| Badminton House | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Country house |
| Location | Badminton,Gloucestershire |
| Coordinates | 51°32′42″N2°16′50″W / 51.5449°N 2.2805°W /51.5449; -2.2805 |
| Built | c. 1660–1750 with earlier elements |
| Architect | Francis Smith of Warwick,James Gibbs,William Kent |
| Architectural style | Palladian |
| Governing body | Duke of Beaufort |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Badminton House |
| Designated | 17 September 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1320832 |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Worcester Lodge |
| Designated | 5 September 1954 |
| Reference no. | 1349715 |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Orangery, 50 yards southeast of Church of St Michael and All Angels |
| Designated | 17 September 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1129313 |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Castle barn, flanking dovecotes and screen walls |
| Designated | 10 November 1983 |
| Reference no. | 1129344 |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Laundry and dairy house 30 yards west of Badminton House |
| Designated | 10 November 1983 |
| Reference no. | 1129315 |
  Location of Badminton House in Gloucestershire | |
Badminton House is a largecountry house andGrade Ilisted building[1] inBadminton, Gloucestershire, England, which has been the principal seat of theDukes of Beaufort since the late 17th century. The house, which has given its name to the sport ofbadminton, is set among 52,000 acres (21,000 ha) of land. The gardens and park surrounding the house are listed at Grade I on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[2]
In 1612Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, bought from Nicholas Boteler his manors of Great and Little Badminton, called "Madmintune" [sic] in theDomesday Book of 1086, while one century earlier the name "Badimyncgtun" was recorded,[3][4] held by that family since 1275. Edward Somerset's third son Sir Thomas Somerset modernized the old house in the late 1620s, and had a new T-shaped gabled range built. Evidence suggests he also had the present north and west fronts built up.
TheDukes of Beaufort acquired the property in the late 17th century, when the family moved fromRaglan Castle,Monmouthshire, which had been ruined in theCivil War. The third duke adapted Sir Thomas Somerset's house by incorporating his several gabled ranges around the courtyard and extending the old house eastwards to provide a new set of domestic apartments. He had a grandJonesian centrepiece raised on the north front. The two-bay flanking elevations were five storeys high, reduced to three storeys in 1713.[3] Their domed crowning pavilions are byJames Gibbs.
For the fourth duke, who succeeded his brother in 1745, the architectWilliam Kent renovated and extended the house in thePalladian style, but many earlier elements remain.[5] The duke was instrumental in bringing the Venetian artistCanaletto to England: Canaletto's two views of Badminton remain in the house.[6]
Whether or not the sport ofbadminton was re-introduced fromBritish India or was invented during the hard winter of 1863 by the children of the eighth duke in the Great Hall (where the featherweight shuttlecock would not mar the life-size portraits of horses byJohn Wootton, as the tradition of the house has it),[7] it was popularised at the house, hence the sport's name.[8]
Queen Mary stayed at Badminton House for much ofWorld War II. Her staff occupied most of the building, to the inconvenience of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort. Afterward, when theDuchess of Beaufort, who was Queen Mary's niece, was asked in which part of the great house the Queen had resided, she responded "She lived in all of it."[9]
In the later 20th century, Badminton House became best known for the annualBadminton Horse Trials held there since 1949. Badminton House has also been strongly associated withfox hunting.[10] Successive Dukes of Beaufort have been masters of theBeaufort Hunt, one of the two most famous hunts in theUnited Kingdom alongside theQuorn Hunt.
Weddings and parties can be booked at Badminton House. Occasionally, houses and cottage on the estate can be rented. The estate was the location for some scenes of the filmsThe Remains of the Day,28 Days Later andPearl Harbor, and of the Netflix seriesBridgerton,Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story andThe Gentlemen.[11]
Except for the Grade I listed parish church and Worcester Lodge, all structures named below are Grade II* listed.
Adjacent to Badminton House is the Grade I listed parish church ofSt Michael and All Angels, built in 1785. It serves as the principal burial place of the Somerset family; nearly all Dukes and Duchesses of Beaufort are interred here.[12]
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At the north entrance to the park, near the Tetbury road and reached from the house by the Three Mile Ride, the Grade I listed Worcester Lodge was designed in 1746 byWilliam Kent. The part-rusticated main block has four storeys. Over the high central archway is a dining room with generous windows and balustraded balconies; apediment bears the Beaufort arms and the roof is partly domed. The room has a plaster ceiling by Kent, depicting fruit and flowers of the four seasons, described as very fine by Historic England. Kent also designed the convex mirror with a sunburst pattern. Outside, the ornamental flanking quadrant walls on both sides finish at small pavilions.[18]
Several buildings and follies were designed by Thomas Wright of Durham, around 1750.
