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The Highest Point in the Park

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The Highest Point in the Park CHAPTER SIX The Highest Point in the Park Before 1750 ‘The celebrated Brown’ ‘A degree of grandeur and magnificence’ ‘A more distinguishing character’ Another Wyatt St Giles’ church 80 STOKE PARK THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 81 Penn continued to carry out improvements to the estate. ‘The celebrated However, nothing very radical was achieved before he died in 1775, to be succeeded by his son, John Penn, who was still Brown’ only fifteen. Following the American War of Independence, the Penn family lost its estates in Pennsylvania, but within the When Viscountess Cobham moved to Stoke Park on the death compensation granted by the government John Penn began of her husband, she decided to make some improvements substantial improvements to the estate. When he returned and, in 1750, commissioned Brown to draw up a plan for to Stoke Park in 1788, the Old House was in such a state of modernising the grounds. His original plan had been lost, disrepair that most of it was demolished, leaving just a but John Penn described it as follows: single wing, rustic offices and the fruit gardens, with the appearance of what Penn himself described as the villa rustica In this same year [1750] likewise, a plan for modernising Stoke was drawn and fructaria. by another genius, the celebrated Brown, who had long consorted with In 1789 (the year of the outbreak of the French Lord Cobham, assisting him in the improvements at Stow. This plan, Revolution), the foundations were laid for a spacious new For every client Humphry Repton kept a record in a bound Red Book detailing proposals for changes, maps, plans, drawings, having remained at the old house when in the possession of the present house ‘nearly in the centre of the grounds, upon the situa- watercolours, and before-and-after sketches. This is the view from the Mansion looking towards Windsor Castle. owner, had, in common with that afterwards adopted, the object of pro- ducing the appearance of a neutral river, by utilising five quadrangular tion several years before chosen by Mr Penn’. He had chosen pieces of water, more suited to the taste of former times. the location, presumably, because it was the highest point in to the famous lawyer, Sir Edward Coke (commemorated by the park and therefore afforded the finest views. Before 1750 the column in the park) in 1569. When Coke died in 1634 Stoke Park was one of ‘Capability’ Brown’s earliest commis- The first building was a square block three storeys in the house passed to Sir John Villiers, by this time Viscount sions, and his proposal of a Serpentine Lake was the fore- height. John Penn went to Rome and Florence in 1790 and Purbeck, who had married Coke’s daughter. There seems to runner of what became a typical Brown landscape. His use commissioned works by Grignion and Decure while, at the As we shall see, 1750 is a key date in the development of Stoke have been some rebuilding of the house in the middle of the of a series of existing fishponds to create a single lake same time, buying a number of old masters. Presumably, all Park. Before then, the Old House had been completed in 17th century. was repeated at Wimpole in 1767 and at Compton Verney these were intended for the new house. He had already inher- 1555 by Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, on the site of an earl- In 1729, Anne, Viscountess Cobham inherited Stoke Park in 1768. ited ‘a very great and eligant [sic]’ collection of paintings ier house which had been crenellated – that is, built with bat- after her father, Edmund Halsey, bought it in 1724. During In 1760 Viscountess Cobham died, and, as she had no from his father. tlements – under royal licence in 1331. In the 1580s and 90s the 1740s, her husband, Viscount Cobham, employed heir, the estate was sold to the Hon. Thomas Penn, Lord Penn commissioned Robert Naismith (c. 1745–93) as his the house was owned, or more probably rented, by Queen Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown at their house in Stowe, in north Proprietor of Pennsylvania, who was the oldest surviving son architect. A pupil of Robert Adam, Naismith had been Elizabeth’s favourite, Sir Christopher Hatton, before passing Buckinghamshire. of the Hon. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. recommended by Sir George Howard of Stoke Place. Other 82 STOKE PARK THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 83 people’s views of Naismith were not as favourable and, when treatment, which from certain causes, are not always compatible with he died in 1793, Penn commissioned James Wyatt picturesque effect. (1746–1813) possibly to complete the house, but certainly to remodel and extend it. Wyatt added lower wings to the exist- Repton proposed: ing rectangular block and constructed a colonnade to link the View from the House south that the foreground should be lowered so as two. This work was completed by 1795. to get a better view of the surface lake and that trees should be removed The next person with a big reputation who was involved was from the Avenue to frame the view of Windsor Castle. Humphry Repton, and as Penn himself said in 1790: ‘Mr View to the west that the view of the alien corn lands should be exclu- Repton … gave the general plan for the plantations which the ded by a plantation and the creation of a ‘high polished garden scene’. new situation of the house required.’ Repton began practising only in 1788, and Stoke Park was This garden was created and was later filled by John Penn with therefore one of his early commissions. Nevertheless, he was busts and temples after the style of Mason. It was further already adamant that the unity of the whole design was not developed in the mid- and late-19th centuries. important. View to the East that the wall around Stoke Poges Church should be obscured by planting and that in the foreground should be more garden similar to the view to the west. In the approach to the house, the principal road would lead ‘A degree of naturally to it along a carefully planned route to ensure that from the Bath Road, via the Lion Lodges, there was a glimpse grandeur and of the house. Repton noted that he did not like the position- ing of the house. As a result, Wyatt designed a new one. The St Giles’ church from Repton’s Red Book. approach from the Old House was not considered so impor- magnificence’ tant, but nevertheless should offer a good view of the north to Gray and suggested that Wyatt should design it. where the blue cedar now stands in the Memorial Gardens, front of the new Mansion. For the Classic Ground, the area now occupied by the is possibly the same one seen in the opposing view of the For the Pleasure Ground, Repton thought of a third lake Memorial Gardens, Repton suggested a walk connecting the Upper Lake and the Old Manor House in Repton’s moon- Repton said that but rejected the idea in favour of a planted screen to block bridge, the church and the Old House. light view. The character of Stoke Park both from the extent of the park and the out the view of the arable land. The 1791 painting by Joseph Farington shows some of Repton’s plans were modified and adapted. For example, size of the house requires a degree of grandeur and magnificence in its For the churchyard, Repton proposed a Gothic memorial Repton’s work. The tree on the left, which is approximately two of the main features in the east vista – the bridge and the 84 STOKE PARK THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 85 imagination, and was decorated with a series of grisaille paintings by Robert Smirke (1752–1845) which were finished in 1799 and were said to represent the principal epochs in the history of letters and science. Also dating from this period were the internal stair, with its observatory above, as well as the two-storey portico on the south side of the house. This two-storey portico was probably influenced by Penn’s time in America, as it is a feature par- ticularly associated with American classical houses. The lower storey had a Greek Doric colonnade, the upper storey an Ionic order. All of this work was completed in the late 1790s. Further additions were made in the first decade of the 19th century. Wings to the south-east and south-west of the house were built, linked by a Greek Doric colonnade along the south side. The three-bay library was extended into the wings to become a five-bay library, the end bays of which were semi- A rather spooky view of the Mansion from the Red Book. Underneath was written: circular and lit only from above. These wings, unlike those in Hard by your wood, now smiling as in scorn, Muttring his wayward fancies he would rove, Now drooping, woeful wan! the north-east and north-west, contained principal rooms such as the Great Breakfast Room and Dining Room, and were approached through the Long Gallery. about 1791. It was probably originally located in the Eating The Mansion from Repton’s Red Book. The open areas on the east and west sides, lying between Room. An article in Country Life in 1902 describes it being the outstretching arms of the four wings, were partly enclosed located in the observatory. Later, sales particulars in 1957 sarcophagus – were added in 1798 and 1799. Doric colonnade. The kitchens were put in at double height by open screens of Greek Doric columns supporting an described it in the south-west pavilion, and it is now located Meanwhile, the erratic Wyatt (John Penn was one of the in the north-east wing, extending through the basement and entablature.
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