Stamford House

Church at Stamford House

**Stamford House** or **Lestrange Estate** in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England is the main residence of the English family of the House of Lestrange. It features a gothic church, a new building (built in the 1900s) and an old building (built with the church when the Lestranges first arrived in England). It also includes two gardens (Marie Christine's Walled Gardens and Garden of Purity) and one forest (later renamed Trixie's Forest in 1986). There is also a front lawn display leading to the house.

The current English Lestrange family lives in the house and it will likely be passed on to one of the cousins or relatives of the Lestrange family (with the surname Lestrange) as none of the current generation (Rodolphus, Rabastan, Beatrix) have children.

Although there is a church, there has never been a graveyard at Stamford House. Radolphus Lestrange (the builder of the original Stamford House and Church, also the first Lestrange in England) had a daughter who had died early on in life and he and his wife would be reminded of her death every time they saw the grave outside the church, so they never had a graveyard. Instead, deceased members of the Lestrange family get buried in the forest instead.

## History

### Early History

Stamford House was built in 1821 by Radolphus Lestrange as a place to live for his family. Radolphus designed most of the house with a few pointers from his wife, but he hired people to build it for him.

After Radolphus died, it was passed on to his son, Cassian Lestrange I and for many more generations to come.

### Later History

Later generations of the Lestrange family used it as a place for the main branch of the English Lestrange family to live in whilst the other relatives/branches lived in houses that were constructed later like Manor at Sevenoaks in Kent and Aylesbury Estate in Buckinghamshire.

In the 1900s, a new style was in fashion and so the current Lestrange family who lived there decided to build a new house to match the style. It was a much more modern house, and it is connected to the old building, whilst the church still stands alone. The Garden of Purity was also renovated to keep up with the style, but the walled garden stayed the same.

The forest that was part of Stamford House was also renamed in 1981 as 'Trixie's Forest'; following the death of Beatrix Lestrange in 1980.

## Layout

### Old Building (built in 1800s)

#### Ground Floor

There are five rooms on the ground floor of the old building: the main drawing room, the main dinning room, the main kitchens, the archives and children's room. Even though there is a new building, the old building is still used more. The Grand Staircase to the ballroom is also on the ground floor.

#### Ballroom/First Floor

The first floor is mainly the ballroom. Inside the ballroom, there is a grand piano and chandeliers. There is also a balcony that is connected to the ballroom and a small room which the Lestrange's muggle art collection is kept.

#### Second Floor

The second floor consists of the library, the Lestrange's private suites and their private studies. The library takes up about half of the space on the second floor. There are a total of 8 bedrooms on the third floor: the master bedroom, the 5 children's bedrooms, the nursery, and a spare room. There is also the head of the House of Lestrange's study, the Lady Lestrange's study, and the study of the heir to the House of Lestrange's study.

#### Attic

There is a small attic at the top of the old building, but it is usually used for storage for furniture or any extra things that couldn't be in the house. Other things are kept in the family archives.

### New Building (built in 1900s)

#### Ground Floor

There are four rooms in the ground floor of the new building: the dining room, the kitchens, the drawing room and the playroom. This floor is mainly for only the Lestrange family, whilst the old building is mainly used, but it is also used to welcome guests and throw large parties/balls as there is a ballroom.

#### Library/First Floor

The first floor mainly consists of the library. This library is a bit bigger than the library in the old building as it takes up the whole first floor (the new building is smaller than the old building though). This library has more space than the library in the old building, but a lot of the books that were previously kept in the archives - because there was no space in the main library - were moved to this library. Some books that were also crammed into the old library were also moved into this one.

#### Second Floor

Again, the second floor is mainly bedrooms. The Lestranges stay in the old building, so there are a lot less rooms here. The rooms here are more spacious and bigger than some of the rooms in the old building though. In total, there are 4 bedrooms: 3 spare rooms and a nursery. There are also studies but most of them are empty. There is one in use for the Head of the House of Lestrange.

#### Attic

The attic is a bit larger in this one and a bit more spacious since there are not a lot of things in it.

### Church

Not much is known about the church, but it is known that Radolphus Lestrange only built the church because he thought it'd look nice with the house. The church is a French style gothic church. There is a bell tower at the top, but it is rarely rang.

### Gardens

#### Marie Christine's Walled Gardens

Marie Christine's Walled Gardens were named after the French version of Radolphus Lestrange's wife's name: Maria Christina Lestrange (née Salazar Morales). The layout was similar to most walled gardens in the 1800s. It wasn't renovated along with the Garden of Purity in the 1900s because the Lestranges wanted this garden to stay the same.

#### The Garden of Purity

The name suggests the importance of blood purity in the Lestrange family. The garden was first used as a place for display, but as times went on, the children were allowed to play in it and the Lestranges would have tea and spend time outside in the garden. It was renovated at the start of the 1900s to match the style of the era. It was renovated after the new building was built.

### Other

#### Front Lawn Display

The front lawn display initially wasn't planned to be part of the house, but as Radolphus Lestrange grew older, he decided he wanted a display for the front lawn because he thought it looked quite plain. So, along with his wife, they designed how they wanted the display to look like. It resulted in a project that lasted about 6 months. It was finished 3 months before Radolphus' wife's death, and 6 months before his own death.

#### Trixie's Forest

The forest was there when Radolphus Lestrange arrived and it was where he buried his daughter - Angelina Lestrange. The forest was continued to be used as the final resting place of many of the Lestrange family members. No one really went there unless there was an absoloute need to. More recently, Beatrix Lestrange loved exploring the forest and went there often. It was named after her using her nickname 'Trixie' in 1986 following her death in 1985.