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Hardwick Hall manor house
The Social History of the English Country House, 1200-2000
Tickets from
US$80
30th March 2026 - 29th June 2026
England’s country houses are one of the great achievements of our culture. Their range and variety, from Medieval castles, to Elizabethan prodigy houses, Palladian palaces and Victorian Gothic mansions, tell the story of English architecture. However, they also reflect the society that made them. Mark Girouard’s celebrated book Life in the English Country House, published in 1976, opened up new ways of understanding this rich and remarkable aspect of our culture. Many other historians have followed in his footsteps. In this series, Steven Brindle draws on this scholarly tradition to tell the social and cultural history of the English country house, from their Medieval origins to their decline and revival in the 20th century.
Talks
Medieval castles, great houses and manors were shaped around the households that occupied them. The Hall, the heart of any Medieval house, was where the household dined and celebrated great occasions, but was also where the menservants slept. Chambers for the lord and lady opened off it at one end, and the kitchen and its related rooms at the other. As households became more complex, the houses did too: chambers, lodgings, gatehouses and outbuildings proliferated. Great houses like Haddon Hall and Penshurst Place, and manor houses like Markenfeld Hall and Cothay Manor, help us understand the remarkable society that created them.
The Reformation and the suppression of the monasteries led to the largest transfer of land since the Norman Conquest. Many landowning families, enriched by royal favour, the law, trade or church property, built manor houses and courtyard houses. New plan-types developed, E- and H-plans like Barrington Court. In the Elizabethan age, royal favour continued to be the key to social advancement, and courtiers built vast houses in which to entertain the Queen, such as Theobalds, Holdenby and Burghley. The ‘prodigy houses’ of the age, like Longleat and Hardwick, reflect the self-confidence of England’s new Protestant ruling class, for whom they were the ultimate status-symbols.
In the mid 1600s the aristocracy’s leadership of society was challenged by the rising gentry and merchant classes. During and after the Civil War many great Medieval castles and houses were destroyed. New kinds of house developed, compact and symmetrical, like Coleshill, Thorpe Hall and Uppark. After the Restoration, noble families had to decide whether to modernise or rebuild their ancestral residences – or replace them completely. In the grandest houses, the formality of court life was reflected in the creation of state apartments at houses like Boughton, Burghley and Chatsworth. Symmetry and classicism now characterised grand houses, reflecting the formal values and tone of social life.
Parliament became the predominant element in politics: ‘interest’ or local influence was the key to controlling seats in the House of Commons. Country houses ;like Houghton Hall became ‘power houses’, symbols and engines of their owners’ status and social ambition. Houses were also designed as settings for libraries and collections of works of art. The Mid-Georgian transport revolution changed attitudes to privacy and entertaining. The agricultural revolution transformed estates, and enriched their owners. A wish for greater privacy brought new criteria: more informality in daily life, segregation of servants, and a changed relationship between houses, gardens and their settings.
Victorian Britain was the richest nation in the world. Power and wealth spread from the upper classes to the middle classes, but the aristocracy remained at top of the social pyramid, and many of them benefitted from new sources of wealth, from coal-rents to urban property. Historic seats were rebuilt, like Thoresby and Eaton Hall. Vast numbers of new houses were built by the newly-rich, including many masterpieces like Cragside, Standen and Waddesdon. Servants’ quarters became larger and more complex, reflecting the elaboration of households. Towards the end of the century, though, there were ominous signs for the future, notably falling farm prices and rising rates of taxation.
Great estates and High Society survived the First World War, but rising taxes, falling estate incomes and social change spelt the end for many ancestral houses. The Second World War accelerated these processes. Country houses seemed to be on the way out, in the age of capital taxation and the welfare state. Through the 1950s and 60s hundreds of houses were demolished every year. However, their spell and appeal proved to be enduring. Hundreds of houses gained a new lease of life, some through the National Trust but many more by the efforts and sacrifices of their owners. Public access generated new roles for houses, bringing economic rescue, social relevance and a renewed cultural significance. Collectively they form one of the great success stories of modern English and British culture.
Expert speaker
Dr Steven Brindle
Read History at Oxford and worked for English Heritage for 34 years. He was also involved in the post-fire restoration of Windsor Castle, 1993–7. Publications include Brunel, the Man who built the World (2006), Windsor Castle: A Thousand Years of A Royal Palace (2018) and Architecture in Britain and Ireland, 1530-1830 (2023). Twitter: @StevenPBrindle
More tours led by Dr Steven Brindle
Frequently asked questions
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Dates & prices
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2026
Date
Speaker
Price
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