The Dukeries and Fox Hunting.

 

Above: Charles William Sydney Pierrepont, 4th Earl Manvers (1854 – 1926) was Master of the Rufford Hounds. Pictured here with his huntsman outside Thoresby Hall as everyone indulges in an excessive pre- hunt breakfast.

Fox hunting, as one thinks of it today, really began in the 18th century. Previous to that, deer had been the hunter’s choice of animal, but this changed after the Enclosure Acts in 1750 which resulted in open lands being sectioned into farmable fields, and the deer population going into decline as a result. At that point foxes and hare became the target.

Fox hunting was never truly about the cull. As any gamekeeper will tell you a fox is a creature of habits, taking the same routes every night at the same times. So, if you have a fox problem, it would be very easy to locate and shoot. Fox hunting was really all about pomp and circumstance, an excuse for the Dukes and Lords to don their bright red finery, mount their thoroughbred horses, and follow their equally well bred packs of hounds across their vast estates, exhibiting as they did so just how wealthy and powerful they were. In the evening there would be an equally lavish ball, a banquet with tables well stocked with game from the Duke’s estate.

Above: It is for this reason, wanting to impress and display one’s wealth and social position, that the hunt became a favoured subject when commissioning artworks. Such paintings would have pride of place within the great halls, and on occasion hung in notable London galleries. To reach an even wider audience, engravings would be made from the original artwork and mass produced for circulation. One such example is the above print from Tilleman’s painting of 1725, depicting the 2nd Duke of Kingston, with the original Thoresby Hall and his impressive estate in the background.

Above: Another fine painting which was shown in the Academy of 1789, is F. Wheatley’s 1788 “Portrait of a Nobleman returning from Shooting". It depicts Henry Pelham Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle, and his shooting party, with the Clumber Spaniels and, beyond the bridge, Clumber House in the background. 

Above: The ducal seat of Clumber became well known for the breeding of hunting dogs such as the Clumber Spaniel and the Greyhound. The Greyhound was originally bred as a hunting dog for the rich and privileged. Anyone from the “lower classes” owning such a dog would be prosecuted by law, perhaps because it was taken as evidence of an intention to poach game on the King’s land. In the 15th century a White Greyhound was seen as a symbol of status, and there are records of such dogs being gifted to Knights in appreciation of services rendered. It became associated in particular with the Tudors, and appears on the Henry 7th coat of arms.

From John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to 8th Duke of Newcastle under Lyme, Clumber House was a ducal seat. Hence the greyhounds on the Drayton Gates opposite Clumber Park Hotel, are referred to as Newcastle Greyhounds, carved in the 18th century. There are similar examples throughout Clumber Park.

Above: The Kennels, Thoresby Estate. The original building would be much older than the current Thoresby Hall, and was directly linked to the first Hall via “a long straight canal”. (H. Repton). The Kennels were built c.1738, the name of the building being self explanatory, as the site where the Duke's hunting dogs were kept. Just how much of the building standing there today is part of the original would be hard to assess. We do know that architect John Carr renovated The Kennels in 1790, c.20 years after the second Thoresby Hall was completed.

Above: The Guy Marson painting of a 1959 hunt gathering outside Thoresby Hall, also received the mass-production treatment as many residents on the estate were expected to buy a copy. I well remember a colour print of this hanging in our family home when I lived there. The original hangs today (2017) in Perlethorpe Social Club.

In November 2004 a free vote in the UK’s House of Commons made "hunting wild mammals with a dog" unlawful in England and Wales. Since The Hunting Act was passed several previous hunt organizations have gone on to perform displays of jumping and cross country riding with hounds within the Dukeries area. It remains a controversial subject.

The Dukeries cigarette / trading cards.

 

Starting in 1880s America, trading cards, given free inside a variety of products, were a very successful promotional device. Indeed, so successful when included in packets of cigarettes that they became known as Cigarette Cards. These card featuring the Dukeries, are selected from a larger series depicting stately homes across the UK. Cigarette cards were discontinued during World War 2 to save paper, and never fully recovered their popularity after that.

 Above card: Not named on the card, this is Worksop Manor.

Pierrepont and the first Thoresby Hall.

 

 Above: The first Thoresby Hall from a print by J. Walker.

Robert de Pierrepont came to England with William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest. In 1500 his descendants built the present Holme Pierrepont. In the first part of the 17th Century, Sir Robert Pierrepont (1585 - 1643), 1st Earl of Kingston upon Hull, bought Thoresby from William Lodge, an Alderman of London, for his second son William.

William Pierrepont (1607 - 1679), then spent £1000 a year acquiring land around Thoresby between 1633 and 1643. He was a Parliamentarian, referred to as "William the Wise" because his opinions were much valued by noblemen of the day. His moderate attitude and respect for the King, made him an obvious choice for mediator and negotiator between Charles 1st and the Roundhead movement, and this he did on more than one occasion. It is a known fact that Oliver Cromwell himself spent the night at Thoresby in 1651 on his way to the Battle of Worcester at Evesham.

Robert's first son Henry Pierrepont (William's elder brother) was the 2nd Earl of Kingston upon Hull. When Henry died without heir in 1680, his great nephew Robert became 3nd Earl of Kingston upon Hull. When Robert also died without heir his brother William became the 4th Earl of Kingston upon Hull.

William Pierrepont (1662 - 1690), 4th Earl of Kingston, obtained a further 1,270 acres of land for £7,100, combined them with what he already possessed in Perlethorpe and Thoresby, and formed Thoresby Park. Soon after this in 1683 he built the first Thoresby Hall (a.k.a. Thoresby House). A mansion already existed by the lake, built c.1590, with some documents describing it as Elizabethan in character. But as it was built before the 4th Earl established Thoresby Park / Thoresby Estate, it doesn't merit the title Thoresby House. It was this mansion which William Pierrepont 2nd Earl of Kingston replaced in 1683 when building the first Thoresby Hall. This was a rectangular red brick building with stone dressings, designed by William Tallman who would go on to design Chatsworth House. It had two storeys plus an attic, featured 13 bays along its front, and was clearly influenced in it design by the Italian Palaces. In 1738 The Kennels were built about half a mile eastward of the Hall.

 Above: Leonard Knyff's painting of the first Thoresby Hall c.1705. The Stone Bridge (a.k.a. the Green Bridge) is in its original position, leading the Duke's carriage towards Ollerton and Newark beyond. I  think at this stage Evelyn the 2nd Duke hasn't yet extended the lake which I think would occupy the area to the upper right of this picture where those non-landscaped trees are depicted. Note the formal lines of the canal which would lead to a Mill and the Kennels in Perlethorpe Village.

 

 

William the 4th Earl also died without heir, and so was succeeded by his brother Evelyn Pierrepont (1665 - 1726), the 5th Earl of Kingston upon Hull, later upgraded to 1st Duke of Kingston upon Hull in 1715. Evelyn's only son died of smallpox and so he was succeeded by his grandson, also called Evelyn, the 2nd Duke of Kingston. It is this 2nd Duke who can be seen in Tillemans painting of 1725 (above).

 On 4th March 1745, only 58 years after it was built, this first Thoresby Hall was badly damaged by fire, and much property lost. Evelyn the 2nd Duke of Kingston, who had already invested a lot of time extending the lake for his boats, decided on building a second hall on this same site. During the 22 years between the fire and the building of a second Hall, he still spent long periods of residence on Thoresby Estate, monitoring progress. Quite possibly parts of the Hall were still habitable, or he may have resided at The Kennels.

Above: The location of both the first and second Hall as depicted on Chapman's map of 1774. After the demise of the second Hall the 4th Earl Manvers had this part of the old foundations flooded via a tunnel north of the weir, and frozen over as a Curling Rink for his daughter. In 1937 it was converted to a hard tennis court. The triangular complex of buildings, centre right, is The Woodyard. The formal line of trees leaving the bottom of the picture would have taken the Duke's carriages to Buck Gates.

The Dukeries.

 

The Dukeries is the name given in the 19th Century to an area in the north of Nottinghamshire covering approximately fifty square miles, and which contained no less than four ducal seats in close proximity: Clumber House, seat of the Dukes of Newcastle, Thoresby Hall, seat of the Dukes of Kingston, (subsequently the Earls Manvers), Welbeck Abbey, seat of the Dukes of Portland, and Worksop Manor, seat of the Dukes of Norfolk. From the mid-16th to the mid-20th century these estates were owned by some of the most prominent, influential families in England.  A fifth large country house, Rufford Abbey, was not a ducal seat but was closely associated with the above.

The reason this unusually large number of ducal families resided so close and in apparent harmony is due to a shared heritage. It started when Elizabeth Hardwick (Bess of Hardwick) married Sir William Cavendish. Being a court official during Henry 8th’s dissolution of the monasteries, William Cavendish was able to pick and choose the best areas of land and buildings for himself. It was probably Bess who persuaded William to then sell his properties in the south and purchase the Chatsworth estates in Derbyshire (her home county). Bess’ passion for building and forming estates had begun.

Their first child, Frances Cavendish, would marry Sir Henry Pierrepont, MP. Their son, Robert Pierrepont, would become the 1st Earl of Kingston-Upon-Hull, and purchase Thoresby from William Lodge, an Alderman of London. It would be Robert’s second son, William, who became the 4th Earl of Kingston and merged the lands he owned in Perlethorpe and Thoresby to form Thoresby Park.

Bess and William’s 5th child, Charles Cavendish, married Baroness Catherine Ogle. Their family home became Welbeck Abbey, eventually the ducal seat of the Duke of Portland, and their son, William Cavendish, would become 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the title associated with the ducal seat of Clumber House.

Lastly, Bess and William’s 7th child, Mary Cavendish, became the wife of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, giving birth to Alethea (a.k.a. Althea). Alethea Talbot would marry Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Norfolk, the title associated with the ducal seat of Worksop Manor.

By the time of her fourth and final marriage to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, Bess was already one of the richest and most influential women in England. Talbot was one of the premier aristocrats of the realm, and Lord of the Manor of Worksop. He had seven children by his first marriage, two of whom would marry two of Bess’s in a double ceremony: Mary Cavendish, aged 12, married Shrewsbury's eldest son Gilbert, aged 16, while Henry Cavendish, aged 18, married Shrewsbury's daughter Lady Grace Talbot, aged 8.

So it was that Elizabeth Hardwick’s (Bess of Hardwick’s) descendants inherited, purchased or gained by marriage Worksop Manor, Welbeck Abbey, Rufford Abbey, Clumber and Thoresby, lands which because of their interlinking relationships and close proximity would become known as the Dukeries.

Below: Detail from Chapman's 1774 map of Nottinghamshire showing the layout of the Dukeries estates.