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Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. Vanbrugh 300 is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to develop a nationwide project that aims to broaden the awareness of Vanbrugh through special displays, free education programmes and lectures, throughout his tercentenary year in 2026.
Set in the heart of rural Cambridgeshire, Kimbolton Castle was first built as a fortified manor house, and later modified during the Tudor and Stuart periods. It is perhaps most famously known for being the final home of Katherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII.
The castle in its present form dates almost entirely to between 1690 and 1720, when it was built on the orders of Charles Edward Montagu, the fourth Earl, who became the first Duke of Manchester in 1719. By 1950 the tenth Duke of Manchester was living in Kenya and no longer needed the family home. Kimbolton School bought the castle from him, and it has been its home ever since.
Vanbrugh knew the Duke of Manchester well as they were both prominent members of the Whig political party as well as the Kit-Cat Club in London. In 1707, after the south-east corner of the castle collapsed, Vanbrugh and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor were called in to redesign the whole of the South front. Although Vanbrugh wanted to rebuild the castle in the then fashionable classical style, he also gave it what he called a ‘castle air’ in acknowledgement of its long history as a fortified manor house. After adding the battlements, Vanbrugh persuaded the Earl to let him reface the other three parts of the castle in a similar style.
Vanbrugh was also keen to lavishly upgrade the entertainment rooms, building the saloon as a large ‘room of parade’ between the drawing room and bedchamber. Kimbolton is an excellent example of how Vanbrugh was influenced by both his romantic attitude to the medieval past and his love of all things theatrical. By contrasting the castellations with a plain, more austere style he created what he called a ‘manly beauty’. He was also conscious of the fact that Kimbolton, unlike Blenheim, was a genuine castle and he wanted that to be clear to all who saw it.
(Vanbrugh's Secrets)
The Duke of Manchester was British Ambassador to Venice and an admirer of Venetian art and architecture. He bought a couple of Venetian stools for his new rooms which remain in the saloon today. He also arranged for a group of brilliant Venetian painters, including the Riccis and Pellegrini, to come over to England and paint murals for his country house, including the dramatic Triumph of Caesar on the staircase. Vanbrugh had previously employed Pellegrini to work on his set designs at the Haymarket Theatre, and would have approved of this adornment.
Don't Miss
The giant fluted corinthian pilasters and columns in the saloon. They are typical of Vanbrugh’s theatrical style, creating the perfect English Baroque backdrop.
