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The Building of Holkham Hall: Newly Discovered Letters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Christine Hiskey
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Extract

The twelve letters published here are the majority of the only known original letters from Thomas Coke (1697–1759), the builder of Holkham Hall, Baron Lovell of Minster Lovell and later first Earl of Leicester, to Matthew Brettingham senior (1699–1769), his executive architect, draughtsman and clerk of works. They were written between 1734 and 1741, as work on Holkham Hall began with the building of the first wing, the south-west Family Wing.

The letters were found in the Holkham Archives in 1996, as the process of sorting and cataloguing reached a tin deed box of miscellaneous unsorted papers. They were in a flat packet, labelled in pencil ‘Lovel (Ld.) of Minster Lovel, 18 Autograph Letters’. (There are, in fact, twenty letters or part letters.) Wrapped with them were several short notes from a Birmingham antiquarian book dealer in 1900, admitting that he was not sure whether they were of any great importance but offering to send them for inspection; a couple of copy replies, indecipherable owing to the action of ink on flimsy copy paper; and notes from Wenman Coke (younger son of the elderly second Earl) and the estate agent, Wood, which show that Coke (Viscount Coke, the future third Earl) refused to read them but was eventually persuaded to buy them for 42s., the dealer having reduced his asking price of 50s.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 40 , 1997 , pp. 144 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1997

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References

Notes

1 Thomas Coke’s only son predeceased him. The second earl (1822-1909) was the son of the late second marriage of Thomas William Coke (1754-1842), the agriculturalist, great-nephew of Thomas Coke, who had inherited the hall and estate, and who in 1837 was created first Earl of Leicester of the second creation.

2 One brief letter dated 1733 is not printed here, as it contains no relevant information; a short undated letter refers to electioneering. The six letters from 1753-56 do not include the letter of which a nineteenth-century transcript survives in the Library of RIBA and which appeared to be ‘the only surviving record of such a letter’: Kenworthy-Browne, John, ‘Matthew Brettingham’s Rome Account Book 1747-1754’, The Walpole Society, XLIX (1983), pp. 37–132 (pp. 112-13)Google Scholar.

3 Kenworthy-Brown, p. 38.

4 Stirling, A. M. W., Coke of Norfolk and His Friends, 2 vols (London, 1908)Google Scholar; C. W.James, , Chief Justice Coke, his Family and Descendants at Holkham (London, 1929)Google Scholar. However, Stirling (vol. 1, p. 62) quotes a letter (no source given) from Coke to the younger Brettingham, which is similar, but not identical, to one of the later letters, 6 January 1755, on the subject of smoking chimneys.

5 James, chs xix-xxiv; Moore, Andrew W., Norfolk and the Grand Tour (Norfolk Museums Service, 1985) pp. 32–39 Google Scholar; Parker, R. A. C., Coke of Norfolk: A Financial and Agricultural Study 1707–1842 (Oxford, 1975) pp. 12–25 Google Scholar.

6 Schmidt, Leopold, ‘Holkham Hall: Studien zur Architektur und Ausstaltung’ (doctoral thesis, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, 1980)Google Scholar: summary in Country Life, 24 January 1980, pp. 214-17; 31 January 1980, pp. 298-301.

7 Brettingham’s letters to Coke are not known to have survived at Holkham; see Letter 5 for a draft reply.

8 Schmidt, Country Life, 24 January 1980, pp. 214-16.

9 Holkham Archives, Account Book (henceforth A/), A/36, 4 May 1734.

10 Worsley, Giles, Classical Architecture in Britain, the Heroic Age (Yale, 1995), p. 139 Google Scholar, 127, illus. 160, 162.

11 The north dining room and the marble hall were both changed after building had started: Schmidt, , Country Life, 31 January 1980, p. 300 Google Scholar.

12 Brettingham, Matthew junior, The Plans, Elevations and Sections of Holkham in Norfolk (London, 1773), pp. ix–x Google Scholar.

13 In the 1730s the family regularly spent the second half of the year at Holkham, as shown by the travelling expenses in the account books, A/25, 26.

14 Schmidt, , Country Life, 31 January 1980, p. 298 Google Scholar.

15 Lees-Milne, James, Earls of Creation (London, 1962), p. 248, 254Google Scholar.

16 Ralph Allen, owner of the Combe Down quarries near Bath. There had been frequent shipments of stone from Allen’s quarries since 1730, for the obelisk, temple, porches and seats.

17 Porches: probably the pavilions by Kent at either end of the ornamental basin in course of construction to the south of the future house.

18 John Parsons, mason; building the obelisk, temple and seat in 1730-33 (A/35, 36).

19 J. Aram, gardener, came from Nottinghamshire in 1723 (A/33, p. 6). The plans mentioned here were evidently those of the gardens, on which work had been proceeding since 1722.

20 There are entries in the accounts for ‘water engeon’ from 1732, but no more is known. John Capper, well sinker, came from Derbyshire in 1731 and was paid for viewing wells, work at the pump, boring for clay, work at the water engine; he was apparently killed in a well at Holkham in August 1734 (A/25, P. 60). James Lillie, joiner, worked at the hall until his death in 1760 (A/43), usually in partnership with Copeman.

21 Abraham Thomas, secretary from 1718 (and previously with Sir Edward Coke at Longford, Derbyshire — A/2) until his death in 1744 (A/27). The temple had been started in 1731.

22 Oliver, plasterer.

23 The new kitchen garden had been begun in 1726.

24 ‘Number 6’: Matthew Brettingham junior recalled of his father’s life in Norwich that ‘Mr.Crow, the rich Manufacturer, was his particular friend; they kept a Club together at the Maid’s Head, call’d No. 6. Dr.Brooks was one of the Members, and some of the most brilliant Spirits of the City. I remember [Brettingham] going there ev’ry Saturday Night whenever he was absent from Holkham’. T. W. F., , ‘Matthew Brettingham, The Architect of Holkham’, The East Anglian, 11 (December 1864), pp. 131-34 (p. 132)Google Scholar.

25 This refers to building the foundation walls. The complaints from the farm struck a chord at Holkham in 1900: ‘even at that time the Mansion and Park Farm could not hit it off over horse work’ (note, probably from Wood to Viscount Coke, in packet with the letters).

26 George Appleyard, estate steward.

27 Charles Lennox, second Duke of Richmond. This is possibly the Richmond House, London, where Brettingham supervised alterations and outwork from 1744 (Kenworthy-Browne, p. 39) in which case Brettingham’s connexion was some eight years earlier than previously known.

28 Possibly Charles Churchill, MP for Castle Rising (d. 1745).

29 Beck Hall, near Billingford, Norfolk, had been the home of Coke’s grandmother, Lady Ann Walpole, and then appears to have been used as a hunting lodge, with a tenant in the farm.

30 Lady Clifford: Coke’s wife, formerly Lady Margaret Tufton, cr. Baroness Clifford 1734.

31 An entry in the garden accounts for 1737 records ‘to Mr. Oram a gift on account of the wood and lawn’ (A/37, p. 64); the gardener, Aram, appears in the same account and it does not appear that the names were confused.

32 William Tomley was the porter. Claremont was the house of Coke’s friend, the Duke of Newcastle (James, pp. 253, 255); ‘Rushall’ was perhaps Rousham Hall, Oxfordshire, on which Kent was working in 1738 (Worsley, p. 188).

33 Three ‘green doors with springs’ were paid for in June 1739 (A/26, p. 86).

34 Cold baths were fashionable at this period, but this proposal is an interesting aberration on Coke’s part for, as Brettingham no doubt explained when they met, the heavy arches of the cellars could not have lent themselves to such a device.

35 Probably Clark, who in 1738 was doing the fine plasterwork on the principal floor, while Oliver did the rustic and attic rooms (A/36, 37); he was Thomas Clark of Westminster, a well-known stuccoist (Lees-Milne, pp. 254, 257, 258) who went on to do the fine plasterwork in the marble hall, saloon and other state rooms.

36 The carver at this stage was probably John Woodward (A/36, p. 106, February 1739/40: paid for 272 days at 25. per day plus £5 9s. 1d. for ‘387 over hours, 10 to a day, 6 days toa week, at 17/-’).

37 The glazier was John Bullin; payments to him and two sons still appear in 1756, and to Mary Bullin in 1782 (A/36, 39, 46).

38 Henry Scot was the kitchen gardener, probably appointed in January 1738 (A/37, pp. 64, 94).

39 Schmidt pointed out there was little evidence for Burlington’s having visited Holkham; it is interesting that Coke did not feel this visit was urgent.

40 The bedchamber tapestry was by Vanderbank (Brettingham [see n. 12], p. 14). By 1773 (and probably by 1760 — Holkham Archives inventory, H/Inv. 4) two additional ‘door pieces’ by Bradshaw probably obscured Kent’s remaining contribution on the chimney wall. Both tapestries were moved to Strangers Wing by 1921. The lady’s dressing room was hung with 159 yards of green damask (A/26, fol. 148) which was still there in 1760 (H/Inv. 4).

41 According to Brettingham, p. 13, the dressing room furniture was by Kent, but no payment has been traced in the account books; the upholsterer Bradshaw was paid for furniture for the attic and rustic floors (A/ 26, fol. 148).

42 The attic was decorated to a greater extent than the rustic floor. The principal room — ‘Mr. Coke’s bedchamber’ — was hung in 1740/1 with 57 yards of yellow armozeen, and the yellow and white bed hangings in the 1760 inventory were probably the original: the ‘turret bedchamber’ of Edward Coke’s estranged wife, Lady Mary, in 1749 was probably rather more comfortable than implied by Stirling (vol. 1, p. 56).

43 Thomas Hall was already in 1733 employed at an annual salary (with an apprentice) as blacksmith (Holkham Archives, Audit Book 1733-36).

44 The lord’s dressing room became the Manuscript Library in 1816, but the ‘light’ on to the staircase (now from a cupboard) is still there.

45 Possibly William Pulteney, ‘the famous statesman, orator, wit and scholar, created Earl of Bath 1742’ (James, p. 230). His mother and Coke’s paternal grandmother were both daughters of the first Duke of Leeds; he had perhaps visited Holkham, as food was bought for ‘Mr. Pulteney’s dogs’ in 1737 (A/26, fol. 25V).

46 Work on the Great Water, the present lake (without the extensions at its extremities) had been under way since 1727 (A/33, 34).

47 Mrs Ann — probably the lady’s maid; Thomas — Abraham Thomas, the secretary; Will Overton — probably valet de chambre: he does not appear in lists of servants’ wages, but was supplied with livery from at least 1736, and reimbursed for buying items such as razors and combs. They all had rooms on the rustic floor, evidendy in use before the wing was finished or even linked to the old house (August 1740). The red-and-white and blue-and-white material for the bed hangings was bought in May 1738 (A/15); a tailor was working on Will Overton’s and the footman’s beds in 1738/9 (A/26); two ‘travelling beds’ had been bought in 1735 (A/25, p. 93).

48 Possibly the upholsterer.

49 This is possibly the picture mentioned by Kent to Burlington when he was about to start it at the end of 1738: Wilson, Michael, William Kent, Architect, Designer, Painter, Gardener, 1685-1748 (London, 1984), p. 178 Google Scholar. Wilson’s surmise that Coke might have ‘had no high regard for Kent as a painter’ was evidendy mistaken.

50 The new carver was probably Marsden, who in 1740/1 was paid for ‘very rich freezes’ for doors, ‘a very rich frame for a chimney’, glass frames, etc. (A/26, fol. 148).

51 For Joseph Pickford, a master mason often employed in Palladian circles, see Saunders, Edward, Joseph Pickford of Derby (Stroud, 1993), esp. pp. 12–13 Google Scholar. The chimneypiece which disappointed Coke had cost £53 10s., more even than that by Pickford for the library (A/37, PP. 96, 108). Pickford carved them in London and sent a mason to Holkham to put them up. The closet chimneypiece was carved by Carter, who went on to do much of the carving, as did Pickford, in the state rooms.

52 Joseph Howell, mason; still working at Holkham in 1761 (A/44).

53 The frame was eventually moved to the dressing room (then called the boudoir) in 1909 (Holkham Archives, invoice from Cowtan and Sons).

54 George Appleyard, the steward, died in August 1742 (Holkham Archives, Audit Book, 1741-42). Roberts was a carver, working (as well as Woodward) on furniture by 1741, probably as an employee of Brettingham, who was his administrator when he died in 1748. There is no dip in the building expenditure sufficient to tally with Coke’s intentions in this letter.