Kelston Park is an 18th-century

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 village of

Kelston Kelston is a small village and civil parish in Somerset, north west of Bath, and east of Bristol, on the A431 road. It is situated just north of the River Avon, close to the Kelston and Saltford locks. The parish has a population of 248. ...

, approximately 3 miles from

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in North East

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. Altogether the house and gardens of Kelston Park cover an area of approximately . The house has been designated as a Grade II*

listed building 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 ...

, and the garden is Grade II* listed in 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 ...

. The River Avon,

Bristol & Bath Railway Path The Bristol and Bath Railway Path is a off-road cycleway, part of National Cycle Network National Cycle Route 4. It has a wide tarmacked surface, and was used for 2.4 million trips in 2007, increasing by 10% per year. It was built by the cyc ...

, the A4 and the railway track between

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and

can be viewed from the rear of the building, which is now primarily used as offices.

History

The first house on the site was north of the current building, beside the village church, where a walled courtyard and terraced earthworks are all that remains above ground. The original manor house was built between 1567 and 1574 by John Harington and was later finished by his son, Sir John Harington. It was intended to be one of the grandest houses in the county. The Tudor mansion was demolished and the current house at Kelston Park was built on a ridge overlooking the Avon River, on the site of the Haringtons' summerhouse. It covers on three floors, and was built around the 1760s by

John Wood, the Younger John Wood, the Younger (25 February 1728 – 18 June 1782) was an English architect, working principally in the city of Bath, Somerset. He was the son of the architect John Wood, the Elder. His designs were highly influential during the 1 ...

for Sir

Caesar Hawkins Caesar (or Cæsar) Henry Hawkins Royal Society, FRS (19 September 1798 – 20 July 1884) was a British surgery, surgeon. Life He was the son of the Rev. E. Hawkins and grandson of Sir Cæsar Hawkins, 1st Baronet (1711-1786), Serjeant-Surgeon t ...

, who was

Serjeant-Surgeon The Serjeant Surgeon is the senior surgeon in the Medical Household of the Royal Household of the Monarch, Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The origin of the post dates back to 1253. Early serjeant surgeons were military surgeons who followed the ...

to Kings

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 III. Sir Caesar Hawkins commissioned

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

to lay out the park in 1767–8. In 1828 it was sold by the Hawkins family to

Joseph Neeld Joseph Neeld (1789–1856) was Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for the rotten borough of Gatton, Surrey from March to July 1830 and for Chippenham, Wiltshire, England from September 1830 to March 1856. Career Neeld was one of five b ...

who built many of the outhouses. It passed down through the family to the Inigo-Jones family, who added an entrance lodge and the porch over the main entrance. The house was leased to the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

in 1967 for use as a training centre. In 1992 the property was purchased to become the headquarters of The

Andrew Brownsword Andrew Douglas Brownsword CBE DL (born 1947) is an English entrepreneur who established the Forever Friends company. He has regularly featured on the Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £190 million. Biography Brownsword atte ...

Collection, which made greeting cards; in 1994 the company was acquired by

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was award ...

. Some of the businesses that used the offices included McMullen Commercial Property Consultants, R D Owen & Co Chartered Accountants, Harrington Wood Chartered Financial Planners, bzb IT, Steel Media, and Hart Greaves. By 2019 office use was no longer economic, in part due to the need for extensive maintenance and renovation work, and a planning application was made to convert the buildings into a hotel. Approval for a 30-bedroom hotel was granted in 2021.

Description

The mansion house has two storeys and an attic level with a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

, on an almost-square footprint five window bays wide. The front elevation is to the north, with a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

and open porch with two heavy

Tuscan column The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with u ...

s. Adjacent to the west is a service yard surrounded by service buildings including kitchens, stables and a coach house. Further to the north-west is a walled garden and former farm buildings. On the south of the house and service buildings is a wide terrace enclosed by stone walls, with views south and east over the River Avon valley and toward Bath.

References

{{reflist, 30em Bath and North East Somerset Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Somerset Grade II* listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset Grade II* listed houses in Somerset