You can add Mount Stewart to our list of favorite homes and gardens. It is filled with original furnishings and furniture, it and its families were of historic interest, its gardens are among the very best we've seen, and it has one magnetic personality who accounts for much of its interest and charm: Edith, Lady Londonderry, wife of the 7th Marquess of Londonderry.
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| Entrance, actually the boring side of Mount Stewart |
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| In the entry hall |
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| Very 18th century; and gorgeous |
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| A smidgeon of the 65 place silver collection |
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Edith, in uniform as leader of the Women's
Legion in WW1 |
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She'll be remembered for many things, not least
the design of Mount Stewart's extensive gardens
(next post) |
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The Marquess and Lady Londonderry entertained many leaders
of the day, both in London and at Mount Stewart |
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| For example |
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An earlier owner of the House, Lord Castlereagh, was an
architect of the 1801 Act of Union (from whence we get the
UK of GB, which then included rather more of Ireland)
as well as a military leader in the Napoleonic Wars and
chief diplomat in the ensuing Congress of Vienna; one of two
paintings from Wellington... |
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Robert Stewart, Lord Castlereagh, eventually
2nd Marquess of Londonderry, to whom history
and poets have not been kind: "Posterity will
ne'er survey/A nobler grave than this/Here lie
the bones of Castlereagh/Stop, traveller, and
piss" (Shelley) |
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| "Your pal, always--N" |
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| Some of the good china |
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George Stubbs' famous painting of the Hambletonian, winner
at Newmarket in 1799, in an impossible pose |
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| Library |
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| Faux book-lined shutters |
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| Breakfast room; great view of the Shamrock Garden, as I recall |
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| Note ceiling fixture |
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| Matching marquetry below on the floor |
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Upstairs, a print of the Duchess of Devonshire...a relationship
with the Londonderrys we have not quite yet figured out |
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| Upstairs |
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| All the guest bedrooms named for cities |
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| Chapel |
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