Blenheim Castle is in Oxfordshire and is one of the largest castles in the British Isles. John Churchill received the three-wing complex as a gift for his victory in the “Battle of Blenheim” against the French in 1704. His descendant Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was born in the castle. The adjoining castle park is a prime example of landscape architecture in England.
Blenheim Castle: Facts
| Official title: | Blenheim Castle |
| Cultural monument: | The construction of a palace as a reward for John Churchill, the victor of the Battle of Höchstädt, went down in history as the “Battle of Blenheim”, designed by Sir John Vanbrugh as a three-wing complex; Frescoes by Sir James Thornhill and Louis Laguerre in the Great Hall; Birthplace of the future Prime Minister and Nobel Prize for Literature (1953) Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) |
| Continent: | Europe |
| Country: | UK, Oxfordshire |
| Location: | Blenheim Palace, near Oxford |
| Appointment: | 1987 |
| Meaning: | perfect example of an 18th century English aristocratic residence |
Blenheim Castle: History
| August 13, 1704 | In the battle of Höchstädt an der Donau, victory of the troops of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, over French and Bavarian units |
| 1705-22 | Composition of the country palace with a romantic garden |
| 1874 | Birth of Winston Churchill, later Minister of Commerce and the Interior, Chancellor of the Exchequer and, in the course of World War II, First Lord of the Admiralty and Prime Minister |
| 1925-32 | New creation of the garden in the spirit of the French horticultural architect André Le Nôtre |
A baroque gift
“The addition to the work of Vanbrugh and ‘Capability’ Brown has proven itself in Blenheim in setting an Italian palace in an English garden without it being offensive. According to computerannals, the combination of these different ideas, each of which is attractive in itself, created a remarkable effect. ”This is how Sir Winston Churchill judged Blenheim Palace – and a certain justification for the only English building officially called a palace, but never was intended for a monarch, one cannot deny the former prime minister, after all, he was born here.
The honor of being given a palace by Queen Anne with the consent of Parliament was acquired by John Churchill when he won the Anglo-Austrian troops against a Franco-Bavarian army under the command of Prince Eugene from the battle of Höchstädt on the Danube led. In England this battle is known as “The battle of Blenheim”, named after a place near Höchstädt. So grateful was the Queen for the victory that a word was never lost about how big the reward should be, and during Churchill…
As the first Duke of Marlborough hurried from battle to battle, his wife kept making new demands on the house building, so that she eventually fell out with the Queen. In 1712 construction was temporarily stopped. Bills from craftsmen and architects remained unpaid. Duke and Duchess remained “in a kind of exile” abroad for the next two years. But after Anne died, the new king, George I, promised that Marlborough’s worries were over.
The architect was John Vanbrugh, and he designed the largest private house in England in the Baroque era, with a portico of Doric and Corinthian columns. A long avenue lined with elms leads over the “Great Bridge” to a wide, paved courtyard. Mainly because of the towers – they are crowned in the most beautiful fashion by nine meter high finials – the huge house looks a bit like a medieval castle.
The Great Hall, still a place of daily life and banquets in the Middle Ages, is a splendid reception room. The ceiling painting by Sir James Thornhill hovers over the heads of those entering, which of course shows the victorious master of the house in the Battle of Blenheim. Massive stone carvings decorate the musicians’ gallery and the gigantic portals. From here, long vaulted corridors lead to the dining room and the State Rooms, which, following the pattern of the times, always consist of a bedroom, dressing room and living room. The wall and ceiling paintings in the dining room are by the French Louis Laguerre, while Grinling Gibbons, the most famous sculptor of his time, designed one of the four marble door frames. He did not come back after the construction stop due to financial differences,
There are three State Rooms between the dining room and the library. The wall hangings made by Brussels weavers and commissioned by the Duke of Marlborough himself hang here. And of course they also tell the story of his battles. A little vanity is part of living in such an environment. However, the gilded wood carvings were not installed until the end of the 19th century, French work that is definitely reminiscent of Versailles. The Red Salon is like a portrait gallery. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the most famous English portrait painter of the 18th century, is represented, as is the Flemish painter Anton van Dyck, who was once celebrated in London.
The garden, initially laid out more formally in the French style, has been redesigned into a romantic park. This break in style was reversed in the twenties, formal elements have played a greater role again since then, and a labyrinth winds its way here to relax visitors.
