90-567: Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset , it is owned by the City of Bristol. The mansion and stables are a Grade I listed building . Other structures on the estate are also listed. Ashton Court has been the site of a manor house since the 11th century, and has been developed by a series of owners since then. From
180-428: A disc golf course, an orienteering course and horse riding and mountain bike trails. Bristol's weekly parkrun event (a free, timed 5 km run organised by volunteers) is held at Ashton Court. There is a deer park which was started in the 14th century and extended in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are still two areas of the estate with deer enclosures. The park contains a great variety of wildlife; much of
270-530: A Picturesque Landscape Gardener' in Headlong Hall . Around 1787, Richard Page (1748–1803), landowner of Sudbury , to the west of Wembley decided to convert the Page family home 'Wellers' into a country seat and turn the fields around it into a private estate. In 1792 Page employed Humphry Repton, by then famous as a landscape architect, to convert the previous farmland into wooded parkland and to make improvements to
360-430: A career as a merchant. However, Repton was befriended by a wealthy Dutch family and the trip may have done more to stimulate his interest in 'polite' pursuits such as sketching and gardening. Returning to Norwich, Repton was apprenticed to a textile merchant, then, after marriage to Mary Clarke in 1773, set up in the business himself. He was not successful, and when his parents died in 1778 used his modest legacy to move to
450-572: A countryside estate in the U.S. was demolished in 1980, along with its extensive gardens, to make way for suburban developments. In Paris, London or Rome , many large mansions and palazzi built or remodeled during the era still survive. Grand Federal style mansions designed by Samuel McIntire inhabit an area that, in 2012, is the largest collection of 17th- and 18th-century structures in the United States of America. This district in Salem, Massachusetts ,
540-496: A function hall (named for Alexander Hamilton) and a church for the town's merchant class. McIntire also designed the former Salem Court House and Registry of Deeds. After 1793, Samuel McIntire worked exclusively in the architectural style developed by Robert Adam in Great Britain and brought to America by the great Boston architect, Charles Bulfinch. The delicate Adam style , which emphasized decorative elements and ornamentation,
630-617: A large estate spanning the boundary between Bristol and North Somerset, approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the city centre. It is on the western side of the River Avon close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the suburb of Leigh Woods and the Leigh Woods National Nature Reserve which are east of Ashton Court. To the north and west is open countryside. The estate was previously much larger than it
720-425: A moderate position. His first paid commission was Catton Park , to the north of Norwich, in 1788. That Repton, with no real experience of practical horticulture, became an overnight success, is a tribute to his undeniable talent, but also to the unique way he presented his work. To help clients visualise his designs, Repton produced 'Red Books' (so called for their binding) with explanatory text and watercolours with
810-692: A more modern, undefended style. Due to intermarriage and primogeniture inheritance amongst the aristocracy, it became common for one noble to often own several country houses . These would be visited rotationally throughout the year as their owner pursued the social and sporting circuit from country home to country home. Many owners of a country house would also own a town mansion in their country's capital city. These town mansions were referred to as 'houses' in London, ' hôtels particuliers ' in Paris, and 'palaces' in most European cities elsewhere. It might be noted that sometimes
900-696: A number of homes for Derby and members of his extended family. McIntire also worked occasionally on Derby's vessels, and would fix a wagon or build a birdhouse if his patron desired. Hamilton Hall is a National Historic Landmark at 9 Chestnut Street in Salem, Massachusetts . Hamilton Hall was built in 1805 by Samuel McIntire and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. "King" Derby's stamp of approval opened many other doors for McIntire, who went on to design and build mansions for John Gardner, Jerethmiel Peirce, Simon Forrester, and other wealthy Salem shipowners. He also built on Chestnut Street
990-441: A park enclosed by a wall which is twelve feet high in the lowest part. Two handsome lodges have also been added, one of them built from a gothic design. Sir Greville Smyth inherited the property in 1852 and remained a bachelor until he was 48 years old. During that time he undertook extensive renovations. He also kept a very impressive garden which was described in detail in gardening magazines and newspapers. In 1872 he commissioned
SECTION 10
#17328451802691080-577: A perfect cricket pitch called 'home lawn' in front of the west wing, and a bowling green lawn between the gatehouse and the house. Success at Woburn earned him a further commission from the Duke of Bedford . He designed the central gardens in Russell Square , the centrepiece of the Bloomsbury development. The gardens were restored with the additional help of archaeological investigation and archive photographs, to
1170-418: A professional, Repton had to produce practical and useful designs for his clients. Paradoxically, however, as his career progressed Repton drew more and more on picturesque ideas. One major criticism of Brown's landscapes was the lack of a formal setting for the house, with rolling lawns sweeping right up to the front door. Repton re-introduced formal terraces, balustrades, trellis work and flower gardens around
1260-451: A section of the tree collapsed; the remaining part of the tree was pruned to reduce the weight of the surviving section. Mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house . The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word mansio "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb manere "to dwell". The English word manse originally defined a property large enough for
1350-599: A small country estate at Sustead , near Cromer in Norfolk. Repton tried his hand as a journalist, dramatist, artist, political agent, and as confidential secretary to his neighbour William Windham of Felbrigg Hall during Windham's very brief stint as Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . Repton also joined John Palmer in a venture to reform the mail-coach system, but while the scheme ultimately made Palmer's fortune, Repton again lost money. Repton's childhood friend
1440-509: A system of overlays to show 'before' and 'after' views. In this he differed from Capability Brown, who worked almost exclusively with plans and rarely illustrated or wrote about his work. Repton's overlays were soon copied by the Philadelphian Bernard M'Mahon in his 1806 American Gardener's Calendar . To understand what was unique about Repton it is useful to examine how he differed from Brown in more detail. Brown worked for many of
1530-399: A terrace garden, which is now a lawn, a wilderness garden with basin fountain and a rose garden. Avenues of sequoias and cedars were planted along with other specimen trees. In 1891 Lady Emily Smyth held an interview where she outlined further details of these alterations made by Sir Greville. She also gave a few details of some interesting secret rooms and passages in the medieval part of
1620-508: Is a copy of Wollaton Hall . Other mansions were built in the new and innovative styles of the new era such as the arts and crafts style: The Breakers is a pastiche of an Italian Renaissance palazzo ; Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire is a mixture of various French châteaux . One of the most enduring and most frequently copied styles for a mansion is the Palladian – particularly so in
1710-532: Is an example of American Renaissance revivalism. During the 19th century, along with other streets in major cities, Fifth Avenue in New York City had many mansions. Many of these were designed by the leading architects of the day, often in European Gothic Revival style , and were built by families who were making their fortunes. However, nearly all of these have now been demolished. Whitemarsh Hall ,
1800-476: Is called the McIntire Historic District with the center being Chestnut Street. McIntire's training came from his father and from books. He and his brothers, Joseph and Angler, began their careers as housewrights and carpenters while in their teens but, early on, Samuel's work caught the eye of Salem's pre-eminent merchant, Elias Hasket Derby. Over the next quarter century, McIntire built or remodelled
1890-620: Is home to charity The Forest of Avon Trust . Ashton Court dates back to before the 11th century. It is believed that a fortified manor stood on the site, given to Geoffrey de Montbray , Bishop of Coutances, by William the Conqueror . In the Domesday Book it is referred to as a wealthy estate owned by the Bishop of Coutances, with a manor house, a great hall, and courtyards entered through gatehouses. The property passed through successive owners and at
SECTION 20
#17328451802691980-428: Is ingeniously constructed to form a waterfall the streams descending to a second basin shell just above the sheet of water. Around this are some the choicest ferns and palms. From the roof hang clusters of incandescent laps, interspersed with baskets filled with gracefully drooping ferns and from the surface of the water lilies modestly rise. Also in the 1880s 4 acres (1.6 ha) of formal gardens were laid out including
2070-461: Is now held in Wraxall . In 1946, the last resident of Ashton Court Dame Esme Smyth, died. After the house became derelict, it was taken over by the City in 1959. Restoration has been an ongoing process since then, but even after extensive investment by both the council and from Heritage Lottery Fund grants, presently only about a quarter of the building is occupied or usable. The available facilities of
2160-513: Is the mother of the oak" has become a tenet of rewilding , where thorny plants are used to protect young native saplings from overbrowsing by rabbits and deer. Repton published three major books on garden design: Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening (1795), Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1803), and Fragments on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1816). These drew on material and techniques used in
2250-510: Is today and included areas which are now suburbs of Bristol including Ashton Gate , Ashton Vale and Southville where the Greville Smyth Park is located. The land for the park was donated by the Smyth family and then landscaped by the city council. The estate covers 850 acres (340 ha) of woods and open grassland laid out by Humphry Repton . It includes two pitch-and-putt golf courses,
2340-401: Is under a low doorway between two lofty turrets one of which contains a bell and clock. The stables and corresponding offices in the front court are of ancient date. The whole contributes to a very venerable and picturesque building. Further major additions were made to the building by Sir John Hugh Smyth (1734–1802). He inherited the estate in 1783 and added the new library to the north west of
2430-560: The Ancien Régime . Until World War I it was not unusual for a moderately sized mansion in England such as Cliveden to have an indoor staff of 20 and an outside staff of the same size, and in ducal mansions such as Chatsworth House the numbers could be far higher. In the great houses of Italy, the number of retainers was often even greater than in England; whole families plus extended relations would often inhabit warrens of rooms in basements and attics. Most European mansions were also
2520-582: The Black Country . A record of the project and the resources developed to make garden history more publicly accessible were published in 2020. Historic England have added Humphry Repton's landscapes to their interactive map of aerial photography of Designed Landscapes and commissioned Hardy Plants and Plantings for Repton and Late Georgian Gardens (1780–1820) which draws on research carried out on plants and planting schemes for late Georgian gardens (1780–1820) and conservation projects, intended to provide
2610-459: The Bristol Mercury . in 1885. He converted the stables in the south east wing to living areas which included a huge museum for his natural history collection. He built a grand hall with richly carved oak panels. In the west wing he built a massive carved oak staircase with twist bannisters and introduced perpendicular windows. He also built a winter garden by enclosing the clock court. This is now
2700-529: The Mediterranean old world, whereas where estates were founded in the sparsely populated remote areas like the Pampa of Argentina or Uruguay, where iron pillars, doors, windows, and furniture had to be brought from Europe by ship and afterwards ox cart, buildings were smaller, but normally still aspiring to evoke a stately impression, often featuring, like their earlier Italian counterparts, a morador . In Venezuela,
2790-531: The Middle Ages . As social conditions slowly changed and stabilised fortifications were able to be reduced, and over the centuries gave way to comfort. It became fashionable and possible for homes to be beautiful rather than grim and forbidding allowing for the development of the modern mansion. In British English, a mansion block refers to a block of flats or apartments designed for the appearance of grandeur. In many parts of Asia, including Hong Kong and Japan,
Ashton Court - Misplaced Pages Continue
2880-514: The foot and mouth crisis , and a washout in 2007, the organisers declared bankruptcy in 2007. The mansion house and stables have been designated by Historic England as a Grade I listed building . The house is listed on the Heritage at Risk Register and described as being in "slow decay". The lower lodge to Ashton Court and attached gates, railings and bollards, which were built in 1805 by Henry Wood , are Grade II* listed buildings . The lower lodge
2970-440: The 'picturesque controversy'. In 1794 Richard Payne Knight and Uvedale Price simultaneously published vicious attacks on the 'meagre genius of the bare and bald', criticising his smooth, serpentine curves as bland and unnatural and championing rugged and intricate designs, composed according to 'picturesque' principles of landscape painting. Repton's defence of Brown rested partly on the impracticality of many picturesque ideas; as
3060-571: The 16th to 20th centuries it was owned by the Smyth family with each generation changing the house. Designs by Humphry Repton were used for the landscaping in the early 19th century. It was used as a military hospital in the First World War. In 1936 it was used as the venue for the Royal Show and, during the Second World War as an army transit camp. In 1946 the last of the Smyth family died and
3150-575: The 18th century. However, the Gothic style was probably the most popular choice of design in the 19th century. The most bizarre example of this was probably Fonthill Abbey which actually set out to imitate the mansions which had truly evolved from medieval Gothic abbeys following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. Mansions built during and after the 19th century were not supported by
3240-479: The 19th century; it was a forerunner of the more medieval ecclesiastical Gothic style that was to characterise the architecture of the 19th century, and employed at Ashton Court during the 1885 alterations. During the First World War the estate was used as a military hospital , and in the Second World War was requisitioned by the War Office and used in turn as a transit camp, RAF HQ and US Army Command HQ. The estate
3330-643: The Red Books. Several lesser works were also published, including a posthumous collection edited by John Claudius Loudon , despite having severely criticised his approach to gardens. His published titles were: Repton contributed to the Transactions of the Linnean Society, xi. 27, a paper "On the supposed Effect of Ivy upon Trees." Repton produced designs for the grounds of many of the foremost country houses in England, Scotland and Wales: The Gardens Trust
3420-479: The Winter Garden Bar. The following description of this elaborate room with a waterfall fountain is given in this newspaper article as follows: This leads through two arched entrances to one of the most charming winter gardens of which any private mansion in the western counties can boast. It has been formed out of what was formerly the open clock tower court which has been supplied with a glazed iron roof. Round
3510-405: The alternating segmental and pointed pediments over the groundfloor windows, and ignoring the irregularities in their spacings and placings, which Jones is unlikely to have countenanced. To give the long facade with its two wings of contrasting architectural styles a uniting, common feature, the third story of oval windows of the left-hand wings, which was then topped with a Jacobean balustrade
3600-415: The building on the western side which she referred to as "Drax's Kennel" and "The Fox's Hole". Sir Greville Smyth died in 1901 and Lady Emily Smyth died in 1914. The next and last residents of the house were Gilbert and Esme Smyth. They lived there for the next thirty years. Gilbert died in 1940 and Esme in 1946 and the house was left to their daughter Esme Francis Cavendish. She and her husband tried to sell
3690-408: The early 19th century, the house was given a 300 feet (91 m) long facade in an attempt to provide some uniformity and some classical grandeur. However even here, the architecture does not remain faithful to a single style. At the centre of this facade is a much altered Tudor gatehouse, probably built in the 16th century as a portal to the 14th-century manor house. In order to create the long facade,
Ashton Court - Misplaced Pages Continue
3780-502: The end of the 14th century it was considerably expanded when Thomas De Lions, a nobleman originally from France, obtained a permit to enclose a park for his manor. The house was owned by the Choke family for some time. In 1506 it was sold to Sir Giles Daubeney , a knight and a Chamberlain of Henry VII . Henry VIII gave the estate to Sir Thomas Arundel in 1541 and four years later in 1545 Sir Thomas sold it to John Smyth. The Smyth family owned
3870-475: The existing stables, to the right of the gatehouse, were converted to domestic use and given seven bays of Gothic mullioned windows. To the left of the gatehouse, the flanking south-west wing is of a different style. This classically designed wing has been attributed to Inigo Jones, but without supporting evidence; as with a similar attribution at Brympton d'Evercy , also in Somerset, it seems to be based solely on
3960-477: The exposure, while Repton received a commission on building work. Around 1800, however, the two fell out, probably over Nash's refusal to credit the work of Repton's architect son John Adey Repton . Thereafter John Adey and Repton's younger son George Stanley Repton often worked with their father, although George continued to work in Nash's office as well. It must have been particularly painful for Repton when Nash secured
4050-445: The festival did not have overnight camping facilities and was financed by donations and benefit gigs. Starting as a small one-day festival in 1974, the festival grew during succeeding years and was said to be Britain's largest free festival until changes brought on by government legislation resulted in compulsory fees and security fencing being introduced. After problems were caused by a temporary move to Hengrove Park in 2001, due to
4140-588: The first person to describe himself (on his business card) as a landscape gardener . Repton was born in Bury St Edmunds , the son of a collector of excise , John Repton, and Martha ( née Fitch of Moor Hall,Stoke by Clare, Suffolk). In 1762, his father set up a transport business in Norwich , where Humphry attended Norwich Grammar School . At age twelve, he was sent to the Netherlands to learn Dutch and prepare for
4230-501: The gatehouse was given a Gothic makeover, which included raising its height and adding the fan vaulting to the ceiling of the passage leading, not to a great base court, as such grandiose architectural feature would suggest, but to a small glazed inner courtyard (the Winter Garden). The north wing was included in the remodelling work of 1805 and given ogee headed windows in the delicate Strawberry Hill Gothic style, popular at turn of
4320-448: The ground and uppermost attic floors. This was a period of great social change, as the educated prided themselves on enlightenment. The uses of these edifices paralleled that of the Roman villas . It was vital for powerful people and families to keep in social contact with each other as they were the primary moulders of society. The rounds of visits and entertainments were an essential part of
4410-511: The house are rented out for business conferences, parties and weddings. In 2013 a fire damaged the northern wing. It was contained by Avon Fire and Rescue Service , otherwise the rest of the building would have been at risk. Between 1974 and 2007 the Ashton Court Festival was held in the grounds of the estate. The festival was a weekend event which featured a variety of local bands and national headliners. Mainly aimed at local residents,
4500-569: The house fell into disrepair before its purchase in 1959 by Bristol City Council . The estate developed from the original deer park and is Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England . It is the venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court Festival , Bristol International Kite Festival and the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta . It
4590-635: The house immediately in 1946 to help pay the death duties. However the Cavendish family did not succeed until thirteen years later in 1959 during which time the house was unoccupied and started to decay. It was sold at this time to Bristol City Council who still owns it today. Archives of the Ashton Court estate (including estate management and estate office papers) and personal papers of the Smyth family are held by Bristol Archives (Ref. AC) ( online catalogue ). Bristol Archives also holds photos and papers about
SECTION 50
#17328451802694680-516: The house in a way that became common practice in the nineteenth century. He also designed one of the most famous 'picturesque' landscapes in Britain at Blaise Castle , near Bristol. At Woburn Abbey , Repton foreshadowed another nineteenth-century development, creating themed garden areas including a Chinese garden, American garden, arboretum and forcing garden. At Stoneleigh Abbey in 1808, Repton foreshadowed another nineteenth-century development, creating
4770-742: The house of a clergyman was called a "mansion house" (e.g., by the Revd. James Blair, Commissary in Virginia for the Bishop of London, 1689–1745, a term related to the word "manse" commonly used in the Church of Scotland and in Non-Conformist churches. H.G. Herklots, The Church of England and the American Episcopal Church). As the 16th century progressed and the Renaissance style slowly spread across Europe,
4860-444: The house, a 15th-century manor, has been obliterated by later wings, which have in turn been remodelled and altered, most substantially around 1635. Therefore, the plan of the house has evolved as irregular with many juxtapositions and little cohesion; while the majority of the house was built in the 17th century, a time of classical architecture, remodelling and alteration to the fenestration has created an overall Gothic appearance. In
4950-478: The house. Repton often called the areas he landscaped 'parks', and so it is to Repton that Wembley Park owes its name. The original site that Repton so transformed was later built on in the construction of the short-lived Watkin's Tower , intended to be taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The area landscaped by Repton was larger than the current Wembley Park . It included the southern slopes of Barn Hill to
5040-400: The house. Sir John also asked the famous landscape designer Humphry Repton for advice about the east front of the house. Repton drafted a plan but Sir John's death halted any further work on the house. However Repton's landscape designs were implemented by Sir John's successor Sir Hugh Smyth. In his book Humphry Repton gave a detailed description of the old and newer parts of the house before
5130-565: The hub of vast estates . The 19th century saw the continuation of the building of mansions in the United States and Europe. These mansions were often smaller than those built by the old European aristocracy. The new builders of mansions at the time explored new styles other than the Gothic tastes in architecture which were used often. They experimented with 19th-century versions of older Renaissance and Tudoresque styles; The Breakers in Rhode Island
5220-521: The idea of combining his sketching skills with his limited experience of laying out grounds at Sustead to become a 'landscape gardener' (a term he himself coined). Since the death of Capability Brown in 1783, no one figure dominated English garden design; Repton was ambitious to fill this gap and sent circulars round his contacts in the upper classes advertising his services. He was at first an avid defender of Brown's views, contrasted with those of Richard Payne Knight and Uvedale Price , but later adopted
5310-639: The large estates of their predecessors. These new mansions were often built as the week-end retreats of businessmen who commuted to their offices by the new railways, which enabled them to leave the city more easily. In Latin America, the grand rural estate , the Hacienda , Estancia, in Portuguese speaking Brazil Fazenda or Estância, with the mansion as its stately center, is a characteristic feature. Mansions tended to follow European architectural styles . Whereas until
5400-525: The last vestiges of castle architecture and life changed; the central points of these great houses became redundant as owners wished to live separately from their servants, and no longer ate with them in a Great hall. All evidence and odours of cooking and staff were banished from the principal parts of the house into distant wings, while the owners began to live in airy rooms, above the ground floor, with privacy from their servants, who were now confined, unless required, to their specifically delegated areas—often
5490-436: The library additions and included a drawing of the eastern front of the house as he saw it in about 1790. As reported by Esme Smyth, Ashton Court's last resident, Sir John Smyth (1776–1849) was responsible for the remodelling of the house. In about 1940 she was interviewed by Raymond Gorges, who was researching a book, and she gave him an engraving of the house showing the additions that she said were made by Sir John. Sir John
SECTION 60
#17328451802695580-436: The north, where Repton planted trees and started building a 'prospect house' – a Gothic tower offering a view over the parkland. Repton may also have designed the thatched lodge that survives on Wembley Hill Road, to the west of Wembley Park. It is in the cottage orné style frequently used by Repton. Regrettably, Repton's Red Book for Wembley Park, which would give a definitive answer, has not survived. Capability Brown
5670-447: The original manor house. He was a Member of Parliament and a successful lawyer. In 1627, at the age of only seventeen he married Florence daughter of John Poulett, 1st Baronet Poulett of Hinton St George . In 1635 Thomas added a new southern front which was in the style of Inigo Jones . It was described by Collinson in 1791 in the following terms: The front is in length one hundred and forty three feet and consists below of three rooms;
5760-404: The original plans and are now listed as Grade II by Historic England . The square was to be a flagship commission for Repton and was only one of three within the central London. Buildings played an important part in many of Repton's landscapes. In the 1790s he often worked with the relatively unknown architect John Nash , whose loose compositions suited Repton's style. Nash benefited greatly from
5850-421: The parish priest to maintain himself, but a mansion is no longer self-sustaining in this way (compare a Roman or medieval villa ). Manor comes from the same root—territorial holdings granted to a lord who would "remain" there. Following the fall of Rome, the practice of building unfortified villas ceased. Today, the oldest inhabited mansions around the world usually began their existence as fortified houses in
5940-523: The park with a continuous perimeter belt, Repton cut vistas through to 'borrowed' items such as church towers, making them seem part of the designed landscape (coincidentally a concept common in East Asian gardening). He contrived approach drives and lodges to enhance impressions of size and importance, and even introduced monogrammed milestones on the roads around some estates, for which he was satirised by Thomas Love Peacock as 'Marmaduke Milestone, esquire,
6030-587: The prestigious work to remodel the Royal Pavilion at Brighton for the Prince Regent , for which Repton himself submitted innovative proposals in an Indian style. On 29 November 1811 Repton suffered a serious carriage accident which often left him needing to use a wheelchair for mobility. He died at age 65 in 1818 and is buried in the graveyard of the Church of St Michael, Aylsham , Norfolk . Three roads close to
6120-407: The property for the next 400 years. Smyth also bought the land which had been owned, until the dissolution of the monasteries , by Bath Abbey . He used the land to extend the deer park , bringing him into conflict with the residents of Whitchurch , who complained that he had used common land . Thomas Smyth (1609–1642) was the first member of the family to make major alterations and additions to
6210-469: The redevelopment of Ashton Court mansion and stables (Ref. 43326) ( online catalogue ) and (Ref. 45390) ( online catalogue ). Other records relating to the Ashton Court estate are also held by Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre and the University of Bristol Special Collections. Due to successive remodellings and enlargements the architecture at Ashton Court is complex and seldom what it seems. The core of
6300-419: The second half of the 19th century, Portugal and Spain as the colonial (or former colonial) powers were the eminent models for architecture and upper-class lifestyle, towards the end of the 19th century they were sometimes replaced by then more dominant powers like France or England. In comparably developed, densely populated countries like Mexico, feudal estates and their mansions were as grand and stately as in
6390-677: The site (an area of 210.31 hectares) was notified in 1998 as a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the presence of rare woodland beetles including: Ctesias serra , Phloiotrya vaudoueri and Eledona agricola . The 2.37 hectares of Ashton Court Meadow is managed as a nature reserve by the Avon Wildlife Trust . It contains a wide range of flowering plants, including wild carrot , yellow-wort and field scabious . Some unusual parasitic plants are also found here, such as common broomrape which feeds off clovers, and yellow rattle , which feeds partly off grass. Clarken Combe, at
6480-457: The societal process, as described in the novels of Jane Austen . State business was often discussed and determined in informal settings. Times of revolution reversed this value. During July/August 1789, a significant number of French country mansions ( chateaux ) were destroyed by the rural population as part of the Great Fear —a symbolic rejection of the feudal rights and restraints in effect under
6570-411: The south side of the courtyard which opens out into the court by the arcading of five bays. Even more extensive alterations were made between 1884 and 1885. Shortly before he married Emily, the widow of George Oldham Edwards, he employed the notable Bath architect Major Charles Edward Davis to transform the house. The work took 18 months to complete. A detailed description of the alterations was given in
6660-407: The tessellated flooring have been formed the gracefully curved flower borders edged with glazed tiling surmounted with rockery. This rock work covered with moss and filled in with water plants luxuriant grasses and ferns margins an ornamental sheet of water of serpentine form from the surface of which jets of water are thrown into a huge basin shell – one of the largest of the kind we have seen. It
6750-484: The traditional Spanish mansions with a garden in the center of the property are usually referred as " Quinta ". Some realtors in the US term mansions as houses that have a minimum of 8,000-square-foot (740 m ) of floor space. Others claim a viable minimum could instead be 5,000-square-foot (460 m ) of floor space, especially in a city environment. Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818)
6840-582: The vicinity of his cottage at Hare Street (now renamed Main Road) in the Gidea Park area of Romford were named after him; Repton Avenue, Repton Gardens and Repton Drive, respectively. A plaque was unveiled on the former site of his cottage on 19 April 1969. The cottage was long since demolished and a branch of Lloyds TSB is situated on the junction of Hare Street and Balgores Lane. In addition to his innovations in landscape architecture, Repton's 1803 quote "the thorn
6930-497: The wealthiest aristocrats in Britain, carving huge landscape parks out of old formal gardens and agricultural land. While Repton worked for equally important clients, such as the Dukes of Bedford and Portland , he was usually fine-tuning earlier work, often that of Brown himself. Where Repton got the chance to lay out grounds from scratch it was generally on a much more modest scale. On these smaller estates, where Brown would have surrounded
7020-467: The well-known architect Benjamin Ferrey to make additions which were described as follows. The Western Wing has been rearranged but the principal parts of the works have been concentrated in the central portion of the buildings. This part has been raised considerably and in a great measure rebuilt and is surmounted by two octagonal towers which rise to a height of 72 ft. There is a covered passage running
7110-493: The western edge of the estate, is a woodland area with a range of plant species, including narrow-lipped helleborine , which grows here in small numbers under beech . In 2002 a 700-year-old oak tree, called the Domesday Oak, was selected by The Tree Council as one of 50 Great British Trees . In 2011 a crack appeared in the trunk and oak support beams were fitted to support the tree. The supports were only partly successful and
7200-435: The western one of which is a fine apartment ninety-three feet long and twenty feet wide and contains several family and other portraits. The back part of the house is very ancient and the court leading to the park westward is called Castle Court from its having been embattled and still retaining an old gateway similar to those adopted in baronial mansions. The second court contains some of the offices and its entrance from without
7290-526: The word mansion also refers to a block of apartments. In modern Japan, a "manshon" ( Japanese : マンション ), stemming from the English word "mansion", is used to refer to a multi-unit apartment complex or condominium . In Europe, from the 15th century onwards, a combination of politics and advances in weaponry negated the need for the aristocracy to live in fortified castles. As a result, many were transformed into mansions without defences or demolished and rebuilt in
7380-400: Was a bachelor. He was said, by Lady Emily Smyth, to be devoted to horses and kept an extensive stud. His importance as a major builder of Ashton Court is verified by John Evans who in 1828 wrote a book about Bristol and its surrounding area. He said: This seat of Sir John Smyth is a stately edifice ... It has of late been much enlarged with stables nearly as extensive as the house and also
7470-495: Was a large-scale contractor, who not only designed, but also arranged the realisation of his work. By contrast, Repton acted as a consultant, charging for his Red Books and sometimes staking out the ground, but leaving his client to arrange the actual execution. Thus many of Repton's 400 or so designs remained wholly or partially unexecuted and, while Brown became very wealthy, Repton's income was never more than comfortable. Early in his career, Repton defended Brown's reputation during
7560-570: Was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to run a ‘Sharing Repton’ project in 2018–19, working with volunteers to deliver five projects aimed at including participation from local communities, based around five Repton sites across the country. The project took place at Kenwood , London, with London Parks and Gardens Trust and English Heritage ; Wicksteed Park , Kettering , with Northamptonshire Gardens Trust; Catton Park , with Norfolk Gardens Trust and Broadland District Council ; Blaise Castle , Bristol, with Avon Gardens Trust, and Warley Woods in
7650-489: Was fully refurbished in 2016 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is now named Ashton Gatehouse. The building is now a heritage site managed by Ashton Park School . The garden and perimeter walls and railings are also listed. Since 2018, the mansion house has been managed by Bristol charity Artspace Lifespace, allowing the building to be open to the public for a variety of events. The house stands within
7740-574: Was preferred for McIntire, who was efficient in design and proportions and had skill as a woodcarver. Swags, rosettes, garlands, and his signature sheaths of wheat were carved in wood surfaces in McIntire homes built between 1793 and his death in 1811. In Europe, some 19th-century mansions were often built as replicas of older houses; the Château de Ferrières in France was inspired by Mentmore Towers , which in turn
7830-422: Was repeated above the Gothic right-hand wing; however, inexplicably the attempt at classical unity was broken by the use of castellations instead of a balustrade on the right-hand side. Overall, its length, contrasting styles, high gatehouse and lack of symmetry give the facade a collegiate rather than domestic appearance. The focal point of the facade, the gatehouse, has multi-faceted turrets at its corners, In 1885,
7920-461: Was the botanist James Edward Smith , who encouraged him to study botany and gardening; Smith reproduces a long letter from Repton in his Letter and Correspondence . He was given access to the library of Windham to read its works on botany. His capital dwindling, Repton moved to a modest cottage at Hare Street near Romford in Essex. In 1788, aged 36 and with four children and no secure income, he hit on
8010-635: Was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden , often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown . His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intricate and eclectic styles of the 19th century. His first name is often incorrectly spelt "Humphrey". Unlike Brown and other famous predecessors, he only worked as a designer, not the contractor for executing his designs, and therefore made much less money. Many of his famous sketches with folding sections survive; these gave "before and after" views for his clients. He appears to be
8100-586: Was the venue for the 1936 Royal Show . One of the exhibition buildings, despite its temporary nature, was an innovative piece of modernist architecture still remembered as the Gane Pavilion . It was designed by Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer as a show house for the Bristol furniture manufacturer Crofton Gane. For most of the 20th century Ashton Court was the venue for the North Somerset Show , however this
#268731