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Lyveden New Bield, Northamptonshire
Drawing: J.A. Gotch (1882)
Source: RIBA British Architectural Library Drawings & Archives Collection

Thomas Tresham was an ambitious builder. Best known for the Triangular Lodge, Rushton, he was also the patron of the splendid Rothwell Market House, and this, the peculiar Lyveden New Bield (1594-1605).

Built on his Lyveden estate, not far from Rushton, this was to serve as a summer house for an older house nearby. Like the Triangular Lodge, this plays with patterns and symbols. In plan this is a Greek cross: four equal arms stretch out from the house’s centre. Yet again this was a declaration of faith: St Peter’s in Rome had a similar plan, and if there is any doubt, the inscriptions and mottoes spell out Tresham’s Catholic belief: ‘Gaude Mater Maria’ can be seen, for example – Rejoice Mother Mary 

In this sharp drawing by J.A. Gotch (1882) we can closely analyse the building’s decoration and fine construction. But all stops abruptly, just above the second storey: Gotch captures not only the crumbling stones, but also the vegetation clinging to them. This appears a ruin, but was in fact an unfinished building: Tresham, died in 1605. His son Francis was involved in the Gunpowder Plot and mysteriously died in the Tower of London. Tresham’s building programme was thus abandonned.