ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

If you go to Hamstead Marshall, near Newbury, in Berkshire, you will see a pair of enigmatic gateposts standing in the middle of what looks like open farmland. They lead nowhere, and the effect is surreal. There are seven other pairs of gateposts of similar style in the locality, giving a clue to the existence of a now-vanished house and park. In fact there have been many buildings on this site, including a mediaeval castle. The name comes from the Marshall family who owned it in the reign of Henry II. In 1550, Edward VI gave the estate to his sister, the young Princess Elizabeth.  There are some scandalous rumours that the Tudor house was a hiding-place for a secret love-child the Queen bore in her youth, but this is probably legend. Elizabeth I when a Princess   c.1546. Did she have a secret love-child  at Hampstead Marshall? After she came to the throne, the Queen gave Hamstead to  Sir Thomas Parry, formerly her bursar, who built a new reside...

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...