Elizabeth Craven and Benham Place, Newbury, Berkshire


Benham House, sometimes called Benham Place or Benham Park, at Speen near Newbury in Berkshire, is a Georgian country mansion that was built in 1774-6 for William, 6th Baron Craven, husband of Elizabeth Craven the author. The Cravens owned several estates in Berkshire and their name has been given to many streets - and pubs - in the Newbury area.
William, 6th Baron Craven painted by James Northcote
                     
Elizabeth was deeply attached to Benham House because it was built to her taste and wishes. The Craven family had owned the estate at Benham, originally called Benham Valence, since 1620, when the first Lord Craven bought it from Sir Francis Castillion. His father, Giovannie-Battista Castiglione, received the manor of Benham Valence as a gift from Queen Elizabeth I, to whom he had been tutor in the Italian language. 
   The Tudor house burnt down in 1774 and was replaced with one in the neo-classical style. The architect consulted Elizabeth Craven closely about what she wanted. The result was elegant, comfortable and fashionable. Elizabeth lived there, brought up her children and put on productions of some of her plays there. 
Elizabeth Craven as a young woman, 
painted by George Romney

 The Craven family sold Benham in the nineteenth century and successive owners carried out various alterations and extensions, making it far larger. Happily, most of those extensions have now been demolished and the house returned to its original elegant symmetry.  

At one time it was used by a business, which added a modern block in the grounds, but now the property is once again in private hands, and undergoing sympathetic restoration. The non-Georgian additions have vanished. The ghost of Elizabeth Craven, if she ever wanders there, would be rejoicing about this.


The original house was only two stories high and had a pediment in the centre, as can be seen in this drawing from 1797, which shows the house reflected in the lake, 
One of the things Elizabeth loved about Benham was its literary associations. Do you know which great writer was associated with this area, and what building in the vicinity he is supposed to have inhabited?
To find out more about Elizabeth Craven, her life and her writings, read 

 Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European ...

published Vernon Press 2017
https://vernonpress.com/title?id=334

23 Jun 2017 - Elizabeth Craven's fascinating life was full of travel, love-affairs and scandals but this biography, the first to appear for a century, is the only one ...

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