Editing Eythrope

{{Short description|Hamlet in Buckinghamshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
[[File:Eythrope Pavilion.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Eythrope Pavilion, from the North Bucks Way]]
 
'''Eythrope''' (previously '''Ethorp''') is a [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]] and [[country house]] in the [[parish]] of [[Waddesdon]], in [[Buckinghamshire]], England. It is located to the south east of the main village of Waddesdon. It was bought in the 1870s by a branch of the [[Rothschild family]], and belongs to them to this day.

Eythrope is [[Listed building#England and Wales|Grade II listed]] on the [[National Heritage List for England]], and its gardens are also grade II listed on the [[Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England|Register of Historic Parks and Gardens]].<ref name=NHLEHouse>{{NHLE|num=1117798|desc=Eythrope Pavilion|access-date=2 December 2016|mode=cs2}}</ref><ref name=NHLEGarden>{{NHLE|num=1001397|desc=Eythrope (garden)|access-date=2 December 2016|mode=cs2}}</ref>

==History==
The hamlet name is [[Old English language|Anglo Saxon]] in origin, and means "island farm", referring to an island in the [[River Thame]] that flows by the hamlet. The medieval village of Eythrope is deserted and all that remains are some earthen banks and ditches on the eastern side of Eythrope Park. There was a [[manor house]] at this hamlet as early as 1309, when it was the home of the [[Richard Arches|Arches family]]. One former owner, Sir Roger Dynham, built a chantry chapel on what is now the site of the pavilion. This was demolished by Sir William Stanhope in the 1730s.

The mansion was extended in 1610 by [[Dorothy Pelham]], (One source says [[William Dormer|Sir William Dormer]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/BKM/Waddesdon/|title=GENUKI entry on Waddesdon|access-date=2015-09-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508175323/http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/BKM/Waddesdon/|archive-date=2011-05-08}}</ref>) this was her house from her first marriage. Her second husband William Pelham styled himself as "from Eythorpe", but this was more true of Dorothy who had her own financial independence.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/95013 |work=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |pages=ref:odnb/95013 |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/95013 |access-date=2023-02-23 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B. |editor3-last=Goldman |editor3-first=L.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[William Stanhope (1702–1772)]] embellished Eythrope House around 1750. Stanhope employed [[Isaac Ware]] to build new stables (now lost) and follies in the garden and park. Two of these buildings survive: the grotto by the lake, and the bridge over the River Thame. The house was demolished in 1810-11 by [[Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield]].<ref name="historicengland">{{cite web|url=http://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001397|title=  Eythrope |website=Historic England |access-date=2015-09-28}}</ref>

In 1875, the manor at Eythrope was bought by [[Alice Charlotte von Rothschild|Alice de Rothschild]]. She was the sister and companion of [[Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild]] who owned the neighboring estate [[Waddesdon Manor]]. The new house at Eythrope was not built on the site of the old manor. While building was in progress Alice fell ill with [[rheumatic fever]] and was advised to avoid damp conditions at night. As Eythrope was next to the river Thame, the plans were altered. The house was built without bedrooms as a place to house her collections and entertain guests during the day.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://family.rothschildarchive.org/estates/49-eythrope|title= The Rothschild Archive, Eythrope Estate|access-date=2015-09-28}}</ref>

Alice chose one of the Rothschild family's favourite architects [[George Devey]] who had worked at nearby [[Ascott House]], [[Aston Clinton House]] and in the villages belonging to the [[Mentmore Towers|Mentmore Estate]]. Eythrope was something of a deviation from his usual approach. It is constructed in red brick with stone dressings. With its twisting chimneys, turrets and gables, it is a mixture of Devey's usual [[Jacobean architecture|Jacobean]] style and the [[French Renaissance]] architecture of Waddesdon Manor. This is especially noticeable on the concave roof to the round tower, and the gable on the garden facade which are particularly reminiscent of Waddesdon. Because of its small size the house was christened "The Pavilion" or the "Water Pavilion".<ref>Jill Allibone, ''George Devey Architect, 1820-1886'' (Lutterworth, 1991) {{ISBN|0718827856}}, 9780718827854</ref>

As in other Rothschild homes, French panelling and furniture dressed the rooms. Alice also collected [[Renaissance]] sculpture, paintings and [[maiolica]] ware.

Around the house, Alice developed 30 acres of highly ornamental and innovative gardens that complemented the splendour of Waddesdon Manor. She also created a four-acre walled kitchen garden and added an Old English Tea House (now lost) to the historic parkland.<ref name="historicengland"/> A large, rectangular stable block (listed grade II), built in stone and half-timber, and three picturesque lodges, were probably designed by W Taylor & Son of Bierton.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pevsner|first1=Nikolaus|title=Buckinghamshire|date=1994|publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0300095848|pages=322|edition=revised|display-authors=etal}}</ref> House parties from Waddesdon Manor would drive the four miles for tea, taking a steam launch up the river to the tea house.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Michael|title=Waddesdon Manor: The Heritage of a Rothschild House|date=2009|publisher=Scala|pages=162|edition=revised}}</ref>

In 1922 following Alice's death, The Pavilion was inherited by [[James Armand de Rothschild]] and his wife [[Dorothy de Rothschild|Dorothy]]. From 1922 to around 1939, they let it to [[Syrie Maugham]], the estranged wife of [[Somerset Maugham]]. She added bedrooms and bathrooms to the Pavilion, but by 1957 the wing was structurally unsound. In the 1957, James de Rothschild bequeathed Waddesdon Manor, which he had inherited, to the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]]. His widow, [[Dorothy de Rothschild|Dorothy]], then moved to the smaller pavilion and made substantial alterations and enlargements in a solid late Victorian/Edwardian architectural style which complemented the original building. 
<ref>{{cite book|last1=de Rothschild|first1=Dorothy|title=The Rothschilds at Waddesdon Manor|date=1979|publisher=Collins Sons & Co.|pages=129}}</ref>

==Present day==
Dorothy de Rothschild died in 1988 leaving the estate and Pavilion to her husband's great nephew, [[Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild]]. The Pavilion, the private home of Lord Rothschild, is the only one of the Buckinghamshire Rothschilds seven houses to remain in Rothschild hands.

The gardens continue to be developed and maintained, growing vegetables, fruit and flowers for the estate. The walled garden was redesigned by [[Priscilla Mary Rose Curzon|Lady Mary Keen]] in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardens-to-visit/the-very-private-eden-of-eythrope/|author= Elfreda Pownall |title= Inside the Rothschild's family garden: Eythrope (The Telegraph 19 September 2015) |access-date=2015-09-28}}</ref> Keen created several gardens at different levels within the four acre walled garden. These included a large vegetable garden, a herb garden, Mediterranean pot garden, rose garden and a long late flowering herbaceous border which runs as an artery through the gardens. A large Victorian glasshouse recreated on the foundations of an earlier glass house is used for the forcing of early cherries. Five further glasshouses are used for a variety of flowering plants and succulents and, in the summer, for growing several varieties of tomato.

==TV & film==
Scenes from ''[[And Then There Were None]]'' by [[Agatha Christie]], screened on [[BBC One]] from 26 to 28 December 2015, were filmed on the Estate roads and on the bridge at Eythrope.

==See also==
*[[Rothschild properties in England]]
*[[Waddesdon Manor]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book
 | last = Keen
 | first = Mary
 | year = 2015
 | title = Paradise and Plenty: A Rothschild Family Garden
 | publisher = Pimpernel Press
 | isbn = 9781910258125
}}
{{coord|51.820|N|0.880|W|type:city_region:GB-BKM_source:www.npemap.org.uk|display=title}}

{{Aylesbury Vale}}

[[Category:Hamlets in Buckinghamshire]]
[[Category:Country houses in Buckinghamshire]]
[[Category:Grade II listed parks and gardens in Buckinghamshire]]
[[Category:Rothschild family residences]]
[[Category:Grade II listed houses in Buckinghamshire]]