Ashton Court is a large house and estate west of Bristol in England. Although most properties are in North Somerset, the property is owned by Bristol City. Homes and stables are listed first class buildings. Other structures on the estate are also listed.
Ashton Court has been a manor house since the 11th century, and has been developed by a number of owners since then. From the 16th to the 20th century it was owned by the Smyth family with every generation transforming the house. The design by Humphry Repton was used for landscaping early in the 19th century. It was used as a military hospital in the First World War. In 1936 it was used as a venue for the Royal Show and, during the Second World War as an army transit camp. In 1946 the last Smyth family died and the house became damaged before it was bought in 1959 by the Bristol City Council.
Plantations developed from the original deer park and Grade II * are listed on the List of Historic Parks and Gardens with special historical interest in the UK. This is the place for a variety of recreational activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court Festival, Bristol International Kite Festival and Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. It is home to The Forest of Avon Trust charity.
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Ashton Court dates back before the 11th century. It is believed that a fortified manor stood on the site, given to Geoffrey de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances, by William the Conqueror. In the Book of Domeswe is called a treasure owned by the Bishop of Countances, with the manor house, the great hall, and the entrance courtyard through the gates of the house. The property passed through the owner in a row and by the end of the 14th century it was much expanded when Thomas De Lions, a nobleman from France, obtained permission to close a park for his palace. The house is owned by the Choke family for some time. In 1506 it was sold to Sir Giles Daubeney, a knight and a Henry VII Royal Administrator. Henry VIII handed the land over to Sir Thomas Arundel in 1541 and four years later in 1545, Sir Thomas sold it to John Smyth. The Smyth family owns the property for the next 400 years. Smyth also bought the land he owned, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, by Bath Abbey. He uses the land to expand the deer park, making him in conflict with the residents of Whitchurch, who complain that he has used public lands.
Maps Ashton Court
Thomas and Florence Smyth
Thomas Smyth (1609-1642) was the first family member to make major and additional changes to the original motherhouse. He is a successful Member of Parliament and lawyer. In 1627, at the age of seventeen he married the daughter of Florence from John Poulett, 1st Baronet Poulett of Hinton St. George.
In 1635 Thomas added a new southern front which was in the style of Inigo Jones. It was described by Collinson in 1791 in the following terms:
The front is one hundred forty-three meters long and consists of three rooms below; the westernmost is a nice apartment ninety-three feet long and twenty feet wide and contains several families and other portraits. The back of the house is very ancient and the court that leads to the west park is called the Court of Justice from which it has been fought and still retains an old gate similar to the one adopted in the baron mansion. The second court contained several offices and the entrance from below was under a low doorway between two tall towers one of which contained a bell and a clock. The stables and offices are appropriate in the front court is an ancient date. All of them contribute to a very noble and beautiful building.
Another major addition was made to the building by Sir John Hugh Smyth (1734-1802). He inherited the land in 1783 and added a new library to the northwest of the house. Sir John also asked the renowned landscape designer Humphry Repton for advice on the eastern part of the house. Repton made plans but the death of Sir John stopped further work at home. However the design of the Repton landscape is implemented by Sir John's successor, Sir Hugh Smyth. In his book, Humphry Repton gives a detailed description of the old and newer parts of the house before the addition of a library and included a picture of the front of the east house when he saw it around 1790.
Sir John Smyth
As reported by Esme Smyth, the last residents of Ashton Court, Sir John Smyth (1776-1849) are responsible for the renovation of the house. In about 1940 he was interviewed by Raymond Gorges, who was researching a book, and he gave him a home carving that showed an addition that he said was made by Sir John.
Sir John is a bachelor. He is said, by Lady Emily Smyth, to be devoted to horses and keep a broad stud. Her interests as the main builder of Ashton Court were verified by John Evans who in 1828 wrote a book about Bristol and the surrounding area. He says:
Sir John Smyth's chair is a magnificent building... It has long been enlarged with a cage almost as large as a house and also a garden enclosed by a wall that is twelve feet high at the lowest part. Two handsome huts have also been added, one built of gothic design.
Sir Ariy and Lady Emily Smyth Sir Greville and Lady Emily Smyth
Sir Greville Smyth inherited the property in 1852 and remained a bachelor until he was 48 years old. During that time he was doing a massive renovation. He also maintains a very impressive garden described in detail in magazines and gardening papers.
In 1872 he commissioned the famous architect Benjamin Ferrey to make the additions described as follows.
The West Wing has been rearranged but the main parts of his works are concentrated in the center of the building. This part has been resurrected and in large sizes rebuilt and overcome by two octagonal towers rising to a height of 72 feet. There is a closed section that runs the south side of the courtyard that opens to the court by arcading out of the five bays.
Wider changes occurred between 1884 and 1885. Shortly before he married Emily, widow of George Oldham Edwards, he hired the architect of Bath Mayor Major Charles Edward Davis to change the house. The job took 18 months to complete. A detailed description of the change is provided at Bristol Mercury . in 1885. He transformed the horse stables in the south-east wing into a residence that included a large museum for his natural history collection. He built a large hall with oak carved panels. In the west wing he built a large carved oak staircase with twisted bannisters and introduced a perpendicular window. He also built the winter garden by attaching the court hour. This is now Winter Garden Bar. The following description of this complex room with a waterfall fountain is given in this newspaper article as follows:
It leads through two curved entrances to one of the most enchanting winter gardens where every private house in the west district can boast itself. It has been formed from what was once an open clock tower that has been supplied with an iron roof. Around the tessellated coated floor has formed a curved edge of elegantly edged flowers with glossy tiles overcome with rocks. The work of this stone is covered with moss and filled with dense grass water plants and fern margins of water decorative sheets of serpentine form from the surface of water jets being thrown into a large basin shell - one of the largest of the kind we have. visible. It was cleverly constructed to form a river waterfall down to the second basin shell just above a sheet of water. Around this there are several ferns and palm trees of choice. From the roof, depending on the incandescent incandescent lap, punctuated with a basket full of ferns that curve and from the rising surface of the lilies.
Also in the 1880s 4 hectares (1.6 hectares) of formal gardens laid out including a terrace garden, now a lawn, a jungle garden with a fountain basin and rose garden. Street sequoias and cedar trees are planted together with other specimen trees.
In 1891, Madame Emily Smyth held an interview in which she elaborated further details of the changes made by Sir Greville. He also provides some details of some interesting secret spaces and sections in the medieval section of the building on the west side which he calls the "Drax's Kennel" and "The Fox's Hole". Sir Greville Smyth died in 1901 and Mrs. Emily Smyth died in 1914.
The next and last home occupants are Gilbert and Esme Smyth. They lived there for the next thirty years. Gilbert died in 1940 and Esme in 1946 and the house was handed over to their daughter, Esme Francis Cavendish. She and her husband tried to sell the house shortly in 1946 to help pay the cost of death. But the Cavendish family did not work until thirteen years later in 1959 during which time the house was empty and began to rot. It is currently sold to Bristol City Council who still owns it today.
Archive
Ashton Court estate archives (including estate management and plantation office letters) and private letters of the Smyth family are held by Bristol Archives (AC Ref.) (Online catalog). The Bristol Records Office also keeps photographs and papers on the rebuilding of Ashton Court houses and stables (Ref: 43326) (online catalog) and (Ref.45390) (online catalog). Other notes related to real Ashton Court are also held by Wiltshire and Swindon History Center and Bristol University Special Collections.
Architecture
Because the sequential remodelation and expansion of architecture in Ashton Court is complex and rare as it looks. The core of the house, a 15th century castle, was obliterated by later wings, which in turn had been overhauled and changed, most substantially around 1635. Therefore, house plans have evolved as irregular with many alignments and few cohesion; while the majority of homes were built in the 17th century, the period of classical architecture, remodeling and changes to fenestration have created a whole Gothic appearance.
At the beginning of the 19th century, homes were given a 300-foot (91 m) long facade in an attempt to provide uniformity and some classic splendor. But even here, architecture does not remain faithful to one style. At the center of this facade is the much altered Tudor gate, which was probably built in the 16th century as a gateway to a 14th century noble home. To create a long facade, the existing stable, to the right of the guardhouse, was converted to domestic use and was given seven biliary Gothic ivory windows. To the left of the front gate, the flanking southwest wing is a different style.
This classically designed wing is associated with Inigo Jones, but without supporting evidence; as with a similar attribution at Brympton d'Evercy, also in Somerset, appears to be based solely on alternating segments and spiked pediments over the groundfloor window, and ignoring the irregularities in their distance and placement, which Jones may not have accounted for.
To provide a long facade with two contrasting architectural wings, a common feature that integrates, the third story of the left wing oval window, which is then covered with a Jacobean ledge repeated over the Gothic right wing; However, unexplained classical unity attempts are broken by the use of castellations rather than fences on the right side. Overall, its length, contrasting style, high gates and lack of symmetry provide a more colonial look than domestic appearance. The focal point of the facade, the gate, has a multi-faceted tower at its corners. In 1885, the guardhouse was given a Gothic makeover, which included raising the height and adding a curved fan to the front ceiling that leads, not a large base, magnificent architecture would suggest, but to a small glass inner courtyard (Winter Garden).
The north wing was included in a renovation work in 1805 and was furnished with windows directly opposite the subtle, popular 19th century Strawberry Hill Gothic style; it was a pioneer of the more medieval Gothic ecclesiastical style that characterized 19th century architecture, and was employed at Ashton Court during the 1885 changes.
Recent history
During the First World War, the land was used as a military hospital, and in World War II was taken over by the War Office and used as a transit camp, the headquarters of the RAF and the headquarters of the US Army. The estate is the venue for the 1936 Royal Show. One of the exhibition buildings, though temporary, is an innovative part of modernist architecture that is still remembered as the Gane Pavilion. It was designed by Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer as a show house for Bristol Crofton Gane furniture manufacturer. For most of the 20th century Ashton Court is the venue for the North Somerset Show, but this is now held at Wraxall.
In 1946, the last inhabitant of Ashton Court Dame Esme Smyth, died. After the house became slum, it was taken over by the City in 1959. Recovery has been an ongoing process since then, but even after extensive investment by both the board and the Heritage Lottery Fund grant, it is currently only about a quarter of the building. occupied or used. Available home rental facilities for business conferences, parties and weddings. In 2013, fires damage the northern wing. It is contained by Avon Fire and Rescue Service, otherwise the rest of the building will be at risk.
The large house and stables have been designated by Historic England as the first class I listed building. The house is listed in the Heritage at Risk register and described as "slow decay". The lower huts to Ashton Court and the attached gates, fences and bollards, built in 1805 by Henry Wood, are Grade II * registered buildings. The lower lodging is fully refurbished in 2016 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is now named Ashton Gatehouse. The building is now a heritage site run by Ashton Park School. Parks and fence walls and fences are also listed.
Location and surroundings
The house stands in a large area that stretches the line between Bristol and North Somerset, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the city center. It is on the west side of the River Avon close to Clifton Suspension Bridge and the outskirts of Leigh Woods and Leigh Woods National Preserve located east of Ashton Court. To the north and west is the open countryside. The plantation was much bigger than it is now and includes what is now a suburb of Bristol including Ashton Gate, Ashton Vale, and Southville where Greville Smyth Park is located. The land for the park was donated by the Smyth family and then flanked by the city council.
The plantation covers 850 acres (340 acres) of forest and open grasslands arranged by Humphry Repton. It includes two pitch-and-putt golf courses, disc golf courses, orienteering and horse riding trails and mountain bike trails. The Bristol weekly parkrun event (which runs 5 minutes and is arranged for free by volunteers) is held at Ashton Court.
There is a deer park beginning in the 14th century and extended in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are still two plantation areas with a deer cage. This park contains a variety of wildlife; Most of the sites (210.31 hectares) have been notified in 1998 as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the presence of rare forest beetles including: Ctesias serra , Phloiotrya vaudoueri and Eledona agricola .
The 2.37 acre Ashton Court Meadow is managed as a nature reserve by the Avon Wildlife Trust. It contains a variety of flowering plants, including wild carrots, yellow-wort and weathered. Some unusual parasitic plants are also found here, such as a common broomrape that eats cloves, and yellow toys, which feed on some of the grass.
Clarken Combe, on the western edge of the estate, is a forest area with a variety of plant species, including the blinded helleborine, which grows here in small numbers beneath the beech.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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