20/05/2024
Here is the Egerton story
Lord Egerton Castle-1938
Lord Egerton Castle is located in Njoro, approximately 30 minutes drive from Nakuru, Kenya’s 4th largest city. The mansion with fascinating architecture and surrounded by numerous shrubs, canopy trees, and lush lawns was built by Lord Egerton between 1938 and 1952.
The story of this castle is one of both love and hate. Lord Maurice Egerton was born in 1874 into the Barons of Egerton, a royal family. Egerton had two siblings that later died, which left him as the sole heir of the family’s vast empire. He was employed in the Royal Navy until 1920 when he became the fourth baron of Egerton- following the demise of his father.
His love for travel enabled him to visit various African countries, and he eventually settled in Kenya to concentrate on large-scale agriculture. After purchasing 21,116 acres of land from the Lord Delamere family, he was of age and needed to marry a girl of the same status that royal lineage demanded.
Maurice Egerton fell in love with a young woman from Queen Elizabeth’s lineage and built a four roomed cottage to impress her. He invited her to come over and see the cottage, but to his disbelief, she wasn’t impressed with the house and called it a ‘bird’s nest’. Lord Egerton then decided to build a bigger house, a castle that epitomized his royal status. This time around, he was convinced the girl of his dreams would change her mind and reciprocate his love.
To ensure that his new castle was luxurious and top notch, he hired Albert Brown, an English architect, to implement the fancy design in 1938. The house was built by construction workers from Italy, as well as over 100 Red Indian laborers. Unfortunately, the woman he loved once again rejected the castle for its small size and referred to it as a ‘dog kernel’.
Heartbroken, Lord Egerton carried on with the construction while the love of his life married a wealthy British Lord in Australia. He gradually added more floors, blocks, rooms, alle
