Ammerdown House in

Kilmersdon Kilmersdon is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the north eastern slopes of the Mendip Hills in Somerset between the towns of Radstock and Frome. It is located on the B3139 between Wells, Somerset, Wells and Trowbridge i ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England, was built in 1788. It has been designated as Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It was built as a country house with stables and an adjacent formal garden within landscaped parkland in emparked landscape by

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...

for

Thomas Samuel Jolliffe Thomas Samuel Jolliffe (born Petersfield House, Petersfield 22 June 1746 - died Ammerdown House, Kilmersdon 6 June 1824) was a British politician. Joliffe was the second son of John Joliffe, Member of Parliament for Petersfield from 1741 to ...

. The house has been handed down through the Jolliffe family to William Jolliffe, a politician, who was made Baron Hylton in the mid-19th century; the house was enlarged in 1855 & 1877, with further alteration to the west front being undertaken in 1901, possibly by Sir

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

. A pair of lodges, gate piers and gates, associated with Ammerdown House, which were also built in 1788–94 by

, are Grade II* listed buildings and on the

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

. Since 1973 the stables have been significantly altered and converted into a study centre. The orangery and walled garden were built around 1793. In 1853 John Twyford Jolliffe & Thomas Robert Jolliffe, the children of the builder of the house, Thomas Samuel Jolliffe, built a high column, known as the Ammerdown Park Column, Ammerdown Lighthouse or the Jolliffe Column. It was a near replica of

Eddystone Lighthouse The Eddystone Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the Eddystone Rocks, south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England. The rocks are submerged below the surface of the sea and are composed of Precambrian gneiss. View at 1:50000 scale The current structu ...

with a glass dome or viewing lantern which could be illuminated. It is a Grade II*

. In the late 19th century a local quarry owner, John Turner of Faulkland, took out a lawsuit against his neighbour Hedworth Jolliffe, 2nd Baron Hylton who owned Ammerdown House in Kilmersdon. When Turner lost he erected a tower of around 180 feet (55 m) high to rival the column at Ammerdown, with a dance hall and tea garden at the base. When Turner died in 1894, Lord Hylton bought the structure to demolish it. The base and dance hall were converted into workers cottages and eventually demolished in 1969. The gardens include gothic fountains and statues surrounded by mature

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus '' Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew ('' Taxus ...

s nearly high, hedging, Portugal laurels and

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or Vine#Twining vines, twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae. The genus includes 158 species native to northern latitudes in North America, Eurasia, and North Africa. Widely kno ...

s trained over wired umbrellas. Spring colour is provided by

daffodil ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as '' Sternbergia'', '' ...

s, cowslips and

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

with

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

dahlia ''Dahlia'' ( , ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. Dahlias are members of the Asteraceae (synonym name: Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its relatives include the sun ...

s and wild orchids flowering in the summer. The gardens are listed, Grade II*, on the

Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England {{R from move ...

. The current residents of the house are Diana Jolliffe, daughter in law of the 5th Baron Hylton and her children. The family estate covers many of the villages around including Kilmersdon, although much of the former residential property of the estate is run by a charitable housing association set up by the current Lord Hylton.

References

External links

Ammerdown House Conference Centre
website * {{EW charity, 1010244, The Ammerdown Centre Limited , ref=none Houses completed in 1788 Grade I listed buildings in Mendip District Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip District Gardens in Somerset Structures on the Heritage at Risk register in Somerset Grade I listed houses in Somerset 1788 establishments in England Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Somerset

See also

References

External links