Fonthill Splendens was a country mansion in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, built by
Alderman William Beckford; building began in 1755 and was largely complete by 1770.
The construction followed the destruction by fire of the previous Fonthill House. The new mansion had a life of only fifty years, being demolished in 1807.
Beckford is usually referred to as Alderman Beckford to distinguish him from his more well-known son,
William (Thomas) Beckford of
Fonthill Abbey
Fonthill Abbey—also known as Beckford's Folly—was a large Gothic Revival country house built between 1796 and 1813 at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire, England, at the direction of William Thomas Beckford and architect James Wyatt. It was b ...
. Fonthill Splendens was a major country house of its time, but knowledge of it has largely been eclipsed by the story of Beckford’s Gothic edifice, Fonthill Abbey.
As with the earlier building, the mansion was in its time just known as Fonthill House. The name Fonthill Splendens may have been used colloquially but only appeared in print in 1829, some twenty years after the house was demolished.
Alderman Beckford's house
This very substantial mansion was built in the
Neo-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, largely based on the design of
Houghton Hall
Houghton Hall ( ) is a country house in the parish of Houghton in Norfolk, England. It is the residence of David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley.
It was commissioned by the ''de facto'' first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walp ...
in Norfolk. It seems that a formal architect may not have been engaged. Credit is usually given to a ‘Mr Hoare a London builder’. Given the closeness of Fonthill to
Stourhead
Stourhead () is a 1,072-hectare (2,650-acre) estate at the source of the River Stour in the southwest of the English county of Wiltshire, extending into Somerset. The estate is about northwest of the town of Mere and includes a Grade I listed ...
, James or George Hoare may have had some connection to the Hoare family.
The building consisted of a nine bay central block on three floors. This was connected by quadrant colonnades to free standing five bay pavilions of two floors. Two flights of steps on the north front led to a portico with pediment on four giant
Ionic columns. The principal rooms were all on the first floor or ''piano nobile'', set around a vast central hall, the Organ Hall. The basement or ‘Rustick Story’ floor seems to have been used for everyday living.
All the services such as the kitchen and brewhouse were confined to the separate wings, internal passageways in the quadrants connecting them to the central block.
Architecturally, the house was considered to be a rather old-fashioned design, some twenty years out of date in comparison to the latest styles. The interior, however, was fitted out by the Alderman in the current taste of the 1760s and was extremely richly decorated throughout, with painted ceilings, elaborate chimney pieces, velvet and damask wall hangings, a library, many oil paintings and tapestries.
He also carried out extensive landscaping works to the grounds. The stream flowing north/south through the grounds was dammed to form
Fonthill Lake
Fonthill Lake () is a lake in southwest Wiltshire, England. It lies just to the south of the village of Fonthill Bishop, east of the village of Fonthill Gifford, and northeast of Fonthill Abbey. The lake is long and approximately wide at its max ...
. A bridge crossed the lake, and on the shore a boathouse and
several grottoes were built, by Joseph and his son Josiah Lane. The fine North Lodge entrance remains: an archway with pediment over and lodges either side, the facades decorated with vermiculated block rustication. The house seems to have suffered from a low lying position close to the lake, there being many complaints over the years of it being damp.
William Beckford’s period of ownership
Alderman Beckford died in 1770, thereafter the house was the property of his son William Beckford, then aged ten. He lived in the house for some thirty years before moving to his Fonthill Abbey in 1801.
He was brought up in the house, and while he travelled extensively to Europe from 1777 on and had various London townhouses, he nevertheless continued to carry out alterations and improvements. In particular, he restyled the interior in the neoclassical taste, even into the 1790s while he was planning and building the Abbey. His architect for Fonthill Abbey,
James Wyatt
James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806.
Early life
W ...
, was involved in much of the re-design. Also, in 1787
Sir John Soane
Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the R ...
prepared drawings for a picture gallery on the bedchamber floor, but the design seems not to have been carried out.
Beckford ordered the demolition of the mansion in 1807, this despite being urged not to by his architect, Wyatt, and his son-in-law,
Alexander Marquess of Douglas (later the 10th Duke of Hamilton). Writing to the Marquess, he described the house as
He first ordered the demolition of the east pavilion in 1801 to obtain stone for the Abbey. Then the main central block was sold and demolished in 1807. Only the remaining west pavilion was saved, this being converted into guest accommodation. Some contents were removed to the Abbey, sales of the remainder were held in 1801 with a final sale in 1807.
Significance
Variously described at the time as a “palace” and “magnificent”, recent research has restored Fonthill Splendens to its place as an important building in the history of the
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 the second half of the 18th century. In his biography of Beckford, the noted architectural historian
James Lees-Milne
(George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extensi ...
states that ‘the Marquess of Douglas begged him piteously to save what was a classical masterpiece’.
The volumes ''William Beckford 1760 – 1844: an Eye for the Magnificent'' and ''Fonthill Recovered – A Cultural History'' provide detailed summaries of the building, its appearance and how it was used.
In 1987 the extensive landscaped park was recorded as Grade II* 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 ...
.
Further reading
*''William Beckford 1760 - 1844: an Eye for the Magnificent'' Biography and catalogue accompanying an exhibition of the same name first held at the '
Bard Graduate Center
The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is a graduate research institute and gallery located in New York City. It is affiliated with Bard College, located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The gallery occup ...
for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture', New York 2001, then at the
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London, which opened to the public in 1817. It was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane using an innovative and influential method of illumination. Dulwich is the oldest publi ...
, London in 2002. Chapter Three is devoted to Fonthill House, contributed by Philip Hewat-Jaboor. Large format book of 448 pages.
*''Fonthill Recovered - A Cultural History'' A review focussing on the history of the whole Fonthill estate, written by a number of scholars. Part 1 consists of a history in eight chapters. Chapter 4, ‘The Beckford Era' by Amy Frost describes the building and decline of Fonthill Splendens. Part 2 is a series of essays by leading specialists on various aspects of the Estate and its occupants. Published 2018, 402 pages, available as a printed book and online.
See also
*
Fonthill Gifford
Fonthill Gifford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, to the north of the Nadder valley, west of Salisbury.
History
The name of the village and parish derives from the Giffard family, landowners, beginning with Berenger Giff ...
References
External links
*
Fonthill Estate
{{coord missing, Wiltshire
Country houses in Wiltshire
Palladian architecture in England
Demolished buildings and structures in England
Houses completed in 1770