Fawsley
Fawsley | |
---|---|
![]() St Mary's church, viewed from Fawsley Hall | |
Location within Northamptonshire | |
OS grid reference | SP5657 |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Daventry |
Postcode district | NN11 |
Dialling code | 01327 |
Police | Northamptonshire |
Fire | Northamptonshire |
Ambulance | East Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Fawsley is a
The hamlets name possibly means 'fallow deer wood/clearing' or 'fallow-coloured wood/clearing'. It was created out of the combination of the 'Egelweardesle' and 'Grauesende'
The
Fawsley Hall
Fawsley Hall and landscape park was created by the Knightley family. Richard Knightley, a well-to-do Staffordshire lawyer, bought the manor of Fawsley in 1416. His grandson Richard, knighted by Henry VII,[3] built the first wing of the present house.[4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Fawsley_Hall_detail.jpg/220px-Fawsley_Hall_detail.jpg)
Sir Richard's son,
The dower house in Fawsley Park, last inhabited in 1704 and now in ruins, was built for Lady Ursula after Sir Edmund died. It was placed on the Heritage at Risk register by English Heritage in 2014. Major stabilisation of the ruins was undertaken during 2016, including the construction of a steel support for the northeastern gable.[6] The Fawsley Estate has also been working with English Heritage and Natural England to prepare a comprehensive scheme of historic landscape restoration.
The estate descended in the wider Knightley family, many of them Members of Parliament, to Lucy Knightley, who inherited in 1754 and built the Georgian wing of Fawsley Hall. Lucy Knightley was High Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1770–71.
In 1798 Sir John Knightley was created a Baronet. His nephew, Sir Charles Knightley, 2nd Baronet, carried out the Gothic alterations to the Georgian Wing, and his son Sir Rainald, the 3rd Baronet, commissioned architect Anthony Salvin to re-model the North Wing. Sir Rainald married Louisa Knightley and served as MP for South Northamptonshire for 40 years. He was created Baron Knightley in 1892 but died childless in 1895. During this time Joseph Merrick (the 'Elephant Man') was invited by the family to holiday at the estate and lived in the gamekeeper's cottage.[7] Sir Rainald's widow kept possession of the hall until 1913, after which financial restraints necessitated the auction of the house's contents after her death. She was the last Knightley to live at the Hall, completing 500 years of Knightley occupation.
When her eventual heirs Sir Charles Valentine Knightley, 5th Baronet died in 1932 and his brother, Sir Henry Francis Knightley, 6th and last Baronet, died in 1938, the estate passed to the Gage family of Firle Place, Sussex, by virtue of an earlier marriage of Sir Rainald's sister, Sophia, to Viscount Gage.
Fawsley Hall is now a country house hotel and spa, owned by Hand Picked Hotels. It is one of two buildings in Fawsley listed as Grade I, the other being St Mary's Church.[8] There are three bodies of water near the hotel named Big Waters, The Canal and Horse Pond, the first of which was created using a small dam.[9]
St Mary's church
Standing isolated on a grassy knoll and surrounded by a
See also
- Knightley Baronets
References
- ISBN 0319 46387 7
- ^ "Key to English Place-names".
- ^ "KNIGHTLEY, Richard (by 1484-1538), of Upton and Fawsley, Northants. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
- ^ "A brief summary of the history of the Fawsley estate and house starting from the 7th century through to the present day". Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
- ^ "KNIGHTLEY, Edmund (By 1491-1542), of the Middle Temple, London and Fawsley, Northants. | History of Parliament Online".
- ^ See https://www.facebook.com/Croft-Building-and-Conservation-Ltd-167254123463119/ April 4, 2016
- ISBN 0-14-016515-0
- ^ See this list for all the listed buildings.
- ^ Ordnance Survey (2006) Edge Hill & Fenny Compton, sheet 206, 1:25 000. Southampton: Ordnance Survey (Explorer Series).
- ^ "Thieves strip copper from Northamptonshire church roof". web page. ITV. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
External links
Media related to Fawsley at Wikimedia Commons