Gopsal Hall (Gopsall Hall) |
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Designed by John Westley. Countess Howe died in 1906, the estate was sold on to Lord Waring in 1919. During the second world war it was a radar training base. Demolished 1951, the grounds are now part of the Queen's estate. |
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The text published below was originally written, to accompany the image above, in the middle of the 19th Century during the reign of Queen Victoria. Be aware however we have made some minor alterations to both the content and its layout that hopefully makes it more readable by our users. We have also, in some cases, added content to bring the information up to date where new data has become available, we will continue to do this over time.
This well-known and magnificent seat is acknowledged to be one of the chief ornaments of the county of Leicester, in which it is situated.
It is about three miles north-west of Market Bosworth, and stands in a park of nearly six hundred acres. It was originally built by Charles Jennens, Esq., in the year 1758, at a cost of £100,000 when completed.
The south front has an extremely imposing aspect. Corinthian pillars support a frieze and balusters of a very graceful design, while a receding pediment bears in relief a sculpture of a ship in a storm, with a haven in the foreground, and the appropriate inscription, Fortiter occupa portum. This beautiful addition to the architectural features of Gopsal was introduced to commemorate the naval victories of Lord Howe. The wings of this front form, respectively, the chapel and library.
The principal entrance is on the north.
The whole of the interior is a combination of elegance and comfort too seldom found in the mansion of the nobility.
The library contains a very fine collection of rare works. A fine stained glass window, the painting of which was executed by the late Baroness Howe, is a much-admired ornament of this splendid room.
The chapel may vie with any private chapel in England, either in chasteness
of design or appropriateness of fitting. Every portion of the woodwork is of
cedar of Lebanon, save the carved legs of the Communion table, which are formed
of the Boscobel oak. Vandyke’s painting of the Crucifixion adorns the chapel,
and the hall abounds in choice works of the old masters.”
It was here that Handel composed his “Messiah,” and it is stated to have been
very much owing to the then proprietor of Gopsal that that noble composition was
given to the world.
An intelligent tourist, T. R. Potter, Esq., gives the following account of this
place: - “Every step you take at Gopsal shows that the arts have been not only
fostered but cultivated here. Every walk in the neighbouring parishes, portions
of this splendid domain, shows some church, bede-house, or school, erected and
supported by the munificence of the Curzons, while the numerous tenantry and
peasantry on the estates show, both by their appearance and their conduct, how
much their welfare is the object of their landlord’s solicitude.”
Mr Jennens died in the year 1773, and devised the estate to the Honourable Penn Assheton Curzon, his grandnephew, who wedded Lady Sophia Charlotte Howe, who became at the decease of her father, Baroness Howe, and so brought that title into the family of Curzon.
The family of Lord Howe derives in the male line from
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