Fitzwilliam Country House

From DirtyWiki

Located somewhere in Surrey to be determined later.

Was lived in by Sir Frederick Fitzwilliam and Lady Elizabeth Fitzwilliam after Randolf Fitzwilliam, their oldest son, moved back home to the estate in Wiltshire.

After Fred and Betsy died, their second eldest son, Nigel, then Lord Nigel, lived there with his family until Anne, his sister, returned from Cape Town with her husband. They then lived there until recently. Anne was moved to a retirement home in early 2008.

It now is in the hands of Scott Fitzwilliam.

It's on several hundred acres. Has a farm, a few little buildings anyone can stay in, and stables. And a church. Yes, a church.

While the Wiltshire estate was the original family home and once an impressive castle, the country house was built in the early seventeenth century to be occupied whenever the Wiltshire estate was not suitable.

For the most part, this meant that the main occupants of the house were the political half of the family, which became permanent residents in the 20th century, with Nigel living there until his death. His son, the current Duke of Wiltshire, does not occupy the building, and gave it to Anne, who gave it to Scott once she was moved into a retirement home. The current Duke of Wiltshire, surprisingly, lives in Wiltshire, though not at the estate.

During WWI and WWII, the country house was where most of the family congregated, with WWII especially forcing the family together. Isabella Fitzwilliam gave birth to Randolf's daughter Alice in the house (in an upstairs bedroom) in 1940. During the occupation, a German bomber crashed somewhere on the property due to engine failure, and the ruins were left behind, mostly because they were nearly impossible to find on the large expanse of field and forest. The soldier himself survived long enough to make it to the house, but died before reaching the door.

The house is open to the public for guided tours, and the cottage on the property is a working inn, though the seasons it is open vary and the price can be steep.

There is hunting on the property, of deer and birds, and a farm that produces beef and milk. The farm has been a constant since house was built. The cottage was once where the caretaker lived.

The church was an active church until the 20th century. The graveyard has not seen a new grave since the 19th century, when a family plot was carved in a different cemetery.