The Baronial Halls: Ancient Picturesque Edifices of England

Holland House stands upon rising ground, a little to the north of the high-road which leads from Kensington to Hammersmith. It is interesting to all passers-by, as affording a correct idea of the baronial mansions peculiar to the age of James I.; and, from its vicinity to the metropolis, its examination is easy to thousands who rarely obtain opportunities of viewing the “old houses,” with which are associated the records and pictures of English hospitality as it existed in the olden time. Although modern dwellings of all shapes and sizes have grown up about it, the house retains so much of its primitive character—its green meadows, sloping lanes, and umbrageous woods, in which still sings the nightingale; with gables and chimneys bearing tokens of a date two centuries back—that few traverse the highway without a word of comment, and a sensation of pleasure, that neither time nor caprice have yet operated to remove it from its place, or even to impair its imposing and impressive features. It is almost alone in its “old grandeur,” in a vicinity at one period crowded with ancient houses; the baronial halls have, with this exception, that of Campden House, adjacent, and Kensington Palace, a comparatively recent structure, been removed, to make way for “detached villas” and streets of narrow dwellings; and there are many sad surmises that, ere long, the park, and gardens, and venerable mansion, will be also displaced, to supply building-ground for speculators in brick and mortar. This will be a grievous outrage on taste, and a sore mortification to the antiquary, and be another terrible inroad on the picturesque in a district which, within living memory, was as primitive in character as if London had been distant a hundred miles.

The approach to Holland House is by an avenue of venerable elms; the entrance-gates are examples of wrought iron, remarkably elegant in design and fine in execution. Within the demesne, small although it be, all sense is lost of proximity to a great city: the close foliage completely shuts out the view of surrounding houses, and the birds are singing among the branches, as if enjoying the freedom of the forest. Yet Holland House is now enclosed on all sides—north, south, east, and west—by brick houses of all sorts and sizes, upon which it seems to look down, from its elevated position, with supreme contempt for the convenient “whimsies” of modern architects.

Before we conduct the reader about the grounds and into the mansion, it will be well to give some history of the several personages through whose hands they have passed. As we have shewn in a note, the manor, during the reign of Elizabeth, became the property of Sir Walter Cope, a knight who became high in favour with her successor, James I., and who obtained, partly by grant and partly by purchase, considerable possessions in and around Kensington. By him the house, subsequently called “Holland House,” was built. His daughter, Isabella, having married Sir Henry Rich, the second son of Robert Rich, first Earl of Warwick, this Sir Robert inherited the estates in right of his wife; in 1622 he was created Baron Kensington; and in the 22d James I. was elevated to the dignity of Earl of Holland, and installed a Knight of the Garter. Having taken part with the king during the civil wars, he was tried by the Parliament, condemned to death, and beheaded on the 9th of March, 1649. His lady was, however, permitted to return to Holland House, where she brought up her family, and where she was succeeded by her son, Robert, the second earl, who, in 1673, became also Earl of Warwick, by the death of Charles, the fourth earl. He was succeeded by his son, the third earl, who married Charlotte, only daughter of Sir Thomas Middleton of Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, who survived, and subsequently took for her second husband, in 1716, the renowned Joseph Addison; “but,” writes Dr. Johnson, “Holland House, although a large house, could not contain Mr. Addison, the Countess of Warwick, and one guest—Peace:” they lived on ill terms, which probably hastened the death of Addison; an event which took place in the mansion on the 17th of June, 1719. Edward Henry, the fourth Earl of Holland, dying unmarried, his cousin, Edward, succeeded as fifth earl; but he dying without issue, in 1759, his honours and titles became extinct; but the family estates were inherited by William Edwardes, Esq., son of the sister of Edward, the third earl, created Baron Kensington of the kingdom of Ireland in 1776. Holland House came into the possession of the family to whom it now belongs (the family of Fox), first about the year 1762, when the Right Hon. Henry Fox, Secretary of State (soon afterwards created Lord Holland), became a tenant of the mansion, which he subsequently purchased, together with the manor, from Mr. Edwardes. Here the first Lord Holland resided until his death in 1774, and was succeeded by his son, Stephen, the second peer, who died the year following, and was succeeded by his son, Richard Vassal; during whose long minority the house was let to the Earl of Roseberry and Mr. Bearcroft. On his death in 1840, he was succeeded by the present peer, Henry Edward Fox, the fourth Lord Holland.