Photograph by Nigel McMillan Photography,
Bourne, Lincs.
Tolethorpe Hall has origins going back 800 years to the early 11th century when the first manor house was built on the site by a Norman family who came over from France after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The setting of the hall overlooking classic English parkland in attractive Rutland countryside has changed little over centuries.
The gentle River Gwash flows gently by providing water for the historic mill built in the early 18th century on the site of a previous mill recorded in the Domesday book. The mill, just 200 yards from the hall, was part of the Tolethorpe estate until 1967.
Early nineteenth century country poet, John Clare, is said to have walked with his girlfriend from Great Casterton to Ryhall along the banks of the river on summer evenings after a day working at the lime kilns in Pickworth.
The grounds of Tolethorpe Hall were landscaped in their present form in 1867 and remain much the same except that they where completely overgrown when the property was acquired by the Stamford Shakespeare Company in 1977.
A picnic on the lawns, a stroll around the lawn, pond and flowerbeds and shrubberies all add to the magic of a visit to Rutland Open Air Theatre.
The formal garden of Tolethorpe Hall designed around a Victorian pond
by horticulturalist Bunny Guinness, gardening columnist, author and broadcaster.
Photograph by Nigel McMillan Photography,
Bourne, Lincs.
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ABOVE: Installed in 2000 in the frames of stone mullioned windows in the bar is the only stained glass anywhere in the world depicting scenes from eight of Shakespeare's plays. The designer of the windows, internationally known artist, Tim Armstrong, is seen putting finishing touches to the installation. The Arts Council of England provided a generous national lottery grant.
TOP RIGHT: One of the attractive features in the orangery where you can enjoy interval coffee is a large wall tapestry featuring a colourful hollyhocks design. The tapestry was designed and made by Kaffe Fassett, the international textile designer. An American, Kaffe has worked in his London studio for many years. The Arts Council of England provided a national lottery grant for the work.
RIGHT: Historic ochre wall decoration found behind a false wall in the entrance hall during restoration work in 1999. Date uncertain but believed to be from the 15th or 16th century, but possibly the 14th. Interestingly, it includes the French Heraldry, the fleur de lys. The first family to build a house on the site around the late 11th or early 12th century came from Normandy after the Norman Conquest. |
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