39-399: Breeze Hill is a prominent, largely treeless, rounded summit, 262 metres high, on the edge of Cranborne Chase about a mile east of the village of Melbury Abbas , Dorset . Breeze Hill is 2 miles northeast of Compton Abbas and some 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles southeast of the town of Shaftesbury . The county boundary with Wiltshire runs past the summit some 200 metres to the northeast on
78-455: A Center Parcs holiday village. It was the first stately home to open to the public, and the Longleat estate has the first safari park outside Africa and other attractions including a hedge maze . The house was built by Sir John Thynne and designed mainly by Robert Smythson , after Longleat Priory was destroyed by fire in 1567. It took 12 years to complete and is widely regarded as one of
117-477: A biological Site of Special Scientific Interest , notification initially taking place in 1975. As some of the wooded areas in the chase are centuries old, they possess a diverse ground flora that is associated with such sites. The area is one of the richest in southern England for numbers of lichen species; over 160 have been recorded. 50°57′40″N 2°02′38″W / 50.961°N 2.044°W / 50.961; -2.044 Longleat Longleat
156-747: A chalk downland plateau . Part of the English Chalk Formation , it is adjacent to Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs in the north, and the Dorset Downs to the south west. The highest point is Win Green Down , in Wiltshire, at 910 feet (280 m). Historically a medieval hunting forest , the area is also noted for its Neolithic and Bronze age archaeology and its rural agricultural character. As an informally defined region,
195-608: A film location, including: Libel (1959); several episodes of the BBC science-fiction television series Doctor Who , and for 30 years a Doctor Who Exhibition was hosted on the grounds, with an event celebrating the series's 20th anniversary being held at the house at Easter 1983; the Indian Hindi film Mohabbatein (2000); and the BBC show How to Improve Your Memory (2006). The music video for Toni Braxton 's 1993 single " Breathe Again "
234-549: A large area outside of the more established landscape and historical definitions of Cranborne Chase, including the West Wiltshire Downs and an area of greensand landscape on the Somerset-Wiltshire border around Longleat and Stourhead . The downland has a long history with many earthworks and archaeology from the Neolithic age onwards. The dense woodland originally covering the downs would have gradually been cleared by
273-508: A mile and a half away to the west-southwest is another prominent summit, Melbury Beacon Cranborne Chase Cranborne Chase ( grid reference ST970180 ) is an area of central southern England , straddling the counties Dorset , Hampshire and Wiltshire . It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, and often considered to be synonymous with,
312-547: Is a stately home about 4 miles (7 km) west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house , it is a Grade I listed building and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath . Longleat is set in 1,000 acres (400 ha) of parkland landscaped by Capability Brown , along with 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of let farmland and 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of woodland, which includes
351-494: Is derived from its historic use as a medieval hunting forest, which at its height covered an area bounded by Salisbury , Shaftesbury , Blandford Forum , Wimborne Minster and Ringwood , incorporating a slightly larger area than just the chalk plateau. Early written records of this definition include a jury verdict at New Sarum in 1246 and the Quo Warranto of Edward I, issued in or around 1280. Over time this estate shrank, and
390-647: The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in 1987. Other Grade I listed buildings on the Longleat Estate include: the stables, the orangery , and the boathouse and bridge over the lake. Longleat Safari Park opened in 1966 as the first drive-through safari park outside Africa, and is home to over 500 animals, including Rothschild's giraffes , Grant's zebras , Rhesus monkeys , rhinos , African lions , Amur tigers and grey wolves . Cheetahs , koalas and spotted hyenas are among
429-645: The hill fort at Badbury Rings ( Vindocladia ). There is a Roman villa which has been dug by archaeological television programme Time Team . During the Saxon invasion of England the Romano-British kept the invaders out of Dorset by building Bokerley Dyke , a defensive ditch, across the Roman Road that runs across the downs from Dorchester to Old Sarum . The downs have been sparsely populated since Saxon times, largely preserving archaeology until World War II when
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#1733084519807468-670: The Flight into Egypt – worth more than £5m – was stolen from the drawing room in January 1995. It was found in a plastic shopping bag in London in 2002. Longleat staged the Red Bull Air Race in 2005. A copy of the painting The Fallen Madonna , a running joke from the BBC television sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! , was made for Henry Thynne and hangs in Longleat House. The house has been much used as
507-535: The Orangery. Henry Thynne, 3rd Marquess of Bath (1797–1837) was succeeded by John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831–1896) who collected Italian fine arts. He employed John Crace , whose prior work included Brighton Pavilion , Woburn Abbey , Chatsworth House and the Palace of Westminster , to add Italian renaissance style interiors. Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath (1862–1946) inherited in 1896. During World War I ,
546-621: The Pitt family to his great-grandson George Pitt, 2nd Baron Rivers , after whose death it was disfranchised. Much of the Chase is still owned by large estates such as Kingston Lacy . Cranborne Chase School , a former boarding school for girls, was based at two locations in Cranborne Chase: at Crichel House near the village of Moor Crichel in Dorset from 1946 to 1961, and then at New Wardour Castle in
585-600: The ante-library, with a magnificent Venetian painting on the ceiling; the Red Library, which displays many of the 40,000 books in the house; the Breakfast Room, with a ceiling to match the ante-library; the Lower Dining Room; the bathroom and bath-bedroom: the bath is a lead-lined tub of coopered construction , originally filled by hand from buckets and drained the same way; taps and drains are now provided. The lead lining
624-400: The bones had small holes drilled in then, enabling them, it is hypothesised, to have been articulated by means of wooden pegs, i.e. the skeletons were prevented from falling apart during repeated removal and re-burial. There are many Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, including the henge monuments at Knowlton and the remains of a number of Iron Age settlements on the downs, most notably
663-628: The boundaries of Cranborne Chase vary depending on usage. When defined as the chalk plateau, it is clearly bounded by escarpments which face the valleys of the Blackmore Vale to the west, the Vale of Wardour to the north, and the Hampshire Avon to the east. To the south the chalk gently slopes, giving way more subtly to the Dorset Heaths landscape around Verwood and Wimborne Minster . The name
702-468: The brother of Charles I ; the upper west corridor; the Grand Staircase; and the banqueting suite on the top floor: the furniture and interiors designed by Claire Rendall, the dining table commissioned from John Makepeace and the chandelier from Jocelyn Burton . The house was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1968. The formal gardens, pleasure grounds and parkland were listed Grade I on
741-416: The death of Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester in 1314. The chase passed to his sister Elizabeth de Clare (d. 1360), and thence to her granddaughter Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster (d. 1363). The Countess was succeeded by her daughter Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster (d. 1382), wife of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March . The chase was owned by successive Earls of March until 1461, when
780-555: The downs. The first known owner of the chase is thought to have been Brictric . His possessions were confiscated by Queen Matilda , wife of William the Conqueror ; on her death, it passed to the Crown, and was granted, with other lands forming the feudal barony of Gloucester, to Robert Fitzhamon in 1083. This passed to his son-in-law Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester . Ownership of the chase passed through successive Earls of Gloucester until
819-575: The finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain. It continues to be the seat of the Thynn family, who have held the title of Marquess of Bath since 1789; the eighth and present Marquess is Ceawlin Thynn . Longleat was previously an Augustinian priory . The name comes from " leat ", an artificial waterway or channel such as that which supplies a watermill . Sir Charles Appleton (1515–1580) purchased Longleat for Sir John Thynn in 1541 for £53. Appleton
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#1733084519807858-542: The first farmers, but would have grown back repeatedly over the centuries as soils became exhausted and the agricultural carrying capacity of the land was exceeded several times over the course of six millennia. Much of the area therefore remained wooded from the Middle Ages until World War II . Analysis of remains found in some of the Bronze Age burial mounds, by experts at Bournemouth University , has revealed that many of
897-422: The formal gardens with a landscaped park and dramatic drives and entrance roads. Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath (1765–1837) employed Jeffry Wyatville to modernise the house and received advice from Humphrey Repton on the grounds. Wyatville demolished several parts of the house, including Wren's staircase, and replaced them with galleries and a grand staircase. He also constructed many outbuildings including
936-430: The gardens around the house to allow for tourists. The safari park opened in 1966. Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath (1932–2020) was an artist and mural painter with a penchant for mazes and labyrinths: he created the hedge maze, the love labyrinth, the sun maze, the lunar labyrinth and King Arthur's maze on the property. Ceawlin Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath (born 1974) inherited in 2020. A Titian work, Rest on
975-499: The house was used as a temporary hospital. During World War II , it became the evacuated Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army . An American hospital was also constructed in the grounds; Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath (1905–1992) inherited in 1946. Faced with considerable death duties he sold large parts of the wider estates; to allow Longleat itself to survive, he opened the house to public visitors. Russell Page redesigned
1014-567: The house; and was succeeded by Thomas Thynne (1646–1682), and then Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth (1640–1714) who started the house's large book collection. Formal gardens, canals, fountains and parterres were created by George London with sculptures by Arnold Quellin and Chevalier David. The Best Gallery, Long Gallery, Old Library and Chapel were all added by Christopher Wren. Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth (1710–1751) married Louisa Carteret . Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath (1734–1796) employed Capability Brown who replaced
1053-603: The last Earl was crowned as Edward IV of England . Cranborne Chase remained crown property until 1616, when it was granted to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury . His great-grandson, the 3rd Earl , sold it to Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury in 1671. His son, the 2nd Earl , sold it in 1692 to Thomas Freke (d. 1701), who bequeathed it to Elizabeth Freke (the wife of his kinsman, also Thomas Freke ) and her father Thomas Pile, with reversion to George Pitt should she die without children. Pitt inherited Cranborne Chase from her in 1714, and it passed from father to son in
1092-483: The most recent additions to the safari park. Four lion cubs were born in September 2011, making a total of ten cubs born that year, and Disney named two of them Simba and Nala as part of a co-promotion agreement for the upcoming Lion King 3D film. Longleat House was built in the sixteenth century by Sir John Thynn on the site of a dissolved priory, and in 1949 became the first stately home in Britain to be opened to
1131-491: The need for agricultural land outweighed the archaeological importance. It was here that Augustus Pitt Rivers developed modern archaeological field work in the 19th century. The downs are named after the village Cranborne , founded by the Saxons, which had a manor house and a small monastery . The word "chase" comes from the hunts , frequented by royalty (including Kings John , Henry VIII and James I ), which took place on
1170-607: The operation of the Longleat Forest holiday village. The Longleat hedge maze is considered the world's longest, with 1.69 miles (2.72 km) of pathway. The layout was by maze designer Greg Bright. Over 16,000 English yews form the walls surrounding a central tower, and there are six raised footbridges. Longleat Woods ( grid reference ST795435 ) is a 249.9 ha (618 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, notified in 1972. Longleat Forest
1209-473: The public on a commercial basis. The house, park and attractions are open from mid-February to the start of November each year. The 9,800-acre (4,000 ha) estate, of which the park occupies 900 acres (360 ha), has long been one of the top British tourist attractions, and has motivated other large landowners to generate income from their heritage in response to rising maintenance costs. Longleat leases 400 acres (160 ha) of land to Center Parcs for
Breeze Hill - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-641: The rounded summits of Breeze Hill (262 m), with the hairpin bends of the B3081 climbing Zig Zag Hill on its northwestern flanks, and Win Green (277 m). Nearby, another prominent top, Melbury Hill (263 m) above Melbury Abbas , "appears almost like an island rising above the flat, sea-like expanses of" Compton Abbas airfield. Further south are two more summits on an outlier of the Chase that define its southern limits: Hambledon and Hod Hills . An area of 1,115 acres (451 ha) of Cranborne Chase has been notified as
1287-530: The settlement of Wardour (near the village of Tisbury ) in Wiltshire , until the School's closure in 1990. Cranborne Chase is part of a National Character Area (No. 134), " Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase", designated by Natural England . The landscape of Cranborne Chase is remarkably varied, its most dramatic scenery being near the boundary between Dorset and Wiltshire where the chalk downland rises sharply to
1326-465: The term has also been used to describe a smaller remnant area of around 10 miles (16 km) by 4 miles (6.4 km) immediately to the west of Cranborne village. A more recent usage of the term, used since 2014 by the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB Partnership of local authorities, has been to promote the much larger AONB area simply as "Cranborne Chase AONB". This usage includes
1365-437: The upper slopes of Charlton Down . The terrain drops steeply on three sides; the ridge on the fourth side running away to the southeast and east in a gentle curve towards Win Green hill, the highest point on Cranborne Chase. On the steep western scarp is Zig Zag Hill with the hairpin bends of the B3081. Near the hill is evidence of prehistoric activity in the form of tumuli , long barrows , earthworks and cross dykes . About
1404-455: Was a builder with experience gained from working on The Old School Baltonsborough , Bedwyn Broil and Somerset House . In April 1567 the original house caught fire and burnt down. A replacement house was effectively completed by 1580. Adrian Gaunt, Alan Maynard, Robert Smythson , the Earl of Hertford and Humpfrey Lovell all contributed to the new building but most of the design was Sir John's work. He
1443-545: Was filmed at the house & gardens. The tour of the house comprises: the Elizabethan Great Hall, with a minstrels' gallery; The lower east corridor, a wide room originally used as servant access to the main rooms. This now holds fine furniture and paintings. Also on display are two visitor books, one showing the signatures of Elizabeth II and Philip, the other Albert ( George VI ) and Elizabeth (the Queen Mother);
1482-800: Was replaced in 2005. The room holds the first plumbed-in flush lavatory in the house; the State Dining Room, with a Meissen porcelain table centrepiece; the Saloon; the State Drawing Room, designed by Crace; the Robes Corridor; the Chinese Bedroom; the Music Room, with instruments including a barrel organ; the Prince of Wales Bedroom, so named because of a large painting of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales ,
1521-525: Was the first of the Thynne 'dynasty' that have held unbroken ownership since the 16th century. Sir John's immediate descendants were Sir John Thynne the Younger (1555–1604) and then Sir Thomas Thynne ( ca. 1578–1639). Thomas's secret marriage to his family's enemy is said to have inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ; Sir James Thynne (1605–1670) employed Sir Christopher Wren to carry out modifications to
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