Country House's I've worked at : Lamport Hall & Gardens

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I first went to Lamport Hall in May 2009 just as I finished my exams for my Bachelors degree. I had been planning to do a Masters degree and had stumbled across the The Country House: Art, Literature and History which I knew was perfect. The only problem was that master’s degrees are not funded and so I needed to find a way of supporting myself through it. That is when I found out that Lamport Hall offered a year’s internship in partnership with the University of Leicester. I applied and was successful!

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The way the internship worked was that they would provide a student flat within the Hall itself and in return the intern would work 3 days a week learning all aspects of heritage management – how to prepare a house for opening to the public, how to welcome visitors, learning all about preservation and conservation of the house and its contents, events management and marketing. It was invaluable in getting me started in the working world of heritage management.

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Lamport Hall is a grade I listed country house in Northamptonshire which was mostly remodelled in the 1655 by John Webb to display the iconic classical frontage. It was bought by the Isham family in 1568 when John Isham, a successful wool merchant from London decided to purchase a house in the country. The family lived at Lamport Hall for the next 400 years until the last baronet Sir Gyles Isham died in 1976 and the house passed into the care of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust.

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I absolutely loved my time at Lamport – I had a lovely little flat up in the old servants quarters of the house. It had a tower – a tower!! On a Sunday I would sit with the windows open and my feet resting on the windowsill, watching the sun set behind the Norman church opposite, listening to the birds and the quiet sounds of the countryside with a glass of red wine. During the days when I was working in the House I would have the privilege of being able to wander the rooms of the house before we opened up. I could look at the collections, photographs, fabrics and furniture of the house without the public being there.

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I will be writing more about Lamport Hall because I was there for just over a year and because I lived there too I have so many memories and anecdotes that I would like to share. 

*Note: all images copyright of Lamport Hall Preservation Trust