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.
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.
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
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!
The origins of the collection lay in the possessions of Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, and Duchess of Aubigny in France, to whom some of the paintings originally belonged.
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!
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!
The stunning fish which adorn the walls of the main corridor are hand crafted and represent the fishing documents from Gordon Castle of 1864-1898.
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
The Fiat S76 or "Beast of Turin" is a Goodwood favourite and can usually be heard before it is seen at #FOS
Legend of Goodwood's golden racing era and Le Mans winner Roy Salvadori once famously said "give me Goodwood on a summer's day and you can forget the rest".
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.
FOS Favourite Mad Mike Whiddett can be caught melting tyres in his incredible collection of cars (and trucks) up the hillclimb
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
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
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
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.
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
Festival of Speed is our longest-standing Motorsport event, starting in 1993 when it opened to 25,00 people. We were expecting 2000!
The Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
A 20m woodland rue, from Halnaker to Lavant, was planted by our forestry teams & volunteers, featuring native species like oak, beech, & hornbeam
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.
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
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 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.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
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.
According to Head Butler at Goodwood House David Edney "Class, sophistication and discretion".
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!
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.
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
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
As the private clubhouse for all of the Estate’s sporting and social members, it offers personal service and a relaxed atmosphere
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
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.
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
Testament to the 19th-century fascination with ancient Egypt and decorative opulence. The room is richly detailed with gilded cartouches, sphinxes, birds and crocodiles.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
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.
Testament to the 19th-century fascination with ancient Egypt and decorative opulence. The room is richly detailed with gilded cartouches, sphinxes, birds and crocodiles.
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!
For centuries, tapestries have depicted epic tales and grand events in textile form. Now contemporary artists are embracing this ancient craft to tell their own, very modern, stories
Words by Oliver Bennett
Magazine
Art
History
A fully rounded trip to Goodwood House should take in its artistic treasures, including masterpieces by Stubbs and Canaletto. But whatever you do, don’t forget the Tapestry Drawing Room. This neoclassical chamber is home to a remarkable set of Gobelins tapestries, commissioned by Louis XV, depicting Don Quixote. “They’re so important,” says James Peill, curator of Goodwood House. “They were part of a series of 30 made for the French king and given to the 3rd Duke when he was French ambassador.”
They're like pixels, with 3000 threads making up the image
These textile treasures are undeniably glorious, but as an art form, hasn’t tapestry had its day? Not a bit of it. The ultimate “slow art”, painstakingly woven and often recounting an epic tale, tapestry has made an enthusiastic return among today’s creative luminaries. “Artists’ and designers’ contemporary rugs have become very collectable in recent years,” confirms Christopher Sharp, CEO and co-founder of The Rug Company, which has made one-off tapestries designed by a number of high-profile names, including Kara Walker, Sir Peter Blake and Sir Paul Smith.
One of the leading exponents of this newfound passion is Grayson Perry, whose four tapestries about fictional Essex everywoman Julie Cope’s Grand Tour were recently on show at Colchester’s Firstsite gallery. Perry is not alone in his love of warp and weft. Last year, Chris Ofili showed his tapestry The Caged Bird’s Song at National Gallery show Weaving Magic – a transposition of a tropical watercolour into tapestry form. And the tapestry trend continues elsewhere. Pae White’s Pomona, comprising three huge tapestries, decorates Bloomberg’s new City of London HQ, while celebrated South African artist William Kentridge’s tapestry Dare/Avere has just been unveiled at Ermenegildo Zegna’s London store. Gavin Turk, Tracey Emin and Martin Creed are among the other art-world stars who have recently embraced the woven medium.
View our very own collection of tapestries with a guided tour of Goodwood House
Why tapestry, and why now? One reason is the revival of interest in time-honoured craft techniques – what Matthew Bourne of Chelsea-based rug-master Christopher Farr attributes to “a search for new and durable art forms that are useful as well as beautiful”. Whatever, tapestry-making is back in the ascendant. The fabled Edinburgh tapestry workshop Dovecot reopened in 2001 after a period in the doldrums and is now riding high; it made Ofili’s tapestry and is currently showing Garry Fabian Miller’s Voyage into the deepest, darkest blue – a grand return for a company that commissioned David Hockney, Graham Sutherland and Frank Stella in the 20th century.
Tapestries are also making waves in the saleroom. In 2012, Bonhams achieved £540,000 for Ghanaian artist El Anatsui’s New World Map, a tapestry made from flattened bottle tops and wire. A return, perhaps, to the art form’s Tudor heyday. “Tapestries back then were judged as a higher art than paintings and were more expensive,” says Bourne. “Henry VIII had a lot of his wealth wrapped up in them.”
For some, tapestry’s resurgence isn’t just about the revival of old skills; it has a new relevance in the digital era. Garry Fabian Miller’s work draws an explicit link between digital photography and tapestry, as does William Kentridge, who likens tapestries to film projections. “You can fill a wall with a 3m x 4m tapestry,” he says. “They’re strangely contemporary, like a primitive digital form. On one hand they refer back to Gobelins; on another they’re like pixels, with 3,000 threads making up the image.”
Tapestries back then were judged as a higher art than paintings and were more expensive
Woven artworks are regaining their old prestige. As art historian Thomas P Campbell has said, in the Middle Ages they were more expensive than paintings (Henry VIII owned 300 paintings but 2,500 tapestries) and were used as “portable propaganda” – diplomatic gifts par excellence – which loops us back to the Tapestry Drawing Room, host to many Royal Privy Council meetings overlooked by the Gobelins tapestries.
Intriguingly, Campbell has also likened this historic “gamesmanship” to television hit Game of Thrones. Surely Henry VIII would enjoy the fact that a GoT tapestry has, since last autumn, adorned the Ulster Museum in Belfast. Full of fights, romances, valour and victories, it’s not that far removed from the Bayeux Tapestry, now set to visit the UK as part of a new entente cordiale between the UK and France, indicating tapestry’s enduring merit as an epic storytelling format – not to mention, as Peill puts it, “a very grand way of decorating a room”.
This article is taken from the Goodwood magazine, Spring 2018 issue
Magazine
Art
History