HOKE-um

England

Norfolk

Wells-Next-The-Sea

52.9502

0.80304

1734

1762

Fully Extant

Grade I

Unknown

No

C. V, pls.64-69. 1771.

2.S. Vol.I, p.71. 1854.

xxiii, 822, 870; Liv, 75; Lxvi, 924; cviii, 35; cxxx, 200; cxLv, 467; cLxvii, 214, 298, 359, 427; corr. cLxviii, 481 estate buildings; cLvi, 1554, 1642; gardens, ii, 752; xxiii, 822; cxLiii, 1310; cLxxxii, 31.90; corr. 34.141; 24/91.168; corr. 30/91.110;

Vol.III. 1820.

Yes

Yes

01328-710-227

01328-711-707

Individual / Family Trust

Private Home

Earl of Leicester, Viscount Coke, Coke family.

Wheatley family, 17th century (they occupied the earlier estate, called Hill Hall). The first Earl of Leicester of the first creation was earlier (in 1728) created Lord Lovel.

Hill Hall, a medieval house, was torn down by the 1st Lord Leicester to make way for his new house, the present Holkham Hall.

Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester

The Coke family fortunes were founded by Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), Attorney General to Elizabeth I and Lord Chief Justice to James I. E.N. Williams, writing in "The Penguin Dictionary of English and European History, 1485-1789," says that "His writings contributed massively to the process of moulding the tradtional Common Law" and that he was a judge whose knowledge of the law was without equal. Sir Edward is best remembered for his dictum "an Englishman's home is his castle." Five generations later his descendant, Thomas Coke (1697-1759 - created 1st Earl of Leicester of the first creation in 1744) returned from the Grand Tour and decided that his medieval home, Hill House, was not appropriately impressive enough to house his newly-collected treasures. He wanted to create a Temple of The Arts in Norfolk. The design for Holkham was based on Palladio’s unbuilt Villa Mocenigo, as illustrated in his "Quattro Libri." Construction began in 1734, with the yellow-gray bricks all being made on the Estate, and was completed by his widow in 1764, ultimately costing the immense sum of £92,000 (approximately $21 million in 2002 dollars). Holkham was designed, in collaboration with Lord Burlington and the Earl of Leicester (it is believed that the basic design was Leicester’s) by William Kent, between 1734 and 1762. Kent was directly responsible only for the exterior, the Marble Hall, the Statue Gallery, the Southwest Wing (Family Wing), the Long Library, and the interior of the Southwest Wing. The South Front is 11 bays and is topped with corner towers with low pyramidal roofs; the South Front’s great portico contains 10 giant Corinthian columns, 6 of which are to the front. The main house was designed for display and was intended primarily for state functions; it is flanked by 4 tripartite angle pavilions, each of a single story over a rusticated basement; these were for everyday living and comprise the Strangers’ Wing, the Kitchen Wing, the Family Wing, and the Chapel Wing. Each wing is linked to the main house by a single-bay piano nobile. The inspiration for The Marble Hall was Palladio -- modeled on his designs for a Temple of Justice; the ground level contains walls of pink Derbyshire alabaster with a Greek key pattern below and a wave pattern above. The 18 magnificent fluted pink alabaster Ionic columns on the piano nobile were copied from the Temple of Fortuna Virilis in Rome, and the coving modeled after the Roman Pantheon, with the design of the ceiling from an idea by Inigo Jones. Kent based his design for the Statue Gallery, which contains the finest collection of Classical sculpture in the world in private hands, on the famous ruins of the Temple of Venus and Rome in Rome, a design element that was also used in the Gallery at Chiswick House and at Spencer House, both in London. The North Dining Room is a perfect 27-foot cube with an Axminster carpet that reflects the pattern of the ceiling; the bust of Aelius Verus in a wall niche was found during the dredging of the port of Nettuno. The Saloon, which contains a fine collection of paintings, has a ceiling to the designs of Desgodetz and contains a pair of gilded tables designed by Kent (most of the state furniture at Holkham was designed by Kent) and carved by Rysbrack that incorporate 2 magnificent table-top mosaic pavements excavated from Hadrian’s villa Adriana near Tivoli, which date to 123-125 AD. The Long Library, designed by Kent, contains an exceptionally fine chimneypiece also by Kent (executed by Marsden) of 2 Ionic pilasters with an overmantel that holds a mosaic of a lion killing a leopard excavated from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. Both George V (1912) and Queen Victoria (1835) stayed in The Green State Bedroom. The famous “Coke of Norfolk” (created 1st Earl of Leicester of the second creation by Queen Victoria in 1837) was a great agricultural reformer (he invented the four course rotation, involving successive rotations of wheat, grass, barley, and turnips) and a fervent supporter of the Americans during the American Revolution; he is quoted as having said "every night during the American War did I drink the health of General Washington as the greatest man on earth." Starting in the early 1800s, and continuing for over 20 years, Coke of Norfolk planted 50,000 trees a year on his Estate -- over 1 million trees in total. There is a fine portrait of Coke of Norfolk by Gainsborough in the South Dining Room. As a young man he had an affair in Italy with Bonnie Prince Charlie’s wife, Princess Louise. William (Billy) Coke, the nephew of the 1st Earl of Leicester of the 2nd creation (Coke of Norfolk) goes down in history as the inventor of the bowler hat. In 1850, during a visit to his London hat makers, Locks of St. James's (still in business today - James Lock & Co. Ltd., 6 St. James's Street, London SW1), Billy Coke asked the hat makers to design a hard, domed, close-fitting hat for gamekeepers on the Holkham Estate, one that would withstand the sticks of poachers when the keepers were out on night patrol, as well as provide protection from overhanging branches, and be close-fitting enough that it would not easily blow or fall off. The result was the bowler – so-called because Locks then (as they still do today) subcontracted the making of the hat to the firm of Bowler Brothers, hatmakers in Southwark. The hat was later adopted by men working in the City of London and became known as the “bowler.” The bowler acquired the nickname of a billycock, after Billy Coke, and if one visits Locks today and asks for a billycock they will know exactly what sort of hat you are referring to. A well-made bowler should withstand the weight of a man standing on it (hardened by the application of shellac), but not jumping on it, as Billy Coke did when it was first presented to him! And Holkham’s eight gamekeepers still wear bowlers to this day. In America the hat became known as the “derby,” from its association with the famous horse race.

The Statue Gallery and Tribunes are collectively 105 feet long and contain one of the finest collection of Classical sculpture in private hands. The collection was formed by the 1st Earl (of the first creation) and contains the ancient Greek bust of Thucydides, one of the earliest portraits of man (circa 4 BC). The Marble Hall contains the marble relief “The Death of Germanicus” by Thomas Banks, circa 1774, commissioned by the 1st Earl, where it was later joined by Chantrey’s “Signing of Magna Carta” and Westmacott’s “Trial of Socrates.” It has been suggested by modern scholars that the grouping of these three sculptures reflected the 1st Earl’s support of parliamentary reform (the Earl was a fervent Whig and enthusiastic supporter of Charles James Fox). In addition, there are also marble reliefs by Chantrey, Lorenzi, and Westmacott. The Saloon contains many masterpieces, among them "The Return of the Holy Family" by Rubens, and "The Duc d'Arenberg" by Van Dyck and also includes a pair of gilded side tables designed by Kent (most of the state furniture at Holkham was designed by Kent) and carved by Rysbrack that incorporate 2 magnificent table-top mosaic pavements excavated from Hadrian’s villa Adriana near Tivoli, which date to 123-125 AD. The Landscape Room contains the largest number of works by Claude Lorraine (7) in private hands and is also particularly rich in paintings by Gaspar Poussin, with 5 in the collection. In addition, the Landscape Rooms contains works by Gaspard Dughet, Salvator Rosa, Vernet, and Mehus, all hung in their 1773 positions. The Green State and North State Dressing Room are rich in paintings of the Italian Renaissance, including “Galatea and Plyphemus” by Carracci, painted on stone and weighing approximately 100 pounds, and Bastiano di Sangallo’s copy of Michelangelo’s mural cartoon for Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio (the original cartoon was maliciously destroyed soon after its completion and Holkham’s copy is the only one remaining). There is a fine portrait of Coke of Norfolk by Gainsborough in the South Dining Room. The Parrot bedroom contains a portrait of Charles James Fox by Joshua Reynolds and on staircase outside the bedroom hangs van Dyck's painting of the Duke of Richmond. Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester was sold to Armand Hammer for £2.2 million at Christie's on Dec 12, 1980. Raphael’s “Cartoon of the Virgin and Child With Infant St. John the Baptist” was sold for £761,790 in 1986 to the National Gallery of Art, Washington. "Madonna and Child with St. Helen and St. Francis" by Amico Aspertini sold for £345,000 on Apr 11, 1986 to The National Museum of Wales. On Jul 2, 1991 sixty-four Old Master drawings sold at Christie's for £3.2 million. The following drawings were sold from the collection at Holkham: Cortona's "Christ on the Cross with the Virgin Mary, St. John and St. Mary Magdalen," went to the Getty Museum for £245,500; Reni's "Head of a Young Woman," which went to the Metropolitan Museum for £145,000; and "Female Figure with a Sceptre and Globe" by Veronese, which was purchased by the National Museum, Stockholm; six other drawings went to foreign private collectors. "View of the Tiber Valley" by Nicolas Poussin was sold to the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford for £156,450, 1992. Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione's "Head of an Oriental in Profile to the Left" was sold in 1992 to the Victoria & Albert Museum for £210,150. "A Wooded River Landscape, with Cascades and Three Men Dragging a Net" by Pietro da Cortona sold for £268,000 in 1992 to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Birmingham City Council jointly. Guercino's "Reclining Nude Woman Lifting a Curtain" sold in 1992 for £106,162 (a Ribera drawing was sold at the same time); both drawings were purchased by the National Museums, Liverpool and are today in the collection of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. "Design for the Tomb of Cardinal Carlo Emanuele Pio da Carpi" by Gian Lorenzo Bernini sold to the National Gallery of Scotland in 1992 for £40,230. Nicolas Poussin's "Wooded Landscape with River God Gathering Fruit" sold to Mr. J.B. Davidson of Chicago in 1992 for £134,000. "St. George and the Dragon" by Francesco de' Rossi, called il Salviati, sold in 1992 for £104,975 to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Guido Reni's "Head of a Woman Looking Up" sold for £145,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1992. "Christ on the Cross with the Virgin Mary, St. John and St. Mary Magdalene" by Cortona, sold in 1992 to the Getty Museum for £245,500.

Richard Wilson and Alan Mackley, writing in "Creating Paradise: The Building of the English Country House, 1660-1880," call Holkham "the supreme English example of pure neo-Palladian taste on the grand scale." Timothy Mowl, writing in "William Kent: Architect, Designer, Opportunist," states that Kent recycled an early design for the Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall for the exterior of Holkham.

Lancelot ''Capability'' Brown landscaped the Park. William Andrews Nesfield designed the south formal garden. The great fountain was created between 1849 and 1857 by Charles Raymond Smith and represents St. George and the Dragon. The Park includes 3,000 acres, with 600 head of fallow deer and a 5-mile beach on the Norfolk coast. The Park also contains many outbuildings, among them the Obelisk to the south of the House, constructed in 1730 on the highest ground on the Estate, The Temple, and Samuel Wyatt's Great Barn. The Ice House dates from the time of the earlier house, Hill Hall (early 17th century). The large Stables were built in the 1860s; since 1979 they have been home to the Bygones Museum of historic autos, tractors, and steam engines. The model village near the North Gate was designed and built in the 19th century. Holkham today (2004) comprises a 25,000-acre agricultural estate and employs approximately 160 people.

The Chapel was completed by the first Lady Leicester after her husband's death. It was decorated by James Miller; its walls are of the same Derbyshire alabaster as The Marble Hall. The paintings on the Chapel walls are by Renaissance artists. St. Withburga's Church contains a 13th century tower and has been substantially rebuilt over the centuries.

"Code Name: Operation Crossbow" (1965 - aka "The Great Spy Mission," using Holkham beach). "Fall of Eagles" (1974 - TV mini series). “Shakespeare in Love” (1999 - the 5-mile beach was used for the final scene). "All the King's Men" (1999 - TV production). "A History of Britain" (2000 - TV documentary series, shown from an aerial shot). "The Lost Prince" (2002 - TV movie, as staterooms of Buckingham Palace). "The Curious House Guest" (2005 - BBC TV series, episode 2.1). "Buildings That Shaped Britain" (2006 - TV documentary series by Simon Thurley, episode 6, "Countryside Revolution"). "The Duchess" (2008 - as interiors of Devonshire House). "Queen Victoria's Men" (2008 - TV docudrama).