Biddesden House (or Biddesden Park) is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

English country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in east Wiltshire, about north-west of

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the Test, and is situated alongside the major A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, west of the town of Basingsto ...

. The house stands in parkland about east of Ludgershall village, and is home to an

Arabian Horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation o ...

History

Biddesden manor was bought in 1693 by

John Richmond Webb General (United Kingdom), General John Richmond Webb (26 December 1667 – 5 September 1724), of Biddesden House, Ludgershall, Wiltshire, was a British general and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1695 to 1724. Politically ...

(1667–1724), an army officer who would rise to the rank of General. His purchase may have been aided by wealth brought by his wife: in 1690 he had married Henrietta Borlase, daughter of

William Borlase William Borlase (2 February 169631 August 1772), Cornish antiquary, geologist and naturalist. From 1722, he was Rector of Ludgvan, Cornwall, where he died. He is remembered for his works ''The Antiquities of Cornwall'' (1754; 2nd ed., 1769) ...

MP and the widow of

Sir Richard Astley, 1st Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

. After his retirement from the army, Webb replaced the

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

at Biddesden with the present house, built in stages around 1711–1712. On the General's death the estate passed to his son

Borlase Richmond Webb Borlase Richmond Webb (c. 1696–1738), of Biddesden House, Wiltshire, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1722 to 1734. Webb was the second son of John Richmond Webb of Biddesden and his first wife ...

(c. 1696–1738) and then the latter's half-brother, also

(1721–1766). The

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

traces later owners. About 1909 it was bought sight unseen by George Gribble, on the recommendation of his wife Norah Royd and their son Philip; the family moved there from

Henlow Grange Henlow Grange is an English country house in Henlow, Bedfordshire. It is now operated as a spa hotel. Family home The house chiefly dates from the early 18th century. For generations it was the family seat of the Edwards. By 1869 the manor was ...

, Bedfordshire. In 1929 Biddesden House and about 200 acres were sold, probably by Olive Baring, to E. R. Fothergill, who in 1931 sold them to

Bryan Guinness Bryan Walter Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, (27 October 1905 – 6 July 1992) was an heir to part of the Guinness family brewing fortune, and a lawyer, poet and novelist. He was briefly married to Diana Mitford. Early life He was born to W ...

, later Lord Moyne. Guinness descendants still live there.

Architecture and design

Biddesden house is built in Flemish bond brick with stone dressings. The architect is unknown, perhaps Webb himself. It has two stories plus attic, seven bays to its south front and both sides, and domestic quarters to the rear. At the north-east a round turret carries a bell brought by Webb from the 1708 siege of Lille. Inside is a double height entrance hall, lit by three round windows at first floor height, and there is mid-18th-century panelling in several rooms.

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, dan ...

describes Biddesden as "a very remarkable house" for its place in English architecture. It was designated as Grade I listed in 1952. On the west front,

Dora Carrington Dora de Houghton Carrington (29 March 1893 – 11 March 1932), known generally as Carrington, was an English painter and decorative artist, remembered in part for her association with members of the Bloomsbury Group, especially the writer Lytton ...

painted a blank window in 1931 with a trompe-l'oeil cook, cat and canary behind glazing bars. Richard Pym painted two more on the east front in 1935, showing

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

people.

Park and gardens

Formal terraced gardens west of the house were probably created by General Webb, together with the walled kitchen garden. By 1841, during the ownership of the Everett family, there was an orchard, flower garden and shrubbery. Bryan Guinness made improvements to the gardens in the early 1930s. The gardens and surrounding park, which extend south of Biddesden Lane into Hampshire, in all some , were recorded on the national

Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

in 1987. Listed features in the grounds include 18th-century stables and a dairy, an octagonal dovecote from the same period, and a copper-domed pavilion of c.1933 overlooking the swimming pool. Inside the latter are brightly-coloured mosaics by

Boris Anrep Boris Vasilyevich Anrep (russian: Борис Васильевич Анреп; 27 September 1883 – 7 June 1969) was a Russian artist, active in Britain, who devoted himself to the art of mosaic. In Britain, he is known for his monumental mosaic ...

Biddesden Stud

The stud bred the eventing champion

Tamarillo The tamarillo (''Solanum betaceum'') is a small tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshade family). It is best known as the species that bears the tamarillo, an egg-shaped edible fruit. It is also known as the tree ...

References

External links

Biddesden Stud
{{Authority control Country houses in Wiltshire Grade I listed buildings in Wiltshire Grade I listed houses Arabian breeders and trainers Horse farms in the United Kingdom Houses completed in 1711