The date of its building of 1610 is carved on the door. The house that was then erected by Sir Thomas Vavasour, Knight Marshal to James I of England, James VI of Scotland was a typical Jacobean H-plan. It was bought by William Murray who was one of the circle of connoisseurs and collectors about Charles I known as the Whitehall Group. He would have felt it necessary to considerably change what would have seemed to be the old-fashioned decoration and furnishings. He was created the first Earl of Dysart and his daughter, who was married to Sir Lyonel Tollemache, inherited the house as Countess of Dysart in about 1654. She survived the civil war and restoration, the death of her husband and that of the wife of the Earl of Lauderdale to become on 17th February 1672 the wife of the Earl. She was 46 and he 56. They were ambitious, able and arrogant and they had to extend the house to match their style. The Countess/Duchess employed her cousin Sir William Bruce both here and for the extension of Holyrood in Edinburgh which was one of their several other residences. The main feature of Sir Wiliam's plans was to build rooms at ground and first floor level which filled the space between the southern wings, i.e., to the rear of the house. The work, largely to this design, was carried out under the direction of William Samwell. The Lauderdales spent prodigiously on the rearrangement, furnishings and furniture of the interior. The artists of Charles' court were employed to provide paintings incorporated in the panelling. Dutch craftsmen executed the joinery of the closets where several had double glazing. The estate that was eventually inherited when the Duchess/Countess Elizabeth died in 1698 was subject to considerable debts as a result. This initiated many years where little was spent on maintenance let alone change so that the house became renowned as a 'Sleeping Beauty' house. Substantial restoration and refurbishing was eventually carried out by Sir William John Manners, the 9th Earl of Dysart, who succeeded to the title in 1878. It is claimed that in the present ownership and management of the house and grounds John Evelyn would not find the place much different to how he found it in 1678 when he wrote:

'After dinner I walked to Ham to see the house and Garden of the Duke of Lauderdale, which is inferior to few of the best Villas in Italy itself; the House furnished like a great Prince's; the Parterres, Flower Gardens, Orangeries, Groves, Avenues, Courts, Statues, Perspectives, Fountains, Aviaries, & all this at the banks of the Sweetest River in the World, must needs be surprising.'

The present ownership and management is a modern chimera for conservation consisting of the National Trust, the Department of the Environment and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

O/S Co-ords:1725.7305
Source(s):

Rural Walks around Richmond

Ham House