Festival of Speed is our longest-standing Motorsport event, starting in 1993 when it opened to 25,00 people. We were expecting 2000!
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.
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 oldest existing rules for the game were drawn up for a match between the 2nd Duke and a neighbour
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
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.
As the private clubhouse for all of the Estate’s sporting and social members, it offers personal service and a relaxed atmosphere
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
4 doors in the lodge were rescued from salvage and expertly split to ensure they meet modern fire standards before being fitted.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
FOS Favourite Mad Mike Whiddett can be caught melting tyres in his incredible collection of cars (and trucks) up the hillclimb
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.
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 iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
Sir Stirling Moss was one of the founding patrons of the Festival of Speed, and a regular competitor at the Revival.
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
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 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 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
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”.
Sir Stirling Moss was one of the founding patrons of the Festival of Speed, and a regular competitor at the Revival.
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.
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.
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.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
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 temple-folly guarded by two sphinxes, the beautiful shell house was built in 1748 with collected shells and the floor made from horse teeth.
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.
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.
The red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
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!
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
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.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
The oldest existing rules for the game were drawn up for a match between the 2nd Duke and a neighbour
Goodwood’s pigs are a mix of two rare breeds (Gloucester Old Spots and Saddlebacks) plus the Large White Boar.
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
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
goodwood newsletter
estate
Goodwood Magazine
Goodwood House
“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.
goodwood newsletter
estate
Goodwood Magazine
Goodwood House