Page 10 - Oundle Life July 2023

through a spiritual but playful journey through the gardens, where plants associated with
the Passion are known to have been used.
The garden may also have been seen as a metaphorical pilgrimage culminating in the garden lodge, intended as a statement signifying the family’s adherence to Catholicism.
several times and became a farmhouse in the early 20th century. We have little evidence for the original shape of the Manor other than historical sketches and drawings, such as the sketch by T Bell. The interior of the Manor has been modernised over time by private owners, with few of the original fixtures and fittings now existing.
Considering the turbulent history of Lyveden it is rare that it stands unaltered and unfinished over 400 years later. During the 19th Century, Lyveden’s garden lodge was a tourist attraction,
In 2013, the National Trust was able to purchase Lyveden manor and it’s surrounding land, with the aim to allow visitors to experience the gardens and lodge at Lyveden as originally designed. Sir Thomas Tresham planned ‘Lyveden House’ to be the starting place
for Elizabethan visitors to experience
the pleasure grounds and his garden
lodge. It is thought that the building
was built sometime after 1615 by Sir
Thomas’ Tresham’s son Lewis, replacing
an earlier building. The current Manor
is only part of what would have been
a much larger complex of buildings that were Lyveden Manor in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Whilst little is known about the original manor house, we know from sketches and old maps that the buildings would have surrounded a courtyard. Due to the decline in status of
the Lyveden estate, the Manor changed hands
with many travelling from Oundle’s train station by carriage to picnic around the ‘romantic ruins’ of the lodge. In 1913, the owner of Lyveden’s garden lodge offered it for sale, and the National Trust acquired the option to purchase it for £1,500 (around £137,251.22 today). A fundraising
campaign was launched by local people, including local architect John Alfred Gotch who wrote a book on Lyveden to raise money, and the National Trust took ownership of the garden lodge and 28 acres of land including the extant remains of the garden in 1922.
little is known about the original manor house
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Images courtesy of the National Trust ©Mike Selby