Stourhead
Encyclopedia
Stourhead is a 2,650 acre
(11 km²) estate
at the source
of the River Stour
near Mere
, Wiltshire
, England
. The estate includes a Palladian mansion
, the village of Stourton
, garden
s, farmland, and woodland. Stourhead has been in the ownership of the National Trust
since 1946.
, had lived in the Stourhead estate for 500 years until they sold it to Sir Thomas Meres in 1714. His son, John Meres, sold it to Henry Hoare I
, son of wealthy banker Sir Richard Hoare
in 1717. The original manor house
was demolished and a new house, one of the first of its kind, was designed by Colen Campbell
and built by Nathaniel Ireson
between 1721 and 1725. Over the next 200 years the Hoare family collected many heirlooms, including a large library
and art
collection. In 1902 the house was gutted by fire. However, many of the heirlooms were saved, and the house rebuilt in a near identical style. The last Hoare family member to own the property, Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, gave the Stourhead house and gardens to the National Trust in 1946, one year before his death. His sole heir and son, Captain "Harry" Henry Colt Arthur Hoare, of the Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry
, had died of wounds received at the Battle of Mughar Ridge
on 13 November 1917 in World War I
. Captain "Harry" Hoare is commemorated by a plaque on the Memorial Hall at Stourhead. The last Hoare family member to be born inside the house is Edward Hoare on 11 October 1949.
The gardens were designed by Henry Hoare II
and laid out between 1741 and 1780 in a classical 18th-century design set around a large lake
, achieved by damming a small stream. The inspiration behind their creation were the painters Claude Lorrain
, Poussin
and, in particular, Gaspar Dughet, who painted Utopia
n-type views of Italian
landscapes. It is similar in style to the landscape gardens at Stowe
.
Included in the garden are a number of temples inspired by scenes of the Grand Tours of Europe. On one hill overlooking the gardens there stands an obelisk
and King Alfred's Tower
(a 50-metre-tall, brick folly
designed by Henry Flitcroft
in 1772); on another hill the temple of Apollo
provides a vantage point to survey the magnificent rhododendron
s, water, cascades and temples. Amongst the hills surrounding the site there are also two Iron Age
hill fort
s: Whitesheet Hill
and Park Hill Camp. The gardens are home to a large collection of tree
s and shrub
s from around the world.
Richard Colt Hoare, the grandson of Henry Hoare II, inherited Stourhead in 1783. He added the library wing to the mansion and in the garden was responsible for the building of the boathouse and the removal of several features that were not in keeping with the general classical and gothic styles (including a Turkish Tent). He also considerably enhanced the planting - the Temple of Apollo rises from a wooded slope, that was planted in Colt Hoare's time. With the antiquarian passion of the times, he had 400 ancient burial mounds dug up in order to inform his pioneering History of Ancient Wiltshire.
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...
(11 km²) estate
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
at the source
Source (river or stream)
The source or headwaters of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates.-Definition:There is no universally agreed upon definition for determining a stream's source...
of the River Stour
River Stour, Dorset
The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name...
near Mere
Mere, Wiltshire
Mere is a small town in Wiltshire, England. It lies at the extreme southwestern tip of Salisbury Plain close to the borders of Somerset and Dorset....
, 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...
, 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...
. The estate includes a Palladian mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
, the village of Stourton
Stourton, Wiltshire
Stourton is a village in Wiltshire, England, at . The village is close to the county boundary with Somerset and about south of the Somerset market town of Frome.Stourton is part of the Stourhead estate, now in the ownership of the National Trust....
, garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s, farmland, and woodland. Stourhead has been in the ownership of the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
since 1946.
History
The Stourton family, the Barons of StourtonBaron Stourton
Baron Stourton is a title in the Peerage of England, It was created created by writ in 1448 for John Stourton. In 1878, the ancient barony of Mowbray was called out of abeyance in favour of the twentieth Baron Stourton. About two weeks later, the barony of Segrave was also called out of abeyance in...
, had lived in the Stourhead estate for 500 years until they sold it to Sir Thomas Meres in 1714. His son, John Meres, sold it to Henry Hoare I
Henry Hoare (banker)
Henry Hoare I , known as Henry the Good, was an English banker and landowner.-Career:Born the son of Sir Richard Hoare, founder of C. Hoare & Co bankers, Henry the Good became a Partner in the bank in August 1702. Together with his father, he became a commissioner for the building of 50 new...
, son of wealthy banker Sir Richard Hoare
Richard Hoare
Sir Richard Hoare was the founder of C. Hoare & Co, one of the United Kingdom's oldest private banks.-Career:Having been raised near Smithfield Market in London, Richard Hoare began his working life apprenticed to a goldsmith. He was granted the Freedom of the Goldsmiths' Company on 5 July 1672....
in 1717. The original manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
was demolished and a new house, one of the first of its kind, was designed by Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
and built by Nathaniel Ireson
Nathaniel Ireson
Nathaniel Ireson was a potter, architect and mason from Wincanton working in Somerset, England.He rebuilt much of the centre of Wincanton following a fire in 1707....
between 1721 and 1725. Over the next 200 years the Hoare family collected many heirlooms, including a large library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
collection. In 1902 the house was gutted by fire. However, many of the heirlooms were saved, and the house rebuilt in a near identical style. The last Hoare family member to own the property, Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, gave the Stourhead house and gardens to the National Trust in 1946, one year before his death. His sole heir and son, Captain "Harry" Henry Colt Arthur Hoare, of the Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry
Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry
The Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry was founded as the Dorsetshire Regiment of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry in 1794. In response to the growing threat of invasion during the Napoleonic wars....
, had died of wounds received at the Battle of Mughar Ridge
Battle of Mughar Ridge
The Battle of El Mughar Ridge , took place on 13 November 1917 during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War...
on 13 November 1917 in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Captain "Harry" Hoare is commemorated by a plaque on the Memorial Hall at Stourhead. The last Hoare family member to be born inside the house is Edward Hoare on 11 October 1949.
The Gardens
Henry Hoare
Henry Hoare II , known as Henry the Magnificent, was an English banker and garden owner-designer.-Career:Born the son of Henry Hoare I and educated at Westminster School, Henry Hoare dominated the Hoare family through his wealth and personal charisma. Henry was a partner for nearly 60 years in C...
and laid out between 1741 and 1780 in a classical 18th-century design set around a large lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
, achieved by damming a small stream. The inspiration behind their creation were the painters Claude Lorrain
Claude Lorrain
Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French Claude Gellée, , dit le Lorrain) Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French...
, Poussin
Poussin
Poussin refers to:*Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin Belgian mathematician*Charles-Louis-Joseph-Xavier de la Vallée-Poussin Belgian geologist and mineralogist, father of Charles Jean*Nicolas Poussin , French painter...
and, in particular, Gaspar Dughet, who painted Utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n-type views of Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
landscapes. It is similar in style to the landscape gardens at Stowe
Stowe House
Stowe House is a Grade I listed country house located in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is the home of Stowe School, an independent school. The gardens , a significant example of the English Landscape Garden style, along with part of the Park, passed into the ownership of The National Trust...
.
Included in the garden are a number of temples inspired by scenes of the Grand Tours of Europe. On one hill overlooking the gardens there stands an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
and King Alfred's Tower
King Alfred's Tower
King Alfred's Tower or The Folly of King Alfred the Great is in the parish of Brewham, Somerset, and was built as part of the celebrated Stourhead estate and landscape. The tower stands on Kingsettle Hill and nowadays belongs to the National Trust...
(a 50-metre-tall, brick folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
designed by Henry Flitcroft
Henry Flitcroft
Henry Flitcroft was a major English architect in the second generation of Palladianism. He came from a simple background: his father was a labourer in the gardens at Hampton Court and he began as a joiner by trade. Working as a carpenter at Burlington House, he fell from a scaffold and broke his leg...
in 1772); on another hill the temple of Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
provides a vantage point to survey the magnificent rhododendron
Rhododendron
Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
s, water, cascades and temples. Amongst the hills surrounding the site there are also two Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
s: Whitesheet Hill
Whitesheet Hill
Whitesheet Hill is a 136.1 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, notified in 1965. As one of the most westerly areas of downland in Britain the area is noted for its chalky farmland which contains a rich variety of rare and protected fauna and flora. The hill is also...
and Park Hill Camp. The gardens are home to a large collection of tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s and shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s from around the world.
Richard Colt Hoare, the grandson of Henry Hoare II, inherited Stourhead in 1783. He added the library wing to the mansion and in the garden was responsible for the building of the boathouse and the removal of several features that were not in keeping with the general classical and gothic styles (including a Turkish Tent). He also considerably enhanced the planting - the Temple of Apollo rises from a wooded slope, that was planted in Colt Hoare's time. With the antiquarian passion of the times, he had 400 ancient burial mounds dug up in order to inform his pioneering History of Ancient Wiltshire.
Trivia
- A miniature replica of Stourhead House featured as Lady Penelope Creighton-WardLady Penelope Creighton-WardLady Penelope Creighton-Ward is the London Agent for the secret organisation International Rescue in the hit television series Thunderbirds...
's residence in the ThunderbirdsThunderbirds (TV series)Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
television series. - Temple of Apollo and Palladian Bridge can be seen in the 2005 movie Pride & PrejudicePride & Prejudice (2005 film)Pride & Prejudice is a 2005 British romance film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 1813 novel of the same name by Jane Austen and the second adaption produced by Working Title Films. It was released on September 16, 2005, in the UK and on November 11, 2005, in the...
. - Stourhead House was featured on the cover of English indie rock band MilburnMilburnMilburn may refer to:*Milburn, New Zealand *Milburn, Oklahoma, USA*Milburn, Cumbria, England*Milburn Township, Custer County, Nebraska, USA*Milburn , a family name*Milburn , a musical group...
's single What Will You Do (When The Money Goes)? - The gardens were used in the film Barry Lyndon.
- The estate was at one point garrisoned for the king, during the lifetime of the 11th Baron StourtonWilliam Stourton, 11th Baron StourtonWilliam Stourton, 11th Baron Stourton was the son of Edward Stourton and Frances Tresham. He married Frances Moore , daughter of Sir Edward Moore. William and Frances had five children;*William...
, who was a royalist. - The house was ravaged, in September 1644, by General Ludlow.
- Images from the gardens were shown on the BBC News Website in conjunction with a BBC Radio 4 interview with the Head Gardener in October 2011.