Venue Type & Location
Performance Spaces
Overview
A late 17th c. house with an imposing W front in the French style now stands on the site of the earlier residence of the Percies, set in the rolling hills of the South Downs.
Ca. 1574 the house was built on an L-shaped plan featuring 2 wings, with 8 gables along the W front and 5 along the N front, with an outer and inner court. Entrance was through a 2-storey gatehouse facing the street to the W of the parish church.
Only the early 14th c. chapel at the NE end of the house, some of the cellars and the undercroft of the medieval great hall survive from the earlier period. A block of the early 17th c. extension remains towards the N end.
Performance History
A possible performance venue. Trumpeters patronized by the 14th Earl performed elsewhere in the early 17th c.
Current Status
History of the Venue
ca. 1150 Manor granted to Jocelin de Louvain, husband of Agnes de Percy, heiress of the Percy estates. Jocelin subsequently adopted the surname Percy.
1309 Licence to crenellate granted to Henry Percy. The principal residence of the Percies remained in the north until the later 16th c.
1537--57 10th Earl of Northumberland attainted and estates confiscated by the Crown.
1557 Title and estates restored to Thomas Percy, 11th Earl.
1572 Sir Henry Percy succeeded to the title as 12th Earl of Northumberland on the execution of his brother but he was required to live in the S.
1576--82 Substantial repairs and renovations made to the house and grounds.
1585 His son Henry succeeded as 13th Earl and made Petworth his principal residence, continuing the renovations.
1605--21 13th Earl implicated in the Gunpowder Plot and imprisoned in the Tower for 16 years. Tennis court probably added at this time.
after 1621 Algernon Percy, 14th Earl, extended the house to the W and S and expanded its art collections.
1688--96 Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, husband of the heiress, Elizabeth Percy, rebuilt the house, modelled on Louis XIV's court architecture.
1714 Fire destroyed much of the fabric and interior, though the full extent is unknown. Described thus by T. Bateman writing to Lord Harley: 'All the best front is burnt down but the Duke's apartments which lay to the other front is standing as I am told the chapel is' (quoted in Harris, 'Recreating Petworth' 14).
1750 Petworth and the earldom of Egremont inherited by the 7th Duke's nephew, Sir Charles Wyndham, who remodelled 3 rooms and added a new stable block and 3 sets of lodges.
1869--72 Rooms at the S end remodelled by Anthony Salvin for Henry Wyndham, 2nd Lord Leconfield. Porch added on the E side.
1947 Given to The National Trust by Charles Wyndham, 3rd Lord Leconfield.
Record Source
REED Cambridge 1.675; Cheshire including Chester 2.587; Coventry 441
Patrons who owned this venue
| Name | Date | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Percy, Algernon | 1602-1668 | Earl of Northumberland |
| Percy, Algernon | 1602-1668 | Baron Percy |
| Percy, Henry | 1449-1489 | Earl of Northumberland |
| Percy, Henry | 1449-1489 | Knight of the Garter |
| Percy, Henry | 1449-1489 | Baron Percy |
| Percy, Henry | 1449-1489 | Baron Poynings |
| Percy, Henry | 1421-1461 | Knight |
| Percy, Henry | 1421-1461 | Baron Percy |
| Percy, Henry | 1421-1461 | Earl of Northumberland |
| Percy, Henry | 1421-1461 | Lord Poynings |
| Percy, Henry | 1564-1632 | Earl of Northumberland |
| Percy, Henry | 1532-1585 | Earl of Northumberland |
| Percy, Henry | 1532-1585 | Baron Percy |
| Percy, Henry Algernon | 1478-1527 | Earl of Northumberland |
| Percy, Henry Algernon | 1478-1527 | Baron Percy |
| Percy, Henry Algernon | 1478-1527 | Baron Poynings |
| Percy, Henry Algernon | 1478-1527 | Knight of the Garter |
| Percy, Henry de | 1393-1455 | Baron Percy |
| Percy, Henry de | 1393-1455 | Earl of Northumberland |
Bibliographic Sources
- Armstrong, J.R. A History of Sussex. Chichester: Phillimore & Co., 1961
- Batho, Gordon. 'The Percies at Petworth 1574--1632.'. Sussex Archaeological Collections 95 (1957): 1--27.
- Batho, Gordon. 'Notes and Documents on Petworth House, 1574--1632.'. Sussex Archaeological Collections 96 (1958): 108--34.
- Blaauw, W.H. 'Royal Licenses to Fortify Towns and Houses, in Sussex.'. Sussex Archaeological Collections 13 (1861): 104--17.
- Ellis, William Smith. The Parks and Forests of Sussex, Ancient and Modern, Historical, Antiquarian and Descriptive. Lewes: H. Wolff, 1885
- Elwes, Dudley George Cary. A History of the Castles, Mansions, and Manors of Western Sussex. London: Longmans & Co., 1876
- Guy, John. Castles in Sussex. Chichester: Phillimore & Co., 1984
- Hall, Michael. 'Petworth House, Sussex.'. Country Life 187 (10 June 1993): 128--33.
- Harris, John. 'Recreating Petworth: New evidence of its original appearance.'. Apollo 145 (April 1997): 13--15.
- Hussey, Christopher. 'Petworth House, Sussex, The Seat of Lord Leconfield--III.'. Country Life 58 (1925): 928--35.
- Hussey, Christopher. 'Petworth House, Sussex, The Seat of Lord Leconfield -- II.'. Country Life 58 (5 Dec. 1925): 862--71.
- Hussey, Christopher. 'Petworth House, Sussex, The Seat of Lord Leconfield -- I.'. Country Life 58 (28 Nov. 1925): 818--26.
- Hussey, Christopher. 'Petworth House, Sussex.'. Country Life 101 (7 March 1947): 422--5.
- Jackson-Stops, Gervase. 'The Building of Petworth.'. Apollo 105 (1977): 324--33.
- Leconfield, Lord [H.A. Wyndham]. Petworth Manor in the Seventeenth Century. London: Oxford UP, 1954
- Lower, Mark Antony. A Compendious History of Sussex, Topographical, Archaeological & Anecdotal. 2 vols. Lewes; London: Geo. P. Bacon; John Russell Smith, 1870
- Nairn, Ian, and Nikolaus Pevsner. Sussex. Harmondsworth, Midd: Penguin Books, 1965
- Newman, John. 'Proceedings of the Summer Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute at Chichester in 1985: Petworth House.'. Archaeological Journal 142 (1985): 52--4.
- Rowell, Christopher. Petworth House, West Sussex. London: The National Trust, 1997
- Stroud, Dorothy. 'The Gardens and Park.'. Apollo 105 (1977): 334--9.
- Summerson, John. Architecture in Britain 1530--1830. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1993
- Turner, Thomas Hudson, and John Henry Parker. Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England, from Richard II. to Henry VIII. 3 vols (vol 3 in 2 pts). Oxford: John Henry and James Parker, 1851--9