Northamptonshire’s royal residence Apethorpe Palace

It’s currently a private home but was once considered the most glorious royal residence in Northamptonshire. Enjoyed by the Tudor and Stuart monarchs it was particularly loved by James I who extended and enriched the building. After a long decline, the restoration of the exquisite Apethorpe Palace is nearing completion. It will be open for prebooked tours from March 2025, and I can’t wait to visit!

The manorial estate of Apethorpe, noted in the Domesday Book of 1086, and close to the royal forest of Rockingham was acquired by Sir Guy Wolston in the 1480s. A friend of King Edward IV, Sheriff and MP for Northampton and constable of Fotheringhay Castle, Sir Guy began to build a grand house at Apethorpe to take advantage of the great location.

The beautiful house so close to excellent hunting grounds, proved irresistible to Henry VIII, who bought it in 1543. After his death four years later, Henry left Apethorpe to his daughter Princess Elizabeth in his will. However, her brother the young King Edward VI exchanged the estate for other property with Sir Water Mildmay. Mildmay was an accomplished royal servant and shrewd advisor on financial and legal matters to all the Tudor monarchs. He acted as Queen Elizabeth’s household treasurer and Chancellor of the Exchequer and was famously the highest paid Elizabethan civil servant. Walter made Apethorpe his home and was the first to significantly upgrade the house to impress and delight the Queen with handsome state apartments. She rewarded him with several visitations during her royal progresses throughout Northamptonshire that no doubt cost him a fortune. As one of her advisors, Walter took his part in the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, calling for her execution and attending the actual event at nearby Fotheringhay.

After Walter’s death in 1589, the house passed to his eldest son Sir Anthony. He was well received by the old Queen Elizabeth who knighted him, and eventually became a popular courtier of James I who fell in love with Apethorpe and the nearby Rockingham Forest. Sir Anthony spared nothing in entertaining the King ‘The tables were newly covered with costly banquets wherein everything that was most delitious for taste proved more delicate by the Arte that made it seem beauteous to the eye’.

King James made himself at home, and regularly commissioned and enjoyed rowdy masquerades and entertainment provided by the best writers and artists in England there. And it was at Apethorpe in 1614 that King James met the handsome young George Villiers who controversially became his favourite and created him Duke of Buckingham.

Sir Anthony had a single child, a daughter Mary. She married Francis Fane 1st Earl of Westmorland, and together they inherited Apethorpe. In gratitude they created a magnificent marble monument of Sir Anthony and his wife Grace in the local church.

The couple also inherited the favour of the King who continued to visit regularly. Mary and Francis extended Apethorpe by creating grand state apartments with special bedchambers to accommodate the King and his favourite Duke, discreetly linked together by closets. Other rooms included the great chamber with its magnificent plasterwork ceiling, withdrawing chamber, and impressive long gallery.

The King was delighted and offered a royal grant of timber towards the building works. The gift was described as intended for ‘the more commodious entertainment of his Majesty and his company at his repair into those parts for his princely recreation there’. Ever the discreet courtiers, Mary and Francis always withdrew whenever the King stayed, leaving him to enjoy Apethorpe in private.

For nearly three hundred years the Fane Family continued to own and enjoy Apethorpe. However the family owned many other magnificent houses, and the costs of time and money to maintain them all were demanding, especially considering their international business interests.
The family suffered financial difficulties at the end of the 19th century and decided to sell Apethorpe. In 1904 the estate was purchased by Henry Brassey, whose family had made their wealth on the railways.

Henry was a busy man, a Conservative politician, elected to Northamptonshire North in 1910, and later to Peterborough. He fought in the First World War for the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, and afterwards acted as High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant for the County, and in 1938 was created Baron Brassey of Apethorpe. In his early years of ownership he invested heavily in restoring the house and the family lived there. But during the 1930s the house was used less, and the family eventually withdrew to the manor.

The house was requisitioned in 1939 for the duration of the war, and in 1949 the Brassey family sold the house and much of the estate.

Apethorpe then entered the most uncertain stage of its history. What had once been a palace suffered the indignity of becoming an approved school under the Roman Catholic church, a place designed to discipline and train wayward young men. In 1982 the school closed as approved schools ceased to exist.

But a more tragic fate was in store for this once great estate. In 1982, the house with its 30 bedrooms, 60 acres of parkland, 13 cottages and stable block, was sold to Wanis Mohammed Burweila, a Libyan businessman, for £750,00. His stated intention was to create a university, but two years later, in the aftermath of the Libyan Embassy siege he is believed to have left Britain. Refusing to respond to correspondence he abandoned the estate, and never returned. It was left empty and uncared for, with holes in the roof, riddled with wet and dry rot, and subsequent water damage to the structure.

When English Heritage began the Buildings at Risk Register in 1998, Apethorpe’s significance was recognised. After a public enquiry, East Northamptonshire Council began legal action against Mr Burweila, who promptly sold the estate to a property developer. However, the Secretary of State confirmed a compulsory purchase order, and in 2004 English Heritage was given the task of protecting the unique Jacobean features and making the house watertight for the future. The plan was for a single family to live in it, rather than to convert it to a hotel or visitor attraction. Apethorpe’s historic status led to significant multidisciplinary research and attention, with architects, historians, conservation experts all fascinated to work on the project.

The eventual purchasers have done a magnificent job in continuing the restoration work begun by English Heritage. Baron von Pfetten acquired the freehold in 2014 and has invested a fortune in bringing Apethorpe Palace back to the luxurious residence it was intended to be. They have installed modern plumbing, electricity, and heating. This was much needed, as when they arrived there was only a single functioning electric socket.

Thanks to their efforts, Apethorpe is no longer on the ‘At Risk’ register.

It continues to be a massive project. However, it is possible to visit in 2025. There have been several recent articles in Country Life magazine, and the photographs look magnificent. Baron von Pfetten still works closely with English Heritage, and their website shows several opportunities to visit either as a group or as individuals.

Why not keep checking to see if a date that works for you comes available. I am sure that this is going to be a must see for Northamptonshire history lovers!

www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/apethorpe-palace/

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