Athelhampton House & Gardens
G
U I D E
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O O K
500 years of continual residence and development Date 1483 1503 1524
1550 1595
Martyn tombs in Puddletown Church
1661
1665
Chronology of owners 1812
1848
Photography: Ian Brooke Patrick Cooke Jeremy Whitaker Peter Lightfoot
Text & Research Sir Robert Cooke Patrick Cooke Guy Schwinge at Hy Duke & Son
Design
1891
1918 1930 1946 1949 1957 1966 1995
Owner: Sir William Martyn Great Hall Built 1485 Christopher Martyn Robert Martyn West Wing and Gate House Completed by c.1550 Nicholas Martyn Equal shares left to four daughters: Brune, Tichborne (acquired by Brune), White (sold to Brune via sequestration 1645) and Floyer. Sir Ralph Bankes married Mary Brune. The House was sold prior to the building of Kingston Lacey, Wimborne Dorset. Sir Robert Long and Heirs. The Longs lived at Dracot Cerne in Wiltshire. Athelhampton was divided into two separate households until late 19th Century. It was used by tenant farmers and became very run-down. 4th Earl of Mornington, nephew of the Duke of Wellington 5th Earl of Mornington George Wood St John’s Church foundations laid 1861 Floyer share acquired uniting all four shares Gate House Demolished by 1862 Alfred Cart de Lafontaine Formal Gardens Built 1891 - 1899 North East Tower Built c.1895 George Cochrane North Wing Built 1920-1 Hon Mrs Esmond Harmsworth Sir John Blunt Rodney Phillips Robert Victor Cooke Sir Robert Cooke Patrick Cooke
Julien Lightfoot Peter Lightfoot at Media 4 Graphix
Print Lookers of Poole
Words & Images Š2003 Patrick Cooke, Athelhampton House
Welcome to Athelhampton
T
his House and its estate and gardens have been in private ownership for over
five hundred years. We thank you for your interest and visit which will help to ensure that Athelhampton with all its special qualities will continue to flourish. It is our sincere hope, that you will enjoy your time here and that you may soon return.
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History of Athelhampton
An atmospheric view of the House from the West showing the facsinating layers of history.
Athelhampton’s history and that of its inter-related families covers more than a thousand years. Much of the present house has stood for over five centuries. Of the dwellings mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book it records that the Bishop of Salisbury, with Odbold as tenant held the manor, then called Pidele, of which nothing remains. Before 1066 Aethelric held the manor. The old English personal name Aethelhelm does not appear in the place name until the thirteenth-century, when Athelhampton belonged to the de
Loundres family before passing to the de Pydeles in the reign of Richard II. In about 1350 Sir Richard Martyn of Waterston married the de Pydele heiress and the Martyns became Lords of Athelhampton for the next two and a half centuries. Sir William Martyn, descended from the Martyns of Turon or Turibus near Bayeux, built Athelhampton in about the year of the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485). Sir William was a highly successful London merchant becoming Master of the Skinner's Company.
Athelhampton Plan 1 This plan depicts the initial phase of the construction of the house we see today and built under the licence granted to Sir William Martyn in 1495 over an existing site, which had been inhabited since 1086. This new building included the Great Hall with a Solar and Buttery
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Solar
Great Hall
Buttery
River Piddle
Devils Brook Athelhampton Hall
In 1485 he received a licence to enclose 160 acres of deer park and to enclose and fortify his manor with walls of stone and lime and to build towers and crenellate them. Part of the deerpark boundary still survives south of the church. Sir William was Lord Mayor of London in 1493 and knighted by Henry VII in 1494. Sir William's tomb is in the Athelhampton Aisle in St. Mary's, Puddletown. The Wars of the Roses ended with the defeat of Richard III
and the Houses Puddletown of York and Deer Park Lancaster united under Henry VII. The Manor Thus the present of Athelhampton house has roots 1485 in the Middle Ages and was substantially built at the very beginning The original enclosed estate and deer park (approx) as licenced in of the Tudor area. 1495 to Sir William Martyn, Almost all the embattled parts of "to fortify his manor with walls the house date from Sir William of stone and lime and to build towers and crenellate them". Martyn's time.
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Athelhampton Plan 2 Early in the 16th century Robert Martyn extended the Great Hall by adding the West Wing and a courtyard enclosed by a wall, which included a two-tier gatehouse. demolished as late as 1862. Great Hall
West Wing Dovecote
Gatehouse
Robert Martyn built the west wing containing the Great Chamber in the early sixteenth-century and a gatehouse was also added before 1550 - and
A drawing dated 1828, shows the Gatehouse which was demolised in 1862.
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Robert Martyn married Elizabeth Kelway. Their arms and initials were formerly over the gateway. Sir Nicholas Martyn married Margaret Wadham, sister of the founder of Wadham College, Oxford. He was the last of the male line. In 1595 he was buried with his ancestors in the Athelhampton Aisle in St Mary's Church, Puddletown. Four Martyn daughters inherited equal shares and the elder married Henry Brune, ancestor of the Prideaux-Brunes of Cornwall. The Brunes became owners of two more shares, but the fourth remained in the Floyer family until 1848. A Brune heiress married Sir Ralph Bankes of Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy and he sold Athelhampton to Sir Robert Long of
Another view from 1828, from further south that shows the chapel and the outer gate before the creation of the formal gardens.
Dracot Cerne in Wiltshire. Through the Long family, Athelhampton reached the fourth Earl of Mornington, nephew of the Duke of Wellington. His son sold it to George Wood, despite strenuous
North Wing
East Wing
Athelhampton Plan 3 In the next three centuries (1550 – 1850) the house was extended to the rear with additional rooms and a central court. During this period the house was split into four dwellings – only coming back into single ownership in the early 1800s.
Great Hall
West Wing Gatehouse
A fine study of the Gatehouse view from the inside of the Courtyard.
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Above, George Wood owner 1840-91
Athelhampton Plan 4 The Gatehouse was demolished in 1862. During the 1920s the rear of the House was extensively reconstructed including the new North Wing, built as it appears today; together with the North East turret which brought symmetry to the Eastern aspect when viewed from the newly laid-out gardens.
Photo courtesy of Laura Mason
Right, Alfred Cart de Lafontaine, creator of the formal Gardens opposition from his father. Wood repaired the hall roof and the Hardy family of builders worked on it. However the
North Wing East Wing
THE HOUSE OF TODAY
house still needed further repair and in 1891 Alfred Cart de Lafontaine began to restore the house and the building of the formal gardens. George Cockrane added the North Wing between 1920-1 thus completing the present structure. On his wife's death Cockrane left Athelhampton and it was sold to the Hon Mrs Esmond Harmsworth. She bought the house on separation from the publisher, later Lord Rothermere. During her time Aly Khan, Noel Coward and Douglas Fairbanks were all entertained at the house.
Great Hall
West Wing Dovecote
Hon Mrs Esmond Harmsworth
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The publishing link continued with Rodney Phillips acquiring Athelhampton in 1949. He owned the literary periodical "Polemic". It was during this time that the Cubist painter Marevna Vorobnev stayed, her daughter Marika having married Rodney Phillips. Amongst her works are a portrait of Phillips and a study of the Pyramid Garden. On the break up of the Phillips marriage, Athelhampton was sold to Robert Victor Cooke F.R.C.S. who had attempted to buy it eight years earlier.
continue to improve the house and gardens and its collection. Sir Robert Cooke who was M.P. for Bristol West from 1957 to 1979 and latterly special adviser to the Secretary of State for the Environment died from motor neurone disease in 1987. His wife Jenifer died in January 1995 having married The Rt. Hon Sir Edward du Cann in 1990. Patrick Cooke and his wife Andrea now run Athelhampton. Patrick has coordinated the restoration of the East Wing after the fire in November 1992 and has completed renovations to The Coach House during 1997 to 1999.
Sir Robert Cooke MP.
Patrick and Andrea Cooke with their son George. Photo: Peter Booton
Robert Victor Cooke FRCS, Sheriff of Bristol 1971/72 Robert Victor Cooke, a surgeon by profession, was a great collector. He had long resolved to restore an historic house to house his collection. Sadly, his wife Elizabeth died prematurely in 1964 resulting in him losing enthusiasm for the project. He decided to present the house and gardens, with its obvious problems, to his son, also Robert and future daughter-in-law Jenifer, on the occasion of their marriage in 1966, on the understanding that they would
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The Great Hall
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The Tour of the House C O N T E N T S
GREAT HALL
The
15th
Century Porch
First seen through the Great Gate in the massive wall, which protects the entrance court, the drive leads to a fifteenth-century porch and to its left the oriel of the Great Hall. Further to its left, projecting at a curious angle, is the south-west wing added in the early sixteenth-century to replace an earlier structure. To the right of the porch, is a gable which was built up above the original service wing during the 1600s. The evergreen Magnolia grandiflora may well be 200 years old.
HOUSE’S INTERIOR
The Great Hall The Great Hall is one of the finest examples of the fifteenth-century domestic architecture in the Kingdom. The timbered roof remains substantially as it was built, before 1500. Much of the heraldic glass in the windows dates from this time, or reproduces the original. In the north window are the arms of Faringdon, Martyn, de Mohun and de Pydele. The south window has Long, de Loundres, de Clevedon and Kelway. The letters on the windows are derived from the Christian names of the marriages. On
the Minstrels' Gallery stands a fine chamber organ of c. 1800 in a Gothic case. It is from a design by James Wyatt. The linenfold panelling in the Hall is of a delicate design and the screen has unusually long panels. It marks the position of the original screen which, forming a passage, separated the medieval hall from the service wing. The oriel window in the south wall of the hall contains some fine tracery and sixteenth-century heraldic glass. This depicts the marriage alliances of the Martyn family - de Loundres, de Pydele, de Clevedon, Faringdon, Cheverell, Daubeny, Kelway and Wadham. The crest in each case is the chained ape. The family motto was "he who looks at Martyn's ape, Martyn's ape shall look at him". At the very top of the first window is a celestial monkey with angel's wings. He gazes bird-like into a gilded mirror that shows his reflection in its glass. The ape, which now wears a Saxon crown and carries a mace, is the heraldic badge of the Cooke family.
A Flemish Tapestry woven with “Sampson slaying the Philistines with the jaw bone of an ass” (Judges 15) late 16th/early 17th-c. An important George lll mahogany Organ, of architecural design with parcel gilt decoration 18th/19th-c. A brass two-tier chandelier – 18th-c. Kings Weston, Bristol. “The Adoration of the Magi” – 16th-c, Flemish School, oil on panel. “Bishop Mews” a portrait by Henry Stone. It depicts the Bishop with a black patch on his left cheek, which was reputely the result of a wound inflicted at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Portrait of “Charles l”, by a follower of George Jameson. Portrait of a “Port Taster” – Dutch School. A pair of “Gothick” brass candelabra in the manner of AWN Pugin 19th-c. A collection of Charles ll oak “Wainscot” armchairs17th-c. North European oak and walnut Coffer – 1631.
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The King’s Ante Room C O N T E N T S
KINGS ANTE ROOM A Regency Coade-stone “Torchere” by Coade & Sealy, Lambeth, 1810. Part of a set of 10, designed by Thomas Hopper and supplied to George, Prince of Wales, Carlton House. A pair of white marble busts of “Prince Albert” and “Queen Victoria” by John Francis 1853. Exhibited at the RA between 1820 and 1857. “William and Mary” Dresserbase – 1700. A “Gothic” oak centre table in the manner of AWN Pugin – mid 19th-c. A miniature sculpture in metal of the Jubilee Fountain in New Palace Yard Westminster by W. Pytel.
A fifteenth-century doorway in the oriel leads to the King's Ante Room. This is oak panelled, with a timbered ceiling. The window has the arms of Martyn, Tregonwel and Kelway, Tregonwel and Martyn, and Kelway. The curtains with their Latin inscriptions reproduce embroidery by Bess of Hardwick: NVLLM SPECIOSVM NON CADVCVM and CAECA FORTVNA EST ET SVOS EFFICIT CAECOS. "Nothing is beautiful unless transitory". "Fortune is blind and makes us so".
Dragon heads detail from Coade-stone Torchere.
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This room houses some of the finest Victorian Gothic works of art, many following designs by AWN Pugin. Sir Robert Cooke who had a keen interest in this period as well as the Palace of Westminster accumulated this collection while he was a Member of Parliament from 1956 to 1979.
C O N T E N T S
GREAT CHAMBER A George ll, mahogany breakfronted, library Bookcase in the manner of William Kent. An Irish George l, mahogany Side table, exhibited Holburne Museum, Bath, 2002. An Elizabeth l , walnut, Refectory table, late 16th-c. Was sold to William Randolf Hearst on 8th December 1930 for $10,434.78. A Ziegler Carpet, Northwest Persia circa 1890. A pair of Anglo-dutch, walnut Tabouret stools - late 17th-c. A George l, walnut, Bureau Bookcase - bascially circa 1720.
The Great Chamber Two sixteenth-century archways lead out of the King's Ante Room to the Great Chamber or Drawing Room. The profusion of windows here contains more heraldic glass commemorating the owners of Athelhampton and their alliances. Here are first the Tregonwel crest, the Tregonwel arms, Tregonwel and Kelway, and the Martyn crest surrounded by the motto. In the second window the Tregonwel crest is followed by the arms of Martyn and Knoyle, Tregonwel and Martyn, and the Martyn crest. The large southwest window has the Brune crest, the arms of Brune and Martyn, Martyn and Kelway, Strangways and Wadham, Martyn and Wadham, Kelway, de Loundres, and the de Loundres crest.
The plaster ceiling is in the Reindeer Inn pattern from Banbury, Oxfordshire, and is signed and dated G. Giuntini 1905. This was one of Cart de Lafontaine's additions to this room, which had earlier been used as a granary. The finely figured oak panelling on the walls is of the seventeenth century with Elizabethan carved panels over the fireplace in the Italian manner. Concealed in the thickness of the west wall is a staircase leading up to the floor above and down to a small cellar.
Lorenzo Giuntini Sculptor of the ceiling in the Great Chamber. Photo courtesy of Rita Budgen
Crossing the Ante Room to the Wine Cellar.
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C O N T E N T S
WINE CELLAR A Portugese hardwood Cabinet on Stand - late 17th.c. An English Hamstone Armorial Panel carved with the Coat-of-Arms of Robert Martyn and Elizabeth Kelway (16th.c). Originally located in the oriel of the gatehouse demolished in 1862 - by George Wood. A white marble “Sleeping Cupid” - 19th-c. An important biscuit-coloured stoneware Wine Cooler by Charles Meigh 1847.
The Wine Cellar
YELLOW CLOSET A pair of “Ribbon Back” chairs in the Chippendale style. A “William and Mary” walnut Side table - late 17th-c. A miniature “William and Mary”walnut Display Cabinet - early 18th-c.
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The Wine Cellar is below the original solar. The entrance door has been widened to admit wine casks.
staircase opens the Yellow Closet with walls lined in gold flock.
Sir William Martyn had the monopoly of collecting the wine duty in the south. The secret door from the Hall has traces of a dog-gate. The wine bins and the wrought iron screen are of more recent date but authentic in style.
The Library
The West Wing Staircase & Yellow Closet The sixteenth-century newel staircase from the King's Ante Room is stone in its lower flights and changes to solid slabs of oak higher up. Off this
The Library is on the first floor level of The West Wing. Originally this room was partitioned in to three bedchambers with a passage running along the west wall. It was opened out into one room and panelled in oak by Alfred Cart de Lafontaine in 1893. Sir Robert Cooke added the bookcase, which covers the north end of the room, in the 1960s. There are over 3000 books covering architecture, furniture, history, natural history and literature.
The Yellow Closet
See over for image of Library
A small study library opens off the stair landing and a view of the dovecote can be seen from the window. Returning down the stairs and turning right.
The King’s Room The King's Room is entered through an archway decorated with the Gothic lily wallpaper familiar in the Palace of Westminster. The room is on the site of the solar or withdrawing-room of the
fifteenth-century house and has had varied uses including a gunroom when the house was billeted with troops during WW2. It is called the King's Room because it is traditionally the place where the Manorial Court was held in the name of the king. The King's Ante Room is similarly named. The timbered ceiling, linenfold panelling and Ham stone fireplace combine with an oriel window to form a worthy replacement of an earlier solar structure.
C O N T E N T S
THE LIBRARY A Regency, mahogany Sideboard of unusual concave form with a slection of drawers and cupboards, the doors faced as drawers 19th-c. A Riley Imperial full-size Snooker Table and two Victorian Scorers. A pair of early Victorian, oak “Gothic” Armchairs in the manner of AWN Pugin - circa 1850. A Charles ll, oak Table, dated 1630. A George lV, rosewood, Library Table - circa 1825. A collection of traditional games.
THE KING’S ROOM A Charles l, oak, Tester Bedstead, illustrated Oak Furniture in the British Tradition by Victor Chinnery. A Charles l, oak, Court cupboard - circa 1630. A James l, oak, Coffer with three bold corbels carved with leaves. Eearly 17th-c. A Cast-iron Firegrate in the manner of AWN Pugin 19th-c.
The King’s Room
A Victorian “Gothic” Ormolu Colza Chandeliernin the manner of AWN Pugin - circa 1840.
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The Library Athelhampton House
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C O N T E N T S
Dining Room A set of eight George lll mahogany, Dining chairs of Chippendale design. A pair of “Peasants and a wagon” landscape paintings, oil on board by Hendrick De Meyer ll, 1778. A pair of late George ll mahogany, Side chairs. These chairs may be compared to the celebrated suite of furniture supplied to St Giles House, Wimborne St Giles, Dorset for the Earl of Shaftesbury. A Danish, walnut veneered and parcel-gilt Standing corner cupboard - circa 1720. A Regency mahogany Bowfronted Sideboard - circa 1820 and another similar.
The Dining Room
A George lll style Burr-Yew, twin pillar, Dining Table. A Kula carpet West Anatolia Circa 1850.
Screens Passage “Christ with St Peter, St Paul, St Augustine and St Benedict”, oil on an oak panel. 16th-c, German School. A George lll, “North country”, Dresser base. A Charles l, oak, Cupboard late 17th-c. A pair of Charles ll, oak, “Derbyshire” side chairs - late 17th-c. A Charles ll, oak, Armchair of unusual form and massive out-scroll arms - late 17th-c. A Charles ll, oak, Side-table late 17th-c. A French, oak, Credencecupboard - 16th-c.
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The staircase leading down to the Hall was built in the 1930's by the Harmsworth family replacing a dilapidated structure.
The Screens Passage Across the Hall, the Screens Passage beneath the Minstrel's Gallery has at each end a magnificent fifteenthcentury oak door.
The Dining Room On the south side, the two original openings, one now blocked would have led to the buttery. This area was panelled in green Florentine silk by
Cart de Lafontaine and restored after a fire in 1992. This is now the Dining room. Thirty-seven Corinthian oak pilasters divide the striking green silk panels. All the remaining surfaces are covered with one hundred linenfold panels. A rare feature of the Dining Room is the fine carving on the seventeenth-century beams. The surrounding cornice and pilasters were added in the late nineteenth-century to frame the silk panels and enclose the floral painting above the fireplace. The east windows incorporate roundels of sixteenthcentury glass.
C O N T E N T S
THE LANDING A “William and Mary”, japanned, Cabinet on stand, exhibited “Treasure Houses of Britain”, Washington DC, USA, 1985. A portrait of “Catherine, daughter of Henry, Lord Norreys and wife of Sir Antony Poulett” oil on canvas – Robert Peake. A Regency, gilt, metal, Colza Chandelier in the manner of AWN Pugin - circa 1830 A pair of “William and Mary” style silvered-wood Armchairs - late 17th-c. and a stool ensuite.
The Landing
A Chamberlains, Worcester porcelain, Tea and Coffee Service - 70 pieces. A brass, Lantern Clock by Nicholas Hancock, Shaston, Dorset - late 17th-c. A Khotan carpet East Turkestan cira1800.
The East Wing Extending from the screens passage and to the left of the stairs is a nineteenthcentury service passage. Here there is an historical plan, in watercolour, of the formal gardens as proposed in 1891 for Alfred Cart de Lafontaine. A secret room, formerly a silver safe can be seen through an internal window. The far showcase contains Cooke family archives.
The staircase window commemorates, in painted glass, Athelstan, the Bishop of Salisbury and William I. The Bishop of Salisbury acquired Athelhampston, as it was then known, from the king by exchange before 1066.
In early times Athelhampton had only spiral staircases. The present open well with stairs to first floor level and a gallery above is partly a recent creation. In 1961 the upper flight, which was made of deal and dated 1895, was removed and the remaining lower flight reconstructed using old materials. Much of the oak is of Jacobean origin and came from the demolished Priory at Bradford-on-Avon. The red wallpaper is a version of the pineapple design by William Morris.
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C O N T E N T S
YELLOW BEDROOM A pair of George lll, giltwood “Girandoles” in the manner of Thomas Johnson. “Circle of Vivano Codazzi” an architectural Capriccio, with Christ and the Centurion. Oil on canvas. A Charles ll style, walnut and parcel gilt Side-table of similar design to one commissioned for Chatsworth House. A George lll giltwood Wall Mirror in the manner of Chippendeale. Coloured prints applied to glass: Astronomy, Architecture, Music, Sculpture & Poetry after a painting by Rosalba Carriera.
DRESSING ROOM A George III giltwood overmantel mirror in the manner of Thomas Johnson. A George III mahogany dressing table, the rectangular top with radiating veneers and a chequered border. A Flemish ebony cabinet on stand the cabinet circa 1700.
A mahogany bateau lit with brass mouldings. A Victorian folding campaign chair with painted decoration.
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The Yellow Bedroom At the top of the stairs is the Yellow Bedroom. The north wall, containing a fireplace lined with Delft tiles, marks the limit of the earliest part of the house. The nineteenth-century panelling has been fixed directly to an early Tudor brick and timber structure. The photograph of Alfred Cart de Lafontaine commemorates his time at Athelhampton from 1891 to 1918.
During this period he restored much of the interior of the house and started the formal gardens, a view of which can be seen from the window.
The Dressing Room Alongside is the Dressing Room. The walls are covered with red and gold wallpaper, the Scarisbrick design, by AWN Pugin.
The State Bedroom
C O N T E N T S
STATE BEDROOM The State Bedroom has its original fifteenth-century Ham Stone fireplace that bears the monkey crest of Sir William Martyn and the Faringdon unicorn of his first wife. The top course of oak panels has distinctive sea creatures. The roundels in the south windows contain the arms of Martyn, Brune and Cooke all of Athelhampton. The small arched door leads to a chapel in the south-east tower, with an early stained glass window depicting the Virgin Mary, and a collection of icons.
An oak four-poster Tester Bedstead with a modern “tented canopy - early 17th-c. A pair of Flemish, walnut, armchairs - late 17th-c. A Charles ll, oak, Chest on stand - late 17th-c. “Circle of Nathanel Hone”. A double portrait of Father and Son. A Charles ll, oak Coffer - late 17th-c. An oak pew and unusually slatted folding chair early 17th-c. Three Spanish dolls, St Anne, Mary, St Catherine.
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The Gardens 20
Photo by Skyscan
of Athelhampton 21
The Gardens The Athelhampton gardens are full of variety. The formal and architectural are balanced by woodland and riverside scenes. The embattled entrance from the road has quatrefoil openings that echo those in the fifteenth-century porch. The arched entrance by the Great Gate has to its right one of the tall gardenhouses that terminate the Terrace in seventeenth-century manner. The reedthatched coach house and stables to the left are in sharp contrast and contain fifteenth-century materials. The formal gardens, built by Alfred Cart de Lafontaine between 1891-1899, lie mainly to the south and east of the house.
The Great Court The Great Court, Terrace and Pavilions, the Corona, Private Garden and Lion's Mouth are the masterpiece of Francis Inigo Thomas. The Corona leads to four very different courts.
The Great Terrace 22
There is the entrance court just described and, south of the Corona, a flight of steps leads up to the Italian gate of the largest formal garden, The Great Court, with the south Terrace and its two garden-houses. The western house is the House of Joy and Summer with a smiling face over its door. The eastern house of Sorrow and of Winter has a tortured face surrounded by icicles. The twelve clipped yew pyramids now near thirty feet high imitate the stone obelisks of the Corona.
The Great Court
The Great Court1909
The sunken lawn contains a fishpond with a marble basin and fountain, originally these were accompanied by rose beds with box frames (see right). These were phased out after WW2 and the 12 pyramids of yew now dominate. A raised walk leads round to the Great Terrace from which there is a wide view, including the stables, dovecote and the whole of the south and east fronts of the house divided by a fine cedar tree. The Terrace steps were rebuilt in 1979.
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The Corona Garden
The central pivot of the Gardens
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The Corona The Corona is in the Elizabethan manner, with tall obelisks reaching up from walls that are alternately curving up and down. A background of darkgreen clipped yew emphasises the orange Ham stone. The lead vase, into which the fountain falls, is in the manner of William Kent. The planting of 2002 follows a design by Andrea Cooke with a variety of red and purple coloured herbaceous plants intended to compliment the shape of the stone crown structure in rich regal colours from deep plum, almost black through to fuschia and blood reds, making the Corona a strong pivotal point of the garden.
The Lion’s Mouth East of the Corona is the Lion's Mouth with a cascade and pool. This garden was altered in 1977 to provide a home for rock plants and others requiring a dry situation, particularly a number of gifts from the Abbey Gardens on the island of Tresco.
The Lime Walk The Tudor archways lead to the Lime Walk, recently replanted with flowering shrubs backed by a double row of pollarded limes. A sundial on an octagonal base is viewed by a stern Queen Victoria. This life-size white marble statue is by Her Majesty's private sculptor F. J. Williamson of Esher. Parallel to the Lime Walk is a Beech Walk. It was constructed by Sir Robert Cooke in 1975.
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The before and after views of the restored Toll House.
The Canal At the end of the Lime Walk and to the east of the Bell Gate out of the Private Garden lies The Canal, formed in 1969-70 with a free standing arch added in 1999 by Patrick and Andrea Cooke. This formal water in seventeenth-century manner replaces a massive laurel hedge which dominated the scene. Magnolia grandiflora form a guard of honour, in front of a nineteenth-century tollhouse. This building was restored once the Puddletown & Tolpuddle bypass was opened in December 1998. The Old Kitchen Garden wall is clothed with several fine Magnolias including delavayi and grandiflora.
The Private Garden The Private Garden is opposite the east front of the house. There is a level terrace with balustrade outside and east porch which is flanked by a pair of old naval cannon. The central lawn is on two levels and the sunken part contains a long fishpond with a fountain. The curious shape of the curved ends of the pond is derived from the Great Hall roof. The lower level provides a unique croquet lawn which enjoys both cushions and a central bunker. Further varieties of magnolia include loebneri
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"Merrill" and soulangiana were planted by Robert Victor Cooke in the 1960's.
The east elevation of the house viewed from the Private Garden
The Canal
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The White Garden The north gateway of the Private Garden leads to the White Garden, through which flows the River Piddle. On the right of the entrance gateway is a brick path, added by Patrick Cooke in 1995, which leads to a statue of Apollo. The surrounding bed is filled with a collection of shrub roses, ranging from one predating Roman times and other old fashioned varieties to the "English Roses" - modern cultivars bred in the old style. The fine white marble group IL GIUOCATORE came from the Exhibition of 1862. The Gothic metal seats are a Coalbrookdale pattern of 1851. The White Garden forms a memorial to the late Elizabeth Mary Cooke M.D., M.R.C.P. and was replanted in 2002. A mixed foliage design still retains the white theme, but adding a further dimension by introducing black and variegated tones. A fine vista up through to the walled gardens can be enjoyed here.
The Rose Garden
The Statue of Apollo in the Rose Garden
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To link the White Garden with the Kitchen Garden and to compose the space between, an Octagonal Cloister Garden was made in 1971. The design of an octagonal pool surrounded by pleached lime trees with a central fountain inspired the design by Sir Robert Cooke for the centre of New Palace Yard, Westminster. The inscription around the pond reads BENEDICITE CETE ET OMNIA QUAE MOVENTUR IN AQUIS DOMINO meaning "O ye whales and all ye creatures that move in the waters bless ye The Lord". The nineteenthcentury stone arch in the Kitchen Garden wall was the gift of Lord Southborough of Binghams Melcombe. It was christened The Binghams Arch in the presence of J. Paul Getty and Sir Robert Cooke on their birthdays on the 29th May 1970. Northwards from here an extension to the Old Lime Walk has been added which leads to the River Piddle. The north-west side of the house is severe in appearance and some new work of the 1920s blends admirably with the old.
The Octagonal Cloister Garden (Private). Another yew hedge, which was planted in 1961, echoes this at the far side of the lawn. Halfway up on the left a brick path provides a link to the front of thr house. Despite inevitable setbacks of blizzard and droughts, the gardens continue to expand in size and range. Seven acres of riverside and meadow to the north and west now provide protection for wildlife including kingfisher, herons and egrets. Several hundred new trees have been planted and a new vista created beyond the river-terrace and moat.
The Dovecote The Dovecote, whose oak hammerbeam roof was put on in 1971, dominates a large lawn between house and river. The cedar lantern with landing stages for forty doves is roofed in original eighteenth-century lead bearing many ancient names and dates including Thomas Hardy. There is room inside the dovecote for 1,500 birds to nest. The crescent hedge flanks the Yew Walk leading west to River Cottage
The ancient round Dovecote has room for 1500 birds.
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The Octagonal Pond
The tranquil Octagonal Pond looking back towards the White Garden. 30
Incidental facts Hardy Links… Thomas Hardy set the two poems "The Dame of Athelhall" and "The Children and Sir Nameless" at "Athelhall" which he visited on the day World War I was declared. Parts of his macabre short story The Waiting Supper are set in the hall, gardens and river. He also made a watercolour of the south front including the gatehouse at Athelhampton.
Railway Engine In 1947 the ‘Hall Class’ of passenger/ freight 4-6-0 locomotives were being built at Swindon and No. 6971 was named "Athelhampton Hall". The cast nameplates from this engine can be seen in the Coach House.
Athelhampton’s Ghosts… The historical ghost of Athelhampton is that of an ape, which belonged to one of the Martyns in the sixteenth-century. This was also the emblem of the Martyns which can be seen in the coats of arms in the stained glass windows in the Great Hall. When the line ceased in 1595 the ape roamed the house searching for its new master only to find four surviving daughters. The haunting can be heard as the beast tries to escape from the secret staircase and cellar it is trapped in. A ghostly cooper taps away at barrels in the Wine Cellar, which is accessed from the Great Hall, where two duelists fight at evening time, This is believed to date back to the Civil War when the house had Royalist connections. The Grey Lady passes through the
walls of the East Wing from the Landing to the State and Yellow Bedrooms. Once when asked to leave by a housemaid, after the house had closed for the day, she rose obediently and disappeared through the panelling. These spirits were recently investigated by UK Livings’ ‘Most Haunted’ TV series. Carved on the stone entrance to the Library are the words "Once I loved no one but one, Then I loved M....” and a date 1660.
The Church at Athelhampton The Church of St. John, Athelhampton was built in 1862 as a way of moving the old parish church away from the main house. The building was designed by a Dorchester architect by the name of Hicks who at the time had Thomas Hardy working for him. Sir Robert Cooke acquired the church with its pews and threequarters of the churchyard in 1984. It is now used by the Greek Orthodox under the patronage of St Edward King and Martyr as a place of worship having been made redundant by the Church of England in 1975.
Mysterious carvings.
Historical help…
St Edwards Orthodox Church
Each year kind visitors help to unravel some of the mysteries of a past which stretches back over a thousand years, to the time of Aethelric in 1066 at the Norman Conquest, and beyond. Any additional information is always gratefully received.
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Toilets, disabled & baby change
Reception & Shop
Restaurant Servery & Bar
Plant Sales
Dovecote
River P iddle
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House Entrance
Great Court or Pyramid Garden
Corona
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The Coach House visitor entrance
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Plan of the Grounds
Picnic Area
Car Park
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Private Garden
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Lion’s Mouth
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White Garden
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Private Area
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Toll House
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Rose Garden
Canal
Octagonal Cloister Garden
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Arrows show a suggested route around the gardens
Queen Victoria
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River Pid dle
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Events & Functions The house, gardens & catering facilities are available for weddings, receptions, private and corporate events. (Civil Marriage Licence held).
Events ... Flower Festivals and car club rallies are held annually, if you are interested in holding an event, please call 01305 848363 for details,or visit www.athelhampton.co.uk
On location ... Athelhampton's house & gardens have provided the backdrop for Sleuth, Dr Who and many others. Most recently Channel 4's Elizabeth I, Meridian’s Great Houses and BBC Antiques Roadshow.
Coach House Restaurant Serves throughout the day (opening times as for gardens).
Morning Coffee and Pastries Snacks, sandwiches and lunches. Fully licensed bar. Afternoon tea and chef ’s cakes Cream Teas with Dorset Clotted Cream SUNDAY CARVERY SUNDAY LUNCH a la Carte restaurant
Athelhampton
House & Gardens The Quintessential English Manor The earliest parts of the house were built by Sir William Martyn. During Elizabethan times, four generations of the Martyns lived at Athelhampton. Lived in and added to over the centuries, Athelhampton was acquired by the Cooke family in 1957 and is still a family home as well as welcoming thousands of visitors.
World famous gardens to explore Year round interest - something to enjoy at all times of the year. The garden compartments form a labyrinth of rooms each with their own theme and character. Water forms the reoccurring feature with fountains, pools and the River Piddle.
Athelhampton, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 7LG Telephone: 01305 848363 Fax: 01305 848135 Email: enquiry@athelhampton.co.uk website: www.athelhampton.co.uk
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