Bucklebury House, Berkshire

Old Bucklebury House, illustrated here, was a Tudor E-plan building, consisting of a central portion with wings on either side. The rooms were large and ornamented with panelling and carved oak chimney-pieces extending to the ceilings. There was also a long gallery for exercise during inclement weather.

The Winchcombe family were the first lay owners of Bucklebury - it had originally belonged to the Abbott of Reading - and they held the property for about one hundred and sixty years. They were converted to Protestantism in the early 17th century and became staunch Royalists during the Civil War. Their house at Bucklebury may have been ransacked or otherwise attacked for there were several skirmishes on the nearby Common and troops from both sides passed through the area before and after the two battles of Newbury. The family survived, however, and Henry Winchcombe was made a baronet for his loyalty to the Crown.

The last of the family, Lady Frances Winchcombe, married Henry St.John 1st Viscount Bolingbroke in 1701. Henry was well-known for his writing and was often visited at Bucklebury by distinguished literary contemporaries, such as Harley, Pope, Swift, Prior, Gay and Arbuthnot. With the succession of King George I, however, he fled abroad and the poor Viscountess was left to rattle around in the great house alone, until her death in 1718.

Bolingbroke made his peace with the Government five years later and, upon his return to England (accompanied by his second wife Marie Claire de Marcilly) he seems to have set about much building work at Bucklebury. The coach-house, stables, kitchen (with its great fireplace) and alterations in the servants' quarters - including the installation of a vast lead bath date from this time; although it is said that the Viscount never returned to see the results.

The present Bucklebury House is the home of Mr and Mrs Middleton, parents of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.

This commentary is extracted and adapted from David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History website