Thenford House

Michael Wodhull was born in Thenford, Northamptonshire in 1740. His parents were wealthy landowners and he never worked. His principal occupations were book collecting and the translation of Ancient Greek texts. In the 20th century, the house was in the possession of the Summers family, until the death in 1976 of Spencer Summers, who also served as High Sheriff for the county in the year before his death. Michael Heseltine and his wife Anne bought the house and 400 acres of gardens and farmland from Sir Spencer's widow in 1976, and moved into the house in 1977. Since that time, the Heseltines have developed the house and the estate, most notably by the planting of an important arboretum. A…

Nikolaus Pevsner, in his Buildings of England, notes that the house is "of fine quality but decidedly conservative for its date". Both he, and Historic England suggest that the style is more of the 1650s–1680s, rather than that fashionable at the time of the house's construction in the mid-18th century. Historic England suggests that Woodhull is likely to have been his own architect, perhaps assisted by a local draughtsman. and a 19th-century pump in the grounds have their own Grade II listings. Ancillary estate buildings also have Grade II listings, including the Home and Manor farmhouses.