Charlecote Park, Stratford-on-Avon, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Sir Walter de Cherlecote, an ancestor of the Lucy family, inherited the estate in 1189. It is possible that the family, who adopted the name Lucy in the 13th century, has been associated with the estate since before the 12th century (guidebook). Thomas Lucy (around 1532-1600), the first of three successive owners of that name, inherited Charlecote in 1551 and began an ambitious building programme, completed by 1558, replacing an earlier house with the present mansion. In 1565 Lucy was knighted, and in 1572 Queen Elizabeth visited the house on her progress from Kenilworth Castle (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register). By tradition, William Shakespeare was apprehended for poaching in the deer park in about 1583, and Sir Thomas Lucy is said to be the basis for Justice Shallow. Sir Thomas' son outlived his father by only five years, and was succeeded in 1605 by Sir Thomas III, a friend of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Sir Thomas III died in 1640, and the Commonwealth period and late 17th century were marked by several inheritances in quick succession. Thus, in 1677, Charlecote was inherited by Capt Thomas Lucy (died 1684), who with his cousin, Col George Lucy (inherited 1690), was responsible for laying out elaborate formal water gardens shown in a perspective painting of around 1700 (National Trust Collection) and an engraving of 1722 by Henry Beighton (Dugdale 1730). The gardens are also recorded on a survey made by James Fish in 1736 (Warwickshire County Records Office).

Following Col Lucy's death, the estate passed to his brother, the Rev William Lucy (died 1723), and thence to his nephew, Thomas. Suffering from epilepsy, Thomas was excluded from control of the estate, which remained unchanged until his brother George inherited in 1744. George Lucy travelled abroad extensively, introducing from Portugal in 1756 a flock of Jacob's sheep, which remains in the park (1999). In about 1750 Lancelot Brown (1716-83) drew a rough plan of Charlecote on the reverse of a plan for Packington, Warwickshire (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register) (WCRO). Recalled in about 1757, Brown built the cascade south-west of the house and regraded the banks of the River Dene (WCRO). In 1760 George Lucy entered into a contract with Brown which included provision for the destruction of the 17th-century water gardens, the widening and improvement of the River Avon, and the modification of fishponds in the park (Fairfax-Lucy 1958). On George Lucy's death in 1786 the estate passed to his cousin and secretary, the Rev John Hammond, who had assumed the name of Lucy.

In the late 18th century Charlecote became a destination for literary tourists to Stratford-upon-Avon, and early 19th-century visitors included Washington Irving (1818), Sir Walter Scott (1828) and Nathaniel Hawthorn (in about 1850). In 1823 Charlecote was inherited by George Hammond Lucy (died 1845), who the same year married Mary Elizabeth Williams of Bodelwyddan Castle, Wales. Mary Elizabeth recorded details of life at Charlecote in her diaries up to her death in 1890, which included extensive 're-edification' of the house between 1829 and 1845. This work was continued by G H Lucy's second son, Henry Spencer, who inherited the estate from his elder brother in 1847. Agricultural depression in the 1870s brought financial problems for the estate, and when Henry died in 1890 Charlecote was let. Henry's eldest daughter and heiress, Ada (died 1943), married Sir Henry Ramsay-Fairfax, Baronet (died 1944), who assumed the name Fairfax-Lucy. In the mid-20th century further financial pressures led to the sale of outlying areas of the estate, and in 1946, Sir Montgomerie Fairfax-Lucy, who had inherited from his father in 1944, presented Charlecote to the National Trust. Sir Montgomerie was succeeded in 1965 by his brother, Sir Brian, whose wife, Lady Alice, researched the history of Charlecote, and assisted the National Trust with its restoration. Today (1999) the site is in divided ownership. Charlecote Park is one of a group of sites in Warwickshire at which Lancelot Brown advised in the mid- and late 18th century. These include Combe Abbey, Compton Verney, Newnham Paddox, Packington Hall, Ragley Hall and Warwick Castle. All these sites are described elsewhere in the Register.