or of a Roman emperor. The bust of Walpole in the incredible Stone Hall stands higher than those of surrounding Roman emperors. The inscription below Walpole's bust is in Latin, and gives the sense of describing not a British politician, but an emperor in the old mould. The Stone Hall itself was inspired by the Queen's House in Greenwich, built for Anne of Denmark, wife of James I. Houghton Hall is, however, far bigger and more lavish than the Queen's House. Wandering round Houghton Hall you get a real sense that history is not an orderly progress up a ladder of development. If Walpole was the future, he lived in a house that symbolised much of the past.

 

 

View from the balcony at Houghton Hall

Walpole was to finally end his time as first lord in February 1739. Now Earl of Orford, he lived for three years after this, dying of kidney disease at Houghton on 18th March 1745. The house passed to his eldest son, Robert, then onto his grandson, the Third Earl of Orford. The Third Earl sold Houghton's collection of paintings to Catherine the Great of Russia, and dismantled the striking external staircases to save the cost of repairing them. When the Third Earl died in 1791, his uncle Horace inherited the house, and it is the descendents of Horace's sister Mary who own the house today. They have restored Houghton's staircases, to return the house to its appearance as the great symbol of the first lord's power. The paintings, sadly remain at the Hermitage in Leningrad.

There is a restaurant and gift shop.

 

 

 

 

 

Opening Times: 4th April - 30th September, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays, the grounds open 11.30am - 5.30pm.

The house is open 1.30pm - 5pm, last admission 4.30pm.

Address: Houghton Hall, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6UE

Directions: Houghton Hall is just off the A148 near the village of New Houghton, north of Kings Lynn in north Norfolk.

Access: Motorised wheelchairs are available to borrow, all gardens are accessible and there is a lift to the upstairs rooms. There are also toilets.

Contact:

the Administrator, Houghton Hall, King's Lynn, Norfolk, PE31 6UE

telephone: 01485 528569

e-mail: info@houghtonhall.com

web site: http://www.houghtonhall.com/htmlfiles/1024home.htm