| Claremont House and Estate | |
|---|---|
 Façade of Claremont House | |
| Type | Country House |
| Location | Esher,Elmbridge,Surrey |
| Coordinates | 51°21′28″N0°22′20″W / 51.357723°N 0.372338°W /51.357723; -0.372338 |
| OS grid reference | TQ1333363470 |
| Built | 1774 |
| Architect | Lancelot "Capability" Brown Henry Holland |
| Architectural style(s) | Palladian |
| Owner |
|
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Claremont House |
| Designated | 14 August 1953 |
| Reference no. | 1030202 |
| Official name | Claremont |
| Designated | 1 June 1984 |
| Reference no. | 1000324 |
  Location of Claremont House and Estate in Surrey | |
Claremont, also known historically as 'Clermont', is an 18th-centuryPalladian mansion less than a mile south of the centre ofEsher inSurrey,England. The buildings are now occupied byClaremont Fan Court School, and itslandscaped gardens are owned and managed by theNational Trust. Claremont House is a Grade I listed building.[1]
The first house on the Claremont estate was built in 1708 by SirJohn Vanbrugh, theRestoration playwright and architect ofBlenheim Palace andCastle Howard, for his own use. This "very small box", as he described it, stood on the level ground in front of the present mansion. At the same time, he built the stables and the walled gardens, also probably White Cottage, which is now theSixth Form Centre of Claremont Fan Court School.
In 1714, he sold the house to the wealthyWhig politicianThomas Pelham-Holles,Earl of Clare, who later becameDuke of Newcastle and served twice asPrime Minister. The Earl commissioned Vanbrugh to add two great wings to the house and to build a fortress-like turret on an adjoining knoll. From this so-called "prospect-house", orbelvedere, he and his guests could admire the views of the Surrey countryside as they took refreshments and playedhazard, a popular dice game.
In the clear eighteenth-century air it was apparently possible to seeWindsor Castle andSt Paul's Cathedral. The Earl of Clare named his country seat Clare-mount, later contracted to Claremont. The two lodges at the Copsem Lane entrance were added at this time.
Claremont landscape garden is one of the earliest surviving gardens of its kind oflandscape design, theEnglish Landscape Garden — still featuring its original 18th century layout. The extensive landscaped grounds of Claremont represents the work of some of the best knownlandscape gardeners,Charles Bridgeman,Capability Brown,William Kent (with Thomas Greening) and SirJohn Vanbrugh.[2]
Work on the gardens began around 1715 and, by 1727, they were described as "the noblest of any in Europe". Within the grounds, overlooking the lake, is an unusual turfedamphitheatre.
A feature in the grounds is the Belvedere Tower, designed by Vanbrugh for theDuke of Newcastle. The tower is unusual in that, what appear to be windows, are actually bricks painted black and white. It is now owned by Claremont Fan Court School, which is situated alongside the gardens.
In 1949, the landscape garden was donated to the National Trust for stewardship and protection. A restoration programme was launched in 1975 following a significant donation by the Slater Foundation. The garden is Grade I listed on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[3]
The Duke of Newcastle died in 1768 and, in 1769, his widow sold the estate toRobert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, founder of Britain'sIndian Empire. Although the great house was then little more than fifty years old, it was aesthetically and politically out of fashion. Lord Clive decided to demolish the house and commissionedCapability Brown to build the presentPalladian mansion on higher and dryer ground. Brown, more accomplished as a landscape designer than an architect, took on his future son-in-lawHenry Holland as a junior partner owing to the scale of the project.John Soane was employed in Holland's office at this time and worked on the project as adraftsman and junior designer.[4] Holland's interiors for Claremont owe much to the contemporary work ofRobert Adam.
Lord Clive, by now a richNabob, is reputed to have spent over £100,000 on rebuilding the house and the complete remodelling of the celebratedpleasure ground. However, Lord Clive ended up never living at the property, as he died in 1774—the year that the house was completed. The estate then passed through a rapid succession of owners; first being sold "for not more than one third of what the house and alterations had cost"[5] toRobert Monckton-Arundell, 4th Viscount Galway, and then toGeorge Carpenter, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell, and finally toCharles Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford.[6]
A large map entitled "Claremont Palace", situated in what is called "Clive's room" inside the mansion, shows the mansion and its surrounding grounds; giving a detailed overview of the campus. The map probably dates back to the 1860s, when the mansion was frequently occupied byQueen Victoria (thus it having been christened "palace"). However, the exact date is still unknown. The relief in Claremont's frontpediment is of Clive'scoat of arms impaled with that of Maskelyne, his wife's family.
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An act for ratifying the Purchase of the Claremont Estate, and for settling the same as a Residence for Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte Augusta and His Serene Highness Leopold George Frederick Prince of Cobourg of Saalfeld. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 56 Geo. 3. c. 115 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 1 July 1816 |
In 1816, Claremont was bought by the British Nation through an Act of Parliament as a wedding present forGeorge IV's daughter PrincessCharlotte and her husband PrinceLeopold of Saxe-Coburg. At that time, the estate was valued to Parliament at £60,000: "Mr Huskisson stated that it had been agreed to purchase the house anddemesnes of Clermont... The valuation of the farms, farm-houses, and park, including 350 acres of land, was 36,000/; the mansion, 19,000/; and the furniture, 6,000/; making together 60,000/. The mansion, which is in good repair, could not be built now for less than 91,000/."[7] To the nation's great sorrow, however, Princess Charlotte, who was second in line to the throne, was, after two miscarriages, to die there after giving birth to a stillborn son in November the following year. This sorrow is expressed inLetitia Elizabeth Landon's poem Lines on the Mausoleum of the Princess Charlotte, at Claremont, published in Forget Me Not, 1824.[8] Although Leopold retained ownership of Claremont until his death in 1865, he left the house in 1831 when he became the firstKing of the Belgians.[9]
Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor to Claremont—both as a child and later as an adult—when Leopold, her doting uncle, lent her the house. She, in turn, lent the house to the exiled French King and Queen,Louis-Philippe I andMaria Amalia (the parents-in-law of Leopold I of Belgium), after theRevolutions of 1848. The exiled King died at Claremont in 1850.
In 1857,Offenbach and hisBouffes company performed three of hisopéras bouffes there for Marie Amelie and her sons during an eight-week tour of England.[10]
In 1870, Queen Victoria commissionedFrancis John Williamson to sculpt a marble memorial to Charlotte and Leopold which was erected inside the house.[11][12] (The memorial was subsequently moved toSt George's Church, Esher.)[12]
Victoria bought Claremont for her fourth, and youngest, sonPrince Leopold, Duke of Albany, when he marriedPrincess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1882. The Duke and Duchess of Albany had two children—Alice andCharles. Charles, who had been born at Claremont in 1884, inherited the title and position ofDuke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha upon the death of his uncle,Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1900. He moved to the duchy in Germany to takethe throne, becoming a German citizen, and renouncing his claim in the British succession.
Claremont should have passed to Charles upon his mother's death in 1922, but because he served as a German general in theFirst World War, the British government disallowed the inheritance. Claremont was accordingly confiscated and sold by the Public Trustee to shipping magnate Sir William Corry, director of theCunard Line. Two years after Sir William's death, in 1926, it was bought by Eugen Spier, a wealthy German financier.
In 1930, Claremont stood empty and was marked for demolition when it was bought, together with the Belvedere, the stables, and 30 acres (12 ha) of parkland, by the Governors of a south London school, later renamed Claremont School and, since 1978, has been known as Claremont Fan Court School.
The National Trust acquired 50 acres (0.20 km2) of the Claremont estate in 1949. In 1975, with a grant from the Slater Foundation, it set about restoring the eighteenth-century landscape garden. The Claremont Landscape Garden now displays the successive contributions of the great landscape gardeners who worked on it: Sir John Vanbrugh, Charles Bridgeman, William Kent, and Capability Brown.
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