Wrest Park

Thomas Carew (1595–1640) wrote his country house poem "To My Friend G.N. from Wrest" in 1639 that described the old house which was demolished between 1834 and 1840.

The present house was built in 1834–39, to designs by its owner Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey (1781–1859), an amateur architect and the first president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who was inspired by buildings he had seen on trips to Paris. He based his house on designs published in French architectural books such as Jacques-François Blondel's Architecture Française (1752). The works were superintended as clerk of works on site by James Clephan,Country Life, 25 June and 2 July 1970, noted in Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840 3rd ed. 1995: "James Clephan". who had been clerk of the works at the Liddell seat, Ravensworth Castle in County Durham, and had recently served as professional amanuensis and builder for Lord Barrington.

Although Nikolaus Pevsner previously stated that Clephan was a French architect who designed the present house instead of De Grey the amateur architect, as Charles Read has shown in his biography of De Grey, Clephan (born Clapham) in fact only produced drawings of the service infrastructure, such as plumbing and drainage. The decorative layout and features of the house were produced by De Grey's own hand.Charles Read, "Earl de Grey" (2007) pp. 21–24

Wrest has some of the earliest Rococo Revival interiors in England. Reception rooms in the house are open to the public.

Nan Ino Cooper ran Wrest Park as a military hospital during World War I, although a fire in September 1916 halted this usage of the house.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bellhouse.co.uk/the-cooper-family/|title=The Cooper Family|website=Bellhouse.co.uk|language=en-US|access-date=2018-06-13}} Following the death of her brother Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas, she inherited his title and the house and sold it in 1918. It was sold after the War to Mr JG Murray, who was associated with cricket in Bedfordshire. During his 18-year tenure, much of the garden statuary was sold, while extensive felling stripped park and garden of many of their oldest trees.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardens-to-visit/gardens-to-visit--wrest-park--bedfordshire/|title=Gardens to visit: Wrest Park, Bedfordshire|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=11 August 2011|access-date=30 December 2019|last1=Dennison |first1=Matthew }}

He sold it to Sun Alliance Insurance in 1939, and after the Second World War it became a centre for modern agricultural engineering research.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Mark |title='Secret garden' Wrest Park reopens after restoration |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/aug/02/secret-garden-wrest-park-restoration |access-date=14 August 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=1 August 2011}}

English Heritage took over the house and gardens in 2006 and began a 20-year restoration project to return the gardens to their pre-1917 state.{{Cite web|title=History of Wrest Park|url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wrest-park/history/|access-date=2020-06-02|website=English Heritage}}

File:The Orangery at Wrest Park.JPG

Wrest Park has an early eighteenth-century garden, spread over {{convert|92|acre|ha}},{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-14371970|work=BBC News|title=Wrest Park reopens after £1.14m restoration|date=2011-08-02}} which was probably originally laid out by George London and Henry Wise for Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent, then modified for his granddaughter Jemima, 2nd Marchioness Grey by Lancelot "Capability" Brown in a more informal landscape style.

The park is divided by a wide gravel central walk, continued as a long canal that leads to a Baroque pavilion banqueting house designed by Thomas Archer and completed in 1711.{{Cite web|last=Davies, Manning|date=1997|title=WALL PAINTING CONDITION AUDIT, ARCHER PAVILION, WREST PARK, BEDFORDSHIRE. Historic England Research Report 28/1997|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=4848&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&tsk=wrest%2520park&ns=1|access-date=2020-06-02|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}} The garden designer Batty Langley was employed in the 1730s.{{Cite web|last=Kewley, J|date=2018|title=The Bath House, Wrest Park, Bedfordshire: Historic Building Assessment. Historic England Research Report 74/2018|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16185&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&tsk=wrest%2520park&ns=1|access-date=2020-06-02|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}} The interior of the pavilion is decorated with an impressive Ionic columns in trompe-l'œil. Boundary canals were altered to take the more natural shape by Capability Brown, who worked there between 1758 and 1760, and who also ringed the central formal area with a canal and woodland. The gardens and garden houses were mapped by John Rocque in 1735.{{cite web|url=http://www.mapforum.com/05/rocqlist.htm|title=Rocque's Engraved Works|last=MapForum.Com}} During the later 18th and 19th centuries, an orangery and marble fountains were added. The Bathhouse (sometimes referred to as a Roman bath, a hermitage and a grotto) was built, and its grounds laid out, between about 1769 and 1772.{{Cite web|last=Alexander, M; Chamberlin, E; Newsome, S|date=2015|title=Wrest Park, Silsoe, Essex: Bathhouse Grounds, Analytical Earthwork Survey. Historic England Research Report 84/2015|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=15396&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&tsk=wrest%2520park&ns=1|access-date=2020-06-02|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}}

In 1736 Horace Walpole visited Wrest on a progress through Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. He noted monuments in the garden in memory of the Duke of Kent's children who all predeceased him, as well as a monument to Kent himself, at that time still alive.{{Cite web|last=Eagles|first=Robin|date=2020-05-27|title=In search of Arcadia: visiting the 18th-century garden|url=https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2020/05/28/in-search-of-arcadia-visiting-the-18th-century-garden/|access-date=2020-06-02|website=The History of Parliament|language=en}}

A Wellingtonia planted in 1856 was in its earlier years brought into the house annually to serve as a Christmas tree, one of the earliest surviving examples known in the U.K.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-30272863|work=BBC News|title='Oldest' Christmas tree at Wrest Park to be decorated|date=2014-12-02|access-date=2014-12-02}}

File:Wrest Park, The Pavilion - geograph.org.uk - 871731.jpg]]

In the autumn of 2007 English Heritage announced that the Wolfson Foundation had pledged up to £400,000 towards the restoration of a number of the key features of the Wrest Park estate, including the mansion's formal entrance area, the garden statuary, railings and gates, and to alter the height of the carriage drive. In the next phases the lakes and canals will be restored.

On 12 September 2008 English Heritage unveiled extensive plans to restore the Grade-I-listed Wrest Park house and gardens to their original splendour.[http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/bed-news/20year-plan-to-restore-Wrest.4484722.jp 20-year plan to restore Wrest Park's gardens] Bedford Today In 2008 the music video for "The Fear" by Lily Allen featured interior as well as exterior scenes of Wrest Park.

In July 2010 English Heritage announced that it had secured over £1m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop a new visitors centre, car parking, exhibition space and accessible paths. Work was completed in summer 2011{{cite web|title=Future of magnificent garden secured/|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/future-of-magnificent-garden-secured/|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=6 March 2011}} and the park opened to the public on 4 August 2011.

English Heritage and Historic England have undertaken a number of in-depth investigations of the gardens at Wrest as part of the restoration process, including archaeological{{Cite web|last=Alexander, M|date=2013|title=Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire: Archaeological Landscape Investigations. Historic England Research Report 6/2013|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=15135&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&tsk=wrest%2520park&ns=1|access-date=2020-06-02|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}} and geophysical surveys.{{Cite web|last=Linford, N T|date=2011|title=Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire: Report on Geophysical Survey, July 2010 Historic Englans Research Report 28/2011|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=14980&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&tsk=wrest%2520park&ns=1|access-date=2020-06-02|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}}{{Cite web|last=Linford, N T; Payne, A W|date=2015|title=Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire: Report on Geophysical Survey, November 2014. Historic England Research Reports 1/2015|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=15304&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&tsk=wrest%2520park&ns=1|access-date=2020-06-02|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}}{{Cite web|last=Linford, N T; Payne, A W|date=2019|title=Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire: Report on Geophysical Surveys, June 2015, July and November 2018 Historic England Research Report 11/2019|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16228&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&tsk=wrest%2520park&ns=1|access-date=2020-06-02|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}} The removal of an overgrown yew hedge, which maps suggested existed in 1717, led to a dendrochronological investigation on the trunks to discover if the trees removed were original or part of later re-plantings. The wood was found to date to 1780–1800.{{Cite web|last=Bridge, M C; Tyers, C|date=2020|title=Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire: Dendrochronological Analaysis of Yew Trunks Research Report 187/2020|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16723&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&tsk=wrest%2520park&ns=1|access-date=2020-06-02|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}}

File:Lancelot Brown monument - Wrest Park - Bedfordshire, England - DSC08216.jpg memorial column]]

There is a memorial column dedicated to Lancelot "Capability" Brown. It was originally placed near the Bowling Green House, which was remodelled by Batty Langley in 1735, but is now located in the eastern part of the gardens. The column has the inscription: "These gardens, originally laid out by Henry Duke of Kent, were altered by Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima Campbell, 2nd Marchioness Grey with the professional assistance of Lancelot Brown Esq. in the years 1758, 1759, 1760."

Wrest Park has been used as a location for filming and events including: the video for the 2008 song "The Fear" by Lily Allen;{{Cite web|url=https://www.bedfordshirelive.co.uk/news/bedfordshire-news/wrest-park-bedfordshire-mansion-belgravia-7019929|title=The Bedfordshire mansion that's a hit with film and music video producers|first=Josh|last=Bolton|date=April 30, 2022|website=Bedfordshire Live}} a 2015 concert by Status Quo;{{cite web|url=http://www.leehawkins.com/NoFrames/Reviews/aug13.htm#wrest|title=The 2013 Quo Annual – August 2013}} Strictly Come Dancing, "The People's Strictly for Comic Relief", which aired in 2015;{{cite web|url=http://www.crowsnestfilms.com/index.php/2013-01-25-19-29-33/crow-s-nest-news/88-strictly-behind-the-scenes|title=Strictly Behind The Scenes|first=Carney James|last=Turner}} a 2016 episode of BBC's Flog It!;{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v8jvc|title=BBC One - Flog It!, Series 13, Bedfordshire 32|website=BBC}} an episode of BBC miniseries The Serpent; the movies Flyboys and The Death of Stalin, drama series The Royals,{{Cite web|url=https://www.bedfordshirelive.co.uk/news/bedfordshire-news/wrest-park-bedfordshire-mansion-serpent-5264352|title=The Beds mansion where famous films and music videos were filmed|first=Josh|last=Bolton|date=April 5, 2021|website=Bedfordshire Live}} and historical drama series Belgravia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tatler.com/gallery/belgravia-itv-filming-locations-england-scotland|title=From Brussels to Belgravia: the stately Scottish and English filming locations used to create Julian Fellowes' latest series|first=Annabel|last=Sampson|date=March 20, 2020|website=Tatler}}

• De Grey Mausoleum

{{Reflist|2}}

• Nicola Smith, Wrest Park (1995), London: English Heritage, {{ISBN|1-85074-481-5}}
• Linda Cabe Halpern, Wrest Park 1686–1730s: exploring Dutch influences in Garden History Journal, Vol 30. No 2 (2002)
• Jean O’Neill, John Rocque as a guide to gardens in Garden History Journal, Vol 16, Np 1
• James Collett-White, Inventories of Bedfordshire Country Houses 1714–1830 in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, Vol 74, 1995
• Charles Read, Earl de Grey, London: Willow Historical Monographs, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-9555693-0-2}}
• A. F. Cirket (ed.), The Earl de Grey's account of the building of Wrest House in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, Volume 59, 1980
• {{ISSN|0307-1243}}

{{Commons category|Wrest Park}}

• [https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wrest-park/ Wrest Park's page at English Heritage]
• [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/future-of-magnificent-garden-secured/ Heritage Lottery fund announcement July 2010]

Category:Gardens in Bedfordshire

Category:Country houses in Bedfordshire

Category:Tourist attractions in Bedfordshire

Category:English Heritage sites in Bedfordshire

Category:Grade I listed houses

Category:Grade I listed buildings in Bedfordshire

Category:Grade I listed garden and park buildings

Category:Gardens by Capability Brown

Category:Rococo architecture in England