Nevill Holt, Corby, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The name Nevill Holt originated in the late 16th or 17h century and is derived from the Nevill family which owned the estate from around 1474 until 1876. The village was formerly called Holt or Holt-on the-Hill, and was probably created by the clearing of woodland in this area during the 12th and 13th centuries. Documentary sources and dendrochronology dates indicate that construction of the Hall was almost certainly started in 1288, and there is a reference to a manor house at Holt in 1302 (Victoria County History 1964; Archaeological Journal 1999); the church of St Mary also dates from this period.

In the mid-15th century, Holt was bought by Thomas Palmer (died 1474), who added a porch and oriel window to the existing great hall and obtained a licence to impark 300 acres (about 121 hectares) at Holt in 1448 (VCH 1964). Field enclosure probably took place in the late 15th or early 16th century (Archaeol J 1999). In the mid-16th century, ownership passed by marriage from the Palmers to the Nevill family, which became one of Leicestershire's leading Roman Catholic families. Many additions and alterations to the Hall and grounds were carried out by Sir Thomas Nevill in the mid-16th century, including the addition of the south range lodgings block and the crenellated tower at the west end of the Hall. An entailment of 1564 describes the site of the 'manor of Holt' as having a garden and orchard (Archaeol J). After Sir Thomas Nevill's death in 1571, the inheritance of the estate was in dispute since there was no male heir. Eventually Sir Thomas Smyth of Essex, son of Sir Thomas' daughter Mary, became the new owner in 1591, followed by his son Henry Nevill. The latter, when he became Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire in 1661, commissioned a detailed plan of Nevill Holt with its gardens from John Andrews, drawn to a scale of 11 yards to the inch. The 'cloysters' shown on the 1661 plan were built in 1640 (date stone) and the gardens were possibly laid out at that time. The current stable block, not shown on the 1661 plan, was built in the late 18th century.

Henry Nevill's great granddaughter, Mary (died 1742), married Count Cosmas Migliorucci but their son took the name Nevill. The west avenue may have been planted in the 18th century (OS 1824; Medbourne Enclosure map, 1845), under the ownership of Cosmas Nevill, who had an interest in the garden: a letter of 1759 (LRO) addressed to him, which lists twenty-four plants recently sent to Nevill Holt, states 'your Collection will be a very good one considering the Coldness of the Scituation'.

In 1829-32, the then owner, Charles Nevill (died 1848), employed the architect J B Papworth (1775-1847). Papworth's proposals included alterations to both the Hall and the grounds, but because of financial constraints his plans were never fully completed. None of his tree-planting proposals for the parkland to the south were carried out, but in 1873, the industrialist Grieveson, who was a tenant at the time, 'planted 400 forest trees along the drives and elsewhere' (Archaeol J 1999; Sale plan, 1876). In 1876 Edward Cunard bought the estate, and subsequently it was owned by his brother, Sir Bache Cunard, who improved both the Hall and the garden; built two new entrances, flanked by lodges; and probably imparked the surrounding land in the 1880s (OS). During the First World War the Hall and stable block stood empty until they were bought in 1919 for conversion into a private preparatory school. In the early 20th century the majority of the late 19th-century parkland laid out by Sir Bache Cunard was sold and has since been farmed. The south-west corner of the park became the Nevill Holt Quarry (now, 2004, disused). The school closed in the late 1990s and the whole property was sold for use as a private country house. Since then a major programme of repairs and renovation has been undertaken to both the Hall and grounds. Work on the Hall is now (2004) largely complete and is continuing on the stables and in the gardens and the wider estate. The grounds are now used for annual operatic events.