Stowe Landscape Gardens

Old Elevations
Old North Front
Old Plan
Archive Octagon Lake
Archive Plan 1900

Index Map

Code to maintain an active map regardless of size is courtesy David J.Bradshaw, MIT

About

Stowe History

There was a mediaeval settlement clustered around St Mary's Church and, from 1330, Osney Abbey maintained a manor house at Stowe occupied by a steward. In the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, Stowe was surrendered to the Crown.
At some stage, Stowe was bought and owned by Sir George Gifford MP and he willed it to his son Thomas Gifford who took over in 1593.
Peter Temple leased the estate from the Giffords from 1571.
John Temple was the first Temple owner of the estate as he bought it in 1589. The Temple family had made their money sheep farming near Witney.
Sir Richard Temple inherited the estate from his father and he completely rebuilt the house starting in 1683.

Stowe House Development
Between 1677 and 1683, William Cleare was commissioned by Sir Richard Temple to build the central block of the house although only about ¹⁄₃^rd of the house we see today.
Early House by William Cleare

In 1713, Sir Richard became Baron Cobham and in 1717 he was made Viscount Cobham. From the 1720s to 1733, Viscount Cobham added to the house. Vanburgh added the Ionic North Portico and he rebuilt the North, East and West fronts. After he died in 1726, William Kent continued the work.
From the 1740s to 1760, Viscount Cobham carried out the expansion of the Eastern and Western State apartments.
From 1770 to 1779, Earl Temple obtained a first design from Jacques-François Blondel for a new South Front - but he didn't really like it. So he commissioned Robert Adam to design a new scheme and this was made more uniform by Thomas Pitt and Giovanni Battista Borra. It was finished in 1779 although work on the interiors, by Vincenzo Valdrè, was not finished until 1788.
At the same time, the two colonnades, by Robert Adam, were added to the North Front. The Northern ends of the colonnades are linked to screen walls containing gateways by William Kent although these were later heightened by Giacomo Leoni

House designers

John Vanbrugh - Architect, worked at Stowe 1720-1726	Jacques-François Blondel	Robert Adam - architect, worked at Stowe 1770 to 1771. Adam's design for the south front was modified by Thomas Pitt
Thomas Pitt	Vincenzo Waldrè	Giacomo Leoni
John Soane - architect, worked at Stowe 1805 to 1807

Stowe Garden Development
In the 1690s, Stowe had a modest parterre garden. He was notable for the use of canalised water at Stowe.
In 1731, William Kent was appointed to work with Charles Bridgeman and continued after him. He and Gibbs built temples, bridges and other garden structured creating a less formal style. Kent's masterpiece is the Elysian Fields.
In March 1741, Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was appointed head gardener and he lived in the East Boycott Pavilion for 10 years - he left in 1751. At that time, Bridgeman's pond and 11-acre lake were extended and given a more 'naturalistic' shape.
The Palladian Bridge (probably by Gibbs) was added in 1744 and Brown set out the Grecian Valley. Brown also developed Hawkwell Field with Gibb's most notable building, the Gothic Temple.
From the 1740s to the 1760s, Richard Woodward became garden designer after Brown left and he completed the 'naturalisation' of the gardens by the mid-1750s.
The next owner of Stowe, the Marquess of Buckingham, made relatively few changes to the gardens. He employed Vincenzo Valdrè to build the Menagerie, the Buckingham lodges and the Queen's Temple.

Garden designers

William Kent - Architect, painter and garden designer, worked at Stowe 1731-1748	Thomas Pitt	James Gibbs - Architect, worked at Stowe 1726-1749
Giacomo Leoni	Charles Bridgeman - garden designer, worked at Stowe 1711 to 1733	'Capability' Brown - garden designer, worked at Stowe 1741 to 1751
Peter Scheemakers - sculptor, carved the statues in the Temple of Ancient Virtue, the pediment on the Temple of Concord and eight of the British Worthies	John Rysbrack - sculptor, carved the Saxon deities and eight of the British Worthies

In the 19th century, the 1st and 2nd Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos who bought the Lamport Estate to form the Lamport Gardens.
In 1848, the 2nd Duke was forced to sell the house to pay off debts. In 1862, the 3rd Duke returned to Stowe and began to repair several areas of the gardens but this renovation didn't last. The third Duke died in 1889 and the estate passed to his daughter Lady Kinloss. She had little use for the house and was going to pass it to her son but he was killed in the first war so the house put on the market.
The remaining estate was sold in 1921 to Harry Shaw for £50,000 and 1922 saw further sales of contents (including fireplaces). In 1923, it was bought by the governors of what was to become Stowe School.
Stowe School restored the Queen's Temple, the Temple of Venus, the Corinthian Arch and the Rotunda. Stowe avenue was replanted in 1960.
In the 1960s, significant repairs were made to the Lake Pavilions, and Pebble Alcove along with repairs to ²⁄₃^rds of the buildings and the reclamation of six of the lakes.
In 1965, John Workman was invited to compile a restoration plan and, in 1967, 221 acres were covenanted to the National Trust which bought Oxford Avenue (its first purchase of land to enhance a site it didn't own).

Stowe House Preservation Trust

The Preservation Trust for the house was set up in 1997 and has, so far, spent over £23million on restoration.

Stowe Gardens - National Trust

Stowe Landscape Gardens was formerly gifted to the National Trust in 1989 and they have undertaken an ambitious programme of restoration which includes repair, 'putting back' the grounds as they were designed and adding back some new or lost features and sculptures.

Indices Map

Photographs

Ancient Virtue, Temple of