- Wrest Park
Wrest Park is a country estate located near
Silsoe ,Bedfordshire ,England . It comprises Wrest Park, a Grade I listed country house, and Wrest Park Gardens, also Grade I listed, formal gardens surrounding themansion .Wrest Park
The present house was built in 1834-39, to designs by its owner the
Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey , an amateur architect, the first president of theRoyal Institute of British Architects , who was inspired by buildings he had seen on trips toParis and based his house on designs published in French architectural books such as Jacques-François Blondel's "Architecture Française" (1752); the works were superintended as clerk of works on site by James Clephan, ["Country Life", 25 June and 2 July 1970, noted inHoward Colvin , "A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840" 3rd ed. 1995: "James Clephan".] who had been clerk of the works at the Liddell seat,Ravensworth Castle , County Durham, and had recently performed as professional amanuensis and builder for Lord Barrington, whose house, Beckett Park, Berkshire, was designed by his brother-in-law, Tom Liddell, an amateur architect. [Thomas Liddell (1800-1856), the second son of Sir Thomas Henry Liddell, createdBaron Ravensworth ; he oversaw the rebuilding of Ravensworth Castle to designs ofThomas Nash and gained architectural competence in the process] .His sister married the sixth Viscount Barrington (1823) and he Lord Barrington's sister (1843) (Colvin 1995:"Thomas Liddell").] Wrest has some of the earliest Rococo revival interiors in England. Reception rooms in the house are open to the public.Wrest Park Gardens
Wrest Park Gardens, one of the grandest English gardens of the early eighteenth century, are spread over 150 acres (607,000 m²) and were originally laid out probably by
George London andHenry Wise forHenry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent , then modified byCapability Brown in a more informal landscape style, without sacrificing the parterres. Wrest Park House was for generations the seat of the de Grey family, whoseDe Grey Mausoleum is at nearbyFlitton .In the Great Garden, water catches the eye in every direction while intersecting alleys provide splendid vistas of the many garden buildings and ornaments. The park's centrepiece is an example of French
parterre s divided by a wide gravel central walk, continued as a long canal that leads to a very fine free-standing domed pavilion (originally called the Banqueting House) designed in fullBaroque style byThomas Archer in 1709 and completed in 1711 costing £1,809 (decorated inside by Louis Hauduroy in 1712). Also Archer built between 1710 and 1717 at a cost of £1,259 the Hill House (now demolished) on the summit of the adjacent Cain Hill to which Henry Grey's family used to ride for breakfast. Later the boundary canals were altered to take the more natural shape byCapability Brown who worked here between 1758-60. The surveyorJohn Rocque made a map of the gardens and garden houses at Wrest, 1735, dedicated to Duke Henry [ [http://www.mapforum.com/05/rocqlist.htm Rocque catalogue: 5] ] The central formal area was retained instead of being swept away when it was ringed by a canal and woodland planned by Brown. During the later 18th and 19th centuries, the Bath House (designed by Edward Stevens or Thomas Wright, 1770), and marble fountains were added. The huge Orangery was built byEarl de Grey .From 1906 to 1911 Wrest Park was leased to the American Ambassador, Mr. Whitelaw Reid, during which time a number of important visitors came there.
King Edward VII andQueen Alexandra were guests there on24 July 1909 and the former US presidentTheodore Roosevelt visited in May 1910.The estate at Wrest is the oldest lay estate in Bedfordshire. [ [http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/bedscc/sdcountyrec.nsf/web/thepage/Estate+Correspondence] ] Wrest Park Gardens are now in the care of
English Heritage .Restoration programme
In the autumn of 2007
English Heritage has announced that theWolfson Foundation has pledged up to £400,000 towards the restoration of a number of the key features of theWrest Park estate including the mansion's formal entrance area, the garden statuary, railings and gates decoration and altering the height of the carriage drive. In the next phases the lakes and canals will be restored.On 12 September, 2008
English Heritage unveiled extensive plans to restore the Grade I listed Wrest Park house and gardens to their original splendour. [ [http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/bed-news/20year-plan-to-restore-Wrest.4484722.jp] ]Memorial column dedicated to Lancelot 'Capability' Brown
The inscription on the column, originally placed near the Bowling Green House (remodelled by
Batty Langley , 1735), and now located in the eastern part of the gardens:'These gardens, originally laid out by Henry Duke of Kent, were altered by Philip Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima Marchioness Grey with the professional assistance of Lancelot Brown Esq. in the years 1758, 1759, 1760.'
Thomas Carew's poem about the old Wrest House
Thomas Carew (1595-1640) wrote his country house poem 'To My Friend G.N. from Wrest' in 1639 that described the old house which was demolished between 1834 and 1840::Such pure and uncompounded beauties bless:This mansion with an useful comeliness,:Devoid of art, for here the architect:Did not with curious skill a pile erect:Of carved marble, touch, or porphyry,:But built a house for hospitality;:No sumptuous chimney-piece of shining stone:Invites the stranger's eye to gaze upon,:And coldly entertains his sight, but clear:And cheerful flames cherish and warm him here::No Doric nor Corinthian pillars grace:With imagery this structure's naked face,:The lord and lady of this place delight:Rather to be in act than seem in sight;:Instead of statues to adorn their wall:They throng with living men their merry hall,:Where at large tables filled with wholesome meats:The servant, tenant, and kind neighbour eats.:::(lines 19-36)
:Amalthea's horn:Of plenty is not in effigy worn:Without the gate, but she within the door:Empties her free and unexhausted store.:Nor, crowned with wheaten wreaths, doth Ceres stand:In stone, with a crook’d sickle in her hand::Nor, on a marble tun, his face besmeared:With grapes, is curled Bacchus reared.:We offer not in emblems to the eyes,:But to the taste those useful deities.:We press the juicy god and quaff his blood,:And grind the yellow goddess into food.:::(lines 57-68)
See also
*
Silsoe
*De Grey Mausoleum
*Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey Notes
External links
* [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.51 Wrest Park's page on English Heritage's site]
Further reading
*Nicola Smith, "Wrest Park" published by English Heritage, London 1995, ISBN 1-85074-481-5
*Linda Cabe Halpern, "Wrest Park 1686–1730s: exploring Dutch influences" in "Garden History Journal" vol 30.2 (2002)
*Jean O’Neill, "John Rocque as a guide to gardens" in "Garden History Journal" vol 16.1
*James Collett-White, "Inventories of Bedfordshire Country Houses 1714-1830", Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, Volume 74, 1995
*Charles Read, Earl de Grey, London 2007 ISBN 978-0-95556-930-2
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