Sir Stirling Moss was one of the founding patrons of the Festival of Speed, and a regular competitor at the Revival.
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
One Summer, King Edward VII turned his back on the traditional morning suit, and donned a linen suit and Panama hat. Thus the Glorious Goodwood trend was born.
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
Built in 1787 by celebrated architect James Wyatt to house the third Duke of Richmond’s prized fox hounds, The Kennels was known as one of the most luxurious dog houses in the world!
G. Stubbs (1724–1806) created some of the animal portraiture masterpieces at Goodwood House, combining anatomical exactitude with expressive details
As the private clubhouse for all of the Estate’s sporting and social members, it offers personal service and a relaxed atmosphere
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Each room has it's own button to ring for James (your butler) whenever and whatever you need him for.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
The Fiat S76 or "Beast of Turin" is a Goodwood favourite and can usually be heard before it is seen at #FOS
Spectate from the chicane at the Revival to see plenty of classic cars going sideways as they exit this infamous point of our Motor Circuit.
Festival of Speed is our longest-standing Motorsport event, starting in 1993 when it opened to 25,00 people. We were expecting 2000!
Festival of Speed is our longest-standing Motorsport event, starting in 1993 when it opened to 25,00 people. We were expecting 2000!
The Fiat S76 or "Beast of Turin" is a Goodwood favourite and can usually be heard before it is seen at #FOS
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
The first public race meeting took place in 1802 and, through the nineteenth century, ‘Glorious Goodwood,’ as the press named it, became a highlight of the summer season
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
The first public race meeting took place in 1802 and, through the nineteenth century, ‘Glorious Goodwood,’ as the press named it, became a highlight of the summer season
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
Nick Heidfelds 1999 (41.6s) hillclimb record was beaten after Max Chilton in his McMurtry Spéirling fan car tore it to shreds at 39.08s in 2022!
Goodwood’s pigs are a mix of two rare breeds (Gloucester Old Spots and Saddlebacks) plus the Large White Boar.
Goodwood’s pigs are a mix of two rare breeds (Gloucester Old Spots and Saddlebacks) plus the Large White Boar.
Goodwood Motor Circuit was officially opened in September 1948 when Freddie March, the 9th Duke and renowned amateur racer, tore around the track in a Bristol 400
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
The first ever round of golf played at Goodwood was in 1914 when the 6th Duke of Richmond opened the course on the Downs above Goodwood House.
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
The famous fighter ace, who flew his last sortie from Goodwood Aerodrome, formerly RAF Westhampnett has a statue in his honor within the airfield.
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
...plan strategy in an ancient woodland, enjoy award-winning dining then drive around a racetrack?
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
As the private clubhouse for all of the Estate’s sporting and social members, it offers personal service and a relaxed atmosphere
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
The first ever round of golf played at Goodwood was in 1914 when the 6th Duke of Richmond opened the course on the Downs above Goodwood House.
The Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
As the private clubhouse for all of the Estate’s sporting and social members, it offers personal service and a relaxed atmosphere
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
A 20m woodland rue, from Halnaker to Lavant, was planted by our forestry teams & volunteers, featuring native species like oak, beech, & hornbeam
Easy boy! The charismatic Farnham Flyer loved to celebrate every win with a pint of beer. His Boxer dog, Grogger, did too and had a tendancy to steal sips straight from the glass.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
The first thing ever dropped at Goodwood was a cuddly elephant which landed in 1932 just as the 9th Duke of Richmonds passion for flying was taking off.
Testament to the 19th-century fascination with ancient Egypt and decorative opulence. The room is richly detailed with gilded cartouches, sphinxes, birds and crocodiles.
To celebrate the publication of his new book, which delves into the estate's glorious history, we talk to Goodwood House curator James Peill
Words by James Collard
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“As a child I loved going to country houses,” says James Peill. “I was always inspired by the history, the art, and the stories of the families.” And one way or another, such houses and the treasures they contain have been his career – first at Christie’s in London and New York, then at Goodwood, where he became curator of the Goodwood Collection in 2009, and as an author of several books on the subject, the latest being Glorious Goodwood: A Biography of England’s Greatest Sporting Estate.
Peill’s CV reveals a singular focus. The avid young countryhouse visitor who knew before he was 10 that he wanted to work at Christie’s went on and did precisely that, joining as a graduate trainee after completing a History of Art degree. At Christie’s, Peill (pictured, above) trained as a furniture specialist and auctioneer – an experience he likens to doing “a one-man show, only with quite a lot of money at stake”.
A recent acquisition for the Goodwood Collection – a 1787 cartoon depicting the 3rd Duke and his wife (in the box) at the theatre he had built at his London house, where amateur theatricals were performed to great acclaim
With a big house sale, “you’d get the complete picture – furniture, silver, porcelain, maybe books”. And while Peill’s work brought him close to exceptional pieces, such sales can also signal the dispersal of a great collection, amassed in precisely the kind of country house that he has always loved.
So it’s doubtless more of an unalloyed pleasure to be the professional custodian of one of the great surviving collections at Goodwood House – tasked with maintaining and even adding to it. For that, the questions Peill and the current Duke ask themselves are these: “Can we afford it? Does it look good? Does it need a lot of money spent on restoring it? Does it fill a gap in the collection? Is it something that was in the collection that we want to have back?” And, of course, a question perhaps more familiar to the rest of us: “Do we have room for it?”
Glorious Goodwood: A Biography of England’s Greatest Sporting Estate
At Goodwood, there are pieces that proclaim the grandeur of the Dukes’ public lives: tapestries given by Louis XV to the 3rd Duke, ambassador to Paris; Napoleon’s campaign chair, given by Wellington to the 4th Duke, his comrade-in-arms; ancestral portraits aplenty. But others speak to the family’s sporting pursuits, which Peill describes with such infectious enthusiasm in his book: Stubbs’s paintings of the Charlton Hunt; Jane, Duchess of Gordon, fishing; the 7th Duke on the golf course; and shooting parties at Glenfiddich.
Asked to explain this continuity of “sporting passions, which the family act out and share”, from all of the above to Thoroughbred racing and Formula 1, Peill suggests that “it’s partly the place – and it’s a lovely place. And there’s been this very strong desire, passed down through the generations, to share it with others. And there’s a great enjoyment in sharing. And maybe that’s something you only learn by doing it.”
This article was taken from the Summer 2019 edition of the Goodwood Magazine.
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