Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T16:47:48.202Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2024

Get access

Summary

A monument in the park at Holkham Hall in Norfolk pays tribute to Thomas William Coke (1754–1842), agricultural improver and first earl of Leicester (of second creation). The foundation stone for the column was erected in 1845, three years after the earl's death, to mark his achievements as landowner, farmer, and steward of the family estates. The monument stands on an incline that overlooks the mansion. An imaginary line of symmetry would run, north to south, from the middle of the monument through the centre of the house before continuing beyond to connect with an obelisk built more than a century earlier, the towering grandeur of which the Coke monument replicates.

Four decorated panels make up the base of the monument and relate to Coke's life and work. The first features a scene of farm hands attending to sheep, indicating the importance of livestock to the Holkham estate. The second shows cattle, each of a substantial size and proportion. A third panel depicts the earl himself seated at a table, consulting maps and documents alongside his estate managers and agents. The final panel is a dedication to the earl inscribed in bronze, which recalls “a life devoted to the welfare of his friends, neighbours and tenants”. The inscription goes on to note for posterity that Coke “pre-eminently combined public services with private worth”, and that the loss of such a “father, friend and landlord” was felt keenly in the worlds of politics, the arts, and agriculture.

Farming, livestock, and land management were the principal sources of the wealth that financed the building of the Palladian-style mansion at Holkham. A visit to the estate today, more than two centuries on from Coke of Norfolk's time, makes clear that its income is now derived from a variety of wholly different sources. On a blazing hot summer's day in 2022, the grass in the park turned yellow by the effects of an ongoing heatwave, the estate is alive with all sorts of activity. Crowds of visitors arrive in a steady stream of cars, which rapidly fill the parking spaces nearest to the house. Soon there will be so many cars that vehicles must be directed towards another section of the park roped off for the purpose.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Preface
  • Ben Cowell
  • Book: The British Country House Revival
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781805432883.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Preface
  • Ben Cowell
  • Book: The British Country House Revival
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781805432883.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Ben Cowell
  • Book: The British Country House Revival
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781805432883.001
Available formats
×