Norris Castle


Norris Castle is located on the Isle of Wight. It was designed by James Wyatt for Lord Henry Seymour. The estate adjoins Osborne House, country home to Queen Victoria. On the other side of Norris Castle sits the Spring Hill estate, bought by William Goodrich in 1794. Norris Castle was built in 1799 and sits in 225 acres of land, with a mile of waterfront. The Castle is a Grade I listed building.
The parks and gardens at Norris Castle are the Isle of Wight's only Grade I landscape listed by Historic England. The landscape at Norris Castle is thought to have been designed in 1799 by Humphry Repton, and it includes a castellated walled garden.
Despite its grandeur, the castle's condition has long suffered due to lack of funding for its upkeep.
At the present time, the castle is closed to the public, awaiting restoration.

Features

Norris Castle has a galleted facade with crenellations, but all of this is for show, as the castle has no defensive fortifications. The building's original function was as a residence. The main castle has 15 bedrooms, a grand hall, a circular drawing room and extensive cellars.
The estate includes a two-bedroom Lodge Cottage, four-bedroom Farmhouse, three-bedroom Farmhouse Cottage and a two-bedroom Landing House. James Wyatt also designed the farmyard buildings that are further inland, which have a similar design to the castle itself.
There are also extensive traditional farm buildings and stabling, a walled garden, a modern two-bedroom farm building and parkland and woodland.

Owners

Lord Henry Seymour (1795–1830)

The first owner and builder of Norris Castle was the politician, Lord Henry Seymour, who bought the estate in 1795, at the age of 49. Having retired, he spent the rest of his life building and improving the Norris Castle estate. It is said that it cost £195,000 to originally build. He had a reputation for both eccentricity and benevolence. His personal habits were also said to be those of extreme simplicity and frugality.
Seymour commissioned stained glass from William Raphael Eginton. Circa 1816, Eginton described it as a "Heraldic Window in Saloon, on Mosaic Ground.".
There is an account of a visit by J and H Oldershaw to the island in 1826 and their reminiscences of Lord Seymour. They described him as an eccentric character and an old retired bachelor, who by accounts had not left the island for 20 or 30 years. They said that his normal attire of blue jacket and trousers, together with hobnailed boots, made him look more like a labourer, for which he was frequently mistaken. He would often work in hedges and ditches with his men and would even go into town in his dung cart. He would also play jokes on his visitors by pretending to be a labourer, whilst showing them around the estate. He was even known to accept money from them, which he would give to his servants, saying "Here you are. I have got you something today!".
After completing his work on the estate, Lord Seymour opened the castle up to the public, to allow them to share its charm and magnificent views. After his death in 1830 at the age of 84, the castle remained closed to the public for over 140 years, when it was opened up again in 1975.
In August 1830, the Dauphiness and Duchess De Berri, accompanying the expatriated King of France, visited Norris Castle. The king had abdicated on 2 August and left France for England on 16 August, when it seemed that their safety was in jeopardy from angry mobs of French citizens. One of their first ports of call was Cowes and East Cowes. The Princesses were said to be charmed by the scenery of the island, although they complained of their 'stinted' lodgings at the Fountain Hotel. They did however, indicate that they would like to take up residence at Norris Castle.

Lord George Seymour (1830–1839)

Following the death of Lord Henry Seymour, the estate passed to his brother, Lord George Seymour, who was 67 at the time. George Seymour was a politician who represented Orford between 1784 and 1790 and Totnes between 1796 and 1801.
He kept the Castle for nine years, before selling it in 1839 to Robert Bell.

Mr Robert Bell (1839–1880)

Mr Robert Bell was a newspaper tycoon, who owned amongst others, the Weekly Dispatch, which he founded in 1801. In 1928 the newspaper was renamed to the Sunday Dispatch, which in turn was merged with the Sunday Express in 1961.
One of the accomplishments of Mr Bell, was that it was he who built the mile long sea wall, which both protects the estate's coastline and also gives a view of the castle. The cost of building the wall was said to be over £20,000.
In 1940, a pair of silver 7-light candelabra engraved with the inscription "Presented by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent to Robert Bell, Esq., Norris Castle, 1859" was sold at Christie's for £40 11s. 6d.
Norris Castle was sold to the Duke of Bedford by Robert Bell in 1880.

The Duke and Duchess of Bedford (1880–1897)

In 1880, Elizabeth Russell, the Duchess of Bedford was appointed Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria. So that they could be near Osborne, her husband, Francis Russell, the Duke of Bedford bought Norris Castle in 1880.
In July 1887, the Frederick III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, spent about a month in this castle. Princess Victoria was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria. Prince Fredrick was suffering from his throat problem and was under treatment of the famous British Laryngologist Morell Mackenzie and after an operation on 28 June 1887, Prince Fredrick came to stay in this castle for a rest and recovery. Later, the throat problem of Prince Frederick was proved to be a rare case of Laryngeal Cancer and he succumbed to his illness on 15 June 1888, just after 99 days of ruling as the German Emperor Kaiser Frederick III
In July 1890, Viscount Cantelupe and his bride spent their honeymoon at Norris Castle, as guests of the Duke and Duchess. The Viscount was killed at sea in 1915, whilst on active service during the First World War.
The Duke of Bedford died in 1891, at the age of 71, in Eaton Square, London. He committed suicide by shooting himself, when said to be in a state of temporary insanity, whilst suffering from pneumonia. The Duchess died in 1897, at the age of 78, in Latimer House, Buckinghamshire.

Lord Ampthill (1897–1903)

Following the death of the Duchess of Bedford, the estate was inherited by the late Duke of Bedford's nephew, the 28 year old Sir Arthur Oliver Villiers Russell, who was the 2nd Baron Ampthill. He immediately declared that he wished to sell the estate and the aging Queen Victoria again considered buying it. This of course never happened.
Lord Ampthill served as the Governor of Madras from October 1900 to February 1906 and acted as the Viceroy of India from April to December 1904.
In 1898, it was reported that a peacock belonging to Lord Ampthill had been shot and stolen from the Norris Castle estate.
In July 1899, it was reported that he let out Norris Castle for the summer to the eccentric Philadelphia millionaire A J Drexel, for the yachting season. At around the same time, Lord Ampthill put Norris Castle up for sale. Drexel was a frequent visitor to Cowes and berthed his 'palatial' steam yacht Margarita there for a long time. The Margarita was 323 feet in length, being at the time, the largest steam yacht built on the Clyde, Glasgow. She weighed over 1800 tons.
Whilst still awaiting sale, the castle was later occupied for a while by Lady Dudley and also by Captain John Orr-Ewing and his wife Ellen Clarissa Kennard. John, a captain in the 4th Dragoon Guards and a noted yachtsman, was the son of Sir Archibald Orr-Ewing Ellen was a noted singer, who 'gracefully performed' the opening ceremony of an Egyptian themed fund raising event at Victoria Hall, Cowes, in 1902. She was accompanied by their five year old daughter Jean.
In January 1903, it was reported that Lord Ampthill had sold the castle to a syndicate, although it was said that Captain and Mrs Orr-Ewing would be staying on for a time. This was proved to be the case, as in March 1903, the Orr-Ewings hosted what was thought to be the first fox hunt held at Norris castle. The hunt covered a lot of ground, as they chased a fox from Whippingham Station to Staplers.

The 'Syndicate' (1903–1908)

At the time of the sale, it was reported that Lord Ampthill was probably wise to sell the castle at that time, as it was indicated that Norris Castle had started to fall into a state of disrepair. It was predicted that over the next few years there would be rapid development of the estate, by the building company that had taken over ownership.
In March 1904, there was an extensive burglary at Norris Castle, at a time when Captain Orr-Ewing was away from home. Mrs Orr-Ewing was awakened in the early hours of the morning by hearing a noise downstairs. On going downstairs, she discovered that the house had been burgled, but the perpetrators had already fled the scene. Entry had been gained by breaking ground-floor windows and articles of considerable value had been taken. These included Captain Orr-Ewing's silver yachting trophies inscribed with Nyama, two hammer-less guns in a leather case, inscribed with the monogram "Sir W Orr-Ewing", silver boxes, a gilt clock and articles of clothing. A week later, much of the stolen articles were recovered when they were found abandoned in the estate's grounds. The Orr-Ewing's moved out of Norris Castle shortly after.
In July 1904, it was reported that the castle was occupied for a time by the American businessman, John Morgan Richards and his wife. Their daughter, Pearl Mary Craigie, was a famous novelist, who wrote under the pseudonym John Oliver Hobbes. By 1906, when their daughter died suddenly of heart failure at the age of 39, they were living at Steephill, Isle of Wight.
In July 1904, Norris Castle was put up for sale again, by auction. The estate was described as a "grand opportunity for development into a seaside resort with practically every house overlooking the world-renowned yacht anchorage and Solent, through which the shipping of the world passes." However, the castle failed to sell and was withdrawn from the auction when the bidding only reached £38,000.
In February 1906, it was proposed that the Norris Castle estate be turned into a golf club, to rival any in the world. It was thought that there was much to commend a venture that would bring both the yachting world and golfing world together at Cowes; and that the course would be particularly attractive to those that sail. It was said that having no golf course in Cowes, was a serious handicap for any fashionable seaside resort. It was proposed that Norris Castle itself be used as a 'Dormy house' for the club. The famous golfer, James Paxton, had already designed a 5700-yard, eighteen-hole course, which could be extended, if needed. It was suggested that there would be a landing stage for yachtsmen and even perhaps a large pier to take railway steamers. History shows that the club was never built at Norris Castle, However, since 1892, there had been a two-hole course at the nearby Osborne House estate, which was enlarged to nine holes in 1904.
In July 1907, it was stated that Norris Castle had been unoccupied for several years and that it was doubted that it was in a state capable of occupation. At that time, it was also described as 'empty and dismantled'.
Norris Castle was put up for auction again in August 1907, but was withdrawn from sale when the bidding only reached £28,000.