12.09.2023, 10:00 A.M.
Tueday 12 September: visits to Wolterton Hall and Templewood
Note: change of date from our original ‘save the date’
Our London Chapter have arranged a very special visit to two private houses in Norfolk. Palladian Wolterton, one of the great houses of Norfolk and long the home of the Walpoles, has recently been sold, after a superb restoration, and at short notice we have seized what will probably be the last chance for a group like ours to visit. We also visit the little-known Templewood, a small, intriguing and very pretty 1930s evocation of a Palladian villa.
Wolterton Hall was built between 1726 and 1741 to the designs of Thomas Ripley, a protegé of the Walpoles, for Horatio Walpole, younger brother of Robert Walpole and later the 1st Lord Walpole. There is a piano nobile with a fine series of state rooms. George Repton, one of Humphry Repton’s sons, designed the east wing and pavilion and added the steps and arcade on the garden front. For much of the last two centuries the Walpoles lived largely at nearby Mannington, and when IGS visited in the 1990s the house seemed empty except for family portraits. The Walpoles sold in 2016 to current owners Peter Sheppard and Keith Day, interior designers and serial doer-uppers of big houses. In their hands the house has come gloriously to life, well restored, tastefully furnished and in use for lets to large parties. We will have lunch in the atmospheric library, overlooking the park by Bridgeman. There are also good gardens.
Templewood was built as a shooting box in 1938 for Sir Samuel Hoare (later Lord Templewood), to the designs of Seely & Paget. Best known for designing Eltham Palace for the Courtaulds, John Seely and Paul Paget were fashionable inter-war architects. Pevsner likens the house to a stage-set for a C18 Italian opera, performed in England in C20. The design is neo-Palladian and the house incorporates features rescued from Soane’s Bank of England and from Nuthall Temple, a Chiswick-style house demolished in the 1920s. There are sculptures on the roof and a Saloon with a painted ceiling. Paul Paget inherited the house from his uncle Lord Templewood and it is now the home of his stepson Eddie Anderson. We visit by kind permission of Mr Anderson and are grateful to Dr Rory O’Donnell for arranging this visit.
Transport
Train: we recommend the 9.30 train from Liverpool Street to Norwich. We will be met at the station by a mini-bus or coach. Return on train from Norwich at 18.00, arrive Liverpool Street at 19.53. (Current advance tickets are under £10 each way, so book soonest if you plan to come by train).
Car: we will provide directions.
Programme
From Norwich we go to Templewood, near Cromer, at 12 noon. We then go c10 miles to Wolterton, where we start with lunch, with wine. After touring the house and gardens our visit will end about 4.45pm, in good time to catch the 18.00 train from Norwich.
Cost £65 (non-members £75) which includes lunch with wine, and entrance to the houses.
If coming by train and using the coach from Norwich, please add £25 to above cost.
Booking and payment (by Friday 1 September please)
Either by bank transfer:
Pay to
Irish Georgian Society London
Bank: Nat West
Sort code: 60-05-14
Account number: 18252672
Please also notify Tina Graham at graham302@btinternet.com with your name and the name of any guests. Please say if you are coming by car or using the coach from Norwich. If you have any dietary requirements please let us know.
Or by cheque
Cheque payable to Irish Georgian Society London.
Send to Robert Jennings, 28 Elmfield Road, London SW17 8AL.
Please include contact details, the name of any guests, and whether you are coming by car or using the coach from Norwich. If you have any dietary requirements please let us know.
Any queries: to Tina Graham graham302@btinternet.com or to Robert Jennings robertbpjennings@btinternet.com