Building record 0420802010 - FANE OF PASTORAL POETRY, Grecian Valley, Stowe Landscape Gardens

Brief description in c.1862 (B5).
Brief description (B7).
Grade I. Small roofless structure 1727/3 by Gibbs, as The Belvedere. Re-erected on present site 1760's. Ashlar stone with moulded cornice. Octagonal, 4 sides pierced by semi-circular headed arches, with keyblocks, stepped architraves and impost mouldings. Blank oculi in angled faces (B14).
The building is located in the Grecian Valley added to the landscaped garden by Lancelot (Capability) Brown in 1746-7. It was not part of the original concept, but was moved to the location from the Western Garden in 1764. It was renamed the Fane of Pastoral Poetry and postioned to frame the vista to Wolfe's Obelisk. The building was previously called the Gibb's building was located on the site now occupied by Queen Caroline's Monument. Some repairs were carried out in 1960s. During August 2001, in advance of the restoration of the builings and surrounding plantings, the area was investigated by geophysical survey and the fabric of the surviving building itself recorded in detail (B18).
The results of the geophysical survey indicate that foundations were probably of ring construction with piers for the building built up from this. Four pits with vertical sides were excavated in the mound and then a layer of clay 0.2m was backfilled to form the base. The foundation was constructed on coursed angularl limestone bedded into a bright orange sandy matrix with traces of lime mortar across the surface. At some time in the 20th century the foundations have been partially excavated and underpinned with concrete. To form the mound the natural orange clay has been overlain with 0.65m of clay fumps There is also a dump of blue Welsh roofing slates in the centre of the building. A seocnday pit of slates and plaster debris was identified 0.5m wset of the bulding. Surroudning the building was a narrow path of gravel 1.5m from the footings. Internally, gravel was dumped over the roofing tiles. The base for one of the statues was located in SW external facet of the building (B19).
The building once had a steeply domed roof, but is now maintained as a roofless ruin. At its first location it was surrounded by 8 Rysbrack British worthies. Plans were prepared by Borra to convert it to a Temple of Diana, but this scheme was never carried out. It was also known as the Belvedere and in the 1920s sales catalogue as The Egyptian Building (B20).