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

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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. These framed the views of Gray’s monument and in the stair hall of the Manor House. few clients who managed to retain his attention over a long ground storeys. The laundry was put in the west wing. He the churches of Stoke Poges and Farnham. All four elevations Wyatt also carried out work in the park. After discussions period) carried on with a series of significant improvements. united the three rooms along the south side of the ground now contained an open colonnade as the central feature. with John Penn and Humphry Repton, he designed the His first attention was to build service wings to the north-east floor to form the library. The library was arranged after John Penn commissioned a marble relief of ‘The Landing Thomas Gray memorial and located it close to the church in and north-west of the house, linked by a single-storey Roman Bacon’s threefold arrangement of reason, memory and of Julius Caesar’ from John Deare (1759–98) in Rome in 1799. The following year, the monument to Coke, again to 86 STOKE PARK THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 87

This is one of a series of watercolours of the interiors of Stoke Park painted in 1830, four years before John Penn’s death. This is the Dining Room (now known as the Great Hall) showing the view to the poet Gray’s memorial through what became the Orangery and at the time was the outside of the building. The three doors, the niches and the columns and frieze can still be seen today.

This illustrates the Saloon, which was a double-height room on the South Front of the building overlooking the fountain and the view of the lower lake to Windsor Castle. The room was lost in the early part of the 20th century. The current Windsor bedroom is the lower half of this room. This illustrates what was the North East Parlour, now the Centenary Room. Most of its This illustrates the Banqueting Room. It also shows the view to the upper lake created by ‘Capability’ Brown in 1750 and the Repton bridge, designed in 1800. The monument to Gray is shown in original features including the fireplace, doors, cornice and windows have been saved, but the distance. the windows look into another room and not the North Front portico. 88 STOKE PARK THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 89

Wyatt’s design, was built as a Roman Doric column, 60 feet distant point’ on the east of the park. Apart from this, the the south-west pavilion was remodelled, with projections in height and with a Coade Stone statue of Sir Edward Coke layout of the park remained virtually unchanged for 100 Another Wyatt being constructed on each side of the chimney piece, one to modelled by John Charles Felix Rossi (1767–1839). Rossi years. The house was also finished as far as Penn was con- house a wine cellar, the other to conceal a stair down to the would later become a popular sculptor, but in his early career cerned, and he turned his attention to ‘a plan for giving a basement. he was employed by Coade. more distinguishing character to the dressed part of the The Florist magazine wrote in 1853: In 1798 Wyatt had designed the south (Lion) Lodges and grounds divided off from the park, long before, under the John Penn died in 1834 and ownership of Stoke Park passed in 1802 the Gothic vicarage. He was also slightly involved in direction and after the design of Repton’. He was referring to to his brother, Granville. Granville died ten years later and Several acres have been added to the pleasure grounds and laid out in the construction of the bridge across the lake, although this the Pleasure Grounds on the west side of the house, and the his son, Granville John, inherited the estate. Unfortunately, clumps of shrubs with grass vistas between them. Piruses have been by this time the Penn fortune was dwindling and Granville planted in several of these openings – P. pinsapo, P. nobilis, P. fraseri, P. comment by the painter Farington suggests that it was mini- work included the interspersing of urns, busts and garden cephalonica, P. douglasi, P. patula, P. insignis and Abies menziesia and Cedrus deodar. mal and it was Repton who was responsible for the design: seats among the trees. This was an attempt to recreate the John felt he could not afford to carry on living in the scene described in the poem ‘English Garden’ by the Mansion. He therefore moved to West End House and, after There is no mention of busts and urns, and it is possible that Wyatt called on me – I mentioned Penn’s monument. He will consider it Reverend William Mason, who had visited Stoke Park in 1792 overhauling the Mansion, offered it for rent. In 1848 the Granville John had felt it necessary to sell them before the on the road to Newmarket where he is going. Penn, he thinks, has been and who had written to Penn about the planting around estate was bought by Henry Labouchere (1798–1869), and he cool towards him on acct of building a Bridge – with which in fact he had sale to Labouchere. Gray’s monument. employed Matthew Digby Wyatt (1820–77), a distant cousin nothing to do only measuring – he disapproved of the design of it and the In 1853 The Florist described the new terrace: situation. He was only paid £10 or £11 [£1,100 or £1,200 in today’s The idea was to isolate the Flower Garden from the gen- of James Wyatt. money] for measuring it. During the 1850s Digby Wyatt, best-known for his work on eral scene, as laid out in Mason’s book of the English garden: Round three sides of the mansion a grass terrace, between thirty and forty the 1851 Great Exhibition (Labouchere was one of the com- feet width has been formed, with a walk in its centre fifteen feet wide, The Flower Garden being professedly a work of art will no more desire missioners), organised a series of glazed enclosures, some of terminated at each end by a flight of stone steps which leads to the adjoin- to catch prospects beyond its own limits than it seeks to be seen from which had the ridge and furrow glazing typical of the Crystal ing pleasure grounds. ‘A more without itself: the internal scenery, therefore, must consist of objects Palace, the home of the Great Exhibition. The enclosures adapted to a neighbouring eye, present it with graceful architectural were given floors of Minton tiles and the Dome was con- In the late 1850s Labouchere took his moveable collections to forms, and call to mind by their emblems the Virtues and Arts, that structed along the lines of the monument to Baroness Eveline his estate in Somerset, and in 1863 Stoke Park was bought by distinguishing deserve our cultivation or by their busts the names of men, who, by cultivating these, have deserved our grateful remembrance. de Rothschild in the Jewish cemetery in West Ham which the wealthy businessman Edward Coleman (1834–85). Wyatt had constructed. During his ownership, the North Lodge with its associated Other works undertaken by Wyatt were the replacement of iron railing screen to the north was built, as well as character’ Repton’s Red Book of 1795 shows the intended layout and was his namesake’s simple blocking course at the parapet with used as the basis for work carried out between 1810 and 1813. Monument Lodge to the west, Windsor Lodge to the south- balustrades and cast iron panels, and the removal of the east and the Tradesmen’s Lodges which flank the present By 1808 the main developments that John Penn had planned upper part of the south portico. The moulded scrolls on main entrance. had been completed. In his 1813 account, Penn writes of ‘the chimney stacks also probably date from this period. Many of Unfortunately, Coleman’s business interests collapsed, removal of the road and removing the Entrance to a more the principal rooms were redecorated and the interior of forcing him into bankruptcy. The estate was put up for

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House on the west side of the Mansion, and this was now con- oval in outline and slightly less in height. Winding beyond this fine verted into a series of rooms. The kitchen was moved from garden-group, the walk leading to higher ground discloses through a vista in the trees, another fine view of Windsor Castle. the north-east to the north-west pavilion and the ground floor was raised by about three feet to give better headroom During Bryant’s ownership there were several developments in the basement kitchen below. and improvements, including the replacement of the dome, Further lodges were constructed, although the Lion the creation of the sunken garden and the planting of many Lodges remained as the principal entrance to the park. trees and shrubs in the pleasure grounds. In 1911, by which Extensions to the park made the former Monument Lodge time Bryant was dead and Nick Jackson was still living in the redundant, and it became known as Penn’s Folly. Farnham house, parts of the park and other packages of land were sold Lodge was built instead to protect the western approach. for housing. Gardening World of 1892 describes the pleasure grounds as During the time that Jackson was running the Club there ‘beautifully laid out with ornamental trees and shrubs … Fine were some alterations to the house, including the splitting of views are obtained here and there amongst the trees and form the double-height first-floor saloon into two storeys by car- a rustic house on one side of the pleasure grounds. A view of rying the second floor through and installing additional win- Windsor Castle is obtained by means of a vista, trimmed on dows on the south elevation to light the second-floor rooms. purpose through the trees.’ An additional staircase between the first and second floors And a year later, the Gardener’s Chronicle wrote: was also constructed.

Around the mansion the gardens were well and judiciously laid out and planted, and time has allowed of the various trees to assume stately pro- portions, and of the shrubberies in which the Rhododendrons, Laurustinus, Portugal Laurels, and other bright green-leaved evergreens The painter, Joseph Farington, wrote in his diary on 14 January 1799: ‘Mr Penn spoke to me about painting views of Stoke, as, the Monument being up, the place appears finished.’ He had already painted the Mansion which showed some of James Wyatt’s and Humphry Repton’s work. predominate, to form the screens and shelters which the designer had in view. Thus, even close to the house, many beautiful and secluded walks St Giles’ church appear where little of the surrounding gardens can be seen, except where auction in 1882 and 1884 and finally sold to Wilberforce the upper part of the original stairhall. Digby Wyatt’s openings in the shrubs allow of the eye taking in some or other of the fine Bryant, chairman of the Bryant & May match firm, in 1887. fernery, which had used his cousin’s recessed colonnade on conifers. Few views in gardens can excel some of those in the grounds of He embarked on a number of alterations. the north elevation, was fully enclosed to provide additional Stoke Park. At the end of one of the walks near the mansion a noble A striking feature of the Stoke Park Club estate is St Giles’ The central stair and the adjoining Eating Room to the accommodation, while the Billiard Room to the west of the Araucaria imbricata of perfect shape, and about 50 feet in height, is visible, church, which nestles beyond the lake close to the Manor backed by Cupressus Lawsoni and Abies, on each side and in front of the cen- east were united, allowing the rebuilt staircase to be enlarged entrance was doubled in length. Digby Wyatt had also tral object being specimens of Libocedrus decurrens – that on the left-hand House. In all seasons and in all weathers it enhances the view and extended. A gallery at second-floor level was built across enclosed his cousin’s open colonnade to form the Palm straight and columnar, some 60 feet in height; that on the right more and ambience of the golf course.

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How old is the church? Like many very old buildings, tomb. There it would remain throughout Good Friday and Holy sections of it were built at different times with differing Saturday as a sign that Jesus died and was buried. On Easter Day when the people came into the Church they found the tomb empty and the influences and styles. Part of the chancel wall and window cross back on the altar surrounded by lighted candles. It was a sign date from Saxon times. The pillars, another part of the that Christ is risen from the dead and a reminder for everybody that chancel and part of the tower can be traced to 1086 AD, His way of life, the way of love, cannot be defeated. i.e. Norman times. The nave, reconstructed on the Norman pillars, was built about 1220 AD in the Early Gothic period, The doorway from the chancel, built in the 15th century, and finally, the Hastings chapel was built in about 1558, the opens into a cloister which connects the church with a vestry Tudor period. which was built in 1907. In the east of the sanctuary, the The front of the porch at the entrance of the church was lancet window is a fine example of modern stained-glass constructed out of two great oak timbers over 700 years ago. workmanship. On the other side of the sanctuary is another Inside, the nave was the subject of considerable renovation at piscina. The Norman window in the north wall of the chan- the end of the 19th century when the plaster was stripped off cel was restored in 1947 by Mrs Henry Allhusen, ‘In memory the walls and the flat ceiling removed. This opened out the of the fallen of the Allied Nations in the War 1939–1945’. roof, revealing its heavy beams and timbers. The small square window going through to the inner north In the south aisle is a double piscina and aumbry (or wall of the chancel, close to the piscina, was possibly used by ambry, i.e. a locker). These probably belonged to the chantry a priest in the sacristy to keep a watch on the altar while he founded in 1338 by Sir John de Molyns. An order of the was waiting for his turn of duty, or it might have been the time instructed churches to install piscinas, one for the window of a hermit’s cell, giving a view of the altar. ceremonial altar vessels. However, few churches obeyed this The tower – the ‘ivy-mantled tower’ of Gray’s ‘Elegy’ – has order and, as a result, St Giles’ piscina is a rare example. lost its ivy, as it was threatening the structure. Originally the In the chancel wall, the tomb on the left side is that of Sir bells were rung from the floor of the tower, but John Penn John de Molyns, who was Marshal of the King’s Falcons and turned this area into a Manor House pew in 1800 and the Supervisor of the King’s Castles. The tomb is in the form of bells are now rung from a higher storey. an Easter Sepulchre, and was used to typify the burial and The Hastings chapel, of red brick and with stone resurrection of Christ. As the church booklet says: mullioned windows, is the first part of the church seen by a visitor coming up the path. The chapel was built in 1558 for It was probably used in the late middle ages to re-tell the story of Christ’s Death and Resurrection. On Good Friday the Priest would the inmates of the nearby almshouse. On the south wall is take the cross from the altar, wrap it in black cloth and lay it on the a mural monument dating back to the early 18th century

Another view of the Mansion by Farington. He wrote in his diary on 20 November 1799: ‘Mr Penn called, daily more in love with his house etc at Stoke.’

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with cherubs’ heads above and skulls below. There is no There are a number of memorials, though there are now inscription to say what it is supposed to commemorate. To none of the significant people buried in the churchyard, such incorporate the chapel into the church, the south chancel as the founder, de Molyns, the first Earl of Huntingdon, walk was removed in the late 18th century, and in 1946 Lord Hastings of Loughborough, the Clarges family, Lady restoration work was carried out thanks to the generosity of Cobham, and the Huguenot Dean of Windsor, Dr Gregory Colonel Wallace Devereux in memory of his son, killed in Hascard. action for the RAF in 1944. The new work comprises an altar Within the altar rails are three brasses. The oldest, on the table with a simple reredos (an ornamental screen). The new north side, is to Sir William de Moleyns, killed in 1425 at the central light in the window above is the crucifixion in stained siege of Orléans, and his wife, Dame Margaret. On the south glass. Over to the east window is a tester (canopy) with a blue side is the slab where the effigy of their daughter, Alianore, ceiling powdered with gold stars. The whole is a near-perfect used to be. restoration of a chapel of the Tudor period. The third brass is to Edward Hampden, his wife and The Manor House enjoys its own private entrance to the daughters. Edward was of the same family as John Hampden, church through the passage or ‘cloister’ opposite the porch. famous for resisting the King’s illegal Ship Money tax. The church booklet explains the details of the cloister: Earlier, Mistress Isabel Hampden of Stoke Poges was accused with her family of being ‘Popish recusants’, and their house This cloister – panelled with oak and lit by four indifferent painted was searched for compromising documents. windows – leads into a low hall, or vestibule, formerly the freehold of the On the north wall of the chancel is a tablet in memory of owner of the Manor House. In this vestibule, there is some old glass of considerable interest. Four of the windows were till lately filled with the 48 Stoke Poges men who died in action in the First World Flemish glass, placed there by the late Edward Coleman, Esq., and War. In the west window is incorporated what is known as the evidently made for windows of larger size. These windows were sold by the ‘Bicycle Window’, so named because the figure bestrides a owner of the Manor House in 1929. The remaining glass was brought, contrivance which looks like the ancient hobby-horse, which according to tradition from the Manor House, on its partial destruction in 1790. It displays the arms of Roger Manners (son of Dorothy Vernon, he is pushing with one foot while blowing a trumpet. This of Haddon Hall, who – as the story runs – eloped with Sir John Manners is designed as a memorial to those who fell in the Second in 1558, and so brought Haddon into the family of the Duke of Rutland); World War. of John Fortescue (the daughter of Dorothy Vernon and John Manners married Sir Francis Fortescue); of Sir Walter Mildmay, the founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from which proceeded John Harvard, the founder, in his turn, of Harvard College in America; and of the An engraving at the time of Humphry Repton showing the Mansion, St Giles’ church, the Gray Memorial, the Coke Monument and the Manor House. families of Ducie and Pipe.

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The Bryants created a Japanese Garden. Here it is in summer. And in winter. 98 STOKE PARK

CHAPTER SEVEN ‘Now, Pa, don’t be cross!’

Sport mad

The Corinthians

Tennis

The exploding popularity of golf The South Terrace at the beginning of the 20th century.