Cliveden (pronounced ) is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
country house and estate in the care of the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
in
Buckinghamshire, on the border with
Berkshire. The
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...
mansion, also known as Cliveden House, crowns an outlying ridge of the
Chiltern Hills close to the
South Bucks
South Bucks was one of four local government districts in the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in South East England.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, by the amalgamation of the area of Beac ...
villages of
Burnham and
Taplow
Taplow is a village and civil parish in the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It sits on the left bank of the River Thames, facing Maidenhead in the neighbouring county of Berkshire, with Cippenham and Burnham to the east. It is the ...
. The main house sits above the banks of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
, and its grounds slope down to the river. There have been three houses on this site: the first, built in 1666, burned down in 1795 and the second house (1824) was also destroyed by fire, in 1849. The present Grade I listed house was built in 1851 by the architect
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respons ...
for the
2nd Duke of Sutherland.
Cliveden has been the home to a Prince of Wales, two Dukes, an Earl, and finally the
Viscounts Astor. As the home of
Nancy Astor
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945.
Astor's first husband was America ...
, wife of the
2nd Viscount Astor, Cliveden was the meeting place of the
Cliveden Set of the 1920s and 30s—a group of political intellectuals. Later, during the early 1960s when it was the home of the
3rd Viscount Astor, it became the setting for key events of the notorious
Profumo affair
The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler be ...
. After the Astor family stopped living there, by the 1970s it was leased to
Stanford University, which used it as an overseas campus. Today the house is leased to a company that runs it as a
five-star hotel
Hotel ratings are often used to classify hotels according to their quality. From the initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating have expanded into a focus on the hotel experie ...
.
The gardens and woodlands are open to the public, together with parts of the house on certain days. Cliveden has become one of the National Trust's most popular pay-for-entry visitor attractions, hosting 524,807 visitors in 2019.
Etymology
Cliveden means "valley among cliffs"
and refers to the dene (valley) which cuts through part of the estate, east of the house. Cliveden has been spelled differently over the centuries, some of the variations being ''Cliffden'', ''Clifden'', ''Cliefden'' and ''Clyveden''.
:10
Present house
![Cliveden 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Cliveden_02.jpg)
Designed by
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respons ...
in 1851 to replace a house previously destroyed by fire, the present house is a blend of the English
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
style and the Roman
Cinquecento.
:29 The Victorian three-storey mansion sits on a long, high brick terrace or viewing platform (visible only from the south side) which dates from the mid-17th century. The exterior of the house is rendered in
Roman cement
Roman cement is a substance developed by James Parker in the 1780s, being patented in 1796.
The name is misleading, as it is nothing like any material used by the Romans, but was a "natural cement" made by burning septaria – nodules that are ...
, with
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
additions such as
balusters, capitals,
keystones and
finials. The roof of the mansion is meant for walking on, and there is a circular view, above the tree-line, of parts of
Buckinghamshire and
Berkshire including
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
to the south.
:206
Below the balustraded roofline is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
inscription which continues around the four sides of the house and recalls its history; it was composed by the then prime minister
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
. On the west front it reads: ''POSITA INGENIO OPERA CONSILIO CAROLI BARRY ARCHIT A MDCCCLI'', which translated reads: "The work accomplished by the brilliant plan of architect Charles Barry in 1851."
The main contractor for the work was
Lucas Brothers.
In 1984–86 the exterior of the mansion was overhauled and a new lead roof installed by the National Trust, while interior repairs were carried out by Cliveden Hotel. In 2013, further exterior work was carried out including the restoration of 300 sash windows and 20 timber doors.
Interior
![Camino della sala grande nel Palazzo di Cliveden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Camino_della_sala_grande_nel_Palazzo_di_Cliveden.jpg)
The interior of the house today is very different from its original appearance in 1851–52. This is mainly due to the
1st Lord Astor, who radically altered the interior layout and decoration c.1894–95.
Whereas Barry's original interior for the Sutherlands had included a square entrance-hall, a morning room and a separate stairwell, Lord Astor wanted a more impressive entrance to Cliveden so he had all three rooms amalgamated to create the Great Hall.
:134
Astor's aim was for the interior to resemble an Italian
palazzo
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
, thus complementing the exterior.
The ceiling and walls were panelled in English
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
, with Corinthian columns and swags of carved flowers for decoration, all by architect Frank Pearson. The staircase newel posts are ornamented with carved figures representing previous owners (e.g. Buckingham and Orkney) by
W.S. Frith.
Astor installed a large 16th-century fireplace that was purchased from the Frederick Spitzer Sale (lot 1273) in June 1893. To the left of the fireplace is a portrait of Nancy, Lady Astor by the American portraitist
John Singer Sargent. The room was and still is furnished with 18th-century tapestries and suits of
armour.
Originally the floor was covered with
Minton encaustic tiles (given to the Sutherlands by the factory) but Nancy Astor had them removed in 1906 and the present flagstones laid.
Above the staircase is a painted ceiling by French artist
Auguste Hervieu which depicts the Sutherlands' children painted as the four seasons, and is only surviving element of Barry's 1851–52 interior.
![La sala da pranzo francese (Bloseries)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/La_sala_da_pranzo_francese_%28Bloseries%29.jpg)
The French Dining Room is so-called because the 18th-century
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
panelling (or boiseries) came from the
Château d'Asnières near Paris, a château which was leased to
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
and his mistress
Madame de Pompadour as a hunting lodge. The panelling was sold in 1897 by Jules Allard to the 1st Lord Astor, who had it installed at Cliveden. The gilded panelling on a turquoise ground contains carvings of
hares,
pheasant
Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...
s, hunting dogs and
rifles. The console tables and buffet were made in 1900 to match the room.
The second largest room on the ground floor, after the Great Hall, was the original drawing room, which is used as the hotel's main dining room.
Also on the ground floor is the library, panelled in cedar wood, which the Astors used to call the "cigar box",
:181 and, next door, Nancy Astor's
boudoir
A boudoir (; ) is a woman's private sitting room or salon in a furnished residence, usually between the dining room and the bedroom, but can also refer to a woman's private bedroom. The term derives from the French verb ''bouder'' (to sulk ...
, which is used by the hotel as a meeting room.
Upstairs there are a total of 10 bedroom suites divided equally over two floors. The East wing was and still is guest accommodation, whereas the West wing was domestic offices that were converted into more bedrooms in 1994.
Clock Tower
The nearby 100-foot (30m) clock tower was added in 1861 and is the work of the architect
Henry Clutton
Henry Clutton (19 March 1819 – 27 June 1893)Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Photograph , http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pis&GScid=1366392&GRid=12186732&PIgrid=12186732&PIcrid=1366392&PIpi=3000944& was an English arc ...
. As a functioning
water tower
A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...
it still provides water for the house today. It is rendered in Roman cement like the rest of the house, and features four clock faces framed by gilded surrounds and a half open staircase on its north side. It was described by the architectural critic
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
as "the epitome of Victorian flamboyance and assertiveness."
The tower is topped with a modern reproduction of
Augustin Dumont
Augustin-Alexandre Dumont, known as Auguste Dumont (4 August 1801, in Paris – 28 January 1884, in Paris) was a French sculptor.
Biography
He was one of a long line of famous sculptors, the great-grandson of Pierre Dumont, son of Jacques-Edme ...
's 19th-century winged male figure ''Le Génie de la Liberté'' (the Spirit of Liberty). The original is atop the
July Column
The July Column (french: Colonne de Juillet) is a monumental column in Paris commemorating the Revolution of 1830. It stands in the center of the Place de la Bastille and celebrates the — the 'three glorious' days of 27–29 July 1830 tha ...
in the
Place de la Bastille
The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris where the Bastille prison once stood, until the storming of the Bastille and its subsequent physical destruction between 14 July 1789 and 14 July 1790 during the French Revolution. No vestige of the ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. This replaces two earlier versions, the first having fallen from the tower during a storm in the 1950s.
The new statue is made of
bronze and was created using Dumont's original mould from the 1860s found in a museum in
Semur-en-Auxois
Semur-en-Auxois () is a commune of the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. The politician François Patriat, the engineers Edmé Régnier L'Aîné (1751–1825) and Émile Dorand (1866-1922), and the Encyclopédiste Philippe Guéneau de ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
It measures 2.2 m in height, is covered in two layers of 23.5
carat gold leaf and cost a total of £68,000.
It is an
allegorical sculpture
Allegorical sculpture are sculptures of personifications of abstract ideas as in allegory. Common in the western world, for example, are statues of Lady Justice representing justice, traditionally holding scales and a sword, and the statues of Pru ...
which holds the torch of civilization in its right hand and the broken chain of slavery in its left. It was affixed to the tower in spring 2012.
History
Duke of Buckingham and early history
![2ndDukeOfBuckingham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/2ndDukeOfBuckingham.jpg)
Cliveden stands on the site of a house built in 1666 designed by architect
William Winde
Captain William Winde (c.1645–1722) was an English gentleman architect, whose Royalist military career, resulting in fortifications and topographical surveys but lack of preferment, and his later career, following the Glorious Revolution, as ...
as the home of
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros, (30 January 1628 – 16 April 1687) was an English statesman and poet.
Life
Early life
George was the son of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, favourite of James I a ...
. But before Buckingham's purchase the land was owned by the Mansfield family and before that to the de Clyveden family.
:10
The details are recorded in a document compiled by William Waldorf Astor in 1894 called ''The Historical Descent of Cliveden''. Derived from several historical sources including Lipscombe's ''History of the County of Buckingham,'' Lyson's ''
Magna Britannia
''Magna Britannia, being a concise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain'' was a topographical and historical survey published by the antiquarians Daniel Lysons and his brother Samuel Lysons in several volumes between 18 ...
,'' and Sheahan's ''History of Buckinghamshire,'' it shows that in 1237 the land was owned by Geoffrey de Clyveden and by 1300 it had passed to his son, William, who owned fisheries and mills along the Cliveden Reach stretch of the Thames and at nearby
Hedsor
Hedsor is a small village and civil parish in Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England, in the very south of the county, near the River Thames and Bourne End. It is in the civil parish of Wooburn.
The village toponym is derived from the Ol ...
.
![CliveGardenFrontVitruviusBritannicus edited](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/CliveGardenFrontVitruviusBritannicus_edited.jpg)
In 1569 a lodge existed on the site along with of land and was owned by Sir Henry Manfield; it was later owned by his son, Sir Edward. In 1573, there were two lodges on of treeless
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
escarpment above the Thames. It was on this impressively high but exposed site that Buckingham chose to build the first Cliveden house.
:2
Buckingham pulled down the earlier buildings and chose
William Winde
Captain William Winde (c.1645–1722) was an English gentleman architect, whose Royalist military career, resulting in fortifications and topographical surveys but lack of preferment, and his later career, following the Glorious Revolution, as ...
as his architect. Winde designed a four-storey house above an arcaded terrace. Today, the terrace is the only feature of Buckingham's house to survive the 1795 fire. Although the Duke's intention was to use Cliveden as a "hunting box", it later housed
Anna, Countess of Shrewsbury. In 1668 a duel between the Duke and his mistress's husband
Lord Shrewsbury took place at
Barn Elms
Barn Elms is an open space in Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, located on the northerly loop of the River Thames between Barnes and Fulham.
The WWT London Wetland Centre (105 acres of what were once reservoirs) li ...
near London and resulted in Shrewsbury dying of his wounds.
[NT Guide 2012, p. 3] A contemporary account of Buckingham's affair with Anna was written about by
Samuel Pepys, in his diary of the period.
John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's diary, or ...
, another contemporary diarist, visited the Duke at Cliveden on 22 July 1679 and recorded the following impression in his
Diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
:
"I went to Clifden, that stupendous natural rock, wood, and prospect, of the Duke of Buckingham's, and buildings of extraordinary expense. The grots in the chalky rocks are pretty: it is a romantic object, and the place altogether answers the most poetical description that can be made of solitude, precipice, prospect, or whatever can contribute to a thing so very like their imaginations. The stand, somewhat like Frascati as to its front, and on the platform is a circular view to the utmost verge of the horizon, which, with the serpenting of the Thames, is admirable. The staircase is for its materials singular; the cloisters, descents, gardens, and avenue through the wood, august and stately; but the land all about wretchedly barren, and producing nothing but fern."
In the 18th century
1st Earl of Orkney
After Buckingham died in 1687, the house remained empty until the estate was purchased in 1696 by
George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney
Field Marshal George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, KT (9 February 1666 – 29 January 1737), styled Lord George Hamilton from 1666 to 1696, was a British soldier and Scottish nobleman and the first British Army officer to be promoted to the ra ...
, a soldier and colonial official.
:2-3 The Earl employed the architect
Thomas Archer
Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect, whose work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his
contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His buildings are important as the only ones by an English Baroque archit ...
to add two new "wings" to the house, connected by curved corridors. Although an almost identical arrangement exists today, these are later reconstructions, the originals having been destroyed in the fire of 1795.
All that remains of Archer's work inside the house today is a staircase in the West wing.
Orkney's contributions to the gardens can still be seen today, most notably the Octagon Temple and the Blenheim Pavilion, both designed by the Venetian architect
Giacomo Leoni
Giacomo Leoni (1686 – 8 June 1746), also known as James Leoni, was an Italian architect, born in Venice. He was a devotee of the work of Florentine Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti, who had also been an inspiration for Andrea Pallad ...
.
:15 The landscape designer
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman (1690–1738) was an English garden designer who helped pioneer the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres an ...
was also commissioned to devise woodland walks and carve a rustic turf
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
out of the cliff-side.
:12
Countesses of Orkney
Orkney died in 1737, and Cliveden passed to his daughter
Anne, 2nd Countess of Orkney in her own right. She immediately leased it to
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fa ...
, eldest son of
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
and father of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
. After Frederick fell out with his father,
Kew
Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
and Cliveden became his refuge from life at the royal court, becoming family homes for his wife Augusta and their children.
During the Prince's tenure of the house, on 1 August 1740, ''
Rule, Britannia!
"Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated with the Royal Navy, but is also used by the ...
'' (an aria by the English composer
Thomas Arne
Thomas Augustine Arne (; 12 March 17105 March 1778) was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song " Rule, Britannia!" and the song "A-Hunting We Will Go", the latter composed for a 1777 production of '' The Beggar's Opera'', wh ...
) was first performed in public in the cliff-side amphitheatre at Cliveden. It was played as part of the
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...
''
Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
'' to celebrate the third birthday of the Prince's daughter
Augusta.
Cliveden was also the location for the final illness of the Prince: it was believed that while playing
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
in the grounds at Cliveden in 1751 the Prince received a blow to the chest from a batted ball and that this had caused an infection which proved fatal;
[NT Guide 1994, p. 19] however, an alternative interpretation shows he died from a cold, followed by a pulmonary embolism. After his death, Frederick's family retained Kew and their town house,
Leicester House, but gave up their lease on Cliveden. Anne and her family moved back into the house, passing it to her daughter and granddaughter, the 3rd and 4th Countesses, who also lived there. On the night of 20 May 1795, the house caught fire and burned down. The cause of the fire was thought to have been a servant knocking over a candle.
The 4th Countess moved out after the fire but retained the site, only selling it in 1824.
In the 19th century
Sir George Warrender
After the fire of 1795, the house remained a ruin for the first quarter of the 19th century. In 1824, the estate was purchased by
Sir George Warrender, 4th Baronet
Sir George Warrender of Lochend, 4th Baronet, PC, FRS, FRSE (5 December 1782 – 21 February 1849) was a Scottish politician. In 1799, he succeeded to his father's baronetcy. Due to his lifestyle, he was nicknamed Sir Gorge Provender.
Life
Bo ...
. To rebuild Cliveden, Warrender selected
William Burn
William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred ...
, a Scottish architect, and decided on a design for a two-storey mansion with entertaining on a grand scale in mind.
:2
2nd Duke of Sutherland
![Clivedenmorris edited](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Clivedenmorris_edited.jpg)
Warrender died in 1849 and the house was sold to the Sutherland family, headed by the
second Duke. Sutherland had been in possession of the estate for only a few months when the house burned down for the second time in its history. The cause this time appears to have been negligence on the part of the decorators.
The Duke was prompt in commissioning the architect
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respons ...
to rebuild Cliveden in the style of an
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...
villa.
:3 Barry, whose most famous project is arguably the
Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
,
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
, was inspired by the outline of the two earlier houses for his design. The third (and present) house on the site was completed in 1851–52, and its exterior appearance has little changed since then.
The -tall clock tower, which is actually a water tower (still working to this day) was added in 1861 by the architect
Henry Clutton
Henry Clutton (19 March 1819 – 27 June 1893)Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Photograph , http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pis&GScid=1366392&GRid=12186732&PIgrid=12186732&PIcrid=1366392&PIpi=3000944& was an English arc ...
.
:20-21 During this period other additions were made to the estate, which included half-timbered cottages, a dairy and a boathouse. Also around this time another architect,
George Devey
George Devey (1820, London – 1886, Hastings, Sussex) was an English architect notable for his work on country houses and their estates, especially those belonging to the Rothschild family. The second son of Frederick and Ann Devey, he was bo ...
, was commissioned to build half-timbered cottages on the estate along with a dairy and boathouse.
:28-29
After the duke's death in 1861, his widow Harriet continued to live at the house for part of the year until her death in 1868, after which it was sold to her son-in-law
Hugh Lupus, Earl Grosvenor, later 1st Duke of Westminster.
1st Duke of Westminster
Westminster was one of the wealthiest Englishmen of the period. During his ownership of the estate (1868–93), he contributed significant additions to the house and gardens, including the ''
porte cochère
Porte may refer to:
*Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire
*Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy
*John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator
*Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...
'' on the north front of the mansion, a new stable block and the
dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...
, all designed by
Henry Clutton
Henry Clutton (19 March 1819 – 27 June 1893)Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Photograph , http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pis&GScid=1366392&GRid=12186732&PIgrid=12186732&PIcrid=1366392&PIpi=3000944& was an English arc ...
.
In the 20th and 21st century
Astor era
![Nancy Viscountess Astor by John Singer Sargent](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Nancy_Viscountess_Astor_by_John_Singer_Sargent.jpeg)
In 1893, the estate was purchased by an American millionaire,
William Waldorf Astor
William Waldorf "Willy" Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (31 March 1848 – 18 October 1919) was an American-British attorney, politician, businessman (hotels and newspapers), and philanthropist. Astor was a scion of the very wealthy Astor family of ...
(later 1st Viscount Astor), who made sweeping alterations to the gardens and the interior of the house.
:3 However, after the early death of his wife, he lived a reclusive life at Cliveden. He gave the house to his son
Waldorf (later 2nd Viscount Astor) on the occasion of his marriage to
Nancy Langhorne in 1906 and moved to
Hever Castle
Hever Castle ( ) is located in the village of Hever, Kent, near Edenbridge, south-east of London, England. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century. From 1462 to 1539, it was the seat of the Boleyn (originally 'Bullen') family. ...
.
The young Astors used Cliveden for entertaining on a lavish scale.
The combination of the house, its setting and leisure facilities offered on the estate - boating on the Thames, horse riding, tennis, swimming,
croquet
Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.
Its international governing body is the W ...
and fishing - made Cliveden a destination for film stars, politicians, world-leaders, writers and artists. The heyday of entertaining at Cliveden was between the two World Wars when the Astors held regular weekend house parties. Guests at the time included:
Charlie Chaplin,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
,
Joseph Kennedy
Joseph Patrick Kennedy (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Ken ...
,
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
,
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
,
Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson (born 1 July 1903 – disappeared 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.
Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records du ...
,
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
,
H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...
,
T. E. Lawrence
Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...
(Lawrence of Arabia),
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...
and the writers
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
,
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
, and
Edith Wharton.
:213
During the inter-war period the entertainer
Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Irene Grenfell OBE (''née'' Phipps; 10 February 1910 – 30 November 1979) was an English diseuse, singer, actress and writer. She was known for the songs and monologues she wrote and performed, at first in revues and later in her solo s ...
, who was Nancy Astor's niece, lived in a cottage on the estate. In the preface to her memoir,
James Roose Evans stated that during the Second World War, Grenfell ran two wards of the hospital and worked as an informal welfare officer. This work included completing errands for patients, writing letters, shopping, teaching needlework, organising social events, and informal concerts.
Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital
![Cliveden War Cemetery, panorama](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Cliveden_War_Cemetery%2C_panorama.jpg)
At the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Waldorf Astor offered the use of some of the grounds to the
Canadian Red Cross
The Canadian Red Cross Society ()[World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...]
Waldorf Astor again offered the use of the land at a rent of one
shilling per year to the Canadian Red Cross and the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital was built to the designs of
Robert Atkinson. After the war the hospital's main focus was as a nursing school, a maternity unit and a rheumatology unit.
The hospital closed and was abandoned in 1985. It lay derelict for two decades and was demolished in 2006 to make way for a
housing development
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular throughout the United States ...
for people aged 55 and over.
Attached to the military hospital and within the grounds was established
Cliveden War Cemetery. There are 42 Commonwealth war graves, 40 from World War I (mostly Canadians) and two from World War II, besides two American service war graves from the first war.
National Trust ownership
In 1942, the Astors gave Cliveden to the National Trust with the proviso that the family could continue to live in the house for as long as they wished. Should they cease to do so, they expressed the wish that the house be used "for promoting friendship and understanding between the peoples of the United States and Canada and the other dominions."
With the gift of Cliveden, the National Trust also received from the Astor family one of their largest endowments: £250,000 in 1942, .
After the death of the 2nd Viscount in 1952, his son William (Bill) Astor, the
3rd Viscount Astor took over the house until his death in 1966.
Following the death of Bill Astor in 1966, the National Trust took over the management of the estate.
Cliveden has become one of the National Trust's most popular pay-for-entry visitor attractions, hosting 524,807 visitors in 2019.
National Trust visitors to Cliveden can visit the parkland, and there is occasional limited access to a select area of the house.
:32
Cliveden House Hotel
In 1984, Blakeney Hotels (later Cliveden Hotel Ltd) acquired the lease to the house. Led by chairman John Lewis and managing director
John Tham they restored and refurbished the interior.
:202
![Cliveden House Pavilion Spa-2735570282](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Cliveden_House_Pavilion_Spa-2735570282.jpg)
In 1990, they added the indoor swimming pool and spa treatment rooms in the walled garden, complementing the existing outdoor pool. Also in 1990, a new 100-year lease was granted to run from 1984.
In 1994 the conversion of the West wing from domestic offices to provide more bedrooms and two boardrooms (Churchill and Macmillan) was completed.
There are 48 bedrooms and suites, all of which are named after previous owners and guests (e.g. Buckingham, Westminster).
In addition to the Terrace Dining room, there are a further four private dining rooms. Three rooms are licensed for civil ceremonies and each year many couples are married at Cliveden.
[ The hotel also leases Spring Cottage by the Thames, one of the key places in the ]Profumo affair
The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler be ...
, and offer it as self-contained accommodation.[
The hotel was listed on the ]London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
for a period of time in the 1990s (as Cliveden Plc).:202 This company was bought in 1998 by Destination Europe, a consortium including Microsoft CEO Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
. In the early years of the 21st century the lease was acquired by von Essen Hotels
Andrew Davis (born 12 February 1964) is a British businessman who founded the von Essen Group, which included Von Essen Hotels, PremiAir and the London Heliport.
Early life and career
Davis went to St Bede's Comprehensive School. Reigate Gramm ...
.
In 2007, Cliveden House Hotel claimed to offer the "world's most expensive sandwich" at £100. The von Essen Platinum Club Sandwich was confirmed by Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
in 2007 to be the most expensive sandwich commercially available. Cliveden House was the "jewel in the crown" of Von Essen Hotels when the company collapsed in 2011.
The lease to Cliveden Hotel was then purchased in February 2012 by the property developers Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
and Ian Livingstone
Sir Ian Livingstone (born 29 December 1949) is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of a series of role-playing gamebooks, ''Fighting Fantasy'', and the author of many books within that s ...
, owners of London & Regional Properties
London & Regional Properties (L&R) is a private real estate and leisure investment firm based in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest privately held principal investors in Europe, performing private equity style investments in direct ...
, (also the new owners of the next-door 220-acre estate called Dropmore Park
Dropmore Park is a private estate located along Dropmore Road, north of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, England, about in size. The park with its buildings, including Dropmore House, have Grade I listed building status. Dropmore House is one of the m ...
) who placed it under the management of Andrew Stembridge from Chewton Glen. In 2015 Natalie Livingstone, the wife of Ian Livingstone, published ''The Mistresses of Cliveden'', a history of some of the female occupants of the house. In January 2015 the hotel closed for one month to carry out a refurbishment of the interior and for the National Trust to repair the roof.
The hotel's insignia is that of the Sutherland family and consists of a coronet
A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. A coronet differs from other kinds of crowns in that a coronet never has arches, and from a tiara in that a coronet completely encircles the head, while a tiara doe ...
with interlaced "S"s and acanthus leaves. Three-dimensional versions of this insignia can be found on panels and radiator grills in parts of the house. The hotel's motto is "Nothing ordinary ever happened here, nor could it."[
In October 2021, the building was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35-million injection into the government's ]Culture Recovery Fund
The Culture Recovery Fund is a grants programme issued by the UK Government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund aims to financially support cultural organisations in England (such as theatres, museums, and music venues) which had bec ...
.
Gardens and grounds
The estate extends to of which about comprise the gardens, the rest being woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...
and paddocks. The gardens are listed Grade I on the 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 ...
.
Parterre
The formal parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
to the south of the house is one of the largest in Europe at . and is best viewed from the 20-foot (6.1m) high terrace on the south side of the mansion. This part of the garden has received the most attention over the centuries. The first arranging of the large plateau to the south of the house took place c.1723 during George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney's ownership.[NT Guide 1994, pp. 48–49] Although he had previously commissioned plans for elaborate parterre schemes from Claude Desgots
Claude Desgots (or Desgotz; c. 1658 – 1732) was a French architect and landscape architect, who designed French formal gardens in France and England. He worked with and was strongly influenced by André Le Nôtre, the designer of the gardens a ...
, the nephew of André Le Nôtre (both designers had previously worked at Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
), Orkney eventually chose a much simpler plan involving an open expanse of lawn surrounded by raised gravel walks and double rows of elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
trees.[NT Guide 2012, p. 16] At the far end there was (and still is) a sunken feature in the turf where Orkney's horses were exercised in a form of open-air manège.
Orkney referred to the garden as his "Quaker parterre" because of its simplicity. The parterre endured in this form until the mid 19th-century when the estate was owned by the Duke of Sutherland and by which time the garden had been neglected. It was described by the Duke's son Lord Ronald Gower
Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (2 August 1845 – 9 March 1916), was a British sculptor, best known for his statue of Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon. He also wrote biographies of Marie Antoinette and Joan of Arc, as well as s ...
as "a prairie...a huge field of grass and wild flowers." The Duke commissioned both Charles Barry (who had rebuilt the mansion after the second fire) and John Fleming (the head gardener) to produce designs for a complex parterre of flower beds. Fleming's design, which featured two sets of eight interlocking wedge-shaped beds, was chosen and is the template for what can be seen today. The beds were planted with a seasonal mix of bulbs, annuals and shrubs such as gladioli, hollyhocks, tulips, pansies and azaleas. Fleming pioneered this style of planting at Cliveden, which was later to be named "carpet-bedding."
The Cliveden scheme in the 19th-century is well documented in Fleming's handbook ''Winter and Spring Flower Gardening'' (1864). The Trust planted the present clipped yew pyramids at the corners of the beds in 1976. At this time (and for the next three decades) the beds contained a massed-planting effect of silver-evergreen Senecio
''Senecio'' is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that includes ragworts and groundsels.
Variously circumscribed taxonomically, the genus ''Senecio'' is one of the largest genera of flowering plants.
Description
Mor ...
"Sunshine" and Santolina
''Santolina'' is a genus of plants in the chamomile tribe within the sunflower family, primarily from the western Mediterranean region.
They are small evergreen shrubs growing tall. The leaves are simple and minute in some species, or pinnate ...
.[NT Guide 1994, p. 69] However, in 2010 the Trust decided to recreate Fleming's original 19th-century planting scheme.
Themed gardens
The Italian-style Long Garden consists of topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...
in the form of corkscrew-spirals, peacocks and seasonal planting within box hedges; it was created by garden designer Norah Lindsay
Norah Mary Madeleine Lindsay (née Bourke) (26 April 1873 – 20 June 1948) was a socialite garden designer who between the World wars became a major influence on garden design and planting in the United Kingdom and on the Continent.
Biography ...
in c.1900. The Japanese-style Water Garden was designed in c.1893 and is believed to be the first such East Asian inspired garden in the country. It features a pagoda
A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...
, on an island, bought from the Bagatelle
Bagatelle (from the Château de Bagatelle) is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls (set at nine in the 19th century) past wooden pins (which act as obstacles) into holes that are guarded by woode ...
estate in Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. The planting there is mostly spring-flowering: cherry tree
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The na ...
s, bush wisteria
''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north ...
s and giant gunnera
''Gunnera'' is the sole genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Gunneraceae, which contains 63 species. Some species in this genus, namely those in the subgenus ''Panke'', have extremely large leaves. Species in the genus are various ...
s. Both gardens were commissioned by the 1st Lord Astor.:25
The circular Rose Garden, designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe
Sir Geoffrey Allan Jellicoe (8 October 1900 – 17 July 1996) was an English architect, town planner, landscape architect, garden designer, landscape and garden historian, lecturer and author. His strongest interest was in landscape and gard ...
for the Astor family in the early 1960s subsequently suffered from rose disease and was replanted as a "secret" garden of herbaceous plants in the 2000s, but in 2014 the roses were reinstated. The planting in the herbaceous border
A herbaceous border is a collection of perennial herbaceous plants (plants that live for more than two years and are soft-stemmed and non-woody) arranged closely together, usually to create a dramatic effect through colour, shape or large scale. ...
s in the forecourt was designed in the 1970s by the National Trust advisor Graham Stuart Thomas
Graham Stuart Thomas (3 April 1909 – 17 April 2003), was an English horticulturist, who is likely best known for his work with garden roses, his restoration and stewardship of over 100 National Trust gardens and for writing 19 books on garde ...
.:11 The west-facing border features 'fiery'-coloured flowers (red, yellow, orange) and the east-facing border is planted with more subdued colours.
In 2011, the Trust began an ambitious project to restore the 19th-century Round Garden near the eastern edge of the estate. Originally this is where fruit was grown for the house, but since the 1950s it had become overgrown. The circular garden has a diameter of 250 ft and restoration will include reinstating the paths and wrought iron arches as well as original fruit varieties where possible.
Woodland
There is a lime tree avenue either side of the main drive to the house. Cliveden holds part of the National Plant Collection
The National Plant Collection scheme is the main conservation vehicle whereby the Plant Heritage charity (formerly the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens) can accomplish its mission: to conserve, grow, propagate, docume ...
of Catalpa. In 1897 the 1st Lord Astor imported a section of a Californian redwood
''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...
and had it installed in the woods. At across it is the largest section of a Sequoia gigantea
''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...
in Britain.
The woodlands were first laid out by Lord Orkney in the 18th century.:26-27 They were later much restocked by Bill Astor, however many of the trees fell in storms in the late twentieth-century.:27
Maze
The original Cliveden maze, commissioned by Lord Astor in 1894, has undergone major restoration after having lain overgrown and inaccessible since the 1950s. It was replanted with 1,100 six-foot-tall yew trees covering an area of one-third of an acre (0.13 hectares) and opened to the public in 2011.
Garden buildings: pavilions and follies
The earliest known garden buildings at Cliveden were both designed by Giacomo Leoni for Lord Orkney; the Blenheim Pavilion (c.1727) was built to commemorate Orkney's victory as a general at the Battle of Blenheim.:10
The pagoda
A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...
in the water garden was made for the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 and was purchased by the 1st Viscount Astor from the Bagatelle
Bagatelle (from the Château de Bagatelle) is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls (set at nine in the 19th century) past wooden pins (which act as obstacles) into holes that are guarded by woode ...
estate in Paris in 1900.
In the woods there is a small flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...
folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
thought to date from the late-18th to early-19th century.
Octagon Temple (Astor family chapel)
The Octagon Temple, situated 200 ft above the Thames, was originally designed by Giacomo Leoni in 1735 as a gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands.
Etymology
The etymology given by Oxford Dictionaries is "Mid 18th c ...
and grotto but was later converted by the 1st Viscount Astor to become the Astor family chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
.:15
In addition to its function as Astor family chapel, the Octagon Temple was adapted to serve as the family mausoleum in 1893. Today, three generations of Astors are buried here. The mausoleum contains the ashes of the 1st Viscount Astor, his son the 2nd Viscount, and of the latter's wife, Nancy Astor. The ashes of the 3rd Viscount and of Robert Gould Shaw III
Robert Gould Shaw III (18 August 1898 – 10 July 1970) was an American-born English socialite. He was the only child of Nancy Witcher Langhorne and Robert Gould Shaw II, a landowner and socialite. After his parents' divorce in 1903, he moved ...
(Nancy Astor's son by her first marriage) are also buried here.
The mausoleum's interior and dome are decorated with colourful mosaics by Clayton and Bell representing religious scenes.
Sculpture collection
One of the features of the gardens is the large collection of sculpture, most of it acquired by the 1st Lord Astor from 1893 to 1906. The shell fountain, known as the Fountain of Love, greets visitors at the end of the lime tree avenue
Avenue or Avenues may refer to:
Roads
* Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees)
* Avenue Road, Bangalore
* Avenue Road, ...
up to the house. It was sculpted by Thomas Waldo Story, (American, 1855–1915) in Rome in 1897 and was commissioned by Lord Astor for this site.:7 It features a large Carrara
Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mot ...
marble shell supporting three life-size female figures attended by cupid. The "Tortoise" fountain near the parterre was also made by T.W. Story at around the same time.:19
In the forecourt there is a collection of eight marble Roman sarcophagi
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
, some of which date from c.AD 100 and were bought by Lord Astor from Rome.:20-21
The Queen Anne Vase at the end of the Long Walk is said to have been given to Lord Orkney by Queen Anne in the 18th century.:7 It consists of a tall urn
An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
on a plinth decorated with the Greek key pattern
__NOTOC__
A meander or meandros ( el, Μαίανδρος) is a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif. Among some Italians, these patterns are known as "Greek Lines". Such a design also may be called ...
.
At the far-end of the parterre is a 20th-century copy of a bronze group entitled ''The Rape of Proserpina
''The Rape of Proserpina'' ( it, Ratto di Proserpina), more accurately translated as ''the Abduction of Proserpina'', is a large Baroque marble group sculpture by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, executed between 1621 and 1622, when Berni ...
'' (Italian, c.1565), bought by W.W. Astor from Italy. The original is now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
.
The well-heads and oil-jars found throughout the gardens came from Venice and Rome respectively.
Sitting on modern plinths in the Long Garden are two ancient Egyptian baboon sculptures, thought to be 2,000 - 2,500 years old, that were purchased by William Waldorf Astor
William Waldorf "Willy" Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (31 March 1848 – 18 October 1919) was an American-British attorney, politician, businessman (hotels and newspapers), and philanthropist. Astor was a scion of the very wealthy Astor family of ...
in Rome in 1898. It is believed that these sculptures represent Thoth
Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...
, the Egyptian god of writing and wisdom.
Borghese Balustrade
The largest sculpture in the grounds, technically in two parts, is the 17th-century Borghese Balustrade on the parterre. Purchased by Lord Astor in the late 19th century from the Villa Borghese gardens
Villa Borghese is a landscape garden in Rome, containing a number of buildings, museums (see Galleria Borghese) and attractions. It is the third largest public park in Rome (80 hectares or 197.7 acres) after the ones of the Villa Doria Pamphili a ...
in Rome, it is crafted from Travertine
Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...
stone and brick tiles by Giuseppe Di Giacomo and Paolo Massini in c.1618–19. It features seats and balustrading with fountain basins and carved eagles.:18-19
"Cliveden Snail"
In 2004, a colony of small Mediterranean land snails of the species '' Papillifera bidens'' was discovered living on the Borghese Balustrade. Presumably this species, new to the English fauna, was accidentally imported along with the balustrade in the late 19th century, and managed to survive the intervening winters to the present day.
Spring Cottage
This is the largest and most complex of the four timber-framed cottages designed or altered by the architect George Devey
George Devey (1820, London – 1886, Hastings, Sussex) was an English architect notable for his work on country houses and their estates, especially those belonging to the Rothschild family. The second son of Frederick and Ann Devey, he was bo ...
along the banks of the River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
on the Cliveden estate. The first structure on the site was a Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
-style summerhouse with an octagonal vaulted plaster ceiling designed in 1813 by architect Peter Nicholson for Mary FitzMaurice, 4th Countess of Orkney
Mary FitzMaurice, 4th Countess of Orkney (''née'' O'Brien; 4 September 1755 – 30 December 1831) was a Scottish peer, the only surviving child of Murrough O'Brien, 1st Marquess of Thomond and Mary O'Brien, 3rd Countess of Orkney.
She was ...
. She was living in one wing of the burnt down mansion at the time of the commission. It was used as a tea house and spa
A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...
for the many visitors attracted to the nearby mineral springs
Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage under ...
, which flowed from the chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
cliff above and ran down into the Thames.[
Nicholson published his designs for the house in his ''Architectural Dictionary'' of 1813 in the form of a cross-section of the interior and ceiling projection. In auction particulars dated 1821, which list all structures on the estate, the building is described as a ]Banqueting house
In English architecture, mainly from the Tudor period onwards, a banqueting house is a separate pavilion-like building reached through the gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining, especially eating. Or it may be b ...
"at the much admired spring", while several decades later it was described as an "ornamental fishing villa."
In 1857, the Duke of Sutherland, who had owned Cliveden for eight years, commissioned George Devey to enlarge the existing building into a two-storey cottage.[ The subsequent alterations were in the vernacular style with brick and stucco walls, fish-scale pattern roof slates, a Gothick-style ]loggia
In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...
and a turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
above an exterior staircase leading to a balcony. Throughout the remainder of the 19th century the main purpose of the cottage was as a place of leisure, and it was frequently used by the Duke's wife Harriet to entertain guests, most notably her friend Queen Victoria.[
In 1957, the cottage came to the attention of London osteopath ]Stephen Ward
Stephen Thomas Ward (19 October 1912 – 3 August 1963) was an English osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair, a British political scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo, the Sec ...
, who had been hired to treat Bill Astor. He leased the cottage from the Astors for a minimal rent for use as a weekend retreat. Among the guests invited to stay there were Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies
Marilyn Rice-Davies (21 October 1944 – 18 December 2014) was a Welsh model and showgirl best known for her association with Christine Keeler and her role in the Profumo affair, which discredited the Conservative government of British Prime Mi ...
.:184 A chance meeting in 1961 between Keeler and cabinet minister John Profumo
John Dennis Profumo, CBE,( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo ...
(a guest of the Astors) at the Cliveden swimming pool led to the Profumo affair
The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler be ...
which so damaged the Macmillan government.:185
Spring Cottage was awarded Grade II listed status in 1986,[ and in 1997 the hotel company which leased Cliveden House from the National Trust also acquired the lease to the cottage.][ A reported £750,000][ was spent restoring and refurbishing the dilapidated building before it reopened in 1998 as a self-contained luxury holiday let.][
]
Cliveden Reach
Cliveden Reach, between Cookham Lock
Cookham Lock is a lock with weirs situated on the River Thames near Cookham, Berkshire, about a half-mile downstream of Cookham Bridge. The lock is set in a lock cut which is one of four streams here and it is surrounded by woods. On one si ...
and Boulter's Lock
Boulter's Lock is a lock and weir on the River Thames in England north-east of Maidenhead town centre, Berkshire. The present 1912-built lock replaces those at this point of the river to the immediate east dating from the late 16th century an ...
, is one of the most scenic stretches of the Thames. A section of the original Thames towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport w ...
extends from the boathouse, north to Cookham Lock. Cliveden House may be accessed by watercraft from the mooring on Cliveden Reach half a mile downstream from Cliveden boathouse. A series of eyots in the reach are owned by the National Trust, and allow for short periods of mooring for passing boats. Cliveden Reach is a popular spot for canoeing, kayaking, and angling. The National Trust offers self-hire boats and guided river cruises.
In popular culture
Art
Cliveden has been depicted in paintings, for example: ''Cliveden'', (c.1750–80), by William Tomkins
William Tomkins was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1628 and in 1640.
Tomkins was the son of James Tomkins of Monnington on Wye, Herefordshire, and of Garnestone south of Weobley.
Tomkins' father was instrumental in b ...
, and ''A Fallen Beech with a Prospect of Cliveden'', (1988), by Carl Laubin Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of te ...
.
Film
The house has been used for filming on multiple occasions, including: ''A Very British Country House'' (2018);'' Hampstead'' (2017); ''Paul Hollywood City Bakes'' (2016); ''Mr Selfridge
''Mr Selfridge'' is a British period drama television series about Harry Gordon Selfridge and his department store, Selfridge & Co, in London, set from 1908 to 1928. It was co-produced by ITV Studios and Masterpiece/WGBH for broadcast on IT ...
'' (2016); ''Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
'' (2015); ''A Little Chaos
''A Little Chaos'' is a 2014 British period drama film directed by Alan Rickman. The story was conceived by Alison Deegan who co-wrote the screenplay along with Rickman and Jeremy Brock. The film stars Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alan R ...
'' (2014);'' Endless Night'' (2013); '' Sherlock Holmes'' (2009); '' Made of Honour'' (2008); ''Cards on the Table
''Cards on the Table'' is a detective fiction novel by the English author Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 2 November 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retail ...
'' (2005); '' Mrs. Henderson Presents'' (2005); '' Thunderbirds'' (2004); ''Antiques Roadshow
''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...
'' (2000); '' Carrington'' (1995); ''Chaplin Chaplin may refer to:
People
* Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), English comedy film actor and director
* Chaplin (name), other people named Chaplin
Films
* '' Unknown Chaplin'' (1983)
* ''Chaplin'' (film) (1992)
* ''Chaplin'' (2011 film), Ben ...
'' (1992); ''Dead Man's Folly
''Dead Man's Folly'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1956 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 November of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.9 ...
'' (1986); ''Operation Daybreak
''Operation Daybreak'' (also known as ''The Price of Freedom'' in the U.S. and ''Seven Men at Daybreak'' during production) is a 1975 war film based on the true story of Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of SS general Reinhard Heydrich in ...
'' (1975); ''Don't Lose Your Head
''Don't Lose Your Head'' is a 1967 British swashbuckling comedy film, the 13th in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It features regular team members Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey, and Joan Sims. Set ...
'' (1966); ''Help!
''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles " Help!" and " Ticket to Ride", ...
'' (1965); and '' Yaadein'' (2001).
Literature
Cliveden has been referenced in literature including: ''Three Men in a Boat'' (1889); ''Boogie Up the River'' (1989); Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...
's ''Moral Essays''; Daniel Defoe's ''A Tour Through England and Wales'' (1726) and Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...
's novel ''The City and the Pillar'' (1948).
Both the house and the river have been suggested as inspiration for Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is most famous for ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908), a classic of children's literature, as well as '' The Reluctant Dragon''. Both books w ...
's children's novel ''The Wind in the Willows
''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...
.''
Gallery
File:Cliveden_House_Parterre.jpg, The house from the Parterre showing the restored 19th-century planting scheme
File:Cliveden - Tortoise Fountain.jpg, The Tortoise Fountain and view over the River Thames
File:Cliveden_House,_Maidenhead_(7958658220).jpg, The North front with Clock Tower
File:Dukes_Garden,_Cliveden_(7958654494).jpg, The dovecote behind the west-facing herbaceous border
File:Boathouse,_Cliveden_(7958632774).jpg, The 19th-century boathouse designed by George Devey
File:Cliveden-2375.jpg, Sir Bertram MacKennal's figure representing Canada in the War Memorial Garden.
File:Long garden (9061139862).jpg, Topiary spiral in the Long Garden.
File:Boat_Keepers_House,_Cliveden_(7958635982).jpg, A 19th-century Thames-side cottage designed by George Devey
File:Secret_Garden,_Cliveden_(7958662690).jpg, The circular Rose Garden with temporary herbaceous planting.
File:Water_Garden_Fountain_(7958579702).jpg, The fountain in the Water garden
File:Wooden_sculpture_of_a_bear,_Cliveden_-_geograph.org.uk_-_60111.jpg, Wooden bear sculpture in the woods
File:The_Long_Garden_(7958599338).jpg, Topiary and summer planting in the Long Garden
File:Gilded_clock,_Cliveden_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1209681.jpg, Gilded surrounds of the clock faces on the tower
File:Yew_Tree_Walk_(172_steps)_(7958638240).jpg, Yew Tree Walk with its 172 cliff-side steps down to the Thames
File:Secret_Garden,_Cliveden_(7958665142).jpg, Wounded Amazon statue purchased by W.W. Astor in the Rose Garden.
File:Cliveden_House_Driveway,_Maidenhead_(7958576650).jpg, The avenue leading up to the house
File:Pagoda (9058180373).jpg, The Pagoda in the Water Garden
File:Grotto,_Cliveden_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1209629.jpg, The 19th-century flint folly in the woods
File:Part of the east parterre at Cliveden, taken from above.jpg, Planting in the Parterre viewed from the terrace.
File:Temple at Cliveden - panoramio.jpg, 18th-century Blenheim Pavilion - one of the oldest garden buildings at Cliveden.
File:Fountain (9061302250).jpg, Jets of water around the Fountain of Love.
File:Cliveden-8461.jpg, Concrete tree-trunk folly (an old chimney) near the estate offices.
File:Stone benches (9058834293).jpg, Seats in the Borghese Balustrade above the Parterre.
File:Baboon statues in Cliveden gardens-geograph-2579476.jpg, Granite Baboon statues in the Long Garden.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Astor, Michael, ''Tribal Feeling'', London, 1963.
* Coates, Tim, ''The Scandal of Christine Keeler and John Profumo: Lord Denning's Report 1967'', London, 2003.
* Fox, James, ''The Langhorne Sisters'', London, 1998.
* Hayward, Allyson, ''Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer'', London, 2007.
* Jackson-Stops, Gervase, ''An English Arcadia: 1600–1990'', London, 1992.
* Keeler, Christine, ''The Truth at Last: My Story'', London, 2002.
* Lacey, Steven, ''Gardens of the National Trust'', London, 1994.
* Rose, Norman, ''The Cliveden Set: Portrait of an Exclusive Fraternity'', London, 2000.
* Sinclair, David, ''Dynasty: The Astors and their Times'', London, 1983.
* Stanford, Peter, ''Bronwen Astor: Her Life and Times'', London, 2001.
External links
*
nationaltrust.org.uk
Cliveden information at the National Trust
Cliveden House
National Trust Collections: an online directory of items at Cliveden
{{Authority control
1851 establishments in England
Houses completed in 1851
Astor family residences
Buildings and structures on the River Thames
Country houses in Buckinghamshire
Gardens in Buckinghamshire
Grade I listed buildings in Buckinghamshire
Grade I listed houses
Grade I listed parks and gardens in Buckinghamshire
Historic house museums in Buckinghamshire
Hotel spas
Hotels in Buckinghamshire
Italianate architecture in England
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