Montacute House - History

History

Montacute House was built circa 1598 by Sir Edward Phelips, whose family had been resident in the Montacute area since at least 1460, first as yeomen farmers before rising in status. The site was bought from the Cluniac Montacute Priory by Thomas Phelips and passed to his grandson, also called Thomas, who started planning the house, but died before it was built and left the completion of the work to his son Edward. Edward Phelips was a lawyer who had been in Parliament since 1584. He was knighted in 1603 and a year later became Speaker of the House. James I appointed him Master of the Rolls and Chancellor to his son and heir Henry, Prince of Wales. Phelips remained at the hub of English political life, and his legal skills were employed when he became opening prosecutor during the trial of the Gunpowder Plotters.

Sir Edward's choice of architect is unknown. although it has been attributed to the mason, William Arnold, who was responsible for the designs of Cranborne Manor and Wadham College, Oxford, and had worked at Dunster Castle, also in Somerset. Dunster has architectural motifs similar to those found at Montacute. Phelips chose as the site for his new mansion a spot close by the existing house, built by his father. The date work commenced is not documented, but generally thought to be circa 1598/9; this assumption is based on dates on a fireplace and in stained glass within the house. The date, 1601 engraved above a doorcase, is considered the date of completion.

Sir Edward Phelips died in 1614, leaving his family wealthy and landed; he was succeeded by his son, Sir Robert Phelips, who represented various West Country constituencies in Parliament. Robert Phelips has the distinction of being arrested at Montacute. A staunch protestant, he was subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London as a result of his opposition to the "Spanish Match" between the Prince of Wales and a Catholic Spanish Infanta.

The family's fame and notoriety were to be short-lived. Subsequent generations settled down in Somerset to live the lives of county gentry, representing Somerset in Parliament and when necessary following occupations in the army and the church. This peaceful existence was severely jolted when the estate was inherited by William Phelips (1823–1889). In his early days he made many improvement and renovations to Montacute. He was responsible for the Base Court, a low service range adjoining the south side of the mansion. and the restoration of the Great Chamber, which he transformed into a library. Later, William Phelips was to become insane; an addicted gambler, he was eventually incarcerated for his own good. Sadly for his family, this was after he had gambled away the family fortune and vast tracts of the Montacute Estate. In 1875, when his son, William Phelips (1846–1919) took control of the estate, agricultural rents from what remained of the mortgaged estate were low, and the huge house was a drain on limited resources. Selling the family silver and art works delayed the inevitable by a few years, but in 1911 the family were forced to let the house, for an annual sum of £650, and move out. The Phelips never returned.

By 1915, the original tenant, Robert Davidson, had departed and the house was let to George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston. A later tenant was the American writer, Henry Lane Eno, who died at the house in 1928. Finally, in 1929, the house was sold to philanthropist Ernest Cook who presented it to the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and from that Society, it passed to the National Trust. It was one of the Trust's first great houses. Just a few years later, in 1932, it featured on the cover of the very first National Trust Bulletin.