Arbury Hall

About this place

Arbury Hall is a Grade I listed country house in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and the ancestral home of the Newdigate family.

It stands as one of the finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in England, with interiors remodelled in that style during the eighteenth century.

George Eliot was born on the estate in 1819, and the hall later inspired her portrayal of Cheverel Manor in her novella Mr Gilfil's Love-Story.

The house is managed through Historic Houses, and membership of that organisation gives access to the property.

History

The estate has been held by the Newdigate family and their descendants, later known as the Newdigate-Newdegate and Fitzroy-Newdegate families, who became Viscounts Daventry. The eighteenth-century remodelling of the house in the Gothic Revival style is the defining chapter in its history, transforming what had been an earlier structure into the showpiece it remains today.

Architecture

Arbury Hall is regarded as one of the most complete and ambitious Gothic Revival country houses in England. The interiors were remodelled in the Gothic style during the eighteenth century, with elaborate fan-vaulted ceilings and pointed arches throughout the principal rooms.

Worth knowing

The novelist George Eliot was born on the Arbury estate in 1819. Her father worked as an estate manager there, and the hall and its surroundings shaped the fictional Cheverel Manor in her novella Mr Gilfil's Love-Story.

Gardens & grounds

The hall sits within parkland grounds that include lakes and walled gardens, which form a significant part of any visit to the estate.