Bowden Park

Bowden Hill, near Chippenham

Wiltshire

England

Circa Date: 1796 w/circa 1850 & circa 1955 additions and alterations

Status: Partially Extant

19th century additions demolished in the 1950s

House Open to Public: No

Country House: Yes

Earlier Houses: There was a 17th century house on, or near, the site of the current house.

Built / Designed For: Barnard Dickinson

House & Family History: Barnard Dickinson was heir to a great Jamaican fortune; he engaged James Wyatt to build him Bowden in the classical style. The south facade is ashlar-faced and has a bow with four giant unfluted Ionic columns. In late 2020 Bowden, together with 1,450 acres, was listed for sale for £35 million.

Comments: Pevsner called Bowden "an exceptionally perfect example of its date."
Architect: James Wyatt

Date of Birth: 1746
Date of Death: 1813
Nationality: British
Notes: One of the most important 18th century British architects, James Wyatt was born in Staffordshire in 1746 and received significant recognition in 1770 for the Pantheon (now destroyed), a theater on Regent Street that was modeled after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Wyatt's interiors at Heavingham Hall in Suffolk are among his most significant designs, but his most famous work was Fonthill Abbey, the Gothick extravaganza he created for William Beckford in the Wiltshire countryside. He also began the Wyatt dynasty of architects, the most notable member of whom was probably his nephew, Jeffry Wyatt (later Wyatville).

Date: 1796
Designed: House for Barnard Dickinson

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Vitruvius Britannicus: C. New, I. pls. 1, 2, 1802.
Title: Buildings of England: Wiltshire, The
Author: Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget
Year Published: 1999
Reference: pg. 120
Publisher: London: Penguin Books
ISBN: 0140710264
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Not Listed
Past Seat / Home of: SEATED AT EARLIER HOUSE: George Johnson, 17th century. Ezekiel Dickinson, mid-18th century. SEATED AT CURRENT HOUSE: Barnard Dickinson, late 18th-early 19th centuries. Capt. John Neilson Gladstone, 19th century. Peacock family, mid-20th century. Arnold Weinstock, Baron Weinstock, 1967-2002.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home
House Open to Public: No

Historic Houses Member: No

Bowden Park

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