Firle Place
Encyclopedia
Firle Place is a Manor house in Firle
, East Sussex
, United Kingdom
and is the family seat
of Nicolas Gage, 8th Viscount Gage
, whose family the Viscounts Gage
have owned the land at Firle since acquiring it from the Levett
family in the 15th century. The manor house was first built in the late 15th century by Sir John Gage, who made Firle Place his principal home. He held many high offices including Constable of the Tower and was an executor of Henry VIII
's will.
The external cladding of the building is Georgian, using Caen Stone
to make it look like a classical French
Chateau
. This work was completed by Sir William Gage, 7th Baronet who inherited the house in 1713 and the house is set in typically open parkland. The interior of the house however is Tudor
in style and circulates around a central courtyard. The house has an extensive collection of paintings, porcelain
and furniture, including works by Gainsborough
, Reynolds
, Van Dyck, Raphael
, Puligo
, Zoffany and Teniers
.
During World War I
, students from the nearby Southover Manor School
in Lewes
were housed here, and during World War II
, Canadian soldiers
were quartered here.
Open to the public during the summer months, the house and grounds area also used as a film and television location, it has featured in shows including the BBC
's Jonathan Creek
.
The house has been targeted by thieves on numerous occasions:
when his father died in 1497.
Sir John became quite prominent at the court of King Henry VIII and even accompanied the king on an expedition to France
. Following such campaigns and his competence in battle he was appointed Vice-Chamberlain to the King. Sir John also served as a key figure in the dissolution of the monasteries
in Sussex
, despite the fact that he remained a Catholic
.
Sir John's son, Edward, later became a Knight of the Bath and the Sheriff
of Sussex and in 1556 oversaw the execution of the 17 "Sussex Martyrs" during the Marian Persecutions
of 1555-1557.
The Gage Baronet was created by John Gage (d. 1633) in 1622. The 7th Baronet, Sir William Gage (1695–1744), was notable for his interest in cricket
, particularly in Sussex. It is often thought that beginnings of what is now Firle Cricket Club started with Sir William. In 1754 this Baronet
title was raised by Irish-born Thomas Gage
to the Peerage of Ireland
as Baron Gage and Viscount Gage.
Another notable Gage is General
Sir Thomas Gage
who was made was Commander in Chief of the British forces in North America. However, following the outbreak of the American War of Independence, he was relatively successful but after disastrous losses at Battle of Bunker Hill
he was replaced. His son, also called Thomas Gage
(1781–1820), following what was now a family tradition was a botanist and traveler and had the Gagea
genus of flower named after him.
Lord Henry Nicholas Gage is the current holder of the title and still lives in Firle.
Firle
For the suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, see Firle, South Australia.Firle is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word fierol meaning overgrown with oak...
, East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and is the family seat
Family seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
of Nicolas Gage, 8th Viscount Gage
Nicolas Gage, 8th Viscount Gage
Henry Nicholas Gage, 8th Viscount Gage is a British viscount.He was educated at Eton, and Oxford.He opened it for public tours and exhibited his paintings in 2010....
, whose family the Viscounts Gage
Viscount Gage
Viscount Gage, of Castle Island in the County of Kerry of the Kingdom of Ireland, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1720 for Thomas Gage, along with the subsidiary title of Baron Gage, of Castlebar in the County of Mayo, also in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1744 he also...
have owned the land at Firle since acquiring it from the Levett
Levett
Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
family in the 15th century. The manor house was first built in the late 15th century by Sir John Gage, who made Firle Place his principal home. He held many high offices including Constable of the Tower and was an executor of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
's will.
The external cladding of the building is Georgian, using Caen Stone
Caen stone
Caen stone or Pierre de Caen, is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in northwestern France near the city of Caen.The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ago...
to make it look like a classical French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Chateau
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
. This work was completed by Sir William Gage, 7th Baronet who inherited the house in 1713 and the house is set in typically open parkland. The interior of the house however is Tudor
Tudor style architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
in style and circulates around a central courtyard. The house has an extensive collection of paintings, porcelain
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
and furniture, including works by Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
, Van Dyck, Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, Puligo
Domenico Puligo
Domenico Puligo was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active in Florence. His real name was Domenico di Bartolommeo Ubaldini....
, Zoffany and Teniers
Teniers
Teniers was a family of celebrated Flemish painters that included:*David Teniers the Elder *David Teniers the Younger *David Teniers III...
.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, students from the nearby Southover Manor School
Southover Manor School
Southover Manor School was an independent boarding school for girls at Lewes, East Sussex, with a preparatory department.-History:The school was founded in 1924 at Lewes by Winifred Ponsonby. Initially a convent school, it was based at Southover Manor, which later became a Grade II listed...
in Lewes
Lewes
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...
were housed here, and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Canadian soldiers
Canadian Forces Land Force Command
The Canadian Army , previously called Land Force Command, is responsible for army operations within the Canadian Forces. The current size of the Army is 19,500 regular soldiers and 16,000 reserve soldiers, for a total of around 35,500 soldiers...
were quartered here.
Open to the public during the summer months, the house and grounds area also used as a film and television location, it has featured in shows including the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Jonathan Creek
Jonathan Creek
Jonathan Creek is a British mystery series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. Primarily a crime drama, the show is also peppered with broadly comic touches...
.
The house has been targeted by thieves on numerous occasions:
- 2001 - two antique tables worth more than £10,000 were stolen during an open day
- December 2004 - antiques worth £100,000 stolen
- July 2009 - estimated £1million theft, thieves stole items including a pair of identical Sèvres porcelain vases made in 1763, and a rare Hollandaise Nouveau vase
The Gage Family
Since the 15th Century the Gages have lived at Firle, following the marriage of William Gage to Agnes Bolney whose family had previously owned the seat at Firle. (The Bolneys held the lordship of Firle briefly after acquiring it from the bankrupt lord of the manor Thomas Levett.) This holding was further expanded by their son Sir John Gage who inherited land belonging to his father-in-law, Sir Thomas St Clere. In 1479 a second John Gage was born and it was he who became the ward to the Duke of BuckinghamDuke of Buckingham
The titles Marquess and Duke of Buckingham, referring to Buckingham, have been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been Earls of Buckingham.-1444 creation:...
when his father died in 1497.
Sir John became quite prominent at the court of King Henry VIII and even accompanied the king on an expedition to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Following such campaigns and his competence in battle he was appointed Vice-Chamberlain to the King. Sir John also served as a key figure in the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, despite the fact that he remained a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
Sir John's son, Edward, later became a Knight of the Bath and the Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Sussex and in 1556 oversaw the execution of the 17 "Sussex Martyrs" during the Marian Persecutions
Marian Persecutions
The Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...
of 1555-1557.
The Gage Baronet was created by John Gage (d. 1633) in 1622. The 7th Baronet, Sir William Gage (1695–1744), was notable for his interest in cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, particularly in Sussex. It is often thought that beginnings of what is now Firle Cricket Club started with Sir William. In 1754 this Baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
title was raised by Irish-born Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage, 1st Viscount Gage
Thomas Gage, 1st Viscount Gage Bt was the son of Joseph Gage of Sherborne Castle and Elizabeth Penruddock.He married Benedicta Maria Theresa Hall in 1717. Gage's first son was born in 1718...
to the Peerage of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
as Baron Gage and Viscount Gage.
Another notable Gage is General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Sir Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage was a British general, best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as military commander in the early days of the American War of Independence....
who was made was Commander in Chief of the British forces in North America. However, following the outbreak of the American War of Independence, he was relatively successful but after disastrous losses at Battle of Bunker Hill
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
he was replaced. His son, also called Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage (botanist)
Sir Thomas Gage, 7th Baronet was an English botanist, from a junior branch of the Gage family of Firle, Sussex. The woodland flower Gagea is named in his honour.-References:...
(1781–1820), following what was now a family tradition was a botanist and traveler and had the Gagea
Gagea
Gagea is a large genus of spring flowers in the Liliaceae found in Europe and western Asia. It is named after the English naturalist Sir Thomas Gage...
genus of flower named after him.
Lord Henry Nicholas Gage is the current holder of the title and still lives in Firle.