stonehenge - English Heritage

047-120 section 2.qxd 6/21/05 4:19 PM Page 88
Illustration 65
Amesbury Park. A plan of
the park in 1738.
[Reproduced courtesy of
The Bodleian Library,
University of Oxford.
Copyright reserved.]
suggest that, at least for Amesbury, open fields were still used
up until the mid eighteenth century, after which they were
piecemeal and limited. Towards the end of the eighteenth
century all the land owned by the third Duke of Queensberry
(largely around Amesbury) was enclosed and divided between
six farms: West Amesbury; Countess Court; Red House; Earl’s
Court; Kent House; and South Ham (Bond 1991, 419).
Durrington, Shrewton, and Winterbourne Stoke were not
enclosed until the nineteenth century. Elsewhere, essentially
medieval patterns of land ownership were reorganized with a
propensity towards the merging of smaller holdings and
development of existing larger farms (Bond 1991).
Work on the manorial history for the Stonehenge
Landscape is fairly limited but includes Chandler and
Goodhugh’s (1989) accounts of Amesbury. Edward Seymour
procured the manor of Amesbury Priors in 1541 after the
dissolution of Amesbury Priory (Chandler and Goodhugh 1989,
25–6). Five years earlier, Seymour had been bequeathed
Amesbury Earls manor which combined both estates and thus
largely comprised the whole of Amesbury. The Amesbury
estate changed hands a number of times during the postmedieval
period. In 1676 the Bruce family acquired the manor,
but in 1720 sold it to Lord Carleton who, before his death in
1725, devised it to his nephew, Charles Douglas, the third
Duke of Queensberry. Upon the Duke’s death in 1778, the
estate was passed to his cousin, William Douglas, the fourth
Duke of Queensberry who died in 1810 (Pugh 1948, 70–110).
These changes in land ownership affected the character of
the cultural landscape and the extent of innovation and
development within it, especially the development of
Amesbury Park which sees a period of improvement and
expansion under Charles Douglas who lived at Amesbury for
most of the time between 1725 and 1778 followed by a period
of neglect and decline between 1778 and 1810 when the
fourth Duke was mainly absent (English Heritage 1987;
Chandler 2002; Illustration 65). In 1735, for example, the third
Duke purchased West Amesbury manor which included land
to the west of Vespasian’s Camp and Stonehenge Down,
allowing him to create an area of parkland which he
progressively enlarged. Landscaping features west of the river
included tree-planting within Vespasian’s Camp (previously
arable land); the creation of a grotto known as Gay’s Cave;
establishing a number of serpentine and straight walks,
glades, and radiating vistas such as the prospect towards
Stonehenge; building a Chinese temple over the Avon; and
the construction of a balustraded bridge (Bond 1991, 419). By
1773, the Duke extended the park further to the north, as far
as the Amesbury–Durrington road, and to the west
incorporating the Seven Barrows, which engulfed existing
open fields at West Amesbury and Amesbury Countess. By
the time of his death in 1778 the park covered about 120ha.
Until about 1800 most of the park was under pasture and
there is no evidence that any of it had been ploughed. Over
the ensuing two decades, however, most of the former park
was ploughed up and remained in arable usage at least until
the tithe commutation of 1846 (Chandler 2002, 15).
During the third Duke’s occupation, the wider estate
experienced a period of investment in building construction.
The Countess Court Farmhouse, originally constructed in the
early to mid seventeenth century, received a new three-bay
façade in the Georgian style. To the south of the house, a
five-bayed timber-framed stavel barn and granary were
constructed during this improvement period (Slocombe
1989, 26–7; Illustration 66). Estate cottages were also built
on Countess Road, but have since been demolished for the
construction of Amesbury bypass (Chandler and Goodhugh
1989, 71).
Several earlier extant buildings dating from the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries can be found within the
Stonehenge Landscape; these include West Amesbury
House and Diana House in Amesbury. Medieval in origin, the
shell of West Amesbury House was extensively altered
during the late seventeenth century. The alterations
consisted of an entirely new stone and flint exterior, a new
gabled and symmetrically fenestrated frontage and
mullioned windows. Diana House in Amesbury, south of the
Avon beyond Grey Bridge, was probably built by the Earl of
Hertford as a lodge around 1600. Also noteworthy is the
domed lock-up at Shrewton (Illustration 67).
Rabbit warrens continued to be an important part of
the rural economy of the area (RCHM 1979, xxi; Betty
2004). In the early seventeenth century the planned
introduction of rabbits to the barrows at Amesbury Abbey
is well recorded. An account of AD 1609–10 shows that in
1605 ‘Two round connye berryes were made to his
Lordship’s appointment and at the same time 14 couple of
conies put into the ground. Which 14 couple of cunnies
with theire encrease did breade and feed there’ (RCHM
1979, xxi; WRO 283/6). Stonehenge had become a wellestablished
rabbit warren by the early 1720s, although by
the later eighteenth century rabbits were regarded locally
as a nuisance (Bond 1991, 420).
The construction of sheep-folds was widespread during
the eighteenth century, and sometimes occasioned damage
to ancient sites. One fold was cut into the southwestern
side of Bush Barrow with a small spinney of thorn bushes
planted for shelter on top (Bond 1991, 417; RCHM 1979, title
page and xxi).
Evidence for roads and trackways within the Stonehenge
Landscape during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
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