{{Short description|Historic house in Northamptonshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=March 2025}} thumb|right|300px|Holdenby House '''Holdenby House''' is a historic country house in Northamptonshire, traditionally pronounced, and sometimes spelt, '''Holmby'''. The house is situated in the parish of Holdenby, six miles (10 km) northwest of Northampton and close to Althorp. It is a Grade II* listed building.<ref name="NHLE">{{National Heritage List for England| num=1067053 |desc=Holdenby House |grade=II* |accessdate=15 March 2016}}</ref>
== History == The house was completed in 1583 by the Elizabethan Lord Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton, who refused to sleep a night in the mansion until Queen Elizabeth I had slept there. Thomas Heneage stayed at Holdenby in July 1583, and wrote to Hatton, congratulating him on the completion of "the best house that hath been built in this age".<ref>Nicholas Harris Nicolas, ''Memoirs of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher Hatton'' (London: Richard Bentley, 1847), p. 333.</ref>
It was one of the largest prodigy houses of the Tudor period, rivalling in size both Audley End and Theobalds, and was reputed to occupy approximately 78,750 square feet (7,300 m²), although this probably included the two great courtyards around which it was built. The facades were symmetrical, with mullioned windows and open Doric arcades, reflecting the Renaissance style of architecture gradually spreading from Italy. Hatton died in 1591.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.holdenby.com/house-history.php| title=The history|publisher=Holdenby House}}</ref>
In 1607, after a survey by John Thorpe, the mansion was bought by Elizabeth's successor James I. He intended it as a residence for his son, Charles, Duke of York.<ref>Frederick Devon, ''Issues of the Exchequer'' (London, 1836), 37, 86.</ref> His wife Anne of Denmark stayed at Holdenby in August 1608.<ref>William Fraser, ''Elphinstone Family Book'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1897), p. 158.</ref>
In February 1647, after the First English Civil War, Charles I was brought to Holdenby by the Scots and handed over to the English Long Parliament. He remained a prisoner there until June 1647 when Cornet George Joyce seized him and took him to Newmarket in the name of the New Model Army.<ref>Austin Woolrych (2004). ''Britain in Revolution: 1625-1660'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-927268-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-19-927268-6}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=S54CsDh5JOsC&q=king+from+Holmby&pg=PA363 Page 363]</ref> Parliament later sold the estate to Captain Adam Baynes, who demolished the house almost entirely except for a small domestic wing.
thumb|right|300px|Holdenby Palace before its demolition in the 17th century
In 1709, Holdenby was bought by the Marlborough family who in turn sold it to their kin the Clifden family whose descendants in the female line, the Lowthers, still own the property {{As of|2014|lc=y}}. The Clifdens had a new house built in the style of the older mansion, incorporating the older mansion's remains but being only about one eighth of its size.<ref name="Pevsner">{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus |author-link1=Nikolaus Pevsner |last2=Cherry |first2=Bridget |series=The Buildings of England |title=Northamptonshire |orig-year=1961 |year=1973 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=0-14-071022-1 |pages=261–263}}</ref>{{rp|261}} The first phase of the new house was designed by the architects Richard Carpenter and William Slater and built in 1873–75.<ref name="Pevsner"/>{{rp|261}} A second phase was designed by Walter Mills and built in 1877–78.<ref name="Pevsner"/>{{rp|263}}
{{As of|2014}}, all that remains of Hatton's great house are two Grade I listed archways and the kitchen wing incorporated into the Victorian rebuild, now standing on a lawn, which once gave access to the courtyards; a near-identical third arch bears the date 1659 and so must have been built for Baynes, the Cromwellian owner.<ref name="Pevsner"/>{{rp|263}}
The gardens are listed Grade I.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1001035|desc=Holdenby House|grade=I|access-date=9 November 2021}}</ref>
A door salvaged from the demolition of Holdenby palace is believed to be inside Morningside Cottage, a grade II listed building in the nearby village of Creaton.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1038315|desc=Morningside Cottage|grade=II|access-date=9 November 2021}}</ref>
==Filming location== In July 2011, the exterior of Holdenby House was transformed as the location of Satis House in BBC One’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s ''Great Expectations''. Parts of the film ''Biggles'' (1986) were filmed at Holdenby.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090729/locations?ref_=ttfc_ql_6 |title=Biggles (1986): Filming Locations |publisher=IMDb |access-date=15 March 2016}}</ref> The house featured in a 2020 episode of ''An American Aristocrat's Guide to Great Estates''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/kv7dxp/an-american-aristocrats-guide-to-great-estates-episode-guide/|title=An American Aristocrat's Guide to Great Estates|publisher=BBC|access-date=9 November 2021}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==Functions and visits== The estate is a private residence which is available as a corporate and wedding venue and is opened to the public on a limited and paid basis.<ref>[http://www.holdenby.com/visitor-information.php Visitor Information] at official site. Accessed 17 October 2014</ref> Other activities include a falconry centre.<ref>[http://www.holdenby.com/house-falconry.php Falconry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016192744/http://holdenby.com/house-falconry.php |date=16 October 2014 }} at official website</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Whyte Melville G. J. [https://archive.org/stream/holmbyhouseatal00melgoog#page/n240/mode/2up 'Holby House'] Ch.XXVII of the historical novel ''Holby House: a Tale of Old Northamptonshire'', written in 1859, reconstructs the house's appearance during the captivity of Charles I.
==External links== *[http://www.holdenby.com/ Holdenby House] Official Website {{coord|52.3039|-0.9850|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title}}
Category:1583 establishments in England Category:Houses completed in 1583 Category:Country houses in Northamptonshire Category:Gardens in Northamptonshire Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Northamptonshire Category:James VI and I Category:Charles I of England