Cirencester Park (country house)

Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst (1684–1775), inherited the estate on the death of his father, Sir Benjamin Bathurst, in 1704. He was a Tory Member of Parliament and statesman who made his wealth from his involvement in the slave trade through the Royal Africa Company and the East India Company.{{Cite book|last=Dresser, Madge. Hann, Andrew.|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/slavery-and-british-country-house/slavery-british-country-house-web/|title=Slavery and the British country house|date=2013|publisher=English Heritage|isbn=978-1-84802-064-1|pages=38|oclc=796755629}}{{Cite web|title=Estates within 10 miles of Bristol {{!}} Profits {{!}} From America to Bristol {{!}} Slavery Routes {{!}} Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery {{!}} PortCities Bristol|url=http://www.discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/routes/america-to-bristol/profits/estates-10-miles-bristol/|access-date=2020-06-21|website=www.discoveringbristol.org.uk}} From 1714 Benjamin Bathurst devoted himself to rebuilding the house formerly known as Oakley Grove, which probably stands on the site of Cirencester Castle, and laying out the parkland of what would become Oakley Park.

In 1716, Bathurst acquired the extensive estate of Sapperton from the Atkyns family, including Oakley Wood, and went on to plant one of the finest landscape gardens in England, complete with park buildings, walks, seats, grottoes and ruins. They include Alfred's Hall, now taken to be the earliest recorded Gothick garden building in England, which is also a grade II* listed building.{{NHLE| num= 1298719| desc= ALFRED'S HALL AT NGR SO 972 031 |accessdate = 27 April 2015|mode=cs2}}

Allen Bathurst was raised to the peerage as a baron in 1711 and an earl in 1772, and was a patron of art and literature no less than a statesman. The poet Alexander Pope was a frequent visitor to Cirencester House; he advised on the lay-out of the gardens and designed the building known as Pope's Seat in the park, which commands a splendid view of woods and avenues.{{NHLE| num = 1204826| desc= POPE'S SEAT |accessdate = 27 April 2015|mode=cs2}} Jonathan Swift was another appreciative visitor.

The house contains portraits by Lawrence, Gainsborough, Romney, Lely, Reynolds, Hoppner, Kneller and many others, and a set of giant marble columns carrying busts, which are genuine antiques, collected in Italy by Lord Apsley, the son of the third earl, at the time of the Congress of Vienna in 1814.

There were additions to the house by Sir Robert Smirke about 1830.{{cite book|author1=David Verey|author-link=David Verey|author2=Alan Brooks|title=Gloucestershire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LoEK6xuQnnoC&pg=PA279|access-date=19 April 2012|year=2002|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09604-0|pages=279–282}}

Subsequent earls were patrons of the Arts and Crafts movement, when Ernest Gimson and the Barnsley brothers, Sidney and Ernest, settled at Pinbury Park on the Cirencester estate in 1894. Norman Jewson joined them in 1907, and describes his life as a student of Gimson in Sapperton in his classic memoir, By Chance I did Rove (1952).

The estate includes much of the villages of Sapperton and Coates, including Pinbury Park, and lays claim to containing the principal source of the River Thames.{{cite web |title=Cirencester Park Walk |url=http://www.gps-routes.co.uk/routes/home.nsf/RoutesLinksWalks/cirencester-park-walking-route |publisher=GPS Cycle and Walking Routes |access-date=2 July 2020}}

Apsley House, at Hyde Park in London, was built by the architect Robert Adam for Lord Chancellor Henry Bathurst, then known as Lord Apsley, and later the second Earl Bathurst. In 1807, the house was purchased by Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, who in 1817 sold it to his brother, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington who presented his portrait, today still in Cirencester House.

The house has the tallest yew hedge in Britain.{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10228464/Tallest-hedge-in-UK-trimmed-using-cherrypicker.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808062440/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10228464/Tallest-hedge-in-UK-trimmed-using-cherrypicker.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 August 2013 |title=Tallest hedge in UK trimmed using cherrypicker |publisher=The Daily Telegraph ?date=7 August 2013 |access-date=8 August 2013}}

In 2024 it was announced that a charge was to be levied for the first time for public access to the Cirencester Park estate.{{cite news|last=Barkham|first=Patrick|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/11/mass-trespass-protest-cirencester-park-charging-plans-bathurst-estate|title=Protesters to hold mass trespass of Cirencester Park over charging plans|date=11 March 2024|work=The Guardian|accessdate=11 March 2024}} A right to roam protest is planned to target the estate. Electronic gates and a ticket booth is to be established to regulate access to the park.

Aside from the Grade I listed gardens and Grade II* listed main house, several other buildings and structures are listed on the National Heritage List for England.

• Alfred's Hall{{NHLE|num=1298719|desc=Alfred's Hall|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Hexagon{{NHLE|num=1187402|desc=Hexagon|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Ice House{{NHLE|num=1298720|desc=Ice House|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Pope's Seat{{NHLE|num=1204826|desc=Pope's Seat|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Queen Anne's Monument{{NHLE|num=1187406|desc=Queen Anne's Monument|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}

• Horse Temple{{NHLE|num=1187403|desc=Horse Temple|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Ivy Lodge and attached farm buildings and wall{{NHLE|num=1187404|desc=Ivy Lodge and attached farm buildings and wall|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Four stone piers{{NHLE|num=1187407|desc=Stone Pier|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}{{NHLE|num=1204835|desc=Stone Pier|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}{{NHLE|num=1204841|desc=Stone Pier|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}{{NHLE|num=1298723|desc=Stone Pier|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Round Tower and attached wall{{NHLE|num=1204830|desc=Round Tower and attached wall|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Shelter Shed{{NHLE|num=1298721|desc=Shelter Shed|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Square Tower{{NHLE|num=1298722|desc=Square Tower|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• Stable range and attached mounting block{{NHLE|num=1280168|desc=Stable Range|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}
• The two Horse Guard pavilions{{NHLE|num=1204850|desc=Horse Guards Pavilion|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}{{NHLE|num=1204846|desc=Horse Guards Pavilion|access-date=5 February 2016|mode=cs2}}

• Earl Bathurst
• Cirencester
• Sapperton, Gloucestershire
• Landscape architecture

{{Coord|51|43|1|N|1|58|20|W|type:landmark|display=title}}

{{Reflist}}

• Nicholas Mander, Country Houses of the Cotswolds (Aurum Press, 2008)

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120320060153/http://www.dicamillocompanion.com/Houses_detail.asp?ID=457 Cirencester Park entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses]

Category:Bathurst family

Category:Cirencester

Category:Country houses in Gloucestershire

Category:Grade I listed parks and gardens in Gloucestershire

Category:Grade II* listed houses in Gloucestershire

Category:Parks and open spaces in Gloucestershire