Eastnor Castle is a 19th century mock castle, two miles from the town of Ledbury in Herefordshire, England, by the village of Eastnor. It was founded by John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers as his stately home and continues to be inhabited by his descendents. Currently (2011) in residence is the family of James Hervey-Bathurst, the grandson of Arthur Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers. The castle is a Grade I listed building.
History
It was constructed between 1812-20 at a cost of £85,000 or equivalent to approximately between £6 to £28 million in the present day (2007).
The estate was started in the late 16th century when the Cocks family purchased local land. Subsequent marriages into the Somers and Nash families helped provide the wealth and substance necessary to build this imposing castle which was designed to look like a medieval castle guarding the Welsh borders. The architect was Robert Smirke and Augustus Pugin designed the Gothic drawing room.
In 1984, both the band Slade and the BBC made use of the castle. Slade used it to film their video for "Run Runaway" and the BBC to film the exterior shots of Abner Brown's theological college in their adaptation of The Box of Delights.[1]
The 1986 film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost was shot here.[2]
The grounds are the location of the Land Rover vehicle test track. The off road circuits at Eastnor Castle provide some of the most challenging all-terrain driving experiences in the UK. Each year in June Eastnor castle is host to the Landrover World Event and offers visitors the chance to try off roading in the latest models of Range Rover, Freelander and the classic Defender.[3]
During the summer of 2010 the American reality competition television program, The Amazing Race, filmed a number of tasks of a medieval theme at the castle for the first episode of season seventeen of the program including the first ‘pit stop’ of the race. The episode originally aired on 26 September 2010. The venue became internationally famous as it was in this episode that one contestant was hit in the face by a backfiring watermelon.[4]
Events
- The deer park at Eastnor is the venue for The Big Chill music festival.
- Mountain Mayhem - mountain bike festival
- Eastnor Castle plays host to the Firework Champions competition - www.eastnorfireworks.co.uk
- Eastnor Castle and grounds was host to events and the pit stop on the first leg of The Amazing Race 17
References
External links
- Eastnor Castle - Wedding venue and corporate entertainment centre.
- Photos of Eastnor at Flickr
- ↑ The Box of Delights (1984) Filming Locations. IMDb, abgerufen am 3. November 2011.
- ↑ The Canterville Ghost (TV 1987). IMDb, abgerufen am 3. November 2011.
- ↑ Land Rover World annual event
- ↑ The episode on CBS.com (retrieved 27th September 2010)