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Holkham Hall, on the North Norfolk coast, built between 1734 and 1764, was intended by Thomas Coke (1697-1759, created Is' Earl of Leicester in 1744) to be an expression of his architectural taste, an appropriate setting for his paintings, sculpture, books and furniture, the centre of his great estate, and a replacement for the ancestral home, on the same site, worthy of his wealth and, eventually, his title. Historians have paid little attention to the technological features of the original house, the way in which later innovations were adopted, and their part in enabling the house to continue to perform its multiple roles. Contemporaries, however, were well aware that the design of the house incorporated appropriate and often outstanding technology: practical aspects such as water supply, sanitation, heating and cooking were no more left to chance than was the appearance of the house, and in their own way they were as remarkable.
Thomas Coke's knowledgeable enthusiasm for architecture and interior design was matched by a concern for practical perfection. He gave personal instructions to Matthew Brettingham, his executive architect, on the fitting of his bathroom and water closet. When fireplaces gave problems, it was Coke who consulted a book by an expert. As Kitchen Wing neared completion in 1756, he was busy "setting out" the kitchen court with Brettingham. Practical aspects of the hall warranted mention in the younger Brettingham's description of Holkham, published in 1773, and impressed visitors. A foreigner in 1784 considered Holkham not only one of the "most elegant" of English houses, but also, "above all, one of the best provided with every kind of comfort and convenience" (Fig. I).1
The water supply
One feature which prompted such comment was the water supply, designed to provide a high standard of sanitation in the family and guest wings at the west end of the house and a separate liberal supply to the domestic offices at the east end. In the early 1730s, as preparations were made to start building, a specialist well sinker, Mr. Capper, was brought from Derbyshire. He was paid £40 per annum, a high salary reflecting his skills, but he and a colleague were killed in 1734 in a farm well.2 By 1738, when work was well advanced on...