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Photograph of popular head Mrs Coleman & pupils of Hook School, 1958/9. Interviewed by Lord Bolingbroke for the job, she was at the school for 20 years. Search Hook School.

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Castles and Mansions

Over the centuries the St.John family married into families across the United Kingdom and Ireland, creating a fascinating network of cousins and influencers who have written their own pages in history.

Our collection of castles, mansions, landscaped gardens and country estates gives a glimpse into this extended world of family spanning 800 years from the 12th to the 20th century.

Fonmon Castle is one of several featured castles in Wales alongside some of England’s great fortresses from Corfe Castle given to Margaret Beaufort by her son Henry VII in 1485 and the Tower of London where Sir John St.John’s sister Lucy (Apsley) was chatelaine in the run-up to the English Civil War. In Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, Sir John’s daughter Anne, Countess of Rochester, created a haven for Royalist espionage during a century of upheaval which is so intensely reflected in St. Mary’s Lydiard Tregoze.

In the 18th Century the magnificent Chateau of La Source in the Loire Valley provided the exiled Henry St.John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke with both domestic bliss with his second wife Marie-Claire de Marcilly and a place to study and share ideas with fellow philosophers Voltaire and the poet Alexander Pope.

Bolingbroke's later and less gifted successor, George Richard St.John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke can be found occupying one of America’s most treasured historic buildings, Liberty Hall in New Jersey, where his reputation somewhat tarnished the mansion’s gilded past.

 And finally, you can discover Brownsover Hall in Warwickshire where Lydiard’s last lord, Vernon St.John, 6th Vsct. Bolingbroke retreated following his departure from the family’s ancestral home during World War II. 

Many of these properties are open to the public and we hope you might be encouraged to visit a few. We are actively collecting and curating these connections, and welcome insights and discoveries to enhance the collection and our knowledge of patronage and marriage.

 

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Castles and Mansions

Featured Items

Ashdown House, Oxfordshire
Ashdown House, Oxfordshire

Ashdown House near Lambourn on the borders of Berk...

Brownsover Hall, near Rugby, Warwickshire
Brownsover Hall, near Rugby, Warwickshire

Following his departure from Lydiard Park during W...

Liberty Hall, New Jersey
Liberty Hall, New Jersey

Liberty Hall was built in 1772 for William Living...

The Lieutenant's Lodgings at the Tower of London
The Lieutenant's Lodgings at the Tower of London

“All the time she dwelt in the Tower, if any were...

Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan
Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan

Fonmon castle in Glamorgan, Wales is thought to ha...

Dogmersfield Park, Hampshire
Dogmersfield Park, Hampshire

Dogmersfield Park is a Grade I listed Georgian cou...

Thorpe Hall, Cambridgeshire
Thorpe Hall, Cambridgeshire

Thorpe Hall near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire wa...

A View of Lady Diana Beauclerk's House in Twickenham Meadows, 1784
A View of Lady Diana Beauclerk's House in Twickenham Meadows, 1784

After the death of her second husband Topham Beauc...

Mapledurham House, Berkshire
Mapledurham House, Berkshire

Mapledurham House is a Grade 1 Listed stately home...

Shaftesbury Abbey (ruins), Dorset
Shaftesbury Abbey (ruins), Dorset

Shaftesbury Abbey was built in about 888 by King A...

Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire
Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire

Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire is architect James Gi...

Farleigh Hungerford Castle, near Bath, UK
Farleigh Hungerford Castle, near Bath, UK

Farleigh Hungerford Castle was occupied by the Hun...