Architect
Hawksmoor was commissioned to build Easton Neston by Sir William Fermor, 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.
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