Honiley Hall Kenilworth , Warwickshire

HONILEY HALL

KENILWORTH , WARWICKSHIRE

The country estate of Robert, Earl of Leicester - Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite.

This magnificent 11-bedroom Elizabethan style mansion near Kenilworth in Warwickshire, is set in 34 acres (13.7 hectares) of landscaped gardens and parkland. Dating back to 1086, the home was once, during Tudor times, the country estate of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester who was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.

Honiley Hall has been associated with some of the most famous names in English history, but is arguably most notable as the Tudor estate and family home of the Earl of Leicester. In 1086 Honiley Hall belonged to Waleran de

Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester (1104 – 1166), who subsequently passed it on to Henry, Earl of Warwick.

In 1553 ownership reverted to the Crown and in 1554 under Queen Mary the home was granted to Michael Throckmorton, a special agent to the Cardinal. His son Francis sold it in 1580 to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, on whom numerous films, TV series and books are based. In 1580 Robert’s wife Lettice Devereux gave birth to a son, also called Robert, and the Earl purchased Honiley Hall to serve as a family home.

Queen Elizabeth I was said to be intensely jealous of the relationship between Robert and Lettice, so it is likely that the Earl saw the home as the perfect rural retreat for his new family, far away from the intrigues of the London-centric Royal Court. In addition, since 1562, Robert’s elder brother Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, had been granted ownership by the Queen of nearby Warwick Castle (confiscated from the disgraced Duke of Northumberland), whilst in 1563 Robert was given nearby Kenilworth Castle. The acquisition of Honiley Hall enabled the brothers to build powerful landholdings in the area, all located relatively close to each other.

Robert and Ambrose had a particular interest in Warwickshire, as through their paternal grandmother they descended from the Hundred Year War heroes John Talbot 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. The nearby town of Warwick felt this affection during a visit by the Earl in 1571 to celebrate the feast of the Order of Saint Michael, with which Leicester had been invested by the French king in 1566. He shortly afterwards founded Lord Leicester’s Hospice, a charity for aged and injured soldiers still functioning today.

In 1584 tragedy struck when the Earl’s young son died, and the devastated Robert spent less time in his beloved Warwickshire and instead involved himself in wars in the Netherlands. When Robert died in 1588 the house passed to his widow Lettice who later sold the property. Robert, Lettice, and Ambrose are buried at the Collegiate Church of St Mary in Warwick, close to their various estates.

By 1623 Honiley Hall passed to the Burgoyne Family of Wroxall Abbey, then to John Saunders in 1707, then onto the Granville family who sold the estate to Edward Willes of Newbold Comyn in 1837. The estate remained in the Willes family until 1913, when it was purchased by Herbert Louis Wade, an affluent Justice of the Peace.

It was the wealthy Wade family who in 191415 heavily refurbished and created the estate as we know it today, building the magnificent Elizabethan style hall that is now the centerpiece of the estate. Herbert passed the estate to his son, Captain M.C. Wade. Honiley Hall was sold in the early 1960s by John Wade to Warwickshire County Council and subsequently purchased by Peter Warwick in 1999.