Belvoir Castle: A Testament to Timeless Resilience and Beauty
Overview
Completed in 1832 and with roots tracing back to the Norman Conquest, Belvoir Castle has undergone multiple reconstructions due to war and disaster, today standing proudly atop a hill offering extensive views, managed by Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland, and known for its appearance in Netflix's "The Crown."
History
The current Belvoir Castle was completed in 1832 by John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland and his wife Lady Elizabeth Howard, who moved to Belvoir from Castle Howard in 1799. That castle was by no means the first on the site. There has been a castle on the site at Belvoir since the Norman Conquest, when William the Conqueror’s standard bearer Robert de Todeni was given the land by the king. By 1464, the first castle, in a motte and bailey design, was more or less in ruins, wrecked by the Wars of the Roses, and 60 years later it was reconstructed in a medieval design for Sir Thomas Manners, later 1st Earl of Rutland, in whose family it has remained ever since. James VI came to this new Belvoir in 1612, and later, during the Civil War, Charles I stayed at Belvoir, before the house was razed to the ground by parliamentarians. By 1668, a new house had been built at Belvoir by the architect John Webb for John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland, but this only lasted just over a century before the 5th Duke and Duchess of Rutland began yet another building project, with the architect James Wyatt in charge of what was planned as a romantic Gothic building. This was almost complete when in 1816 the house caught fire, with the loss of most of the new build and many of the pictures. The castle was rebuilt again to the same designs and completed – for the final time – in 1832, with the architect Sir James Thornton at the helm. Today, the house and its 16,000-acre estate is run by Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland who, in 2016, embarked upon a two-year restoration programme to bring the lost plans of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown to fruition. Belvoir remains the seat of the Duke of Rutland and home to his five children.
Best known for
Its name, pronounced ‘Beaver’, which derives from the Norman French for ‘beautiful view’, since Belvoir was built at the top of a hill, from where one can see for miles across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire
As seen in…
Netflix’s The Crown, standing in for Windsor Castle.
Don’t go home without seeing
The Elizabeth Saloon, named after the 5th duke’s wife, in the syle of Louis XIV.
Drop by…
The Chequers Inn at Woolsthorpe by Belvoir, as the name suggests, just by Belvoir.
Need another local heritage fix?
Easton Walled Gardens, Lincolnshire’s ‘lost’ garden, 12 miles away, is a perfect idyll.
Our favourite line
‘A neo-Norman, neo-gothic, neo-everything’ – Lady Diana Cooper, 1958
