September 2008

Gorhambury House

A group of forty members made their way to Gorhambury House, on the outskirts of St Albans, on the 21st August. The Palladian house, the third of three houses on this site, was built by the eminent architect Sir Robert Taylor between 1777 and 1784 and is the seat of the Earls of Verulam (family name Grimston).

The sunlit two mile drive gave us glimpses of the house as we approached, with distant views of the abbey behind us. Our incredibly knowledgable guides took us around the main rooms of the house, including the drawing room, dining room and library, where we were shown the vast collection of portraits of family members and royalty amassed by the Bacon and Grimston families, some from as early as the 15th century and by artists of the calibre of Kneller, Lely and Reynolds. We also saw furniture made by Chippendale, modern sculptures and a collection of magnificent tapestries.

The present Countess has an artistic eye for colour and has masterminded a major renovation of the interior of the house in recent years.

The ruins of the second of the three houses, built by Sir Nicholas Bacon and visited by Queen Elizabeth I, can be seen in the grounds. An impressive house, full of treasures, but on a scale that many members believed still felt like a family home.

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This page updated 5th October 2008