Stowe House - History

History

The Temple family fortune was based on sheep farming, they were first recorded as such at Witney in Oxfordshire. Later from 1546 they had been renting a sheep farm in Burton Dassett in Warwickshire. The Stowe estate was leased from 1571 by Peter Temple, his son John Temple bought the manor & estate of Stowe in 1589 and it became the home of the Temple family. In the late 17th century, the house was completely rebuilt by Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet, (c.1683) on the present site. This house is now the core of the mansion known today. The old medieval stronghold was located near Stowe parish church that is about 100 yards to the south-east of the current house. Having been redesigned subsequently over the years, the whole front is now 916 feet (279 m) in length and can be seen as you approach from the direction of Buckingham. A long, straight driveway ran from Buckingham all the way to the front of the house, passing through a 60-foot (18 m) Corinthian arch on the brow of the hill on the way. The driveway approach to the house is still in use today, although it no longer runs through the arch.

British and foreign aristocrats and royalty frequently stayed at the house throughout the 18th & 19th centuries. In 1725 the 3rd Earl of Carlisle and his wife stayed for a fortnight. The 1730s & 1740s saw visits by Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and the 1st Earl of Bath; Frederick, Prince of Wales, along with other friends of Lord Cobham (see the Temple of Friendship), were also frequent guests. In 1750 The 1st Earl of Bristol attended a reception at the house. In 1754 Count Stanisław August Poniatowski (the future King of Poland) visited the gardens. The 1760s saw two visits by Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, as part of his tours of English gardens in preparation for the creation of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. 1768 saw the visit of King Christian VII of Denmark. In July 1770 there was a house party lasting several days whose guests included Princess Amelia, Horace Walpole, Lady Mary Coke & the 2nd Earl of Bessborough. The Prince Regent (the future George IV) came in 1805 & 1808. King Louis XVIII came in January 1808 for several days, his party including: the Comte d'Artois, Louis's brother and successor as King of France; the Duc d'Orléans (who would be France's last ever King); and the Prince of Condé.

1810 saw the visit of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden. Tsar Alexander I of Russia visited in 1810 & in 1814 Grand Duke Michael of Russia. 1816 saw a visit by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. Then in 1818 Grand Duke Nicholas (the future Tsar of Russia) visited. The same year saw the first of many visits by the Duke of Clarence (the future King of Great Britain and Ireland). Following William IV's death, his widow Queen Adelaide stayed in 1840. That year also saw visits by The Duke of Cambridge & his son Prince George. In 1843 there were several visits by German royalty, with the British-born King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover and his wife, Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, staying at the house. Later that year, both Crown Prince Johann of Saxony and Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (later the first German Kaiser) would stay at Stowe. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed at the house for several days in 1845 (the first year of the Great Famine in Ireland). Due to financial problems the family let the estate to the Comte de Paris from 1889 to 1894. The Comte died that year in the house, his body was laid in state in the Marble Saloon, during which the Prince of Wales, paid his respects.

Famous non-royal visitors included: Alexander Pope a frequent visitor from 1724 onwards, in 1726 Pope visited in the company of Jonathan Swift & John Gay; another writer and friend to Lord Cobham who visited in the 1720s was William Congreve; in 1730 James Thomson wrote the poem Seasons after visiting the gardens; in 1732 Gilbert West a nephew of Lord Cobham's, wrote his poem Stowe after visiting the gardens; 1750 saw the first of eight visits by Sanderson Miller; the 1750s also saw visits by Jean-Jacques Rousseau; in 1770 Thomas Whately wrote an extensive description of the gardens; François-Joseph Bélanger visited in 1777-8 and drew the gardens. In April 1786 John Adams (the future second President of the United States on tour with Thomas Jefferson—who would serve as his vice president before becoming President himself) visited Stow and other notable house in the area, after visiting them he wrote in his diary "Stowe, Hagley, and Blenheim, are superb; Woburn, Caversham, and the Leasowes are beautiful. Wotton is both great and elegant, though neglected". However his diary he was also damming about the means used to finance the large estates, and he did not think that the embellishments to the landscape, made by the owners of the great country houses, would suit the more rugged American countryside. William Crotch visited in 1805, as did Charles James Fox in the party that included the Prince Regent.