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Holdenby House is a historic country house in Northamptonshire, traditionally pronounced, and sometimes spelt, Holmby. The house is situated in the parish of Holdenby, six miles (10 km) northwest of Northampton and close to Althorp. It is a Grade II* listed building.
It was one of the largest of the Tudor period, rivalling in size both Audley End and Theobalds, and was reputed to occupy approximately 78,750 square feet (7,300 m²), although this probably included the two great courtyards around which it was built. The were symmetrical, with mullioned windows and open Doric order arcades, reflecting the Renaissance style of architecture gradually spreading from Italy. Hatton died in 1591.
In 1607, after a survey by John Thorpe, the mansion was bought by Elizabeth's successor James I. He intended it as a residence for his son, Charles, Duke of York.Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer (London, 1836), 37, 86. His wife Anne of Denmark stayed at Holdenby in August 1608.William Fraser, Elphinstone Family Book, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1897), p. 158.
In February 1647, after the First English Civil War, Charles I was brought to Holdenby by the Scots and handed over to the English Long Parliament. He remained a prisoner there until June 1647 when Cornet George Joyce seized him and took him to Newmarket in the name of the New Model Army.Austin Woolrych (2004). Britain in Revolution: 1625-1660, Oxford University Press, , . Page 363 Parliament later sold the estate to Captain Adam Baynes, who demolished the house almost entirely except for a small domestic wing.
In 1709, Holdenby was bought by the Marlborough family who in turn sold it to their kin the Viscount Clifden family whose descendants in the female line, the Lowthers, still own the property . The Clifdens had a new house built in the style of the older mansion, incorporating the older mansion's remains but being only about one eighth of its size. The first phase of the new house was designed by the architects Richard Carpenter and William Slater and built in 1873–75. A second phase was designed by Walter Mills and built in 1877–78.
, all that remains of Hatton's great house are two Grade I listed archways and the kitchen wing incorporated into the Victorian rebuild, now standing on a lawn, which once gave access to the courtyards; a near-identical third arch bears the date 1659 and so must have been built for Baynes, the Oliver Cromwell owner.
The gardens are listed Grade I.
A door salvaged from the demolition of Holdenby palace is believed to be inside Morningside Cottage, a grade II listed building in the nearby village of Creaton.
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