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Blackhills
On the dark twin
Claremont.
Claremont House. It was the first house built and owned
by Sir John Vanbrugh 1708 and on
a different site. In 1714 he passed it
to Thomas Pelham-HoIles, Duke of
Newcastle and Marquess of Clare, who renamed it ‘Claremont’. On the death of
the Marquess in 1768 the property
was bought by Lord Clive of India, who spent over £100,000 in building a new house on the hill and laying out the
grounds. This house, finished in 1772
with the involvement of Henry Holland
and the young John Soane, is said
to be the only complete surviving work of 'Capability' Brown, the landscape
gardener. Clive never enjoyed his new
property and he died in London. It was bought by the nation 1816 as a
palace for Princess Charlotte, who died there.
Her husband Prince Leopold stayed
on until he became the first King of the Belgians. In
1882 the house became the private
property of Queen Victoria, who had enjoyed girlhood holidays here with her uncle Leopold and spent every birthday
here from her accession (1837)
until 1849. In 1848 it was the home of
the exiled French Imperial family and Louis Phillippe died here in 1850 and his queen in 1866. In 1882
Claremont was a wedding present for the Duke of Albany – he died two years later
but the Duchess remained here until her death in 1922. Their daughter, Princess Alice, was born
here. It is now owned by National
Trust and is a girls ' boarding school. It has a Classical façade and an Extensive basement area for the servants.
Landscape garden, twenty years older
than Stourhead, is the combined work of Vanbrugh, Bridgeman, Kent, and
Brown. Under the King of the Belgians it
was Mackintosh. On the Lion's foreleg. One
of the earliest surviving English landscape gardens; begun by Vanbrugh and
Bridgeman before 1720. Vanburgh laid out formal gardens within massive walled
defences; Bridgeman converted the walled parterre into a ha ha. It was extended and naturalized by Kent who
designed the lake and cascade and Brown. Lake; island with pavilion; grotto and
turf amphitheatre; viewpoints and avenues.
Much of the park has been broken up
into building plots.
Amphitheatre is the only surviving example of its type.
Designed by Bridgeman.
Bowling green.
18th-century.
Gateway and lodges 18th-century by Henry Holland. Ample and reticent
Icehouse in the park
Obelisk in
the grounds to Vanburgh
Gothic retreat. Converted into a chapel after Princess
Charlotte's death.
Temple on an island on the lake.
Obelisk to commemorate Princess
Charlotte.
Belvedere
Tower. 1717. The first true
folly. By Vanbrugh. Restored. Enclosed
by the woods
Original house stood at the foot of the hill.
East of the present
mansion, but all that survives of it is an ornamental tower, formerly
the garden house, and the enclosing wall
of the garden.
Milestone distanced to Newcastle
House. Has probably been moved.
Walls of the gardens 600 ft long.
Astonishing, by Vanburgh
White Cottage was the Gardener’s Cottage.
Stables with clock turret
Claremont Woods National Trust, laid out by William Kent about 1730, with an
enchanting lake and any fine
trees and rhododendrons.
Coppice Lane
Home Farm House. Must be by
Vanburgh. White brick and walled garden.
Portsmouth Road
Milepost in south side of A3 SW of Claremont House. Square.
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