SY-ren-SES-tur or SIS-es-tur

England

Gloucestershire

Cirencester

51.71854

-1.95354

1714

1718

Fully Extant

Unknown

Unknown

No

No

Individual / Family Trust

Private Home

Earl Bathurst and Lord Apsley, Bathurst family; family here since 17th century.

Danvers family (seated at earlier Elizabethan house).

The current 18th century house was built on the site of an earlier Elizabethan house of the Danvers family, which was very likely built upon the site of the 12th century Cirencester Castle.

Allen Bathurst (1684 – 1775) inherited the Cirencester Estate in 1704 upon the death of his father, Sir Benjamin Bathurst. Allen was raised to the peerage as a baron in 1711 and as an earl in 1772. Before becoming ennobled he was a noted Tory MP and statesman; he was also a patron of literature and art (one of James Lees-Milne's "Earls of Creation"), befriending many of the noted authors of his day, including Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, both of whom stayed frequently at Cirencester. Beginning in 1714 the 1st Earl began to rebuild the Tudor house of the Danvers family (formerly known as Oakley Grove) and layout the Park. The House very likely is built upon the site of Cirencester Castle (built circa 1107 and destroyed by King Stephen in 1142). The 6th and 7th Earls were patrons of the Arts and Crafts movement. Ernest Gimson and the Barnsley brothers, Ernest and Sidney, settled at Pinbury Park on the Cirencester Estate in 1894, with Norman Jewson joining them in 1907. Together they formed an Arts and Crafts oasis in Gloucestershire; Jewson described his life as a student of Gimson in his classic memoir, “By Chance I did Rove” (1952). Apsley House, at Hyde Park in London, was built for Lord Apsley, later 3rd Earl Bathurst. In 1807 the House was purchased by Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, who, in 1817, experiencing financial difficulties, sold it to his famous brother, the 1st Duke of Wellington, for £42,000 (approximately £2.5 million in 2008 inflation-adjusted values using the retail price index). The Iron Duke presented a portrait of himself to the 3rd Earl Bathurst which remains today in the collection at Cirencester. The Australian regional town of Bathurst, New South Wales, is named after the 3rd Earl. Bathurst Street in Toronto was also named in his honor. The 3rd Earl was portrayed by Christopher Lee in the South African television series “Shaka Zulu.”

Cirencester contains a fine collection of portraits, including works by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Lawrence, Romney, Hoppner, Lely, and Kneller. There is also a set of giant ancient Roman marble columns carrying busts purchased in Italy in 1814 by Lord Apsley, son of the 3rd Earl, while he was attending the Congress of Vienna.

In 1716 the 1st Earl acquired the Sapperton Estate from the Atkyns family, including Oakley Wood, which he used as the foundation for one of the finest landscape gardens in England. The Earl erected grottoes, ruins, and follies, including the famous Alfred’s Hall, believed to be the earliest Gothick style garden building in England. Alexander Pope was a good friend of the 1st Earl and a frequent visitor to Cirencester, where he would stay for months on end. Pope advised on the layout of the gardens and designed the folly known as Pope’s Seat in the Park. The Estate today (2010) includes the village of Coates and a large portion of the village of Sapperton, including Pinbury Park. Cirencester House, unusually for a country house, is almost in the town of Cirencester; the House is screened from the town by an enormous yew hedge. The Estate is also home to Cirencester Park, the oldest polo club in Britain (founded in 1894). In the summer of 2003 there was a famous altercation between the current Lord Bathurst (the 8th Earl) and Prince William. From the Wikipedia entry on the 8th Earl: “According to noted sources Lord Bathurst was driving a Land Rover jeep, when Prince William, after playing polo at Cirencester Park, overtook Lord Bathurst in a Volkswagen Golf. Lord Bathurst, unaware of the driver's identity, was infuriated by what he saw as a reckless disregard for the driving rules that guide the cooperation between his estate and the polo club. In his attempt to keep up with the Prince, Lord Bathurst engaged in off-road maneuvers, finally being stopped by the Prince's security team. As Lord Bathurst told the BBC, ‘There are rules in the polo club about driving on [the Bathurst family] estate, and people have to stick to them.’ Ultimately, no harm was done, as there were no resulting injuries and Clarence House issued a formal apology to Lord Bathurst.”