Stowe, Buckinghamshire

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The south or garden front of Stowe from Jones' Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen (1829). Apart from an increase in the size of some of the basement windows (which in this context means ground level, as the first floor is a piano nobile) the facade is unchanged today. All of the top floor windows in the earlier version of this front were sacrificed for the sake of architectural effect. The remaining top floor rooms all face sideways.

The north or entrance front in 1750. Major alterations were made after that date.

Stowe Gardens, with the Palladian Bridge on the right and the Gothic Temple on the rising ground straight ahead. Beyond, the Queen's Temple and Lord Cobham's Monument are just visible.

The Palladian Bridge

The piano nobile of Stowe. The front entrance is at D. Rooms P and Q also served as the state dressing room and bedroom at times. For scale, rooms O and L are each 75 feet (23 metres) long. There are service wings to either side which are not shown.

Stowe circa 1880.

Stowe is the name shared by an ancient village, country house and school (Stowe School) in Buckinghamshire in England. It is situated about two miles north-northwest of Buckingham. The breathtaking landscape gardens, including its many monuments, were acquired by the National Trust in 1990 and are open to the public. The National Trust are currently overseeing a complete restoration programme of the grounds, temples and follies.

[edit] The village

Originally the village of Stowe was built in the Anglo-Saxon period. Its name refers to an ancient holy place of some eminence with the local community. The village remained in place up until 1712 when the 31 houses of the village were demolished to make way for the extensive gardens of the manor house. The small parish church still survives in the shadow of the great house, and Christian worship still takes place there every Sunday. Within the parish border of Stowe lie the hamlets of Boycott, Dadford and Lamport.

[edit] Stowe House

John Temple bought the manor of Stowe in 1589 and it became the family home for the Temple family. In the late 17th century, the house was completely rebuilt by Sir Richard Temple, from the old medieval stronghold to what is now the core of the impressive mansion for which the area is known today. Having been redesigned and perfected subsequently over the years, the whole front is now 916 feet in length and is a breathtaking sight as you approach from the direction of Buckingham. The long, straight driveway that ran from Buckingham all the way to the front of the house, passing through a 60 foot (18 m) Corinthian arch on the brow of the hill on the way, made for a breathtaking approach that was very humbling and intimidating for visitors to the house. The driveway approach to the house is still in use today.

[edit] The gardens

In the 1690s Stowe had a modest early-Baroque parterre garden, owing more to Italy than to France, but it has not survived, and within a relatively short time, Stowe became widely renowned for its magnificent gardens. In the 1710s and 1720s, Charles Bridgeman (garden designer) and John Vanbrugh (architect) designed an English Baroque park, inspired by the work of London, Wise and Switzer. In the 1730s, William Kent and James Gibbs were appointed to work with Bridgeman, who died in 1738. Kent had already created the glorious garden at Rousham House, and he was joined by Giacomo Leoni to build temples, bridges and other garden structures. Kent’s Temple of Ancient Virtue (1734) looks across the Elysian Fields to the Shrine of British Worthies. In 1741, Capability Brown was appointed head gardener. He worked with Kent until the latter’s death in 1748, and his own departure in 1751. In these years, Bridgeman’s Octagonal Pond and Eleven Acre Lake were given a "naturalistic" shape, and a Palladian Bridge was added in 1744. Brown made a Grecian Valley which, despite its name, is an abstract composition of landform and woodland. As Loudon remarked in 1831, "nature has done little or nothing; man a great deal, and time has improved his labours". As Stowe evolved from an English Baroque garden into a pioneering landscape park, the gardens became an attraction for many of the nobility, including political leaders. Indeed, Stowe is said to be the first English garden for which a guide book was produced. Wars and rebellions were reputedly discussed among the garden's many temples; the artwork of the time reflecting this by portraying caricatures of the better known politicians of history. Stowe began to evolve into a series of natural pictures to be appreciated from a perambulation rather than from a central point.

[edit] The Temple-Grenville family

From 1784, Stowe was the seat of the Marquesses of Buckingham. The 2nd Marquess of Buckingham married the heiress of the last Duke of Chandos and was then created Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (10 September 1823–26 March 1889), usually shortened to Richard Temple-Grenville, was a British statesman of the 19th century, and a close friend and subordinate of Benjamin Disraeli. He was styled Marquess of Chandos until the death of his father in 1861.

Earl Temple of Stowe is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was bestowed in 1822 to Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, who had been earlier created Duke of Buckingham. With the death of the third Duke, there remained no heirs-male to the dukedom, so it became extinct. The Earldom, however, had a special remainder in the letters patent creating it that allowed it to descend in the female line, which it did, to the first Duke's great-grandson William Gore-Langton. The house remained the seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos until the extinction of that title in 1889, and then of the Earls Temple of Stowe until the early 20th century, when, due to prodigious debts, the house was sold to become a school.

[edit] Listed status

Stowe has one of the largest concentrations of grade I listed buildings in England. There are separate grade I listings in place for:

• The house
• The arches at each end of the north front of the house
• Dido's Cave
• The equestrian statue of George I to the north of the house
• Lord Cobham's Column
• Queen Caroline's Monument
• The Boycott Pavilions
• The Cascade
• The Congreve Monument
• The Corinthian Arch
• The Doric Arch
• The Gothic Temple
• The Grenville Column
• The Hermitage
• The Lake Pavilions
• The Oxford Bridge
• The Oxford Gate
• The Palladian Bridge
• The Queens Temple
• The Rotondo
• The Shell Bridge and Captain Cook's Monument
• The Temple of Ancient Virtue
• The Temple of British Worthies
• The Temple of Concord and Victory
• The Temple of Friendship
• The Temple of Venus
• The Wolfe Obelisk

This is nearly 0.5% of the approximately 6,000 grade I listings in England and Wales. The other historic buildings in the garden and park are listed grade II* or grade II.

Source: Images of England.

[edit] Trivia

• The Bollywood film Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham was filmed in Stowe (opening scene with the cricket match).
• Other films made in Stowe include Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (scenes set in Berlin), Proof of Life and James Bond The World Is Not Enough.

[edit] See also

• Stowe School

[edit] External links

• Stowe House Preservation Trust
• Stowe Landscape Gardens information at the National Trust
• A website about the garden with history, maps, photos and virtual tours
• Guided tour on the Stowe School website — gives an overview of the complex, including the buildings added by the School. The aerial photographs were taken in 2001, during restoration work.
• History of Stowe section of the Stowe School website
• dukesofbuckingham.org — information about Stowe and extensive coverage of related topics