Berkshire History for Kids: Caversham Park

Phoenix risen from the Flames more than Once!

Caversham Park is a big Victorian mansion in Mid-Berkshire. It is near Reading.
It survived a bad fire in 1926.
It was built by William Crawshay in 1850. He was a rich Welsh Industrialist.
The previous late Georgian house had burnt down.
So had the early Georgian house before that!
Lord Cadogan had lived there. He spent lots of money on Caversham Park. He had a competition with his friend, the Duke of Marlborough, to see who could make their house and garden the poshest. The Duke lived at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park, but was building himself a new home at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
The Tudor house built by Sir Francis Knollys, had been one of the many homes of the Earl of Craven. King Charles I was imprisoned there after the English Civil War and before he had his head chopped off.
Before this, there was an important Medieval castle in the park. The Earls of Warwick lived there sometimes. Before them, it was the home of the Regent, William Marshal. He ran the country from Caversham in the 1210s.