History of Belton Estate

Expert curated

North front of Belton House with lavender blooming in the Dutch Gardens — The Dutch Gardens are a delight in the summer with the arrival of lavender | © National Trust Images / Megan Taylor

For three centuries Belton House, Lincolnshire was the country seat of the Brownlows, an ambitious and influential family. The house they commissioned in 1685 is one of the finest to survive from the late 17th century. Belton is often described as the perfect English country house estate but, in fact, global forces and fashions shaped its creation and development.

Early History

Belton was the site of early Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlements. In Domesday Book in 1086, Belton is recorded as having a manor house, church, five mills and 26 households. Around 1200, the church of St Peter and St Paul was built, although most of its surviving fabric dates from the 14th and 18th centuries. Belton Manor was owned by St Mary's Abbey, York until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, when it was acquired by the Pakenham family, substantial county landowners.

16th century

Richard Brownlow (1553–1638) was a lawyer who served as Chief Prothonotary (clerk) of the Court of Common Pleas - one of England’s two principal common law courts - for 41 years from 1591. Brownlow used his yearly salary of £6000 to buy land. He purchased the rights to Belton in 1609 for £4100.

17th century

‘Old’ Sir John Brownlow (1594–1679), 1st Baronet inherited Belton in 1641. He and his wife Alice Pulteney (1604–76) maintained and enriched the estate, buying land and increasing their wealth substantially. They didn't have children so settled Belton on their nieces and nephews. Thus, a great nephew, ‘Young’ Sir John, 3rd Baronet (1659–97) inherited the estate in 1679.

Between 1685 and 1688, John and his wife Alice Sherard (1659–1721) set about building a great country seat befitting their wealth and status. They commissioned the architect William Winde to design the house and master mason William Stanton to build it. They also commissioned a park and a garden and introduced a deer herd. The deer at Belton today are direct descendants of that original herd.

Half a dozen deer graze and groom themselves in front of Belton House. — Deer herd in the park in front of the house at Belton Estate, Lincolnshire | © National Trust Images/Mike Selby

An Advantageous Marriage

‘Young’ Sir John, builder of Belton, committed suicide in 1697. His brother, Sir William Brownlow, 4th Baron Brownlow (1665–1701) inherited, but Alice, now a widow, remained at Belton, managing the estate and arranging advantageous marriages for her five daughters. Eleanor (1691–1730), the youngest, married her first cousin, another John Brownlow (1690–1754), 5th Baronet and 1st Viscount Tyrconnel, which meant that Belton was retained by the family.

18th century

Tyrconnel went on the Grand Tour in 1741 and in Italy collected many treasures now at Belton, including the Lapis Lazuli cabinet, a masterpiece of its type. Made in Italy in the 1640s, it is almost entirely veneered with panels of lapis lazuli - a blue stone - from Afghanistan and contains several hidden compartments and concealed drawers. Many of the East Asian objects at Belton may also have been introduced by Tyrconnel.

Tyrconnel and Eleanor were great patrons and commissioned French Huguenot artist Philippe Mercier to paint the Belton Conversation Piece, a group portrait of the family in the park at Belton, one of the first paintings of this type to be produced in England.

In 1754, Sir John Cust (1718–70) inherited Belton. Sir John was Speaker of the House of Commons and was often referred to as ‘Speaker’ Cust. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1762, continuing the family tradition of working in the legal profession and influencing politics at the highest level.

A late seventeenth century Italian, Florentine, lapis lazuli cabinet on a Charles II giltwood stand in the Dressing Room at Belton House, Lincolnshire, — A late seventeenth century Italian, Florentine, lapis lazuli cabinet on a Charles II giltwood stand in the Dressing Room at Belton House, Lincolnshire. | © National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel

Brownlow Cust, Baron Brownlow

In 1770, Belton passed to Sir Brownlow Cust (1744–1807). Known as ‘the remodeler’, Brownlow enjoyed a significant income from both his first wife, Jocosa Drury (1749–72), and second wife, Frances Bankes (1756–1847). He engaged architect James Wyatt to transform Belton into an elegant, mid-Georgian house.

John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow

John Cust (1779–1853) inherited Belton in 1807 and lived there with his wife Sophia (1787/8–1814). A scholarly and cultured man, John was created an Earl in 1815. He embarked on a Grand Tour of Italy in 1802 and was a patron of several artists including Antonio Canova and Richard Westmacott. He is responsible for many of Belton’s important collections, particularly the silver and Italian books.

He employed architect Jeffry Wyatville, nephew of the architect James Wyatt, to make substantial changes throughout the house, remodelling interiors and introducing furniture and decorative schemes by some of the finest makers and designers.

In 1821, John’s younger brother, Sir Edward Cust, 1st Baronet (1794–1878), married Mary Anne Boode (1799–1882). Mary was the daughter and heiress of Lewis William and Margaret Boode, a Dutch family who owned enslaved people in British Guiana. John Cust and Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton Park acted as co-trustees and executors of Margaret Boode's estate when she died in 1827. John was awarded compensation under the 1837 Slave Compensation Act.

Lady Marian Alford

John and Sophia’s oldest son John Hume, Viscount Alford (1812–51) died before his father. Belton passed to his son, John William Spencer (Egerton Cust) (1842–67). He was still a minor, so his mother, Marian Alford (1817–88), oversaw the estate on his behalf. Marion was a talented artist, writer, musician and great patron of the arts and social causes. Notably, she helped found the Royal Society of Needlework.

Adelbert and Adelaide, 3rd Earl and Countess Brownlow

In 1921, Adelbert ‘Addy’ Wellington Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow (1844–1921) inherited Belton. Addy and his wife, Lady Adelaide Chetwynd-Talbot (1844–1917), moved in intellectual circles and were on the fringes of a group known as the Souls, a high-minded and idealistic group of aristocrats. Although they spent most of their time in London or at Ashridge, they spent time and money on Belton, reinstating many original features and restoring some of its 17th-century appearance.

Addy and Adelaide remodeled the Tapestry Room, re-hanging the original tapestries first commissioned in the early 18th century from the Mortlake factory, which produced the finest English tapestries since it opened in 1619.

Nina Cust

Emmaline ‘Nina’ Welby-Gregory (1867–1955) married Henry (Harry) Cust (1861–1917) in 1893. With Harry, she should have inherited Belton and all the Brownlow estates, but he died young. She had a lifelong connection to the family and never remarried. She was an artist, writer, poet and translator, and much of her work remains in the collection at Belton.

The Tapestry Room at Belton House, Lincolnshire, UK, looking towards the original Wyatville fireplace of 1811-12. The room was remodelled c.1890 in a seventeenth-century style. The tapestries are early C18th from the Mortlake factory and depict scenes from the story of Diogenes. — The Tapestry Room at Belton House, Lincolnshire | © National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel

The Machine Gun Corps

At the outbreak of war in 1914, Addy offered the War Department the use of the park. The British Expeditionary Force moved in followed by the newly formed Machine Gun Corps in 1915. Originally just a tented village, the camp soon grew with the addition of barracks, chapels, post offices, water towers, school rooms, YMCA huts and a camp hospital. Between 1915 and 1922, around 175,000 men trained at Belton before being posted overseas.

Adelbert and Maud

In 1921, the estates passed to Adelbert Salusbury Cockayne Cust, 5th Baron Brownlow (1867–1927). He and his wife Maud (1870–1936) were actively involved in public works. Maud often visited local villagers helping those who were ill and providing food parcels for families with newborn babies.

Peregrine Adelbert Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow (1899–1978)

Peregrine, known as Perry, inherited in 1927, the same year he married his first wife, Katherine 'Kitty' Hariet Kinloch, Lady Brownlow (d.1952). Perry owned several estates in the Caribbean, including the Roaring River Estate in St Ann, Jamaica.

The Abdication Crisis

Perry was a close friend and equerry to the Prince of Wales, and the future king spent many weekends at Belton staying in what is now called the Windsor Bedroom at Belton. Perry failed to convince Wallis to give up any thought of marriage with the King, and the constitutional crisis this caused led to the King’s abdication on 10 December 1936. Believing that this crisis caused the premature death of her husband, Edward’s brother, George VI, the future Queen Mother never forgave Perry for his failure.

The National Trust

Perry died in 1978, and the title and estate passed to his son, Edward Cust (1936–2021). Edward gave Belton House, garden, and some of the collection to the National Trust in 1984. Since this time the Trust has restored a number of Belton’s historic interiors, including the decoration of the Library in the 1960s and the Blue Bedroom in 1994 and 2005. When possible, the National Trust has acquired important objects and paintings from the family collections to return to the house. The continuous cycle of conservation cleaning, conservation and updating display mean the Belton never stands still and can be enjoyed by generations of visitors now and into the future.