Northampton Delineated - Print showing 100 Houses and Stately Homes

Northamptonshire, the county of squires and spires contains some of Britain’s finest historic houses, stately homes and gardens.

This print by George Clarke of Scaldwell shows there were 100 significant houses in the county between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Born in 1790 Clarke was originally a teacher before moving to Scaldwell and taking up art full time. Between 1819 and 1854 he produced pen and ink studies of all the major houses, churches and village scenes across the county.

His work provides us with a unique and evocative record of Northamptonshire’s environment at a time when land was passing from common ownership and use to private hands. Between 1750 and 1836, over 5,000 Acts of Parliament were passed in Britain, transferring the ownership of previously open fields, commons and wastes (narrow strips of farmland) into private hands. Instead of open land tilled or grazed upon by the local population or farmers there were fields with fences or hedges. Levels of parliamentary enclosure were particularly high in Northamptonshire, with 213 enclosures taking place by means of a parliamentary act. Enclosure inevitably meant that ownership of land was concentrated in the hands of far fewer people, giving greater wealth to large landowners.

Number 53 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.