Upton House, Warwickshire facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Upton House |
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The South Terrace
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| General information | |
| Type | Stately home |
| Location | near Banbury, Oxfordshire |
| Coordinates | 52°06′43″N 1°27′35″W / 52.11199°N 1.45966°W |
| Completed | Built c.1695 |
| Owner | in the care of the National Trust |
Upton House is a beautiful old country house located in Warwickshire, England. It's about 7 miles northwest of Banbury. Today, it's looked after by the National Trust, a charity that protects historic places.
Contents
The Story of Upton House
Upton House stands where a small village called Upton used to be. Around the year 1500, this village was cleared to create land for farming animals. Over many years, the estate was owned by different families.
Early Owners and Builders
In the early 1600s, Sir William Danvers bought the estate. His family owned it until 1688. Then, a person named Sir Rushout Cullen bought the land. He built the current Upton House for himself around 1695.
New Owners and Big Changes
In 1757, a banker named Francis Child bought the house. He used it as a place for hunting. The house stayed in his family for a long time. Later, in 1897, a brewer named Andrew Richard Motion bought the estate. He was the grandfather of the famous writer, Andrew Motion.
A very important change happened in 1927. Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, bought Upton House. He had inherited a lot of money from his father, Marcus Samuel, who started the oil company Shell Transport & Trading.
A Garden Transformed
Lord Bearsted's wife, Lady Bearsted, worked with a talented garden designer named "Kitty" Lloyd Jones. Together, they completely changed the house's garden in the early 1930s. Kitty Lloyd Jones is famous for turning a wet, marshy area into a special bog garden. This garden was built around a natural spring.
Giving Upton House to the Nation
In 1948, Lord Bearsted generously gave Upton House, its beautiful gardens, and his amazing art collection to the National Trust. This meant the house would be protected and open for everyone to enjoy.
Lord Bearsted's son, the 3rd Viscount, lived at Upton House from 1948 until he passed away in 1986. He also added his collection of fine porcelain to the gift for the National Trust. After his death, his daughter made sure that the furniture and other items in the house stayed there for the public to see.
What Upton House Looks Like
Upton House is a long, low building made from local yellow stone. Between 1927 and 1929, the house was made much bigger for the 2nd Viscount Bearsted. The architect, Percy Richard Morley Horder, made sure the outside still looked like the original 1600s style. However, inside, he added some cool Art Deco designs. This is especially true in Lady Bearsted's bathroom, where the walls are covered in shiny aluminum!
The Amazing Gardens
One of the best parts of Upton House is its garden. A large lawn with huge cedar trees slopes down from the house. Below this, there's a huge terraced garden.
The garden has many different areas:
- A kitchen garden where food was grown.
- Beautiful herbaceous borders filled with colorful flowers.
- A large lake with water lilies in a small valley.
The terraced parts of the garden are hidden from the house. They are home to the National Collection of Aster flowers. The gardens have been used since the 1100s, but Kitty Lloyd-Jones truly transformed them in the 1920s and 1930s. She even created the rare Bog Garden where medieval fish ponds used to be.
The Incredible Art Collection
Upton House is special because it's almost like an art gallery inside a country house. While it shows how the house looked in the 1930s, its main treasure is the amazing art collection. You can also see a unique Art Deco bathroom and old Shell advertising posters. Some of these posters were designed by famous artists like Rex Whistler.
How the Collection Grew
Lord Bearsted collected most of the art. He was also a trustee of the National Gallery, which helped him find wonderful pieces. His sister, Nellie Inonides, was also a keen collector.
The collection at Upton House includes paintings by famous English and European old masters. These include artists like Tiepolo, Francesco Guardi, Jan Steen, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, and Rogier van der Weyden.
Highlights of the Collection
Some of the most famous paintings you can see at Upton House are:
- The Duet or "Le corset blue" (mid-1660s) by Gabriël Metsu.
- Self Portrait of the Artist Engraving (1783) by Richard Morton Paye.
- William Beckford (1782) by George Romney.
- The Interior of the Church of St. Catherine, Utrecht (1655–1660) by Pieter Jansz. Saenredam.
- Adoration of the Kings (around 1495), a three-part painting by a follower of Hieronymous Bosch.
- Bacino di San Marco, Venice (around 1725–26) by Canaletto.
- The Death of the Virgin (1564) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
- Morning and Night, two paintings from a series called Four Times of the Day (around 1736), by William Hogarth.
- The Labourers (1779), The Haymakers (1783), and The Reapers (1783) by George Stubbs.
- The Disrobing of Christ (El Espolio) by El Greco (around 1579).
- Massacre of the Innocents (around 1565), thought to be by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
There is also a wonderful collection of English fine porcelain. This includes pieces from famous factories like Chelsea, Derby, Bow, and Worcester. You can also see some French Sèvres porcelain.
