Kenwood House sits on the outskirts of Hampstead Heath, London. We visited on a hot but changeable day, and I got rained upon wandering around the gardens. Well, at least the rain was warm and refreshing. How British of me to bang on about the weather!😁
A house has stood on this site since 1916, after the estate was bought by John Bill, the king's printer. After passing through several hands- being rebuilt along the way- it passed into the hands of William Murray in 1754. He was the Lord Chief Justice from 1756, before being created 1st Earl of Mansfield in 1776.
Mansfield employed famous architect Robert Adam to expand upon the existing house and decorate it throughout.
This is the entrance hall; which was used as a dining room.
We know this due to the theme represented on the beautifully ornate ceiling...
It shows Bacchus, the god of wine and Ceres, the goddess of agriculture.
They were common characterstic subjects for dining rooms.
These are the Deal Stairs, built when the two wings were added to the house by architect George Sauders, during the occupation of the 2nd Earl of Mansfield. The stairs are in addition to the main staircase and date from between 1793 to 1796.
At the top of these stairs is a room containing the Decorative Arts Collection, which include the Draper Gift. These are a collection of over 100 miniatures gifted by Mary Elizabeth Jane Irving Draper.
The Lady Maufe Collection of shoe buckles was gifted in 1971 by Lady Prudence Maufe, a designer and interior designer.
The Hull Gundy Collection of jewellery was gifted to the collection in 1975 by Anne Hull Grundy; a scholar and antiquarian.
These is an art exibition in the Upper Hall called Strike A Pose: Stephen Farthing And The Swagger Portrait.
This artist adds his own modern twists to traditional poses.
Shades of Basquait, methinks?
A Grand Manner portrait was commissioned to show off wealth and power...
"Swagger Pose" is just a different name for this style of portrait...
This gothic offering was my favourite...
There are some traditional paintings up here too...
I enjoyed seeing the both classic portraits and the avant garde, and I think there's room for both styles of artistic expression.
We exited the exibition down the Great Stairs...
The ceiling was designed by Robert Adam...
The stairs date from 1767 to 1769, and the balusters have been restored to their original mid-blue colour.
The Antechamber contains sculptures, and these are plaster copies of Roman goddess Flora and a muse; probably Euterpe, muse of music.
Lord Mansfield was a great collector of books, and a friend of poet Alexander Pope.
Mirrored nook, with a refelcted Vain Old Tart and a SuperDean...
Fireplace...
Another Vain Old Tart photo, overlooking the windows and window seats.
Another Vain Old Tart photo, overlooking the windows and window seats.
This room is kept very dark, presumably to protect from sunlight damage to the furnishings.
The sumptuous ceiling is decorated by 19 oil paintings on paper by Antonio Zucchi. They include representations of the four seasons, as well as panels depicting the symbolic figures of Theology, Mathematics, Jurisprudence and Philosophy, and vignettes embracing Peace, Argiculture, Navigation and Commerce.
There are a pair of pier glasses at the end of the library. "Oh look- if you take the light out then that would make a good wine glass for you," said the SuperDean!
The Dining Room Lobby was a place for servants to assemble dishes before carrying them through. The floorcloth is made up of layers of oil paint on canvas. This was a precursor to linoleum, and I absolutely love the design- it reminds me of the sun!
Looking up in the Lobby, towards the skylight. Incidentally, not all of the rooms were accessible to visitors.
The Dining Room, which was redecorated in 2000 to evoke an early 19th century interior.
The fireplace, and paintings by Old Masters hang in here.
This is Princess Henrietta of Lorraine (1611-1660), Attended by a Page, 1634, by Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641).
The south front rooms are part of the original building, and date from the early 18th century.
This room was Lord Mansfield's Dressing Room, serving as his study (the Mansfield's dressing rooms were situated directly below their bedrooms).
Looking up at the chandelier, and this south façade ovelooks the grounds; towards London.
Hawking in the Olden Time, 1832, by Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873).
The tour guide explained that it depicts a hawk attacking a heron in flight, with hawkers attempting to aim at it from horseback.
We wandered through into the Breakfast Room, which was once two rooms; the drawing room and parlour. It also contains paintings from the Iveagh Bequest.
The 3rd, 4th and 6th Earls preferred to live at their family seat in Scone, Scotland (although the bachelor 5th Earl entertained lavishly here).
The 6th Earl initially planned to sell the house and its estate in 1914, but the First World War put his plans on hold.
I love this little half-a-sunshine occasional table (at least that's what it reminds me of!)🌞
The Kenwood Preservation Council was formed in 1918, and they purchased some of the land, acquiring more in 1924. Kenwood's grounds were officially opened to the public in 1925, by George V.
I joked that this table was probably designed to sit your computer upon, as I envisaged a laptop slotting onto the front section just nicely!
Some of the collection of artefacts in the house were removed to Scone Palace by the family, and the almost all of the others were auctioned off locally in 1922.
The "skeleton clock" by John Joseph Merlin. Merlin was an invetor, who first developed clocks such as this in 1776.
This smaller room next to this was once Lady Mansfield's Dressing Room.
Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh was a Hamstead resident who first leased, then purchased, the house in 1924. A philanthropist, he gave the house to the nation, along with a selection of his own paintings.
Hounds Hunting a Fox, c.1785 by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788).
Next to that is the Housekeeper's Room, and there were regal outfits you could dress up in for a selfie in here!
Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761-1804) was the illegitimate daughter of Sir John Lindsay (1737-88), the nephew of the 1st Earl of Mansfield, and an enslaved African called Maria. Dido grew up in Lord Mansfield's household with her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray (1760-1825), featured here. Dido was educated and literate, and her status was higher than that of a servant but generally below the rest of the family.
In 1756 Lord Mansfield became Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. He was considered to be one of England's greatest judges, and was a fierce supporter of the Campaign for the Abolition of Slavery. He is associated with judgements which contributed to its abolition.
Walking into the next section and looking through to the Orangery, which was once a freestanding building containing peaches and oranges plus other exotic plants.
It was probobly added between 1746 and 1754 and now serves as one of two shops in the house.
This is a flat photo I managed to salvage from my experimental filming a year ago. In it you can make out the room's columns, which are painted to resemble green porphyry (granites, rocks, or coarse-grained cystals).
The bust is of the First Earl of Iveagh.
The chandelier of the Green Room. Once the location of kitchen and service quarters, the name first appeared in 1831, and simply comes from the wall and column colour.
It's noted that in 1817 it was named the Supper Room, and it has a decidedly feminine feel about it.
The Music Room was another of my favourites, and was called such by 1796. This is where ladies would withdraw after dinner...
...The gentlemen would join them for tea and music, and there is a view over the gardens towards the dairy from this room.
The gorgeous mirror over the fireplace, and by 1831 much of the furniture in this room was French. Female portraits abound in here (which is probably how I came to pick up on the femininity of this area of the house) including works by Gainsborough, Reynolds and Romney,
The organ dates from around 1920 and is by John England and Son. It is sometimes played in recitals.
This is a Grecian Pedal Harp from 1828. This was designed by Sébastian Érard, a leading instrument maker. Harps were generally played by women.
I nicknamed this topiary hedge passage next to the Orangery "The Tunnel of Love..." 😁
Looking down over the gardens and the lake, and you can just about make out the white bridge to the left of the photo...
Standing on the lawn and looking back at the house. The house has featured in films such as Sense and Sensibility (1995), Mansfield Park (1999) and it's where, in Notting Hill (1999), Will (Hugh Grant) overhears Anna (Julia Roberts) talking about him in a dismissive manner.
This lovely bridge dates back to the mid 18th century- but what is unusual about it?
It's known as the Sham Bridge; because it's only a two dimensional façade, and you can only view it, not walk upon it! It was created to catch the eye, and was last restored in 1933.
One final gawp up towards the back of the house before climbing up the slope of the lawn. Nowadays, outdoor concerts take place on the lawn during the summer.
I headed up the the dairy, on the hunt for the estate's sculptures.
Monolith-Empyrean, 1953 by Barbara Hepworth.
Two Piece Reclining Figure, No. 5, 1963-64 by Henry Moore.
The dairy was built between 1794 and 1795 and was probably designed by George Saunders. It consisted of three buildings, including an octagonal tea room, a Dairy House and a Scullery with an Ice House below that.
The dairy replaced a former version; its purpose being to supply the household with milk, cream, butter and cheese. The ladies of Kenwood would have had tea here, too.
But it was very much shut on this day! I believe it now contains offices, and all I could see when I pressed my nose against the windows were modern day appliances.
...Such as ye olde microwave! Dairies were very popular in the 18th century, and this one would have been presided over by the mistress of the house, Louisa (wife of the 2nd Earl of Mansfield). Previously, Dido Belle had been in charge of the dairy.
Apparently, pipistrelle bats now roost in here, but the view through this window revealed a surviving marble floor and milk basin.
This tree looked half-split and half-carved, and I took a photo of it becuse I thought it was the third sculpture on the grounds...
I was wrong- this is that sculpture!
Flamme, 1983 by Eugene Dodeigne.
Weeping willows are my favourite trees, but this one looks completely collapsed. This was on a property neighbouring Kenwood House.
Nature always wins! We chanced upon this totally uprooted and upturned tree whilst walking back through Hampstead Heath.
We were here a year ago but took a different route that day. Here are more stills salvaged from my experimental filming, and show you some other interesting places close to Hampstead Heath.
This is the Old Bull and Bush pub; subject of the Florrie Ford song, which refers to the pub's popularity as a daytrip destination for cockneys.
Not far from this is a tight corner; with the Spaniards Inn, which is believed to date back to 1585, on one side and a tollgate built around 1710 on the other. Both are listed buildings, so cannot be knocked down.
Infamous highwayman Dick Turpin's father once ran the Spaniards Inn!
Kenwood House makes for an elegant day out, and this was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me, as our journey took us past Archway, where I once worked; when I myself lived in North London, many moons ago.
I will return...
Until then,
TTFN
Miss Elaineous
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