Holkham is in the hundred of North Greenhoe, two miles from New Inn; and here is Holkham House, which, in the reign of Charles the First, was the seat of the family of the Cokes. John, son of Sir Edward Coke, lord chief justice, settled here; and his younger brother’s descendant, Thomas, created Baron Lovel of Holkham, 1728, and Viscount Coke and Earl of Leicester, 1734, began building a most magnificent house here, 330 feet in front, which, after his Lordship’s decease, without issue, 1759, was finished by his widow in 1764, at an expense of eleven thousand pounds, exclusive of furniture, which cost three thousand pounds more.

Lady Leicester likewise endowed six almshouses, and repaired the church, which is a famous sea-mark, it being situated on a hill. At the side of a hill at Holkham, were found, in 1721, several corpses, with pierced beads of different sizes, of green and white glass, iron spearheads, pieces of brass, &c.

Holkham House may properly be said to consist of five quadrangles, i.e. a large central building, and four wings; consequently each side presents a perfect and regular front. The junction of each wing to the main body, by means of corridors, is a most admirable contrivance, as they serve either to unite the principal floors of the wings with the state apartments, or to detach it from them at pleasure; communicating either directly with the lawn, or with the servants’ offices below on the basement story. This is one of the chief advantages attending the plan of Holkham, which seems to have been borrowed from Palladio’s plan of a villa designed for the Cavalier Leonardo Mocenigo, upon the Brenta, with some trifling deviations.

The south front is so truly deserving attention that we know not which to admire most, its lightness, elegance, or proportion. The portico is in a fine taste, and the Corinthian pillars in elegant proportion. The gilding of the window frames and sashes, which has been lately renewed by Mr. Coke, gives the whole a truly magnificent appearance. The whole extent of this front is 344 feet.

The north front consists of a centre and two wings, with a tier of Venetian windows, over another of small square sashes in the rustic basement. The length of this front is also 344 feet.

The central part of this celebrated house, the dimensions of which are 62 feet by 114, contains the principal or grand apartments, which are joined to the pavilions by galleries, or rectilinear corridors. These apartments present one regular suite of five rooms, diminishing from the centre; which is the largest and most splendid, communal eating with facility, and receding gradually to the extreme and lesser apartments situated in the wings; with which, on the south side, the corridors included, it forms an enfilade of twelve distinct spaces or rooms, terminated at each end by a window, and produces an extent of nearly 344 feet.

There are four wings, or pavilions; each of which in dimension is 60 feet by 70.

The Stranger’s Wing is divided upon the ground floor into single bedchambers; and above, on the principal floor, it is again divided into bedchambers, with single or double dressing-rooms, as may be occasionally requisite.

The Family Wing contains the library and two additional rooms fitted up by Mr. Coke, the one for the reception of his invaluable collection of manuscripts, which have for many years been deposited in the tower library, almost unnoticed; the other for the earliest editions of the classics.

The Chapel Wing contains the chapel and two complete sleeping apartments, over which are lodging rooms for some of the servants of the family. The lower part is appropriated to the laundry and dairy offices, with a drying yard and court attached.

The Kitchen Wing is allotted to the uses of the kitchen, and its offices, with servants’ hall, having bedrooms over it; this has likewise its contiguous court. These courts, although they contain a number of smaller buildings, commodiously situated near the offices to which they belong, are so judiciously concealed from outward observation, that their boundary wall rises no higher than to the plinth of the basement story. Under this are the cellars, and various other places, appropriated to different uses, corresponding in size with the rooms above, so that the partition walls might have a safe foundation, being carried up directly from the cellar floor. Each room and passage being entirely arched over with groined brickwork, and executed in such a masterly style as to particularly attract the notice of every person who has had an opportunity of inspecting them. Such is the strength of the foundation, and of the arches, that it is on record that there are as many bricks below the surface of the ground as have been used in the upper part of the structure.

The Holkham bricks resemble the modern yellow bricks of the Romans, both in colour and hardness. Bath stone, in deference to its fine yellow tint, was first fixed on for the external surface of the intended structure; but a brick earth was found in the neighbouring parish of Burnham Norton, which, with proper seasoning and tempering, produced an excellent well-shaped brick, approaching nearly to the colour of Bath stone, full as ponderous, and of a much firmer texture.

As a proof of their durability, although nearly sixty years are elapsed since the completion of the work, during which time they have been continually exposed to the action of the weather, yet they remain as sound and perfect as when first laid.

It may be a matter worthy of remark, in this place, that in the execution of a single rustic, no less than thirty moulds, of different shapes and sizes, were required. This was most judiciously done, to avoid cutting the bricks, which would have caused a discolouration of their surfaces, and would have materially increased the number of joints.

Throughout the execution of the work bricks have been made of all the various forms that were requisite.

The same diligence was used in preparing the mortar for the walls, which being first mixed in due proportion of lime and sand, was afterwards (to render it of sufficient fineness for close brickwork) ground between a pair of large millstones, fitted to an engine for that purpose.

All the inner joints of the walls were carefully filled with this mortar, made up into grout, and poured, in a liquid state, upon every course, or every two courses of the brickwork. The floors are entirely of wainscot oak. The chimney-pieces are in the finest style of execution; those of the principal rooms are of the purest statuary marble; the others are composite, and, in point of beauty and variety of material, and workmanship, are not to be surpassed. The ceilings to the principal floor are well executed in white and gold by Mr. Carter, and have a light and beautiful effect.

The architect took care that no part of the principal walls should be supported upon timber, lest, in decaying, it might damage the fabric: this judicious plan cannot be too highly esteemed, it being particularly worthy the attention of all those concerned in building. So little indeed does the strength of this edifice depend upon the assistance of its timbers, that the girders of the principal floors were not hoisted into their respective situations till after the roof had been raised to the building, and the walls of the house fully perfected. By which management the timbers have a free circulation of air about them, being in contact with the wall only on their lower surfaces.

This superb edifice was erected under the superintendence of the late Mr. Brettingham, of Norwich, whose son published Plans, Elevations, &c. of the structure, who in the knowledge of sound building was allowed to equal, if not excel, all the professors of his time; and in fact the characteristic merit of Holkham is most discernible in the accurate performance of its workmanship.

Among the bustoes and statues in the vestibule, under the portico of the south front, is that of Carneades, the Cyrenean philosopher, a figure of Jupiter, a marble bust of Cicero, the same of Plato, an antique Hernia, a bust of Seneca, and several plaster casts from antique statues. The room next the Jupiter contains, 1. a dancing Faun in the gallery of Florence—2. Apollo of the Belvidere—3. Ganymede of Villa Medici—4. Ptolemy of the Grand Duke’s Gallery at Florence—5. Meleager of Pichini—6. Venus de belle fesse. Here is also an antique cinerary urn, in the form of an altar, highly decorated.

The Grand Hall is 46 feet by 70, and 43 feet high. The idea of this hall was suggested by the Earl himself, from the judicious and learned Palladio’s plan of a Basilica, or Tribunal of Justice, exhibited in his designs for Monsignor Barbaro’s translation of Vitruvius.

The tribunal part, or semicircular niche, at the upper end, contains the flight of steps leading up to the Saloon.

The fluted Ionic columns, which form the colonnade, or gallery of communication, leading to the apartments on each side of the hall, and which is supported on a basement of variegated alabaster, was taken from the Ionic temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome, and well executed by the late Mr. Pickford; who also performed the greater part of the work of the basement; round the upper and lower parts of which is a border of black marble, inlaid with white alabaster a-la-Grecque The floor is of Portland stone, bordered with another of a dark colour, which produces a good effect.

The quadrangular diminishing Mosaics in the cove from the aforesaid, are taken from the same Pantheon, the whole entablature and compartment ceilings, in stucco, and all other ceilings, cornices, and entablatures, in the numerous apartments; of this villa, were conducted, from their commencement, by the ingenious Mr. T. Clark, of Westminster.

Over the entrance door into the Hall, which is particularly striking from its simplicity, is the following inscription, illustrative of the appearance of this part of the country, before the plastic hand of the Earl of Leicester had beautified it."This Seat on an open barren Estate, was planned, planted, built, decorated and inhabited, the middle of the eighteenth Century, BY THOMAS COKE, EARL OF LEICESTER." Imagination can scarcely form an idea more majestic, than that of this Hall; which is one of the noblest derived to us from the ancients; nor perhaps can any space be found of the same magnitude, that will admit of a grander display of architecture.

Its stately range of fluted columns of variegated Alabaster; the splendour of its various ornaments in the ceiling, in the cove, in the soffits of the architrave, and in the colonnades, all decorated with such admirable propriety, from the purest models of antiquity; jointly produce on the mind of the admiring spectator, an effect every way corresponding with the most exalted ideas of Vitruvian magnificence.

Statues in the niches of the colonnade of the Grand Hall are— 1. Apollo. From an antique in the staircase of Cardinal Alexander Albani’s palace at Rome, re stored by Carlos Monaldi, of whom this cast was purchased.2. Flora. Or the Empress Sabina, in that character; a cast from a most antique drapery figure, found in the Villa Adriana, preserved in the capitol.3. Bacchus. Of the Villa Medici, a rare cast.4. Isis. Or Priestess of Isis, a cast from the statue in the capitol.5. Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome, a great military conqueror, remarkable for his avarice and ambition, to gratify which passions he shed torrents of blood.6. A Faun. With the Nacchare, (or Castanets) in marble, antique.

Over the door leading into the Saloon— A Bust of the Earl of Leicester, the noble founder of this mansion.7. An antique Faun in marble.8. Agrippina Minora. In Travertine stone, an antique.9. Venus di Belle Fesse. A cast.10. A Faun, from the Antique. A cast.11. Julia Mammea. (a Ditto) The virtuous Mother of a virtuous Son, Alexander Severus, to whose education and morals she paid particular attention.12. Antinous, of the capitol (a do.) A handsome youth of Bithynia, to whom at his death the Emperor Adrian erected a temple. His statue was placed in the capitol at Rome.

On the left hand side the door of the Saloon— Is a Bas-relief of excellent workmanship, of e death of Germanicus, by Nollekens.

The ceiling of the north dining room was for the most part taken from Inigo Jones; its dome is 14 feet diameter, and 8 feet perpendicular height.

The two chimney pieces are of excellent workmanship, and of similar design, diversified in the devices, of their tablets. The Bear and Beehive on the one; the Sow, with her litter, and the Wolf on the other, are truly deserving attention. They are composed of Sicilian jasper trusses and stauary marble mixed, executed by Mr. Carter; who also executed the foliage scrolls in the open pilasters of the archway leading to the sideboard. The scrolls are carved in lime-tree wood.

The sideboard table, the frame and legs of which are of porphyry, (a fragment of an ancient sarcophagus,) are enriched with Ormolu ornaments.

The slab is of Egyptian green marble, in which the Asbestos is said to be found.

Beneath it stands a large bason of Mount Edgecumbe red granite. The block was a present from Lord Edgecumbe.

On each side of the niche are two antique heads, or modern Bustoes, of African coloured marble, and placed on consoles.

On the left hand side of the niche, is Geta, who was stabbed by his brother Caracalla that he might reign alone.

The anteroom to the stranger’s wing contains a number of exquisite paintings, mostly of the family portraits. The red and yellow dressing room, the red and yellow bedchamber, and all the others of this description are highly decorated with statuary marble ornaments, tapestry, and paintings. To the statue galley, its vestibule and its tribune, it is impossible to do justice; to appreciate their value, they must be seen.

The Manuscript Library.—This room has lately been fitted up by Mr. Coke, for the reception of his superb collection of manuscripts, which have recently, by the able assistance of the liberal and enlightened Mr. Roscoe, been inspected and restored, who has, by the most indefatigable perusal of these manuscripts, been enabled to ascertain their age and their value, and he has enriched them with notes and observations of his own, which must prove entertaining to every man of classical taste and erudition.

The following may be specified in this respect.1. A magnificent illuminated Livy. This venerable manuscript formerly belonged to Alfonso the 1st. King of Naples, and there is every reason for believing it to be the very manuscript sent to that sovereign by Cosmo de Medici (who was then at war with him) as a peace offering, and which is mentioned in the life of Lorenzo de Medici, vol. 1, p. 3. 4-to. Edit. 2. A splendid Petrarch beautifully illuminated, and which contains the lines usually prefixed to the Trionfo della Morte, and the Capitolo which precedes the Trionfo della Fama, which are omitted in some of the printed editions as apocryphal. 3. A very curious Dante, the designs of which have great merit, when considered with reference to the very early period at which they were produced. 4. A superb illuminated copy of Caesar’s Commentaries. 5. A singularly rare and valuable illuminated manuscript of Bocaccio. 6. A most magnificent Biblia Sacra of the beginning of the 14th century; the miniatures it contains are by an Italian artist in the school of Giotto.

A small volume in folio, consisting of friezes, cornices, capitals, and bases, designed by Raphael, from the ancient Roman temples. Baron Stosch, the late Hanoverian resident at Florence, had in his possession the elevations and plans belonging to this book of designs, done by the same great hand.

On each side the window are two marble slabs of Mount Edgecumbe red granite, in gilt metal frames.

The Library is 54 feet by 18.

The elegant ceiling, and pilaster chimney piece, of Sienna marble, are both designs of Mr. Kent.

Over the chimney piece.— An exceeding rare and valuable piece of antique mosaic, representing a combat between a Lion and Leopard, purchased in Rome by Mr. Coke.

This library is elegantly and completely fitted up with light open bookcases, that contain a large number of choice works, and books of engravings, some of which are extremely rare. The dado contains portfolios of valuable original drawings and prints, by Raphael, Julio Romano, Francesco, Penni, Polidoro, the Carraccis, Guido, Dominichino, Guercino, Titian, Carlo Maratti, and the Venetian and Flemish Schools.

Also a valuable collection of ceilings, pavements, vases, and urns, designed and coloured from the antique, by Santo Bartoli.

The Chapel is sixty-three feet by eighteen, and twenty-seven feet high.

Over the altar.—The assumption of the Virgin, a masterly performance by the admirable Guido Reni.

On the side panels.—Two whole length figures of Santa Cecilia and St. Anne.—Cipriani.

Above in the attic part of the Chapel are,—Abraham, Hagar and Ismael, by Andrea Sacchi, from the Barberini collection.

The Angel appearing to Joseph.—Lanfranco, Rebecca at the well.—Benedetto Luti.

In the family seat, over a neat small chimney piece, composed of Staffordshire alabaster, and coloured marbles, is a picture of St. Mlary Magdalen and an Angel. — Carlo Maratti.

The screen to the seat towards the chapel is of cedar wood, inlaid with ornaments carved in lime tree. The basement of the chapel is encrusted with Staffordshire alabaster; and the columns are also of the same material.

Park.—To give a full description of this extensive domain would form a volume of itself; suffice it to say, the Park within the paling contains about 3500 acres. Its circumference is upwards of ten miles. Within the Park, is a most enchanting ride of seven miles, in the midst of a belt of fir and other trees, evergreens and shrubs, whose foliage exhibits a variety of tints.

The interior presents all the eye or imagination can wish. Clumps of flourishing trees, sketched with the greatest taste, gentle hills, and the corn waving vales; the extensive lake, with its finely wooded shore; the Church and other objects, combine to heighten the scene.

One of the principal ornaments of the Park, is the Obelisk.—This pillar which stands on an eminence, is seen with great advantage from the south front of the house; skirted on each side with wood, with such great uniformity, it cannot but attract notice.

From the base line to the extremity of its point it measures eighty feet; it is only cased with Bath stone ashlar, fastened together with iron cramps, and as the work advanced, filled up with regular courses of brickwork laid dry, and cemented with grout or liquid mortar.

The difficulty consisted in preventing the settlement of the inner nucleus, or brick core, from the outside courses of stone ashlar: which this method effectually removed.

Inigo Jones was the first that introduced the diamond or flat point; but the architect of Holkham has followed the rules of antiquity, and given its termination an equilateral triangle, of which alteration Lord Burlington afterwards approved. This Obelisk, the first work erected at Holkham, was completed in the year 1720.

Near this stands the Temple.—The portico, of which all, except the crests and cyphers in the frieze, was taken from an example of the doric order, exhibited in the Parallele de l’Architecture, which the author, M. de Chambray, gives as a design of that excellent Italian artist Pirro Ligorio, from an ancient fragment found at Albano near Rome.

The projection of the cornice is very large, more than equal to its height; and Lord Burlington, who saw it soon after its completion, pronounced it to be the best executed piece of work he had seen performed in his time.

A few yards to the north of the obelisk, is a peculiarly grand view of the house, and of the lake, which from this situation appears to be only separated from the sea by the beautiful wood which intervenes. It resembles indeed an arm of the sea, flowing up amidst a sylvan scene; not unlike that witnessed by Æneas on the river Tiber, as he proceeded to the hospitable mansion of Evander. The fine panoramic land and sea view from the Church tower exceeds description.

Entrances.—The grand and principal approach to the house, is by the triumphal arch, on the Fakenham road, from which a fine broad vista leads to the obelisk, which is distant from the arch a mile and a half Rising with the hill, you approach the obelisk, which is situated in the midst of a fine plantation; passing through the obelisk wood, the road branches off to the left, leaving a fine expanse of lawn on the south front of the house, which is here seen to the greatest advantage.

The West Lodge.—A very neat building by Mr. Wyatt. On the left of the road to the house is an interesting view of the New Inn, where company coming to see the house may receive every accommodation.

The East Lodge.—A building of simple and elegant architecture, by Wyatt; from hence to the N. W. is an extensive view of the rich, well wooded and highly cultivated grounds of the Park.

Gardens.—The kitchen garden, including the outer belt, contains eight acres. The principal part is divided into three squares of one acre each —the lesser part contains two compartments of one acre each. The extent of willing comprises upwards of fourteen hundred yards in length, and fourteen feet in height, well covered with fruit trees. In the middle square are two mulberry trees, which, as they are so generally admired, may be here mentioned.—The extent of one is thirty yards, and the other twenty-seven, in a fine and healthy state. The vinery, which perhaps is the finest in England, is deserving the inspection of strangers. The hot houses and forcing frames are also deserving notice.

The Pleasure Grounds—To the east of the mansion, are tastefully laid out. A fine gravel walk winding through clumps of trees and shrubs of various kinds, interspersed with many a lovely flower, beguiles the footsteps of the wandering stranger, while passing through this wilderness of sweets.

Mr. Coke’s establishment upon the whole is princely; he has sat in several parliaments with little intermission; and at his usual sheep-shearing at Holkham, now discontinued, the doors of hospitality were not only thrown open to persons of rank and fortune, but to all who were competent to receive or communicate improvements in agriculture.

To visit Holkham with advantage, "The Stranger’s Guide to Holkham," containing a full description of the statues, paintings, &c. of Holkham House, also an account of the park, gardens, &c. compiled by J. Dawson, and printed at Burnham, ought to be taken as an indispensable accompaniment. The various statues, bustoes, &c. are not only enumerated in this little work, as they are arranged in the different apartments, but the subjects are ably illustrated by remarks, historical and classical, and the whole divested of the errors of former accounts of Holkham House, many of which have been occasioned by the recent changes and improvements in this noble seat. Holkham House is open for general inspection on Tuesdays only, except to Foreigners and Artists.

Strangers or travellers, who wish to view this house on other days, can only do so by particular application to Mr. Coke.

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HOLKHAM is a parish and village on the coast, with a station on the West Norfolk branch of the Lynn and Hunstanton section of the Great Eastern railway, 1 ¾ miles west from Wells, about 5 ½ north-west from Walsingham and 127 ½ from London by rail, in the Northern division of the county, hundred and petty sessional division of North Greenhoe, Walsingham union and county court district, rural deanery of Walsingham archdeaconry of Lynn and diocese of Norwich. Holkham Bay has a very fine firm and safe beach, which is resorted to for bathing in the summer months. The church of St. Withburga is situated west of the village and about half a mile from the Hall, on an artificial mound, supposed to be Saxon, and near a tumulus in which bones and iron armour have been found: it is an edifice in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, repaired in 1767 by the Dowager Countess of Leicester, at a cost of £1,000, and consists of chancel with north and south chapels, nave with clerestory, aisles, south porch and a lofty embattled tower at the south-west angle containing 6 bells. In the north chapel is a beautiful monument, erected in 1871, with a recumbent figure in marble, by the late Sir J. E. Boehm bart. R.A. of the late Countess of Leicester, who died 21 April, 1870: in the south chapel is a fine monument to John Coke and his wife, and the interior has also a good deal of finely carved oak: in the years 1868—9 the church was restored and decorated at an expenditure of nearly £9,000, by the Earl of Leicester, K.G. and now affords 350 sittings. The register dates from the year 1542. The living is a vicarage, average tithe rent charge £152, gross yearly value £156, including 17 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Earl of Leicester, K.G. and held since 1887 by the Rev. William Fitzgerald Gambier Sandwith B.A. of Christ Church, Oxford, who is also rector of Egmere with Waterden. Here are almshouses, founded in 1757 by the Countess Dowager of Leicester, at a cost of about £2,300, and endowed with a sum of £50 a year charged upon the Holkham estate and an estate containing 97 acres in the parish of Weasenham St. Peter’s: they are occupied by 3 men and 3 women, each of whom has coals, faggots, bedding, clothing and 6s. in money per week. In the village is a beautiful building in the Swiss cottage style, with a tower, erected in 1886 by the Earl of Leicester, at the cost of £1,500, as a reading room and library for the workmen and labourers on the Holkham estate. Henry Ill granted a market and a fair, both now obsolete. Brick and tile making is carried on at Peterston. In the marshes, and easily accessible by a road leading from the church lodge, is a large camp, constructed on natural features of the soil, and probably used successively by Romans, Saxons and Danes. In Edward II. ’s time, Holkham was a port of some consequence; subsequently, it belonged to the Boleyns and the Greshams. In the 17th century, the Coke family (partly by marriage and partly by purchase), acquired the whole of the parish. Thomas William Coke esq. M.P. for the county, well-known as “Coke of Norfolk,” and distinguished as the greatest agriculturist of his day, succeeded to the estate in 1776, and was created Earl of Leicester and Viscount Coke, 12 Aug. 1837, taking the title from the previous creation in 1744, which had become extinct in 1759 on the death of Thomas (Coke), ist and only Earl of Leicester of that family. Opposite the north front of the house there is a Corinthian column, erected in 1850 by public subscription, to the memory of the Earl. Holkham Hall, the seat of the Earl of Leicester K.G. Lord Lieutenant of the county, erected in 1734—60, is one of the finest seats in the county: the two principal fronts are each 344 feet in length, with a Corinthian portico on the south side, opposite to which is a fountain, consisting of a group of figures representing St. George and the Dragon, the work of Charles Raymond Smith: on each side of the approach on the north are a male and female lion in bronze, executed by the late Sir J. E. Boehm bart. R.A. in 1872: the picture gallery is rich in fine works, particularly in Claudes: the sculpture gallery also contains some celebrated productions: the library, besides books, includes a very fine collection of manuscripts: the mansion stands in an extensive and well wooded park, which together with the pleasure grounds, is open every Wednesday during the summer months. The park, which is well stocked with deer and game, contains about 3,200 acres, of which 1,100 are wood, and there is a lake 1,056 yards long, frequented by large flocks of waterfowl: the whole is inclosed with a wall, erected in 1833—9 and within 20 yards of being 9 miles in extent. Her Majesty the Queen, when Princess Victoria, visited Holkham in 1835, with her mother the late Duchess of Kent; and the Prince and Princess of Wales are frequent visitors. About the year 1660, 360 acres were inclosed from the sea; and the first Earl of Leicester inclosed 400 more in 1722, and also reclaimed Holkham Heath, and the present Earl has reclaimed about 700 acres. The south lodge of the park is approached through a massive triumphal arch of the Doric order, 1 ½ miles northwards from which is an obelisk 80 feet high, erected in 1729; to the left is a small temple, much admired for its portico. The Earl of Leicester K.G. is lord of the manor and sole landowner Every description of soil exists in the parish, from strong clay to blowing sand; subsoil, strong clay, marl, chalk, brick earth, gravel and sand. The chief crops are wheat, barley, turnips, mangold-wurtzel and grasses. The area is 4,628 acres; 38 of water, 29 of tidal water and 854 of foreshore; rateable value, £4,481; and the population in 1891 was 481. New Holkham or Longlands is a hamlet at the south end of the parish, about 2 miles south from the Hall.

National School (boys, girls & infants), erected in 1837, for 120 children; average attendance, 50 boys & girls & 35 infants; the schools are supported by the Earl of Leicester.