Abbey House Gardens
Encyclopedia
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, covering 5 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (20,200 m²). Privately owned, the gardens—but not the house itself—are open to the public seven days a week from late March until late October. It is one of the main tourist attractions in England's oldest town, Malmesbury.
History
Abbey House dates from the 16th century, built on 13th century foundations, with some evidence of a substantial house on the site as early as the 11th century. It has been extensively renovated and extended since, particularly in Tudor times.It was connected to Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, was founded as a Benedictine monastery around 676 by the scholar-poet Aldhelm, a nephew of King Ine of Wessex. In 941 AD, King Athelstan was buried in the Abbey. By the 11th century it contained the second largest library in Europe and was...
, next door, and is thought to have been the main home of the abbot of the famous Benedictine abbey. It is a Grade I listed building.
In 1539, Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, was founded as a Benedictine monastery around 676 by the scholar-poet Aldhelm, a nephew of King Ine of Wessex. In 941 AD, King Athelstan was buried in the Abbey. By the 11th century it contained the second largest library in Europe and was...
was sold by Henry VIII to a local clothier William Stumpe, who also bought the site and lived in it himself. In 1542, he rebuilt the home in the Tudor style, using the foundations of the 13th century Abbot's house; the old secytion of the house remains mostly unchanged since then.
The house and its grounds were handed down through the Stumpe family, which by the time of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
had married into the Ivey family.
The house remained in private hands and was bought by Captain Elliot Scott McKirdy during the 1920s, who enlarged the house, added a nursery wing and servants' quarters, keeping the same exterior style.
The house was bought in 1968 by The Deaconness Community of St Andrew, who ran the home as a convent and retreat until 1990.
Present day
Hazelbury Manor
Hazelbury Manor is a Grade I listed manor house, parts of which date back to the 14th century, in the hamlet of Hazelbury in Wiltshire, England.- Manor :...
, another mansion near Box
Box
Box describes a variety of containers and receptacles for permanent use as storage, or for temporary use often for transporting contents. The word derives from the Greek πύξος , "box, boxwood"....
in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. They set about transforming the 5 acres (20,234.3 m²), and opened the gardens to the public in 1996.
In 1998, a large skeleton was unearthed in the gardens, close to the site of the ruined Lady Chapel of Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, was founded as a Benedictine monastery around 676 by the scholar-poet Aldhelm, a nephew of King Ine of Wessex. In 941 AD, King Athelstan was buried in the Abbey. By the 11th century it contained the second largest library in Europe and was...
. The find was featured in the TV archaeology show Meet the Ancestors
Meet the Ancestors
Meet the Ancestors aka Ancestors was a BBC Television documentary series that documents the archaeological excavation and scientific reconstruction of human remains.-Series one :-Series two :...
, whose exprets recreated the skeleton and speculated that it was probably a 13th century monk or abbot who walked with a limp and had toothache.
In 2001 and increasingly in 2002, the gardens were brought to wider public attention, particularly through the acclamation of Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Fred Titchmarsh, MBE DL is an English gardener, broadcaster and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a garden journalist, he established himself as a media personality through appearances on gardening programmes...
, who devoted an episode of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV programme Gardeners' World
Gardeners' World
Gardeners' World is a long-running BBC television programme about gardening that continues to this day. Its first episode was filmed in 1968, presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. The magazine BBC Gardeners' World is a tie-in to the programme. Most of its episodes have...
to Abbey House Gardens, broadcast in June 2002. On the week of transmission, the Pollards were featured in that week's edition of Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
.
As well as the gardens, the Pollards also became known as 'The Naked Gardeners'. Both Ian and Barbara, particularly Ian, spoke freely of their love of naturism
Naturism
Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism....
, and were often featured in newspapers and magazines pictured naked among the foliage of Abbey House.
The couple became, for a short time, the resident gardening experts on ITV's This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
, but the timing was not good: within a few weeks the show was struck by the sex scandal that engulfed presenter John Leslie
John Leslie (television presenter)
John Leslie is a Scottish former television presenter. He has presented BBC One's Blue Peter and ITV's This Morning and the ITV gameshow Wheel of Fortune. He was also the roving reporter for the first series of the UK version of Survivor...
, and suddenly the couple's 'Naked Gardeners' label did not fit.
In August 2005, and followed again with more similar events in 2006, Abbey House Gardens hosted what was thought to be the first 'Clothes Optional Day' at a major inland British tourist attraction.
Naturists from all over the country flocked to the gardens, and as many as two-thirds of the visitors that day enjoyed the gardens in the nude.
The gardens cover 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) and include over 10,000 different plants.