For those of you who are fans of Jane Austen ~ especially of the BBC’s 1995 production of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE with Colin Firth playing the handsome Mr. Darcy ~ you might want to know more about his house.
Jane Austen’s Pemberley is Mr. Darcy’s family seat in Derbyshire, which is known for its winding roads through high passes and consequent thick layer of snow in winter. As most of you know, the actual house used in the 1995 production is Lyme Park in nearby Cheshire which has the highest garden in England at 260 meters (853 feet), giving it a very short growing season.
The family who owned Lyme Park before the Second World War were the Leghs, who distinguished themselves in the Middle Ages by retrieving the standard of the 16-year-old Black Prince in 1346. Their reward was a grant of land by his nephew Richard II of 550 hectares (1359 acres) in Cheshire. Over the years, the family built many houses on this land. Finally, in around 1720, Peter Legh (died 1744) employed Italian architect Giacomo (James) Leoni (1686-1746) to add a southern range to the L-shaped house.
And so we have this magnificent marble house with it allusions to Greek Mythology set on the edge of the Pennines, that range of high hills forming the spine of the England.
In 1946, the Legh’s handed Lyme Park over to the National Trust.
