Stourhead
History
A potted house history
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Building the house
Building the house
Stourhead was one of the first country villas to be built in the new Palladian style and was designed by Colen Campbell.
Henry Hoare I unfortunately died the same year in which the house was completed.
© Stourhead images
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Building the collection
Building the collection
Henry Hoare II (the Magnificent) made changed the house by rebuilding the west front to accommodate the Saloon.
Henry II's love of the arts didn’t stop at architecture; he also had a great passion for paintings and sculpture and the collection he gathered included works by Poussin, Rysbrack and Ba...
© Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)
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Adding the wings
Adding the wings
Sir Richard Colt Hoare (2nd Bt) inherited Stourhead from his grandfather Henry Hoare II, on the condition that he left the banking business.
Colt Hoare made further alterations to the house including adding the two wings that house the Picture Gallery and library.
© National Trust
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The portico
The portico
Colt Hoare commissioned Thomas Chippendale the younger to provide furniture for rooms in the house including the newly built library.
He left Stourhead to his half-brother Sir Henry Hugh Hoare (3rd Bt) and during his three years at Stourhead he added the portico to the house as designed by Colen Campbel...
© National Trust
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The heirlooms sale
The heirlooms sale
Due to family debts and an agricultural depression the family had to sell some possessions.
The heirlooms sale took place in 1883 and was a great loss to the collection of the house. Among the items sold were works by Turner, Poussin and Nicholson.
© Photo by David Cousins
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The fire
The fire
In 1902 a fire gutted the central part of the house resulting in the loss of all the furniture on the upper floors.
By 1907 the restoration of the house was complete. In 1946 Stourhead was given to the National Trust.
© NT/David Cousins
The garden history
Stourhead garden has inspired artists throughout the centuries
© NT/David Cousins
'A living work of art'. That's how a magazine described Stourhead when it first opened its doors in the 1750s.
This world-famous garden was designed by Henry Hoare II as a series of carefully constructed views, like scenes from a landscape painting.
The garden history
This photograph reveals just how much has changed in the garden since 1938
© Country Life
Henry Hoare II built a dam to form the lake and around it he positioned classical temples, Gothic buildings and rare and exotic trees.
Although the garden is something of a secluded world, there are glimpses out to the wider landscape; to an estate of working farms and ancient hamlets.
The garden history
Stourhead today is still beautiful all year round whatever the weather
© Stourhead/Charlotte Toop
Henry Hoare II's garden was at the forefront of the 18th-century English landscape movement.
For his fantastic achievement Henry was nicknamed 'the Magnificent'. Today Stourhead is essentially the same as Henry’s vision – a timeless paradise.
The Hoare family
Sir Henry Hoare gave Stourhead to National Trust in 1946
The Hoare family have owned Stourhead since the early 1700s when Henry Hoare I bought the land from the Stourton family.
Discover how the Hoare family changed and developed Stourhead over the past 300 years. Find out about the connection between the son of a horse dealer, a family bank and a 'living work of art' at Stourhead.
Hoare's Bank
The Hoare family had a successful career in banking, which enabled them to buy Stourhead.
Hoare’s Bank is the last independent bank and the Hoare family is still in charge and running the bank today.
South Lawn was part of the original route to the landscape garden
© Stourhead images
The Stourtons
The original Manor House at Stourton was enlarged in 1448 and in the mid-16th century it was described as having two courtyards. John Aubrey who visited in the mid-17th century described it as evoking 'the time of the old English Barons'.
These descriptions and a simple sketch are all that remain of the medieval pile. It was pulled down by Henry Hoare I in 1718 to make way for a grand Palladian mansion.
While it's the Hoare family which shaped the estate we enjoy today, the Stourtons, of Saxon stock, have their own rich history . There's an effigy of Edward the sixth Lord Stourton and his wife Agnes in Stourton church, just outside the garden entrance.