Audley End House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Audley End House |
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Audley End House in 2020
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| Type | Prodigy house |
| Location | Saffron Walden |
| OS grid reference | TL524381 |
| Area | Essex |
| Built | 17th century |
| Architectural style(s) | Jacobean |
| Owner | English Heritage |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name: Audley End House | |
| Designated | 1 November 1972 |
| Reference no. | 1196114 |
| Official name: Audley End | |
| Designated | 1 July 1987 |
| Reference no. | 1000312 |
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Audley End House is a grand country house located near Saffron Walden in Essex, England. It was mostly built in the early 1600s. This type of large, fancy house from that time is called a prodigy house. Audley End is known as one of the most beautiful Jacobean houses in England.
Even though it's only about a third of its original size, Audley End House is still very big. It has many interesting architectural details and collections to explore. Today, English Heritage looks after the house. However, the Barons Braybrooke family, who used to own it, still have some of the house's contents and land. Audley End railway station is named after this famous house.
Contents
History of Audley End House
Audley End House stands on the site of an old Benedictine monastery called Walden Abbey. In 1538, King Henry VIII closed down the monastery as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries (when many monasteries were shut down). He gave the land to his chief minister, Sir Thomas Audley.
Sir Thomas Audley turned the abbey into his home. He even added three floors inside the church part of the abbey, and the rest of the church was taken down. A large hall was also built where the abbot's (the head monk's) house used to be. This is the same spot where the later Jacobean great hall was built.
Royal Visits and Grand Designs
The house was an important stop during Elizabeth I's royal tour in 1578. Her visits were often filled with learning, debates, and plays. Scholars from nearby Cambridge University would write special papers and speeches for these events.
Later, the house was torn down by Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk. He built a much grander mansion in its place. This new house was mainly built to entertain King James I. The King visited the newly finished house in 1614. The design of the house was made to fit the royal processions, with separate rooms for the King and Queen.
It's said that Thomas Howard told King James that building the house cost him about £200,000. In 1619, Thomas Howard and his wife, Catherine Howard, Countess of Suffolk, were found guilty of misusing money. They were sent to the Tower of London, but a very large fine helped them get released. Thomas Howard died at Audley End in 1626.
The design of the house is thought to have been by the Earl of Northampton and a master builder named Bernard Janssen. The surveyor John Thorpe also drew a plan for the house.
King Charles II's Home
The famous English writer and government worker, Samuel Pepys, visited Audley End in 1667. He wrote about it in his diary. At that time, the house was as grand as a royal palace. It actually became one when King Charles II bought it in 1668 for £50,000. He used it as a home when he went to the horse races in Newmarket.
The house was given back to the Suffolk family in 1701. Around 1708, parts of the house were gradually taken down until it became its current size. The main building hasn't changed much since the front court was removed in 1708 and the east wing in 1753.
Sir John Griffin, who became the fourth Baron Howard de Walden, made big changes before he died in 1797. In 1762, he hired Capability Brown to design the parkland around the house. He also asked Robert Adam to create new reception rooms on the ground floor in a fancy 18th-century style.
Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke, who inherited the house in 1825, brought in most of the house's huge collection of paintings. He filled the rooms with furniture and tried to bring back some of the original Jacobean feel to the main rooms.
Audley End in World War II
During the Second World War, Audley End was used by the government. From March 1941, it became a camp for different military units. Later, it was used by the Special Operations Executive (SOE). This was a secret British organization that helped with special missions during the war.
Audley End became a training base, known as Special Training School 43 (STS 43), for Polish soldiers called the Cichociemni. These brave soldiers were trained here before going on secret missions. A war memorial stands in the main driveway to remember the 108 Polish soldiers who died serving their country. This memorial was officially recognized as a historic monument in 2018.
Audley End Today
After the war, the Braybrooke family got the house back. In 1948, the house was sold to the Ministry of Works, which is now English Heritage.
In 2014, English Heritage noted that there is a risk of flooding at Audley End. This risk mainly affects the area near the River Cam, which could impact pathways and parts of the land.
Gardens and Grounds
The parkland around Audley End was designed by Capability Brown. It includes many beautiful old monuments. The River Granta flows through the grounds, with several fancy bridges crossing it. A main road, which follows an old Roman road, also runs through the estate. The Temple of Concord, a decorative building, was added in 1790.
The walled kitchen garden at Audley End was brought back to life in 1999. It had been overgrown and neglected. With help from old garden plans and journals, it was restored by Garden Organic. It was finished in 2000 and opened by Prince Charles. The garden now looks like it would have in the late Victorian times. It's full of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. It even has 120 types of apples, 60 types of pears, and 40 types of tomatoes!
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18th-century print of "Audeley-end Palace" ... "as it was in it's splendor" [sic]
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Audley End in 1880
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The garden front
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view from River Cam
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Aerial view from the front
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Aerial rear
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Paintings
Audley End House has many paintings. A lot of these still belong to the family of the Barons Braybrooke.
Audley End in Media
Audley End House and its grounds have been used in many popular TV and radio shows. These include Flog It!, Antiques Roadshow, and Gardeners' Question Time.
The outside of the house and the gardens were also used for the 1964 movie Woman of Straw. This film starred famous actors like Gina Lollobrigida, Sean Connery, and Ralph Richardson.
In 2017, parts of Audley End were filmed for Trust, a TV series produced by Danny Boyle. This show was about the life of John Paul Getty III. On September 7, 2018, scenes for The Crown were filmed here. Before that, the Library and Great Hall inside the house were used to look like rooms in Balmoral Castle, Windsor Castle, and Eton College.
Audley End also appears in a popular series of videos on English Heritage's YouTube channel. These videos feature a character named Mrs Crocombe, who was the head cook at the house in the 1880s.
See also
- Audley End Railway, miniature railway in the grounds
- Audley End railway station
