Landscape record 0446503000 - WEST WYCOMBE PARK (G137)

Summary

Eighteenth century landscaped park at West Wycombe Park.

Protected Status/Designation

  • Planning Notification Area: 18th century landscaped park at West Wycombe Park
  • Registered Park or Garden (I) GD1415: West Wycombe Park

Map

Type and Period (1)

  • LANDSCAPE PARK (18th Century - 1700 AD to 1799 AD)

Description

GRADE I. C18 LANDSCAPE PARK. DEVELOPMENT PROBABLY IN 3 STAGES. BETWEEN 1735-39 THE LAKE & CASCADE FORMED PROBABLY BY M L JOLIVET. 2ND STAGE, FROM 1770, DIRECTED BY NICHOLAS REVETT & THOMAS COOK. REPTON CALLED IN C.1794-95 & MADE 3 VISITS. LATER C20 RESTORATION INCLUDES REBUILDING OF VENUS'S PARLOUR (MORE DETAIL)(B10).
Detailed topographic survey and background research by English Heritage of the pleasure grounds, wider parkland and of monuments on Church Hill provides much additional information about the park, gardens, garden buildings and other structures. See reports and plans for detail (B12-14).
Detailed discussion of development of gardens and parkland in 18th century under Sir Francis Dashwood with particular emphasis on the symbolism and placing of the built strructures (B17).
Use of lake for mock sea battles in 18th century (B18).
Short article on the symbolism of the original siting of statues of Minerva and Fame, and the temples of Venus and of Daphne at West Wycombe Park (B19).
Landscape management plan (B20).
Eighteenth-century follies with subterranean chambers at West Wycombe Park (B21).
Article suggesting that the iconography adopted in the 18th century at Stowe based on the judgement of Hercules choosing between vice and virtue, was subverted at West Wycombe by virtue being represented in dubious or ambiguous ways and an emphasis on the enjoyment of sensuous pleasures (B22).
Discussion of possibility that Brown involved in 1753 (B23).
Humphry Repton consulted in 1794-9 by Sir John Dashwood-King on improvements to the park. He made at least four visits and the Red Book presumably dates from 1795, but is now lost. Repton's proposals apparently included a new carriage drive round the lake and approaching the house from the south, thinning and opening up overgrown parkland planting, removing statuary and the steeple of St Crispin's and annimating the lake surface with submerged rocks. The only proposals carried out were the removal of the spire and statues (recently reinstated) and thinning the parkland planting (B25).

Sources (18)

  • ---SBC17191 Aerial Photograph: Aerofilms. 1968. Aerofilms oblique AP. SU829945. Yes.
  • ---SBC17552 Aerial Photograph: 26/06/82. BCM A6/16 16A. SU\829949. Yes.
  • ---SBC17554 Aerial Photograph: 26/06/82. BCM A6/16/19. SU\828943. Yes.
  • ---SBC17555 Aerial Photograph: 26/06/82. BCM A6/16/20. SU\828943. Yes.
  • ---SBC17556 Aerial Photograph: 26/06/82. BCM A6/16/21. SU\828943. Yes.
  • <10>SBC4635 Bibliographic reference: ENGLISH HERITAGE 1994 REGISTER OF PARKS & GARDENS OF SPECIAL HISTORIC IN-TEREST IN ENGLAND: PART 4 B.
  • <12>SBC19995 Unpublished document: English Heritage. 2001. West Wycombe Park Buckinghamshire - Part 1: Site History and Introduction. 1.
  • <13>SBC19996 Unpublished document: English Heritage. 2001. West Wycombe Park Buckinghamshire - Part II: The Earthwork Surveys. 2.
  • <14>SBC19998 Graphic material: English Heritage. 2000. West Wycombe Park: detailed plans of Pleasure Grounds, Wider Parkland and Church Hill. 1:2500.
  • <15>SBC19576 Article in serial: National Trust. 2001. The National Trust Annual Archaeological Review 2000-2001. No 9. p57.
  • <17>SBC22630 Article in serial: Michael Symes. 2005. 'Flintwork, Freedom and Fantasy: the Landscape at West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire', in Garden History Vol 33. No 33:1. pp1-30, Figs 1-21, Plates I-XIV.
  • <18>SBC22708 Article in serial: Kate Felus. 2006. 'Boats and Boating in the Designed Landscape, 1720-1820', in Journal of the Garden History Society, Summer 2006, pp22-46.. Vol 34, No. 1. pp29, 30-31; Figs 7-8.
  • <19>SBC22755 Article in serial: Richard Wheeler. 2005. 'Lost and Found: Statues and Goddesses at West Wycombe', in The Bucks Gardener, Autumn 2005 pp3-4. Issue 22.
  • <20>SBC23229 Unpublished document: Parklands Consortium Ltd. 2008. West Wycombe Park: Historic Landscape Management Plan.
  • <21>SBC20535 Bibliographic reference: Hazelle Jackson. 2001. Shell Houses and Grottoes. p37.
  • <22>SBC24063 Article in monograph: Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust. 2007. Talking Heads: Garden Statuary in the Eighteenth Century.
  • <23>SBC24371 Article in serial: John Phibbs. 2013. 'A List of Landscapes That Have Been Attributed to Lancelot 'Capability' Brown', in Garden History Vol 41 part 2 pp244-277. Vol 41, part 2. p274.
  • <25>SBC25044 Bibliographic reference: Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust. 2018. Humphry Repton in Buckinghamshire and Beyond. pp146-150.

Location

Grid reference Centred SU 83435 94073 (1684m by 1169m) (2 map features)
Civil Parish HIGH WYCOMBE, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (23)

Related Events/Activities (1)

  • Event - Survey: Detailed topographic survey and background research (EBC16386)

Record last edited

Nov 29 2023 6:32PM

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