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!
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.
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 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
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.
A 20m woodland rue, from Halnaker to Lavant, was planted by our forestry teams & volunteers, featuring native species like oak, beech, & hornbeam
Within the boot room are hooks for 20 people, enough for all of the Lodges 10 bedrooms.
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 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".
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.
For the last two years, 5,800 bales have been recylced into the biomass energy centre to be used for energy generation
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
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 red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
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.
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 red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
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
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
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
Just beyond Goodwood House along the Hillclimb, the 2nd Dukes banqueting house was also known as "one of the finest rooms in England" (George Vertue 1747).
The Duke of Richmond holds the title of Duke of Richmond and Gordon. This title reflects the historical association with both the Richmond and Gordon families.
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
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.
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 iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
The famous fighter ace, who flew his last sortie from Goodwood Aerodrome, formerly RAF Westhampnett has a statue in his honor within the airfield.
The Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
The Duke of Richmond holds the title of Duke of Richmond and Gordon. This title reflects the historical association with both the Richmond and Gordon families.
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.
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 Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
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!
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
The Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
The Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
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.
Inspired by the legendary racer, Masten Gregory, who famously leapt from the cockpit of his car before impact when approaching Woodcote Corner in 1959.
From pampered foxhounds to Britain’s first Pekingese, canine companions have always played a prominent role in Goodwood life – as you can see from their frequent appearances in the Estate’s art collection
Words by James Collard
There are ancestral portraits everywhere you look at Goodwood House; as in most country houses, the family tree is on the walls for all to see. And, alongside the ancestors are birds and animals: toucans on the Sèvres service, mythical beasts, like the stone sphinxes flanking Carne’s Seat, or Sheldon, a Chestnut Hunter, one of six paintings of hunters commissioned by the 2nd Duke from artist John Wootton. Critters everywhere, but most of all, dogs – an extraordinary variety of dogs, popping up like so many canine extras alongside whoever is meant to be the star of a portrait: the spaniels sprawled beside one of those hunters or cosying up to a Lennox family member, the Jack Russell perched on a house guest’s lap during Race Week, or the mysterious mutt (what is it – a corpulent greyhound, a giant bull terrier?) in Canaletto’s Allegorical Tomb of Archbishop Tillotson, commissioned by the 2nd Duke of Richmond.
At Goodwood, however, dogs are seldom precisely an extra; they have a tendency to thrust themselves centre stage. True, the white German shepherd dozing behind The Duchess of Richmond (the Paul Brason portrait of Susan, Duchess of Richmond) might have the flimsiest of cameo roles. But just try telling the lurcher at her feet that his is just a bit part. But all this doggy pre-eminence is only right and fitting, given that but for foxhounds – and the foxes they pursued – Goodwood House might have remained simply a small estate and house, rather than the seat of a great dynasty. For it was this emerging sport, and the nearby Charlton Hunt, that brought Charles Lennox, the 1st Duke, to Goodwood, where he initially rented the house for the hunting season, then bought it outright in 1697.
A love of dogs, sporting and otherwise, could be said to be in the 1st Duke’s DNA. His father was Charles II – a man who liked English toy spaniels so much, the breed was named after him. His mother was one of the King’s mistresses, Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth. Louise’s portrait hangs in the ballroom at Goodwood – complete with pet spaniel, sniffing around in the shadows at the foot of the painting.
The pursuits of hunting – and later shooting and fishing – were a key part of country life as enjoyed by generations of the Lennox and Gordon Lennox family on their land at Goodwood and later in Scotland – with generation after generation of foxhounds and gun dogs a familiar presence in their lives.
For centuries, the chase in England had generally meant the pursuit of deer, but in the 17th century, fox hunting emerged as an exhilarating alternative – and nowhere more so than at Charlton, just three miles from Goodwood itself. The hunt that first attracted the 1st Duke to the area was an elite, invitation-only affair – and thought to be the earliest documented. At one point its membership included half the knights of the Order of the Garter. Grandees such as the Duke of Devonshire and the Earl of Oxford kept hunting boxes in Charlton village and held a grand annual dinner there. The 2nd Duke turned out to be an even more enthusiastic huntsman than his father. In January 1738 he took up his diary to record “the greatest chase that ever was”, in which the hounds ran continuously for more than nine-and-a-half hours – covering some 57 miles of Sussex countryside over the course of one day. The Duke was one of only three riders to stay the distance.
Five pet Pekingese were seized from the Chinese Imperial Court, with one given to Queen Victoria, who named it Looty... and two presented to the Duchess of Richmond
We know the foxhounds’ names from the Charlton Hunt’s ledgers: Pompey, the offspring of Comfort & Pompey; Kitty, of Comely & Ranker, and so on. But sadly the pack was dispersed in 1750 – when the 2nd Duke died suddenly. But just seven years later the 3rd Duke took up the sport in a big way, bringing back some of the bloodlines from the original pack and installing his hounds in the splendid new kennels he built at Goodwood, commissioned from architect James Wyatt. Along with Sir William Chambers’ splendid stable block, this gave rise to the running joke that at Goodwood, the animals always have the grandest homes – and true enough, the 3rd Duke’s hounds enjoyed an early form of central heating, an innovation that wouldn’t arrive at the main house for more than a century.
The 3rd Duke’s soft heart when it came to dogs is also apparent in his portrait by Pompeo Batoni, in which his spaniel steals the show with that imploring paw placed on the Duke’s wide cuffs – in a gesture every spaniel owner would recognise – even as the Duke obligingly caresses his ear and scratches him, just where he likes, under the collar. We might think of the Duke as a grand seigneur and Enlightenment figure – a reader of Rousseau, man of science, Grand Tourist and collector of sculpture. But we see him here more as the originator of walks, of treats, and of downed birds, eagerly to be retrieved. What’s more, this is how the Duke commissioned this modish Roman artist to portray him while in the midst of that fashionable Grand Tour, and there’s even a companion picture of his much-loved brother, George, also with an adoring spaniel – suggesting that the Lennox boys took their favourite dogs with them on their travels.
Some of the 3rd Duke’s foxhounds are immortalised in a painting he commissioned by George Stubbs, The 3rd Duke of Richmond with the Charlton Hunt, in which we know the hounds portrayed are accurate portraits of known dogs. Stubbs also painted an equestrian portrait, now in an American collection, of The Countess of Coningsby in the Costume of the Charlton Hunt – and trotting behind the Countess’s hunter, perilously close to its hind legs, we can see what might just be a red Pomeranian, which would make the fashionable Lady Coningsby an “early adopter” of the breed, then only recently imported from Germany by Queen Charlotte.
A century or so later, Goodwood was one of the first places where another exotic breed might be spotted – surely one of the strangest spoils of war ever. Today, Pekingese dogs are popular pets all over the world. But for centuries the breed was kept exclusively by members of the Chinese Imperial Court – and bred for courtly life. In 1860, during the 2nd Opium War, the Emperor fled his Summer Palace as a joint British and French force approached. One of his elderly aunts remained, however – only to commit suicide as the troops stormed the palace. Her five pet Pekingese were seized by English officers, with one given to Queen Victoria (who named it Looty), two presented to the Duchess of Wellington, and a further pair given to the Duchess of Richmond. It is from these two Pekingese, called Guh and Meh – and possibly Schloff, one of the pair presented to the Duchess of Wellington – that the famous Goodwood strain of Pekingese evolved. And once again, they pop up throughout family photographs, sitting at the feet of the future 7th and 8th Dukes, for example, at a shooting party at Gordon Castle – a living, yapping relic of imperial China transposed to the Scottish Highlands and Sussex Downs.
The 7th Duke briefly reintroduced what was then called the Goodwood Hunt after a long hiatus in the 1880s. By then, Wyatt’s splendid Kennels were home to the Duke’s racing trainer, so the Duke housed his hounds just across the road at the newly built Hound Lodge. It lasted just 12 seasons and, but for the spectacular one-off meet of the Charlton Hunt held in 2016 to commemorate its former glories, that was the end of Goodwood’s long and close association with hunting (although the Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray Hunt still hunts on the old Charlton Hunt land). Today both The Kennels and Hound Lodge are key elements in hospitality at Goodwood and both, appropriately enough, are eminently dog-friendly. The Kennels is Goodwood’s private members’ club – complete with individual dog bowls for members’ pets in the hall, over which John Wootton’s portrait of the foxhound Tapster presides. And Tapster is very much the star of that painting. Across the road, canine guests of Hound Lodge get to decide between bedding down in the restored kennels outside in the garden or dozing in front of a log fire indoors. No contest, surely.
This article is taken from the Goodwood magazine, Spring 2018 issue.