| Thenford House | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Type | House |
| Location | Thenford,Northamptonshire |
| Coordinates | 52°04′20″N1°14′24″W / 52.0721°N 1.24°W /52.0721; -1.24 |
| Built | 1761-1765 |
| Architectural style | Palladian |
| Owner | Michael Heseltine |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Thenford House |
| Designated | 11 September 1953 |
| Reference no. | 1190951 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Thenford House Water Tank |
| Designated | 22 May 1985 |
| Reference no. | 1041125 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Thenford House Pump |
| Designated | 22 May 1985 |
| Reference no. | 1371505 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Home Farmhouse, Thenford |
| Designated | 22 May 1985 |
| Reference no. | 1190938 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Manor Farmhouse, Thenford |
| Designated | 22 May 1985 |
| Reference no. | 1190946 |
  Location of Thenford House in Northamptonshire | |
Thenford House,Thenford,Northamptonshire, England is an 18th-century country house built forMichael Wodhull, the bibliophile and translator. Wodhull's architect is unknown. The style isPalladian although with earlierCarolean echoes which ledPevsner to describe it as "decidedly conservative for its date". Construction took place between 1761 and 1765. Since the 1970s, the house has been the country home ofMichael Heseltine who has constructed a notablearboretum in the grounds. Thenford House is aGrade I listed building.
Michael Wodhull was born inThenford, Northamptonshire in 1740. His parents were wealthy landowners and he never worked.[1] His principal occupations werebook collecting and the translation ofAncient Greek texts.[1] In 1761, aged 21,[2] he began the building of a new house at Thenford, to replace theElizabethanmanor house.[1] By 1765 the house was complete.[2] In the same year Wodhull married Catherine Milcah, daughter of a Warwickshire vicar. Wodhull died without heirs in 1816 and the Thenford estate passed to his wife's sister.[1]
By descent, the estate passed to the Severne family who owned the house until the end of the 19th century. In 1861John Edmund Severne wasHigh Sheriff of Northamptonshire.[3] In the 20th century, the house was in the possession of the Summers family, until the death in 1976 ofSpencer Summers,[4] who also served as High Sheriff for the county in the year before his death.[5]
Michael Heseltine and his wife Anne bought the house and 400 acres of gardens and farmland from Sir Spencer's widow in 1976, and moved into the house in 1977.[6] Since that time, the Heseltines have developed the house and the estate, most notably by the planting of an important arboretum.[7][8][9][10] Asummerhouse, dating from 1981 to 1982 is byQuinlan Terry.[2]
Nikolaus Pevsner, in hisBuildings of England, notes that the house is "of fine quality but decidedly conservative for its date".[11] Both he, andHistoric England suggest that the style is more of the 1650s–1680s, rather than that fashionable at the time of the house's construction in the mid-18th century.[2][12] Historic England suggests that Woodhull is likely to have been his own architect, perhaps assisted by a local draughtsman.[12] The house is built to adouble pile plan, of two storeys with attics and basements. Sidepavilions are joined to the main block by screening walls. The roof is topped by acupola. It is constructed ofHornton stone withlimestone dressings.[12]
The house is aGrade I listed building.[12] A water tank, with a date of 1765 and bearing the initialsMW,[13] and a 19th-centurypump in the grounds have their own Grade II listings.[14] Ancillary estate buildings also have Grade II listings, including the Home and Manor farmhouses.[15][16]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1900). "Wodhull, Michael".Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 62. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
