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Montacute, Somerset

 

Montacute is a grand sixteenth century Elizabethan house in Somerset. It was built by Sir Edward Phelips, who made his fortune as a lawyer, and then became an MP. A successful career followed in Parliament, where Phelips rose to Speaker, and led the prosecution of Guy Fawkes following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The house was meant to reflect Phelips success and stature, and the date of 1601 over Montacute's east doorway suggests this was the date of the building's completion. Generations of Phelips's continued to live at Montacute, and their portraits can be seen in the Great Hall. But a decline in family fortunes meant they could not adapt Montacute to changing fashions. When the last Phelips left in 1911, the house was much as it was when built, except for some eighteenth century remodelling on the west front.

 

Then from 1915 the house was tenanted by Lord Curzon, a man who was to demonstrate how much had changed since the house was first built in the sixteenth century. The sixteenth century required its leaders to be larger than life figures, inspiring dreams of greatness and conquest. Warfare was a fairly constant business, and a dramatic monarch was a figurehead in this endless struggle. In the twentieth century colourful figures were still required in wartime, Lloyd George in the First World War and Winston Churchill in World War Two, but in peace time it was required that prime ministers be quieter figures. Now it was time for what John Morley called "the drab heroes of life" to take over. Andrew Bonar Law succeeded Lloyd George as prime minister in 1922, only to be diagnosed with cancer in May 1923, and immediately resign. Bonar Law died on 30th October and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the first prime minister to be buried there since Gladstone. This allowed Herbert Asquith to make a joke about the Unknown Prime Minister being laid to rest near the tomb of the Unknown Warrior. The dramatic figure of foreign secretary Nathaniel Curzon, a marquess and former viceroy of India, seemed to have Bonar Law's approval as a successor. Curzon himself thought that the announcement of his appointment to the top job was a formality. He waited at Montacute, which he had leased because he loved its links with an age of heroic leadership. Curzon waited for nothing so banal as a telephone call. Instead he waited for a policeman to take time out from catching criminals to cycle to his house with a telegram from His Majesty's secretary summoning him to Buckingham Palace. The telegram arrived on Whit Monday 1923 while Curzon was mowing the Montacute lawns. He set off for London already discussing possible cabinet appointments with his wife. But getting to London he was told that in the absence of politicians being able to decide who should be the next prime minister, the monarch, George V had made the decision. The king had decided that Stanley Baldwin, an industrialist from the west Midlands, who had been sacked from his Cambridge debating society for never speaking, was to be prime minister. Curzon never really recovered from the shock and died in 1925. Times had changed. Curzon's aristocratic background was now a positive disadvantage: associating himself with a great symbol of an old form of leadership, Montacute, was not helpful. A photograph of Curzon while he was Viceroy of India (1899 - 1905) stands in Lord Curzon's Room at Montacute.

 

 

 

Montacute Gardens

The house itself contains a wide collection of objects, and paintings. Montacute is a regional partner of the National Portrait Gallery, and displays on permanent loan over fifty Tudor period portraits in the Long Room. The formal gardens have been recreated in the style of Tudor times with mixed borders, old roses and topiary. Beyond the formal garden there is a landscaped park offering opportunities for walking and picnicking. Dogs are welcome in the park. The estate also includes a Norman castle and an eighteenth century look out tower.

Montecute House was used as a location during the filming of Sense and Sensibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opening Times: The house and gardens are open every day except Tuesday from 12th March to 30th October 11am - 5pm.

The garden remains open 2nd November to 11th March, Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 4pm.

The park is open daily all year. There is a shop and a cafe.

Address: Montacute House, Montacute, Somerset TA15 6XP

Directions: Montacute is four miles west of Yeovil off the A3088. Click here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on Montacute.

Access: Wheelchairs are available for hire, and in the house the great hall is accessible. Beyond that access is limited. There are adapted toilet facilities. The shop and restaurant are accessible. In the grounds there is a planned route for visitors with mobility problems. A motorised wheelchair is available: booking is essential.

Contact:

telephone: 01935 823289

e-mail: montacute@nationaltrust.org.uk

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