Prior Park is a Palladian house, designed by John Wood, the Elder in the 1730s and 1740s for Ralph Allen, on a hill overlooking Bath, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
The house was built to demonstrate the properties of Bath Stone as a building material. The design followed work by Andrea Palladio and was influenced by drawings originally made by Colen Campbell for Wanstead House in Essex. The main block had 15 bays and each of the wings 17 bays each. The surrounding parkland had been laid out in 1100 but following the purchase of the land by Allen 11.3 hectares (28 acres) were established as a landscape garden. Features in the garden include a Palladian Bridge which is also Grade I listed. Prior Park Landscape Garden is now owned by the National Trust.
Following Allen's death the estate passed down through his family. In 1828 it was purchased by Bishop Baines for use as a Roman Catholic College. The house was then extended and a chapel and gymnasium built by Henry Goodridge. The house is now used by Prior Park College.
Read more about Prior Park: Architecture, Gardens
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“A diff’rent cause, says Parson Sly,
The same effect may give:
Poor Lubin fears, that he shall die;
His wife, that he may live.”
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)