Doddington Hall & Gardens: A Legacy of Architecture
Overview
A historic estate near Lincoln crafted by architect Robert Smythson and completed in 1600, is celebrated for its farm shop, rewilding projects, and distinctive Doddington Pyramid, now managed by custodians James and Claire Birch.
History
About 40 rooms big, Doddington Hall, just outside Lincoln, is usually attributed to the man thought to be the first ‘proper’ architect, Robert Smythson, who also worked on Hardwick Hall, Wollaton Hall, and at Longleat. The Doddington estate was bought in 1593 by the lawyer Thomas Tailor, who worked for the Bishop of Lincoln and it was Tailor that commissioned Smythson to build Doddington. It was finished by 1600 and has passed by descent ever since, through the Hussey family to the Delaval family, and in 1829 to the Jarvis family. Doddington was just one of the Delavals’ houses. As well as Doddington, they owned Ford Castle in Northumberland, now owned by the Joicey family, and Seaton Delaval, the now-ruined palace by Sir John Vanbrugh, also in Northumberland, which is run by the National Trust. Since Seaton Delaval was the Delavals’ so-called ‘modern’ house, Doddington was their ‘antique’ house, deliberately refitted in the 1760s to look old-fashioned and hark back 30 years. The Delavals were game-players and tricksters, famed for their practical jokes. When the 100-foot Long Gallery at Doddington was full with overnight guests, separated by curtains, the Delavals would pull a handle and the curtains would come down, revealing all to everyone in the room. Today’s custodians James and Claire Birch (née Jarvis) have lived at Doddington full time since 2009.
Best known for
Its farmshop, which opened in 2007, selling produce from the kitchen garden, beef from the estate cattle, and bread and cakes from local bakeries.
Future-planning
Since 2021, the estate has been engaged in a rewilding project, Wilder Doddington, in which they have introduced Mangalitza pigs, have turned over fields once used for wheat for natural grazing for their Lincoln Red cattle. In time they plan to introduce wild ponies.
Don’t go home without seeing
The Doddington Pyramid, a modern folly built in the grounds in the shape of a pyramid in 2014 and designed by Claire Birch’s father Antony Jarvis.
Drop by…
The Pyewipe Inn on the canal just along from Doddington – walkable from the estate or a short drive.
Need another local heritage fix?
Drive on nine miles into the centre of Lincoln for a double whammy: the Norman castle and cathedral, and the glories of uphill Lincoln that surround them.
Our favourite line
‘An architect’s dream in Lincolnshire’ – Caroline Seebohm, 1987
