Page 25 - link magazine

See us on the net @ www.swindonlink.com The Link Magazine • April 1999 25
A painting, the people and the park

From March 27 visitors to Lydiard House can see a replica of a huge painting by the famous artist George Stubbs.
'Lord Bolingbroke's favourite mare in the grounds of Lydiard Park was In an exclusive preview for The Link, Sarah Finch-Crisp, Keeper of
commissioned by the decadent racing enthusiast Frederick St.John in Lydiard House gives a fascinating insight into the past and a glimpse of
the 1760's. The picture celebrated Frederick's passion for horses and what a glorious life the artistocratic St Johns must have lived at Lydiard
pride in the newly landscaped grounds of his ancestral home. before family fortunes were gambled away.

The painting This carefully executed design
The original which now belongs to produced a very natural looking
a private collector was one of a landscape which remained un-
number of pictures by Stubbs touched by Frederick's cash
which hung at Lydiard until the strapped descendants. As the St.
St. John family left their dilapi- John family fortunes declined the
dated home during World War II. grounds, like the house, became
The picture was painted to hang neglected. In the early part of this
over the library fireplace which is century the dam wall was holed
where the gilt framed replica can and Frederick's glittering lake,
be seen by visitors today. shown to such effect in the Stubbs
painting, gradually drained away
The people leaving only the lower stretch of
Frederick St. John, 2nd Lord water.
Bolingbroke, below, kept a large Yet today's observant visitor can
stable at Lydiard Park and raced see much of the original 18th Cen-
with black colours at Newmarket tury gardens and vistas beyond
ri__iL those original lawns and avenues.
'Lord Bolingbroke's favourite mare in the grounds of Lydiard Park' The castellated dam wall, ha-ha,
by George Stubbs walled garden, stables and even
an icehouse remain in varying de-
sion in his leg; but by the immedi- a fitting landscape for the newly grees of preservation.
ate assistance of a Surgeon, his remodelled Palladian mansion he The beautiful landscape of
Lordship is in a fair way of recov- inherited. Sweeping lawns, ser- Frederick's day lies astonishingly
ery." pentine lakes, broad avenues and near the surface and for thousands
Given to violent tempers and a vast walled flower garden were of people every year it provides a
eventual madness, Frederick had laid out in the fashionable Capa- relaxing haven in an increasingly
more success on the turf than in his bility Brown style. urban environment.
domestic arrangements. Fre-
quently in financial difficulties, he
sold the family's town house,
Battersea Manor, in 1763. In the T m
His most famous horse was the following year his marriage to the e Lunchtime Buffet
crack' whose victory against Sir Diana Spencer, ended in divorce. pbz.a Another great deal from Pizza Hut
legendary Epsom winner 'Gim-
well known society artist, Lady
James Lowther's 'Ascham' caused Portraits of the couple can be seen
a sensation in 1765. Betting on the in the house. 4Iut
race exceeded £100,000 with one
nobleman alone rumoured to have The park As much
laid down £30,000. Frederick left two great legacies: as you can
That year Frederick's name was his patronage of the artist George
mentioned in The London Chroni- Stubbs and the splendid eat from
cle: "On Wednesday last the Lord relandscaping of Lydiard Park in Four selected
Viscount Bolingbroke had the mis- the 18th Century. buffet table
fortune to be thrown from his horse Frederick oversaw the complete
on the heath at Newmarket, by transformation of Lydiard's for- for only
which he received a violent contu- mal Elizabethan style gardens into £4.99
01793 Only available with
In Victorian days and the early part of this Century, the lake was used
buffet menu
for boating and fishing. Photo: A fishing parts/, c,1900
87621w M2 Thursday
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