Posted by Sandy Holburn on Mon, Jul 27, 2009 @ 10:27 AM
Houghton Hall, home of Sir Robert Walpole and his descendents, is a masterpiece among England’s stately homes – a grand Palladian mansion in west Norfolk and not to be missed by visitors to the County. Neaves coach hire Norwich make frequent visits to Houghton Hall with interested and enthusiastic groups.
The Hall was built by Robert Walpole, ‘great man’ of 18th. Century England, first British Prime Minister and still the longest serving Prime Minister of Britain.
Born in 1676, educated at Eton and Cambridge, Walpole became MP for Castle Rising in 1701. He was a shrewd and assiduous administrator and rose to become Treasurer of the Navy for the Whig government. When the Tories came back into power, Walpole was briefly imprisoned for corruption.
When George I came to the throne the Whigs returned to power with Walpole as one of its leading lights. Walpole was propelled to undisputed power by his handling of the financial crisis known as the South Sea Bubble. His great influence stemmed from his popularity with both King and people.
In his role as Prime Minister Walpole is credited with keeping Britain out of foreign wars, with low taxes and with reducing the national debt. Thus he set the political and economic stability which underpinned Britain’s growth as a world power in the following century.
Many of the features of the modern British political system can be traced back to Walpole. He was the first prime minister to live at 10 Downing Street. He lived there in his capacity as First Lord of the Treasury and that is still the title on the door of Number 10. ‘More fundamentally, Walpole was the first leading minister…who maintained his position by his ability to dominate the House of Commons, rather than through the favour of the monarch’.
During his time in high political office, Walpole acquired great wealth. He was determined to build an impressive new mansion filled with magnificent treasures. Colen Campbell was principal architect for the building and William Kent designed the interior in lavish style as a backdrop for Walpole’s collections of pictures, sculptures and tapestries.
Houghton Hall came to reflect the flamboyant character of one of England’s most brilliant politicians. While the exterior of Houghton Hall is both ‘grand and restrained’ the interiors are ‘colourful, exuberant and opulent’.
Many of the state rooms retain their original furnishings. The V&A Museum acquired a number of state beds, tapestries and suites of gilded furniture to be carefully restored and preserved for the nation in their original places at Houghton Hall.
Shortly after Walpole’s death, debts forced the sale of his picture collection to Catherine the Great of Russia. The collection is now on display in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.
Happily, the estate and its furnishings were rescued by the 4th. Earl of Cholmondeley who inherited it through descent from the marriage of Walpole’s sister Mary to the 3rd. Earl.
The house and grounds of Houghton Hall are all in beautiful order. Notable features include:
- 5 acre walled garden
- Model soldier collection with battle scenes
- St Martin’s Church where Robert and Horace Walpole lie buried
- 4,500 acre deer park
- Restaurant with waitress service (pre-booking advised for groups)
Houghton Hall welcomes visitors and provides good facilities for group travel. It is an excellent destination for coach hire in Norfolk. Please contact Neaves Coaches for further information or assistance with your coach travel arrangements.
Posted by Sandy Holburn on Mon, Jul 06, 2009 @ 03:38 AM
“Blogs are the greatest breakthrough in popular journalism since Tom Paine broke onto the scene”. So wrote Arianna Huffington, who knows a thing or two about blogging.
Tom Paine was an Englishman born in 1737 and raised in Thetford, a small town in Norfolk in the East of England.
Tom later moved to Lewes on the south coast. It appears that Tom’s time in Lewes shaped his political views – he left England head stuffed full with radical ideas.
There is now a statue of Tom in Thetford, at the top of King Street, on the old coach hire Norwich and and coach hire Norfolk road. His bronze effigy clutches a pen like a weapon - an evident reminder that the pen is mightier than the sword.
Tom Paine arrived in America in November 1774 at the age of 37. By then there had already been several years of unrest in the North American Colonies. The source of discontent was unpopular taxation imposed by a British Parliament in which the colonies had no representation. In January 1776 Paine published a pamphlet which attacked the British monarchy and advocated independence of the Colonies. It swayed public opinion at a time when many Americans retained personal loyalty to the British Crown. During the War of Independence Paine wrote a further series of pamphlets designed to sustain support for the revolution through a prolonged and difficult war. At a low ebb in the American Revolution George Washington instructed that words from Paine's pamphlets be read to his soldiers: “Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it”. In February 1943, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Franklin Roosevelt gave a rallying speech to the nation. He closed his address with quotations from Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls” … “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the sacrifice, the more glorious the triumph.” In his inaugural speech Barack Obama said: “I stand before you as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure, that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders is alive in our time”. It was Paine and his forthright rejection of discrimination to whom he referred..
Tom Paine once wrote: “Let us reason the matter together”.
As a champion of clean and open government this man would have made a mighty blogger.
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