Englefield, Berkshire - Englefield House - local postcard c.1980s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Englefield House [Berkshire]
• Publisher: not stated but probably local county Women's Institute - photographer is from Tilehurst WI
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: slightly 'taller' shaped card than usual modern size

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Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Englefield House is an Elizabethan country house with surrounding estate at Englefield in the English county of Berkshire, home to the Conservative MP Richard Benyon and his family. The gardens are open to the public all year round on particular weekdays and the house by appointment only for large groups.

Englefield House and its adjoining entrance courtyard are listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England, and the formal gardens and parkland are listed at Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.^[1][2] The lodges, gateway, gates and flanking walls are also listed as a group at Grade II, as are the terrace walls to the southeast of the main house.^[3][4]

The present house was erected before 1558.^[5] There were substantial alterations by Thomas Hopper in the 1820s.^[5]

Englefield House was the home of the Englefield family, supposedly from the time of King Edgar.^[5] Sir Thomas Englefieldwas the Speaker of the House of Commons.^[5] In 1559, the house was confiscated from Thomas Englefield's grandson, Sir Francis Englefield, a servant of the Catholic Queen Mary, for "consorting with [the] enemies" of the new Protestantmonarch, Elizabeth I.^[5][6]

Popular local tradition is that the Queen granted Englefield to her spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, although there is no evidence of this. After a succession of short-lived residents, the estate was eventually purchased by John Paulet, 5th Marquess of Winchester, famous for his Civil War defence of Basing House in Hampshire.^[5] He retired to Englefield at the Restoration and is buried in the parish church. From his Paulet descendants, the house passed, through marriage, to the Benyon family.^[5]

Numerous members of the Benyon family have also been members of parliament, including the current occupant of the main house of the estate, Richard Benyon. Recent descent has been: Lord Francis Paulet (d. 1696); Francis Paulet (d. 1712); Anne Paulet (d.1729); Powlett Wright the elder (d.1741); Powlett Wrighte the younger (d. 1779); Nathan Wrighte (d. 1789) (descendants of Sir Nathan Wright(e) (1654–1721), Lord Keeper of the Great Seal); Richard Benyon the younger (d. 1796); Richard Benyon De Beauvoir (d. 1854); Richard Fellowes Benyon (d. 1897); James Herbert Benyon (d. 1935); Sir Henry Benyon, Bt. (d. 1959); Vice-Admiral Richard Benyon (d. 1967) and Sir William Richard Benyon (d. 2014).

On 20 May 2017 the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton, married financier James Matthews at St Mark's Church on the Englefield Estate. A reception was held at Englefield House shortly after the service. Guests included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.^[7][8][9]