Apethorpe Palace

rdf:langString Apethorpe Palace

rdf:langString Apethorpe Palace

rdf:langString Apethorpe Palace

rdf:langString Grade I

rdf:langString Hunting Way, Apethorpe, Peterborough, PE8 5DJ

rdf:langString Apethorpe Hall, Apethorpe House, Apthorp Park, Apthorp Palace

rdf:langString Apethorpe Palace South Elevation

rdf:langString United Kingdom

rdf:langString Location within Northamptonshire

rdf:langString United Kingdom Northamptonshire

rdf:langString Apethorpe Palace (pronounced Ap-thorp, formerly known as "Apethorpe Hall", "Apethorpe House", "Apthorp Park" or "Apthorp Palace" ) in the parish of Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, England, is a Grade I listed country house dating back to the 15th century and was a "favourite royal residence for James I". The main house is built around three courtyards lying on an east–west axis and is approximately 80,000 square feet in area. It is acknowledged as the finest example of a Jacobean stately home and one of Britain's ten best palaces. The building's successive alterations are attributed to three major architects: John Thorpe (1565-1655) for the Jacobean royal extension, Roger Morris (1695-1749) for the Neo-Palladian modifications, and Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856-1942) for the formal gardens and the Neo-Jacobean embellishments. The Lebanese cedar planted in 1614 is a scheduled monument considered to be the oldest surviving one in England. Apethorpe holds a particularly important place in English history because of its ownership by, and role in entertaining, Tudor and Stuart monarchs. Elizabeth I inherited the estate from her father Henry VIII. Her successor James I personally contributed to its extension resulting in a set of impressive state rooms featuring some of the most important surviving plasterwork and fireplaces of the period. There were at least thirteen extended royal visits from the Stuart kings – more than to any other house in the country – between 1603 and 1636, and it was at Apethorpe that King James met his favourite and speculated lover, George Villiers, later to become Duke of Buckingham. A series of court masques written by Ben Jonson for James I were performed while the King was in residence at Apethorpe. The house was also lived in regularly by Charles I. In 1622 King James financed an enlargement of the house and rebuilding of the south range with a new suite of state rooms on the first floor, and an open gallery around the perimeter of the house on the second floor. This suite of state rooms consisted of the Dining Chamber, the Drawing Chamber, the King Bedchamber, the Prince of Wales Bedchamber (with the three feathers carved on the fireplace) and the Long Gallery (last complete set of original Jacobean State apartments left in England). The entrance is still now surmounted by a statue of James I dating from that period. The King Bedchamber was embellished with a hunting scene over the fireplace and the royal arms decorated the ceiling. These State rooms contain a notable series of fireplaces incorporating in the carving iconographical statements such as the nature of kingship.

rdf:langString Hunting Way, Apethorpe, Peterborough, PE8 5DJ

rdf:langString Apethorpe Hall, Apethorpe House, Apthorp Park, Apthorp Palace