The Cocks married into the Worcestershire Somers family, and it was the combination of their estates - including the valuable inheritance left by the Lord Chancellor Somers in the early 18th century and the banking wealth of the Cocks Biddupph Bank (now incorporated into Barclays Bank) - that gave the 1st Earl Somers the financial means to begin the construction of Eastnor in 1810. His cause was also aided by a judicious marriage to the daughter of the eminent and rich Worcestershire historian, Dr Treadway Nash.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CASTLE

The style proposed by the architect, the young Robert Smirke, was Norman Revival. From a distance, Eastnor was intended to create the impression of a Medieval fortress guarding the Welsh Borders. The symmetry of the design emphasised authority, distinguishing it from the rambling, picturesque, castellated mansions of a slightly earlier period at Downton and Lowther, the latter also designed by Smirke.

By any standards, the castle is a massive edifice and the construction team and materials used were on a similar scale. A workforce of 250 men working day and night were employed over the first six years of construction, and in the first eighteen months 4,000 tons of building stone, 16,000 tons of mortar and 600 tons of wood were used. The stone came from sandstone quarries in the Forest of Dean by canal to Ledbury, and from there by mule.

Estate timber was used as much as possible, but the major roof trusses and beams are cast iron, a material used to save timber in the midst of the Naopleonic Wars when it was in great demand for shipbuilding. By the time the building work was finished in 1820, the castle had cost £85,923 13s 11½d - about £8.5 million in today's terms.

THE INTERIOR OF THE CASTLE

The cost of the construction of the fabric of the castle was so great that the decoration of the interior inevitably held a lower priority. When the family moved into the west wing after 1813, many parts of the castle must have been little more than a shell.

Smirke's designs for the interior were simple and in keeping with the Medieval style of the castle. Details of his work remain in the Red Hall, Dining Room and Staircase Hall. Surviving furniture by Smirke includes the plain Gothic benches and chairs in the Entrance and Great Hall. Gradually over the course of the 19th century, the castle was made more habitable. In 1849, the 2nd Earl, commissioned Pugin, who had completed the remodeling of the House of Lords just two years earlier, to decorate the Drawing Room in High Gothic revival style. The celebration of the ancient lineage of the family over the chimney-piece evoked the Medieval culture of religious feudalism from which Pugin took his inspiration.

Now fully restored, this room remains Pugin's most complete interior outside the House of Parliament. The 3rd Earl undertook more lavish embellishments in the 1860's and 1870's, notably in the Long Library and the State Bedroom.

THE DECLINE OF THE FAMILY FORTUNES

Despite the massive expenditure on Eastnor, the family fortunes flourished. By the 1870's, the Somers Cocks' estates exceeded 13,000 acres, and the family also owned Somers Town in London, a gift from William III to Lord Chancellor Somers, and Reigate Priory in Surrey. However, the agricultural depression of the 1870's caused a decline in the family wealth, affecting them as it did others who lacked income from urban property or coal.
By 1920, when the last Lord Somers inherited the estate - the earldom became extinct in 1883 - much of the land had been sold and the art collection from the castle had been divided between him and his cousin. When Lord Somers was appointed Governor of Victoria in 1926, the family moved to Australia and Eastnor was left unoccupied. On their return in 1931, some rooms were redecorated and limited central heating was installed.

In 1939, all the castle contents were removed, leaving it available for government use during the war, but it was never used. Lord Somers' widow returned to Eastnor and lived in the servants' wing between 1945 and 1949 in much reduced circumstances, the family having been hard hit by tax of £200,000 - £8 million in today's terms - on the death of her husband.

THE REVIVAL OF EASTNOR

The revival of Eastnor was started by Hon. Elizabeth Somers Cocks and Benjamin Hervey-Bathurst, the parents of the present owner. They moved into the castle in 1949, when the slow process of reinhabiting the rooms and attending to various outbreaks of dry rot and other long-neglected repairs began. This was financed by sales from the collection and the reinvestment of almost all income from the estate. The first government grant was received to repair the battlements of the four main towers, which were badly damaged by hurricane-force winds in 1976.

James Hervey-Bathurst and his wife, Sarah, came to live in Eastnor in 1988, and accelerated the restoration and internal repair of the castle. Grants of over £250,000 from English Heritage went towards the cost of the external repairs. Since then, diversification into tourism, corporate entertaining, weddings and conferences have enabled the restoration of Eastnor to proceed apace. The castle will always require a high level of maintenance and there is still much to be done, but the future prospects for Eastnor are possibly more encouraging now than at any time in the last 100 years ...