Explore this Italianate palace in the heart of Suffolk, rich with history, stunning architecture and world-class artwork and furniture
Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, had something of a reputation. Truth be told, he could hardly complain: stories of his eccentricities are still legion nearly 300 years later.
Anecdotes include those about his mischievousness – although his victims might well have chosen other adjectives – such as when a parish under his authority fell vacant. The Earl-Bishop – as Frederick was known – duly invited his eager curates around, treating them to a sumptuous dinner. Satisfyingly stuffed, deliciously merry, and topped up with an unpriestly amount of drink, these hopeful clergy were invited for a walk on the beach below Frederick’s grand Irish home.
‘A race to the rock!’ their bishop unexpectedly declared as they were walking, pointing to a rather distant projection. ‘Fastest wins the parish!’
Frantic waddling was curtailed only when the unfortunates discovered that their path led directly into quicksand. Another version tells of compulsory clerical leap-frog races.
Frederick blasphemed, swore and womanised so freely that George III referred to him as that ‘wicked prelate’. An inveterate romantic himself,
Frederick would sprinkle corridors with flour at night to track the bed-hopping shenanigans of visiting guests.
Yet, too, he was famed for his wit, his brilliance in argument, and his attempts to improve the lives of some of his most impoverished parishioners. He was a Marmite character, in other words: his contemporaries lapped him up or spat him out in due measure.
Arresting sight
Exactly the same could be said of the house he designed: the extraordinary Ickworth near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. It is a truly arresting sight. With a dominating, 103ft-high rotunda at its heart - splayed wings on either side - it is not difficult to see why it has been described as a ‘huge bulk, newly arrived from another planet’. A slightly gentler – although no less flattering - description is of an ‘overgrown folly’.
Chloe Woodrow, curator at Ickworth, truly adores the property; yet, she also has sympathy with these rather bold descriptions of the building. ‘Ickworth is one of the most unusual places in England: both unconventional and unexpected. When the Earl-Bishop’s wife first saw it, she described it as his monument of folly. His plaything.’
Just like the Earl-Bishop – indeed, one might venture, it is impossible to understand the one without the other – the house is multi-dimensional. Italian in style, it boasts huge columns and gorgeous stucco friezes, including scenes from the ancient Olympic Games, running around the outside of the Rotunda. These were designed by the Earl-Bishop’
