From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Corsham Court is a country house and estate, with park designed by Capability Brown. It is in the town of Corsham, 3 miles (5 km) west of Chippenham, Wiltshire, in England, and is notable for its fine art collection.

Corsham was a Royal Manor in the days of the Saxon Kings, and reputed to have been the country seat of Ethelred the Unready. After William the Conqueror, the Manor continued to be passed down through the generations of the Royal families. It often formed part of the dower of the Queens of England during the late 14th and early 15th centuries, becoming known as Corsham Reginae. During the 16th century, the Manor went to two of Henry VIII's wives, namely Catherine of Aragon until 1536, and Katherine Parr until 1548.

During the reign of Elizabeth I the Estate passed out of the Royal Family, and the present house was built in 1582 by Thomas Smythe. In 1745, Paul Methuen bought the house, which has since remained in the Methuen family.

In the 1760s, Lancelot 'Capability' Brown had primary responsible for redesigning and enlarging both the house and parklands. Brown set the style of the present day building by retaining the Elizabethan stables, the Riding School, and the great gabled front to the House, which he doubled this into gabled wings at either end of the House, creating the Picture Gallery and State Rooms in the east wing. The Picture Gallery was designed as a triple cube and boasts a rare ornate ceiling attributed to Brown. At the beginning of the 19th century, John Nash completely remodelled the north façade in the 'Strawberry Hill' Gothic style. Nash further embellished other areas of Brown's external building works, including Brown's Gothic Bath House, as well as reorganising the internal layout to form a grand hall and a library. However, less than 50 years later, most of Nash's work was replaced with a more solid structure.

The interiors contain several Old Masters, and some of the staterooms are furnished by Thomas Chippendale and Robert Adam.

The layout of grounds and gardens were also the work of "Capability" Brown, who planned to include a 50,000 m² lake. This lake, however, was not completed until some 40 years later by Humphry Repton. They laid out avenues and planted the specimen trees including the magnificent Oriental Plane.

• Corsham Court website