HAM HOUSE

Murray had been the 'whipping boy' for the future Charles I. He took punishment on behalf of the young prince, and formed a close bond with him, growing up to share his taste in art and architecture.

© David Watson

Between 1637 and 1639, Murray remodelled the interior of Ham. He created the Great Staircase and a suite of sumptuous rooms on the first floor: the Great Dining Room (now the Hall Gallery), the North Drawing Room, and the Long Gallery with its adjoining picture closet. The decoration is intact in most of these rooms. The remaining part of Murray's art collection gives us a rare picture of fashions under Charles I.

When the Civil War broke out in 1642, Murray naturally joined the Royalist cause, and was created 1st Earl of Dysart for his loyalty. He died in Edinburgh in 1655.

The Duchess of Lauderdale

© David Watson

Ham passed to Murray’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth. Her father’s titles were conferred upon her in 1655, after his death, when she became the Countess of Dysart. She was described by contemporaries as beautiful, ambitious and greedy. In 1648, she married Sir Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet, of Helmingham Hall in Suffolk, a wealthy and cultivated squire. They had eleven children, of whom five survived to adulthood.

Renowned as a political schemer, she is said to have belonged to the Sealed Knot, the secret organisation supporting the exiled King. Even before Tollemache's death in 1669, Lady Dysart was rumoured to have formed an attachment to the ambitious John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, Secretary of State for Scotland. Following their marriage in 1672, they extended and refurnished Ham as a palatial villa reflecting the Duke's status as one of the most powerful ministers of Charles II. Much of this luxurious interior decoration survives today, along with rare textiles, furniture and paintings.

The Tollemache dynasty

After the Duke's death in 1682, the Duchess had to curb her extravagance and was eventually reduced to pawning her favourite pictures and jewellery. Elizabeth died at Ham in 1698. Ham House and the Dysart title then passed to her eldest son from her first marriage: Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Earl of Dysart (1649-1727).

Lionel took little interest in the house but by contrast, the 3rd Earl's grandson and heir, another Lionel, the 4th Earl, carried out major structural repairs in the 1740s. He filled many of the rooms with new furniture and paintings.

Most notably, the Queen's Bedchamber, furnished by the Lauderdales for Charles’ Queen, Catherine of Braganza, was converted into a first-floor drawing room. The mahogany chairs, gilt pier-glasses and tables, and tapestries after Watteau survive in situ.

The 5th Earl partially re-landscaped the garden and was succeeded in 1799 by his brother, Wilbraham, who immediately made improvements inside and outside the house. The 6th Earl was a generous patron of Reynolds and Gainsborough. He created the striking Yellow Satin Bedroom, but most of his changes were antiquarian in spirit, enhancing Ham's 17th-century character.

Restoration and renewal

Little changed at Ham between the 6th Earl's death in 1821 and 1884, when William, 9th Earl of Dysart came of age. Sixty years of benign neglect had left the house and its contents in urgent need of repair and Lord Dysart embarked on a thorough restoration campaign.

The roof was renewed, electricity and heating installed, and much of the 17th-century furniture repaired. The 9th Earl died in 1935, when Ham passed to his second cousin, Sir Lyonel Tollemache.

Sir Lyonel and his son, Cecil, gave Ham to the National Trust in 1948.

© NTPL / Stephen Robson

It was home to the extravagant Duchess of Lauderdale, who was renowned as a political schemer. During the 17th century, the house was at the heart of Civil War politics and Restoration court intrigue.

The beautiful gardens include the much photographed Cherry Garden. It features lavender parterres flanked by two berceaux (vaulted trellises) of pleached hornbeam and a statue of Bacchus at its centre.

There are also eight grass plats; a south terrace border with clipped yew cones, hibiscus and pomegranate trees; a maze-like wilderness and a 17th-century Orangery.

© NTPL / Nick Meers

The tea terrace is reputed to have the oldest Christ's thorn bush in the country. Walnut and chestnut trees in the outer courtyard act as roosts and nesting sites for a large flock of green parakeets. The formal listed avenues are formed by more than 250 trees.

The garden is gradually being restored to its 17th-century splendour.

The 1671 plan by Slezer and Wyck, on display in the Library Closet, shows proposals for the garden which were largely executed. This formed the basis for the reconstruction of the garden in 1975.

Parterres and plats
At the east side of the house, lavender, box and yew hedges, flanked by hornbeam arbours, have been introduced into the Cherry Garden

© Jonathan Button

The South Terrace border has been replanted in a formal 17th-century style. Cones of yew alternate with clipped flowering shrubs, including such exotics as hibiscus and pomegranates. Three rows of herbaceous plantings complete the effect. Below the terrace are eight grass plats surrounded by gravel walks.

Beyond this is the Wilderness, a formal maze-like planting of hedges of hornbeam, concealing compartments containing four circular summerhouses.

The Orangery
The Orangery Kitchen Garden lies beyond the west wall. At its north end stands the Orangery, one of the oldest free standing examples in England. It now serves as the cafe. In front of it stands one of the oldest 'Christ's thorn' bushes in the country.

At the south end of the garden is an avenue of Quercus Ilex, evergreen oak. The avenue represented at one time the centre pathway of the original kitchen garden.

Octavia Hill
© NTPL/John Hammond

The National Trust was founded in 1895 by three Victorian philanthropists - Miss Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. Concerned about the impact of uncontrolled development and industrialisation, they set up the Trust to act as a guardian for the nation in the acquisition and protection of threatened coastline, countryside and buildings.

More than a century later, it now cares for over 248,000 hectares (612,000 acres) of beautiful countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus more than 700 miles of coastline and more than 200 buildings and gardens of outstanding interest and importance.

To find out more about the National Trust click below:

The National Trust Web site