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| Broadlands | |
|---|---|
 Broadlands, 2000 | |
| Type | Country house |
| Location | Romsey |
| Coordinates | 50°58′50″N1°29′49″W / 50.98056°N 1.49694°W /50.98056; -1.49694 |
| OS grid reference | SU 35391 20242 |
| Area | Hampshire |
| Built | 1767 |
| Architect | Henry Holland Capability Brown |
| Architectural style(s) | Palladian |
| Owner | The 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Broadlands House |
| Designated | 29 May 1957 |
| Reference no. | 1166489 |
| Official name | Broadlands |
| Designated | 31 May 1984 |
| Reference no. | 1000166 |
  Location of Broadlands in Hampshire | |
Broadlands is acountry house located in thecivil parish ofRomsey Extra, near the town ofRomsey in theTest Valley district ofHampshire,England. Its formal gardens and historic landscape are Grade II* listed on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[1] The house itself is Grade Ilisted.[2]
The originalmanor and area known as Broadlands belonged toRomsey Abbey since before theNorman Conquest.
In 1547, after thedissolution of the monasteries, Broadlands was sold to Sir Francis Fleming. His granddaughter married Edward St Barbe, and the manor remained the property of the St Barbe family for the next 117 years.Sir John St Barbe, 1st Baronet (c. 1655–1723) made many improvements to the property but died without children, bequeathing his estate to his cousinHumphrey Sydenham ofCombe, Dulverton. In the chancel ofAshington Church, Somerset, is a monument of grey and white marble, inscribed:[3]
Here lies Sir John St. Barbe, Bart. possessed of those amiable qualities, which birth, education, travel, greatness of spirit, and goodness of heart, produce. Interred in the same vault lies his second wife Alice Fiennes, aunt to the present Lord Say and Sele. His first was Honour, daughter of Colonel Norton. He died at his seat of Broadlands in Hampshire Sept. 7, 1723, leaving for his only heir and executor Humphrey Sydenham, esq., of Combe in Somersetshire, who ordered this marble to his memory.
Having been ruined by the 18th-centurySouth Sea Bubble, Sydenham sold Broadlands in 1736, with its Tudor and Jacobean manor house, toHenry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston, for £26,500. The Viscount began the deformalisation of the gardens between the river and the house and produced the broad-lands, a "gentle descent to the river".In 1767, a major architectural "transformation" of the house and garden was begun byCapability Brown, the celebrated architect and landscape designer, and completed by the architectHenry Holland, which made Broadlands thePalladian-style country house seen today.Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston had requested that Brown go there and seize upon the "capabilities" of the earlier manor house. Between 1767 and 1780,William Kent's earlier "deformalising work" was completed, as well as further landscaping, planting, clearing and riverside work.
Broadlands was the country estate of the 19th-century British prime ministerHenry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston.[4] After his death, the estate was inherited by his step-son,William Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple (1811–1888). A devout Christian, he held public prayer meetings in the grounds and also banned all blood-sports on the property. On his death, the estate passed to a great-nephew,Evelyn Ashley (1836-1907), a younger son ofAnthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1801-1885).[5] Subsequently, Broadlands passed to Evelyn Ashley's sonWilfrid Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple, who died in 1939 and left it to his daughterEdwina Ashley, the wife ofLord Louis Mountbatten.
Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) andPrince Philip spent their honeymoon at Broadlands in November 1947; the first Earl Mountbatten of Burma, whose home Broadlands was at the time, was Philip's uncle.[6] In 1981, the newly marriedPrince (later Charles III) andPrincess of Wales also spent the first three days of theirhoneymoon at Broadlands, travelling to the estate by train fromLondon Waterloo.[7]
Broadlands is the home of theEarl andCountess Mountbatten of Burma. The house is open to the public for guided tours on weekday afternoons in summer.[8]
On 1 August 2004, Irish vocal pop bandWestlife held a concert at Broadlands as part of theirTurnaround Tour promoting their albumTurnaround.[9]
