Easton Neston
Encyclopedia
Easton Neston is a country house near Towcester
, Northamptonshire
, England, and is part of the Easton Neston Parish
. It was designed in the Baroque
style by the architect
Nicholas Hawksmoor
. Easton Neston is thought to be the only mansion
which was solely the work of Hawksmoor. From circa 1700 Hawksmoor was to work on many buildings, including Castle Howard
and Blenheim Palace
, with Sir John Vanbrugh
, often providing the technical knowledge to the less qualified Vanbrugh. Hawksmoor's work, even after their many collaborations, was always more classically severe than Vanbrugh's. However, Easton Neston predates this partnership by some six years.
, later created Lord Leominster; Hawksmoor had been recommended to Fermor by his cousin by marriage Sir Christopher Wren
,
who had advised on the building of a new mansion on the site circa 1680. However, no details of quite what Wren envisaged survive, and work seems to have ceased following completion of the two service blocks, of which only one survives. Following Fermor's marriage to an heiress
, Catherine Poulett, in 1692, he decided to resurrect the idea of a new mansion, and subsequently Wren's pupil Hawksmoor received the commission circa 1694.
On 29 March 2011 a rare 300-word letter of about 1685 written and signed by Wren, offering advice about the construction of Easton Neston was expected to fetch up to £9,000 at auction but fetched £19,200. The letter was to Sir William Fermor, in or around 1685 or 1686 offering advice on design and building materials for the house.
In May 2011, The BBC broadcast an edition of the programme The Country House Revealed
featuring Easton Neston. This raised the question of whether Wren or Hawksmoor designed the building. The programme tested samples of wood from the building's roof and date tests revealed the trees were cut down between 1700-1701 rather than earlier and proving Hawksmoor as the designer.
) were removed and sold in the distress sale of the 3rd Earl of Pomfret
, at which they were bought by his mother and donated to the Ashmolean Museum
in Oxford.
The house Hawksmoor built at Easton Neston can be best described as a miniature palace
that owes the colossal order of pilasters and crowning balustrade to Michelangelo
's palazzi on the Campidoglio at Rome and may in turn have influenced through engravings in Vitruvius Britannicus Gabriel's design of the Petit Trianon
at Versailles
, which was not to be built for another 50 years. Both main facades are of simple design devoid of ostentation. The rectangular house is on three principal floors. The first is a rustic
ated basement
, with the two floors above appearing to have equal value—nine bays divided by Composite pilasters
, each bay containing a tall, slim sash window of the same height on each floor. The central bay contains the entrance, flanked by two Composite full columns. These two columns support a small, round-headed pediment
displaying the Fermor arms and motto
. Above the door at second floor height is a massive Venetian window. The roof-line is hidden by a balustrade and decorated at the ten intervals, above the pilasters below, by covered stone urn
s. The design and fenestration of the entrance facade is repeated at the rear on the garden facade (illustration, above), except that the roof balustrade here is undecorated by urns and pediment. The house is built of Helmdon
stone, a cream stone of exceptional quality, which has ensured that the carving is as crisp today as it was on completion of the house in 1702.
The two side elevations of the house tell the story of life in a country house before the age of the servants' bell. Until the invention of the distant bell, which could be jangled by a rope
from far away, it was necessary to have servants within calling distance. In older houses such as Montacute House
servants slept on the floor of the hall
or outside the door of their employer's bedchamber; by 17th century this arrangement was becoming undesirable. Houses now began to have corridors, and employers, rather than stepping over sleeping servants, began to tidy them away in small rooms, sometimes shared with their employer's close-stool. However, these small rooms still had to be within calling distance. In a brand-new, luxurious house such as Easton Neston, this was achieved by inserting two very low mezzanine
staff floors between each of the two upper floors. Hence at Easton Neston, while the two principal facades (West and East) are of three floors, fenestration of the two less important sides of the house betrays the secret that there are in fact five floors: the windows of the two mezzanines, as befits the humble rooms they light, are a mere half the size of those of the grander rooms above and below them. This makes the fenestration of the side facades a complex but interesting sight.
Some years after completion of the mansion in 1702, Hawksmoor drew some further plans for a huge entrance court. These designs, never fully executed but published in Vitruvius Britannicus, would have flanked the existing rectangular house with two wings, one containing stables and the other service rooms. The fourth side of the courtyard
was to have been an elaborate colonnade
and etera. Apart from the house no part of this scheme was built and the two pre-existing red-brick wings (themselves perhaps owing something to Christopher Wren) remained, although the western (stable) wing was later demolished after the new stables were built. Many architectural commentators feel that Hawksmoor's mansion would, in fact, have been spoilt by this scheme, which owed more to Sir John Vanbrugh
's architectural concepts than Hawksmoor's. The whole design was depicted in Colen Campbell
's Vitruvius Britannicus vol. i (1715, pls 98 - 100) as though it existed. Two large and decayed Ozymandian
entrance piers, marooned in the park, are all that remain of this design.
, is two long, shallow flights ascending to the first floor gallery decorated by grisaille
s painted by Sir James Thornhill.
Interiors at Easton Neston have undergone some changes since Hawksmoor completed the house. Hawksmoor's great hall, with its high, bare walls and flanking vestibules
and Corinthian columns, was sub-divided in the 19th century when Sir Thomas Hesketh inherited the property from his uncle, to create three further bedrooms in its upper storey. The principal drawing room
, the only heavily decorated room in the mansion, has also seen change: it contains plaster
work carried out by Artari in the mid-18th century for Lord Lempster's son, created Earl of Pomfret, a high-relief ceiling matched by huge scrolled panels and picture surrounds, and trophies containing hunting emblems that would have delighted the charismatic Hawksmoor.
in the park
to complement the house, known as the Long Water; this is on an axis with the door at the centre of the garden facade. The gardens in the 20th century were further enhanced by the creation of a water terrace
, overlooked by the West, or garden facade, by Thomas, 1st Baron Hesketh, the great-nephew of the 5th and last Earl of Pomfret. It is decorated by box topiary
and rose
s surrounding a large pool, which reflects the house.
In March 1876, the Empress of Austria
visited England and rented Easton Neston House, with its fine stabling for her horses. She used Blisworth railway station
to gain access to London
In 2004 Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh put the house, and the surrounding estate including Towcester Racecourse, up for sale for an estimated £50,000,000. In 2005 a portion of the estate, including: the main house, some outlying buildings and 550 acres (2.2 km²) of land; were sold to retail businessman and designer Leon Max
for around £15,000,000. Lord Hesketh, having sold off the farmland and the Gothick village of Hulcote, has retained ownership of the race course. Max plans to use the Wren-designed wing of the building as a base for his European operations, and the Hawksmoor block as his personal residence.
Towcester
Towcester , the Roman town of Lactodorum, is a small town in south Northamptonshire, England.-Etymology:Towcester comes from the Old English Tófe-ceaster. Tófe refers to the River Tove; Bosworth and Toller compare it to the "Scandinavian proper names" Tófi and Tófa...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, England, and is part of the Easton Neston Parish
Easton Neston Parish
Easton Neston Parish is a rural parish of Easton Neston is made up of about 70 people and about of mainly farmland and woods around the South Northamptonshire communities of Easton Neston House, and the hamlets of Hulcote and Showsley. The parish is named after the main estate around Easton...
. It was designed in the Baroque
English Baroque
English Baroque is a term sometimes used to refer to the developments in English architecture that were parallel to the evolution of Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London and the Treaty of Utrecht ....
style by the architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor was a British architect born in Nottinghamshire, probably in East Drayton.-Life:Hawksmoor was born in Nottinghamshire in 1661, into a yeoman farming family, almost certainly in East Drayton, Nottinghamshire. On his death he was to leave property at nearby Ragnall, Dunham and a...
. Easton Neston is thought to be the only mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
which was solely the work of Hawksmoor. From circa 1700 Hawksmoor was to work on many buildings, including Castle Howard
Castle Howard
Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, north of York. One of the grandest private residences in Britain, most of it was built between 1699 and 1712 for the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, to a design by Sir John Vanbrugh...
and Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...
, with Sir John Vanbrugh
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...
, often providing the technical knowledge to the less qualified Vanbrugh. Hawksmoor's work, even after their many collaborations, was always more classically severe than Vanbrugh's. However, Easton Neston predates this partnership by some six years.
Architect
Hawksmoor was commissioned to build Easton Neston by Sir William FermorWilliam Fermor, 1st Baron Leominster
William Fermor, 1st Baron Leominster , was an English connoisseur.Fermor was the eldest son of Sir William Fermor, 1st Baronet, of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire, by Mary, daughter of Hugh Perry of London and widow of Henry Noel, second son of Edward, viscount Campden. He succeeded as second...
, later created Lord Leominster; Hawksmoor had been recommended to Fermor by his cousin by marriage Sir Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
,
who had advised on the building of a new mansion on the site circa 1680. However, no details of quite what Wren envisaged survive, and work seems to have ceased following completion of the two service blocks, of which only one survives. Following Fermor's marriage to an heiress
Beneficiary
A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example: The beneficiary of a life insurance policy, is the person who receives the payment of the amount of insurance after the death of the insured...
, Catherine Poulett, in 1692, he decided to resurrect the idea of a new mansion, and subsequently Wren's pupil Hawksmoor received the commission circa 1694.
On 29 March 2011 a rare 300-word letter of about 1685 written and signed by Wren, offering advice about the construction of Easton Neston was expected to fetch up to £9,000 at auction but fetched £19,200. The letter was to Sir William Fermor, in or around 1685 or 1686 offering advice on design and building materials for the house.
In May 2011, The BBC broadcast an edition of the programme The Country House Revealed
The Country House Revealed
The Country House Revealed is a six part BBC series first aired on BBC Two in May 2011 in which British architectural historian Dan Cruickshank visits six houses never before open to public view, and examines the lives of the families who lived there....
featuring Easton Neston. This raised the question of whether Wren or Hawksmoor designed the building. The programme tested samples of wood from the building's roof and date tests revealed the trees were cut down between 1700-1701 rather than earlier and proving Hawksmoor as the designer.
Exterior
The statues (originally part of the Arundel collection of marblesArundel marbles
The Arundelian Marbles are a collection of Greek marbles collected by Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel in the early seventeenth century, the first such comprehensive collection of its kind in England...
) were removed and sold in the distress sale of the 3rd Earl of Pomfret
Earl of Pomfret
Earl of Pomfret , in the County of York, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1721 for Thomas Fermor, 2nd Baron Leominster. The Fermor family descended from Richard Fermor who acquired great wealth as a merchant. However, he fell out with Henry VIII after remaining an...
, at which they were bought by his mother and donated to the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
in Oxford.
The house Hawksmoor built at Easton Neston can be best described as a miniature palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
that owes the colossal order of pilasters and crowning balustrade to Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
's palazzi on the Campidoglio at Rome and may in turn have influenced through engravings in Vitruvius Britannicus Gabriel's design of the Petit Trianon
Petit Trianon
The Petit Trianon is a small château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France.-Design and construction:...
at Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, which was not to be built for another 50 years. Both main facades are of simple design devoid of ostentation. The rectangular house is on three principal floors. The first is a rustic
Rustic
Rustic can refer to:*rural*pastoralIn zoology:* Rustic moths, various noctuid moths of subfamilies Hadeninae and Noctuinae, including** The Rustic, * The Rustic , a brush-footed butterfly...
ated basement
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
, with the two floors above appearing to have equal value—nine bays divided by Composite pilasters
Composite order
The composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order. The composite order volutes are larger, however, and the composite order also has echinus molding with egg-and-dart ornamentation between the volutes...
, each bay containing a tall, slim sash window of the same height on each floor. The central bay contains the entrance, flanked by two Composite full columns. These two columns support a small, round-headed pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
displaying the Fermor arms and motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
. Above the door at second floor height is a massive Venetian window. The roof-line is hidden by a balustrade and decorated at the ten intervals, above the pilasters below, by covered stone urn
Urn
An urn is a vase, ordinarily covered, that usually has a narrowed neck above a footed pedestal. "Knife urns" placed on pedestals flanking a dining-room sideboard were an English innovation for high-style dining rooms of the late 1760s...
s. The design and fenestration of the entrance facade is repeated at the rear on the garden facade (illustration, above), except that the roof balustrade here is undecorated by urns and pediment. The house is built of Helmdon
Helmdon
Helmdon is a village and civil parish in the district of South Northamptonshire, Northamptonshire, England. The parish covers an area of about and includes the village of Helmdon and the hamlets of Astwell and Falcutt.-Geography:...
stone, a cream stone of exceptional quality, which has ensured that the carving is as crisp today as it was on completion of the house in 1702.
The two side elevations of the house tell the story of life in a country house before the age of the servants' bell. Until the invention of the distant bell, which could be jangled by a rope
Rope
A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...
from far away, it was necessary to have servants within calling distance. In older houses such as Montacute House
Montacute House
Montacute House is a late Elizabethan country house situated in the South Somerset village of Montacute. This house is a textbook example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical; this has resulted in Montacute being regarded as...
servants slept on the floor of the hall
Hall
In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers...
or outside the door of their employer's bedchamber; by 17th century this arrangement was becoming undesirable. Houses now began to have corridors, and employers, rather than stepping over sleeping servants, began to tidy them away in small rooms, sometimes shared with their employer's close-stool. However, these small rooms still had to be within calling distance. In a brand-new, luxurious house such as Easton Neston, this was achieved by inserting two very low mezzanine
Mezzanine (architecture)
In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building, and therefore typically not counted among the overall floors of a building. Often, a mezzanine is low-ceilinged and projects in the form of a balcony. The term is also used for the lowest balcony in...
staff floors between each of the two upper floors. Hence at Easton Neston, while the two principal facades (West and East) are of three floors, fenestration of the two less important sides of the house betrays the secret that there are in fact five floors: the windows of the two mezzanines, as befits the humble rooms they light, are a mere half the size of those of the grander rooms above and below them. This makes the fenestration of the side facades a complex but interesting sight.
Some years after completion of the mansion in 1702, Hawksmoor drew some further plans for a huge entrance court. These designs, never fully executed but published in Vitruvius Britannicus, would have flanked the existing rectangular house with two wings, one containing stables and the other service rooms. The fourth side of the courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
was to have been an elaborate colonnade
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
and etera. Apart from the house no part of this scheme was built and the two pre-existing red-brick wings (themselves perhaps owing something to Christopher Wren) remained, although the western (stable) wing was later demolished after the new stables were built. Many architectural commentators feel that Hawksmoor's mansion would, in fact, have been spoilt by this scheme, which owed more to Sir John Vanbrugh
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...
's architectural concepts than Hawksmoor's. The whole design was depicted in Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
's Vitruvius Britannicus vol. i (1715, pls 98 - 100) as though it existed. Two large and decayed Ozymandian
Ozymandias
"Ozymandias" is a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley, published in 1818 in the January 11 issue of The Examiner in London. It is frequently anthologised and is probably Shelley's most famous short poem...
entrance piers, marooned in the park, are all that remain of this design.
Interior
The principal rooms have windows rising almost floor to ceiling. The rooms are large and well proportioned without suffering from the oppressive grandeur that was to be a feature of Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor's collaborative work. The massive main staircase, with its wrought iron balustrade in the style of Jean TijouJean Tijou
Jean Tijou was a French Huguenot ironworker. He is known solely through his work in England, where he worked on several of the key English Baroque buildings. He arrived in England in c.1689 and enjoyed the patronage of William and Mary for whom he made gates and railings for Hampton Court Palace....
, is two long, shallow flights ascending to the first floor gallery decorated by grisaille
Grisaille
Grisaille is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles in fact include a slightly wider colour range, like the Andrea del Sarto fresco...
s painted by Sir James Thornhill.
Interiors at Easton Neston have undergone some changes since Hawksmoor completed the house. Hawksmoor's great hall, with its high, bare walls and flanking vestibules
Vestibule (architecture)
A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...
and Corinthian columns, was sub-divided in the 19th century when Sir Thomas Hesketh inherited the property from his uncle, to create three further bedrooms in its upper storey. The principal drawing room
Drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the sixteenth-century terms "withdrawing room" and "withdrawing chamber", which remained in use through the seventeenth century, and made its first written appearance in 1642...
, the only heavily decorated room in the mansion, has also seen change: it contains plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
work carried out by Artari in the mid-18th century for Lord Lempster's son, created Earl of Pomfret, a high-relief ceiling matched by huge scrolled panels and picture surrounds, and trophies containing hunting emblems that would have delighted the charismatic Hawksmoor.
Gardens
In the grounds, Hawksmoor also designed a canalCanal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
in the park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
to complement the house, known as the Long Water; this is on an axis with the door at the centre of the garden facade. The gardens in the 20th century were further enhanced by the creation of a water terrace
Terrace (gardening)
In gardening, a terrace is an element where a raised flat paved or gravelled section overlooks a prospect. A raised terrace keeps a house dry and provides a transition between the hard materials of the architecture and softer ones of the garden.-History:...
, overlooked by the West, or garden facade, by Thomas, 1st Baron Hesketh, the great-nephew of the 5th and last Earl of Pomfret. It is decorated by box topiary
Topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
and rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
s surrounding a large pool, which reflects the house.
Historical
Easton Neston has always been a private house and never opened to the public; as a consequence it is little known. Until recently the house was owned by Lord Hesketh, whose family is directly descended from the original builder, Sir William Fermor. It was furnished with fine paintings, tapestries, and 18th-century furniture.In March 1876, the Empress of Austria
Emperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...
visited England and rented Easton Neston House, with its fine stabling for her horses. She used Blisworth railway station
Blisworth railway station
Blisworth railway station was opened by the London and Birmingham Railway in Blisworth, Northamptonshire in 1838.-History:The station was opened on 17 September 1838. In 1845 the L&BR opened their Northampton and Peterborough Railway a line which connected Peterborough and Northampton from a...
to gain access to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
In 2004 Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh put the house, and the surrounding estate including Towcester Racecourse, up for sale for an estimated £50,000,000. In 2005 a portion of the estate, including: the main house, some outlying buildings and 550 acres (2.2 km²) of land; were sold to retail businessman and designer Leon Max
Leon Max
Leon Max is a Russian-born American fashion designer and retailer.-Early life:Leon was born Leonid Maxovich Rodovinski born in 1954 in Leningrad, Soviet Union . The son of a playwright, he attended an English school and read the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald...
for around £15,000,000. Lord Hesketh, having sold off the farmland and the Gothick village of Hulcote, has retained ownership of the race course. Max plans to use the Wren-designed wing of the building as a base for his European operations, and the Hawksmoor block as his personal residence.
External links
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011kp6lEaston Neston on the May 2011 BBC2 programme The Country House Revealed with Dan CruickshankDan CruickshankDan Cruickshank is an art historian and BBC television presenter.-Early life:As a young child he lived for some years in Poland...
] - NorthamptonToday article on the purchase of Easton Neston by Leon Max
- Money Telegraph article on the sale