History
2000BC - 1765
People have lived at Hodsock for over two thousand years and each generation has left its mark. Bronze Age, Roman and Saxon farmers began to shape the Hodsock landscape and evidence of their food and household rubbish is still being found in the gardens. In 1086 Hodsock was recorded in the Domesday book and from then on there is a record of every owner of the estate.
The Cressey family owned Hodsock from the mid-twelfth century for over 200 years. They were sufficiently powerful to entertain three kings at Hodsock: Henry II, John and Edward I. In the early thirteenth century, the Cresseys founded a hospital which specialised in caring for lepers. Part of the building can still be seen at Blyth. At the beginning of the fifteenth century the estate passed to the Clifton family who owned Hodsock for fourteen generations, until 1765. Hodsock was never the Clifton family’s main home so they probably never spent more than was necessary on the house and estate. Even so, Hodsock was sufficiently grand to entertain Henry VIII who visited in 1541. Many of the family tombs and monuments can be seen at Clifton church near Nottingham.
The family fought on the Royalist side in the Civil War in the 1640s and was heavily fined. This may be the reason why the house declined to the status of a farmhouse.
1765 - 1805
In 1765 Hodsock was sold for the first and only time.
Hodsock was bought by the Mellish family who owned the neighbouring estate at Blyth. Combining the two estates increased the Mellish landholding to 20,000 acres. William Mellish (d.1791) and his son, Charles, were both prominent in Nottinghamshire affairs as well as being landowners. Charles was a keen local historian and was writing a history of Nottinghamshire but died in 1796 before it was completed.
His eldest son, Joseph, had been disinherited for extravagance so the estate passed to his brother, Colonel Henry Francis Mellish. The Colonel loved horse racing and his horses won the St Ledger in 1804 and 1805. His mother wrote to her friends asking for help to stop her son wasting his inheritance. However, the Colonel ‘lost’ the Blyth estate through gambling debts.
The house was rebuilt twice in the nineteenth century and became known as Hodsock Priory.
Two women were responsible for the rebuilding. The first was Anne Chambers who inherited Hodsock after her brother Henry Francis Mellish lost his money. In 1829 Mrs Chambers appointed the architect Ambrose Poynter to design and oversee building a south wing in the fashionable Gothic Revival style. Mrs Chambers took a keen interest in all aspects of the work and expected Poynter to keep her up to date with progress when she was away from home. Through their letters we know, for example, that the bricklayers were working so quickly in June 1829 that the brick makers had difficulty keeping up the supply of bricks.
The second woman responsible for the style of today’s house was Mrs Margaret Mellish, the widow of William Leigh Mellish who inherited Hodsock from Mrs Chambers. Mrs Mellish engaged the renowned architect George Devey in 1873 to alter and enlarge the house at a cost of £10,044. Devey specialised in designing country houses and aimed to make new buildings look as though they had existed for centuries.
The first half of the twentieth century witnessed changing styles of gardening. The splendours of the Hodsock gardens were well known thanks to the Head Gardener, Mr Arthur Ford and his team of five. Mr Ford was more than a gardener. He wrote articles for gardening journals, recorded the weather every day on equipment he kept in the Gatehouse and is reputed to have been ‘head hunted’ by Kew Gardens.
During World War Two (1939-45).
Ford’s fine flower gardens were turned over to vegetables and
maintained by the Women’s Land Army who were billeted in the house.
Some of the ladies were invited to Hodsock in 1995 to share their
memories of living in the house. After 1945 many country houses were knocked down and estates sold.
Hodsock survived, still owned by descendents of the Mellish family,
although land, furniture, books and paintings were sold to make ends
meet. In 1966 the estate passed to Sir Andrew Buchanan who moved to
Hodsock Priory with his wife, Belinda. In addition to bringing up their four children and running the farm and estate, they have always been active volunteers involved in
many aspects of local and regional community life. In 1991 Sir Andrew
was appointed Lord Lieutenant for Nottinghamshire which means he is the
Queen’s personal representative for the County.
Lady Buchanan runs the famous Gardens with a team of skilled helpers. Thousands of visitors see the snowdrops and the wonderful winter garden display each year (45,000 in 2003).
Since January 2006, George & Katharine Buchanan have taken over the management of Hodsock Priory from Sir Andrew and Lady Buchanan. They want to share their family home and the famous gardens and look forward to welcoming you. Whether you come to Hodsock for the opening of the gardens at Snowdrop time in February or for a viewing for your wedding, you will love the friendly feel of the place.
Work on the new Pavilion finished in August 2007. The Pavilion seats 120 for a sit down dinner or more for a drinks reception or fork buffet.
George & Katharine live in the house so you get a special kind of personal service at Hodsock. They have built the Hodsock Pavilion, totally renovated the house and they run the Weddings and Events with the help of Ken and Lynda Pepper, the House Managers. Their redevelopment plans continue with the Opening in 2010 of the Hodsock Courtyard Conference & Business Centre.
