On the north bank of the River Nene, on the stretch of Georgian townhouses that Nikolaus Pevsner described as "one of the most perfect Georgian streets in England," stands a house that the National Trust has been caring for since 1948. Peckover House was built around 1722 and is among the finest examples of early Georgian domestic architecture in Cambridgeshire. Its interiors retain much of their original character, and its 2-acre walled garden has been described by the National Trust as one of the finest Victorian walled gardens in the country.
The Building
The house was built around 1722 for a local merchant, on the south-facing bank of the Nene where the Georgian townhouses of North Brink sit in their celebrated row. The facade is a textbook example of early Georgian domestic architecture: tall sash windows correctly proportioned to the wall, a rusticated ground floor that gives the building weight, and a restrained classical treatment of the doorway that marks it as the work of a builder who understood the Palladian rules without being enslaved by them.
The interiors are notable for their quality and survival. Rococo plasterwork, fine chimney pieces, and original panelling from the eighteenth century survive in several rooms. The house has been carefully maintained by the National Trust and retains the atmosphere of a genuine Georgian home rather than a sanitised museum installation.
The Peckover Family
The house takes its name from the Peckover family, who acquired it in the late eighteenth century. The Peckovers were Quakers who had come to Wisbech in the seventeenth century as wool merchants, and had built up a prosperous banking and trading business over several generations. Jonathan Peckover established the family bank in the eighteenth century, and the bank operated from Wisbech for well over a century.
The Peckovers' Quaker faith was not merely formal. Like many Quaker families of the period, they were active in social causes: involved in prison reform, opposed to the slave trade (they would have known of their near-contemporary Thomas Clarkson, born less than a mile away), and supporters of education and public institutions. Their wealth was expressed in philanthropy as well as in fine architecture.
The banking house that the Peckovers ran eventually became part of a network of provincial Quaker banks that merged, in 1896, to form what became Barclays Bank. The connection between this Georgian townhouse on the Nene and one of Britain's largest financial institutions is a remarkable genealogy.
The Garden
The 2-acre walled garden behind Peckover House is the property's most extraordinary feature, and one of the most remarkable gardens in the National Trust's care. It was developed primarily in the Victorian era, when the fashion for elaborate garden design reached its height, and it has changed remarkably little since that period.
The orange trees deserve particular mention. Said to be around 300 years old, they are grown in large pots and moved under cover for the winter months in the traditional manner. They would have been established during the period when the house was first built, making them roughly contemporary with the house itself. The sight of these ancient orange trees, heavy with fruit in a good summer, in an English walled garden north of Cambridge, is one of the more surprising pleasures that Wisbech has to offer.
Given to the Nation
In 1948, Alexandrina Peckover, the last member of the family to live in the house, gave it to the National Trust along with its garden and contents. The bequest was made on condition that the property be preserved and made accessible to the public. Alexandrina Peckover had maintained the house and garden throughout her long life with meticulous care, and the condition of what she gave was testimony to her stewardship.
The National Trust has cared for the property since 1948, maintaining both house and garden and opening them to visitors during the season. For National Trust members, admission is free. Seasonal opening hours are published on the National Trust website.
The connection between Peckover House and the National Trust is a particular resonance for Wisbech visitors: the National Trust was co-founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, who was born less than half a mile away at South Brink. The organisation that now protects Peckover House was partly the creation of a woman who grew up within sight of it.