HAM HOUSE – RICHMOND UPON THAMES, UK
Ham House is a 17th-century house set in formal gardens on the bank of the River Thames in Ham, south of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
The original house was completed in 1610 by Thomas Vavasour, an Elizabethan courtier and Knight Marshal to James I.
It was then later bought by William Murray, a close friend and supporter of Charles I.
The English Civil War saw the house and much of the estate sequestrated, but Murray’s wife Katherine regained them on payment of their fine.
The house achieved its greatest period of prominence under John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale, in 1672.
The Lauderdales held important roles at the court of the restored Charles II.
They began an ambitious program of development at Ham.
The house almost doubled in size and was equipped with private apartments for the Duke and Duchess, as well as princely accommodation suites for important visitors.
The house was furnished to the highest standards, and decorated with lavishness.
The Lauderdales accumulated notable collections of paintings, tapestries and furniture, and redesigned the gardens and grounds to reflect their status and that of their guests.
After the Duchess’s death, the property passed through the line of her descendants.
Occasionally, major alterations were made to the house, but later generations of owners focused on the preservation of the house and its collections.
On the death of the 9th and last Earl in 1935, the house passed to his second cousin, Lyonel.
It was then donated to the National Trust in 1948.
During the second half of the 20th century the house and gardens were opened to the public, and were extensively restored.
The property has become a popular filming location for cinema and television productions, which make good use of its period interiors and gardens.
Films that have used the house and its grounds include:
The Young Victoria (2009)
Anna Karenina (2012)
John Carter (2012)
A Little Chaos (2014)
Victoria and Abdul (2017)
The Last Vermeer (2019)
Rebecca (2020)
Television programmes filmed at Ham include:
Steptoe and Son (1964)
Sense and Sensibility (2008)
Taboo (2017)
Bodyguard (2018)
Belgravia (2020)
The Great (2020)
Antiques Roadshow (2021)
? Ham House in 2016, with the stone statue of Father Thames, by John Bacon the elder, in the foreground.
Picture credit-
Stevekeiretsu
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