West Wycombe ParkBuckinghamshire
England
History /
Gardens & Park / Movies
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| Earlier House(s) / Building(s) | ||||
| House Replaced By | ||||
Built / Designed For |
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| Sir Francis Dashwood, 1st Baronet; rebuilt by the 2nd Sir Francis
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| House & Family History | ||||
| West Wycombe is one of the most Italianate houses in England, with façades formed as classical temples. Sir Francis Dashwood remodeled the house and grounds in the 18th century for himself (with the help of executant architects and draftsmen). Sir Francis’s uncle and guardian was John Fane, Earl of Westmorland, who was building one of Britain’s most important Palladian houses – Mereworth Castle in Kent – during the time he was Dashwood’s guardian. (Upon the death of the Earl of Westmorland in 1762 Sir Francis inherited Mereworth.) It’s not a far stretch to say that Dashwood was influenced by his Uncle’s house in the remodeling of his own, which he started when he returned from Greece in 1735. Dashwood was also one of the founders of the Society of Dilettanti in 1736 and through it met Nicholas Revett, whom he commissioned to complete the remodeling of his House and garden. The House was built by the 1st Sir Francis Dashwood in 1724 and altered by the 2nd Sir Francis between circa 1750 and 1770 by adding a new North Front, East Portico, South Portico, and Ionic West Portico (the latter was designed by Revett and is based on the Temple of Bacchus at Teos, which Revett measured 1764-66). The East Front is a replica in miniature of Mereworth Castle, while the grand South Front, with its famous double loggia (virtually unique on an English house), was inspired by a palace in Vicenza designed by Palladio. The interior has Palmyrene ceilings and decoration, with pictures, furniture, and sculpture from the time of the 2nd Sir Francis. Sir Francis was the creator of the infamous Hell Fire Club, which was originally called the Knights of St. Francis of Wycombe, the Monks of Medmenham, or Dashwood’s Apostles and apparently met twice a year, usually at Medmenham Abbey. The Club was infamous for devoting its time exclusively to getting drunk and whoring. Its members came from the top of society and included a Regius Professor at Oxford and a First Lord of the Admiralty. Benjamin Franklin was a good friend of Sir Francis and spent considerable time at West Wycombe. Franklin and Sir Francis together published a simplified version of the “Book of Common Prayer” in 1773. It has also been suggested that Franklin, no stranger to libertine ways, attended meetings of the Hell Fire Club. Franklin was devoted to Dashwood and obviously enjoyed staying at West Wycombe; he wrote to his son in 1773: "I am in this house as much at ease as if it was my own: and the gardens are a paradise. But a pleasanter thing is the kind countenance and the facetious and very intelligent conversation of mine host, who, having…seen all parts of Europe and kept the best company in the world is himself the best existing." During World War II the Wallace Collection stored much of its collection in the basement of West Wycombe. In addition, The National Trust moved the majority of their offices to the House, where they remained for most of the War. | ||||
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| Giuseppe Borgnis painted erotic frescoes in the interior of West Wycombe for the 2nd Sir Francis. | ||||
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| Gardens
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| Garden, Park, Follies and Outbuildings | ||||
| The original layout of the gardens was in the shape of a female body, with appropriately placed shrubs, streams, and thickets. Humphry Repton, during his naturalizing of the gardens, removed most of the earlier "female" design. The Cockpit Arch or Temple of Apollo is a large arch built of flint. It was probably designed by John Donowell in 1761 and contains a painted lead copy of the Apollo Belvedere, probably by John Cheere. Over the arch is a panel with the motto of the Hell Fire Club. The famous Music Temple of 1778-80 was designed by Nicholas Revett and sits grandly in the middle of the lake. Revett also designed the Temple of Flora (1778-80; demolished), and the Round Temple (circa 1775), a circular dovecote with a pyramid roof. The Temple of the Winds is a loose recreation of the Tower of the Winds in Athens. It was probably completed by 1759, which places it 3 years before the publication of James “Athenian” Stuart’s and Nicholas Revett’s famous book “Antiquities of Athens.” Stuart’s Doric Temple of Theseus at Hagley Hall in Worcestershire (erected 1758) is the only similar structure that pre-dates the Temple of the Winds as the earliest attempt in England to reproduce a monument of Greek antiquity. The Sawmill, faced in flint and 3 stories tall, once held a giant statue of William Penn on its roof; the statue was removed by Repton in 1800. The Primitive Hut was designed by Quinlan Terry in 1974. In 1982 Terry’s Temple of Venus was erected, followed in 1985 by the architect’s Edward’s Bridge. | ||||
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| Movies
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| Location for Movies / TV | ||||
| "To the Devil a Daughter" (1976). "Another Country" (1984). "Carrington" (1995 - as the exterior where Mark Gertler seduces Carrington). "The Importance of Being Earnest" (2002 - as Jack Worthing's country estate in Hertfordshire). "Daniel Deronda" (2002 - TV mini-series). "The Lost Prince" (2003 - TV movie). "I Capture the Castle" (2003 - as Scoatney). "Just Visiting" (2001). "A History of Britain" (2000 - TV documentary series, shown from an aerial shot). “An Ideal Husband” (1999). "What a Girl Wants" (2003). "He Knew He Was Right" (2004 - BBC TV (mini series). "The Duchess" (2008). | ||||
