35-714: The Larmer Tree Gardens near Tollard Royal in south Wiltshire , England, were created by landowner Augustus Pitt Rivers in 1880 as pleasure grounds for "public enlightenment and entertainment". They were the first private gardens opened for public enjoyment in the United Kingdom, and were free to enter. The 11-acre (4.5 ha) Grade II* listed gardens are within the Rushmore Estate in Cranborne Chase , an ancient royal hunting ground and now an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . The gardens lie in
70-460: A Methodist congregation by 1773, and for several decades the Methodists worshipped in private homes licensed for the purpose. In 1879 a Primitive Methodist chapel was built of brick; it was closed in 1957. The large house known as King John's House, just south of the church, which is a former manor house and later a farmhouse, has at its core a 13th-century hall house . Remodelling in
105-512: A pleasure garden in 1880 within part of his Rushmore Estate to the south of Tollard Royal; the first private garden to be opened for public enjoyment in the United Kingdom. Following restoration in the 1990s, the Grade II* listed gardens are open to the public and are used for weddings and other events. The annual Larmer Tree Festival of music and arts has been held there since 1990, and the End of
140-505: A public house , the King John Inn. Sandroyd School , an independent junior school, is near the village at Rushmore House. The nearest state schools are at Ludwell and Shaftesbury, the village's 19th-century National School having closed in 1962. Rotherley Downs , a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, is partly within the parish. Augustus Pitt Rivers , army officer and founder of modern archaeology , created
175-768: A central bandstand. In 1895 an open-air theatre with a semicircular proscenium arch was added; called the Singing Theatre, it is also Grade II listed. Other buildings are the New Pavilion and the Jubilee Hall. The gardens are listed as Grade II* on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England by English Heritage . In 1880, Augustus Lane Fox inherited the Rushmore Estate, centred on Rushmore House (now part of Sandroyd School );
210-513: A collection of his archaeological material. The estate descended in the Pitt-Rivers family until the death in 1999 of Michael Pitt-Rivers , then passed to his partner William Gronow-Davis (d. 2015). The earliest known record of the Church of England parish church of St. Peter ad Vincula dates from 1291. Early English style features that survive from this time include the tower arch,
245-614: A condition of the will was that he should change his name to Pitt Rivers. He started making the Larmer Tree Pleasure Grounds almost immediately, and they were opened to the public in 1885. The gardens are named after the Larmer Tree, a landmark tree on the ancient county boundary. The tree was possibly an ancient Wych elm ( Ulmus glabra ) under which King John (1167–1216) and his entourage were reputed to have met when they were out hunting. The original tree
280-624: A doorway and several windows, including two in the nave . The bell tower was built after a gift of £10 for the purpose in 1412. The earliest record of the church's dedication to St. Peter ad Vincula ( "St Peter in Chains" ) dates from 1469. It is one of only 15 churches in England with this dedication, which is after the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome . Late in the 15th and early in
315-420: A long military career, retiring in 1882 with the rank of Lt General. By then he was already known as an ethnologist and antiquarian, and among the first scientific archaeologists; from the mid-1880s he investigated sites around the estate, including those at Rotherley Down , South Lodge and Woodcutts . His ethnological collections form the basis of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum , and The Salisbury Museum has
350-511: Is on Wiltshire's southern boundary with Dorset and the village is 6 miles (10 km) southeast of the Dorset town of Shaftesbury , on the B3081 road between Shaftesbury and Sixpenny Handley . Evidence of prehistoric occupation in the area includes a bowl barrow , reduced by ploughing, in the west of the parish on Woodley Down. Nearby is a linear earthwork straddling the county border, which
385-527: Is played on Sunday afternoons. The gardens have been grant-aided by English Heritage. Film director Ken Russell first visited the gardens as a child and used the gardens in a number of his projects over the years, including The Debussy Film (1965) and The Music Lovers (1970). A music and arts festival, the Larmer Tree Festival , was held at the gardens in July of every year since 1990; it
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#1732773387052420-477: Is surrounded by further woodland on all sides except the south. Three Grade II listed buildings dating from around 1880 surround the lawn: the Temple, in limestone ashlar, octagonal with a domed roof and pedimented doors; and two timber-framed ornamental Indian pavilions, brought here and re-erected. Originally there were six pavilions, provided as places where parties could hold picnics while being entertained from
455-499: Is truncated by the Roman road from Badbury to Bath ; a separate 480m section of the road survives as earthworks, with the flint road surface visible in places. On Berwick Down in the north of the parish a late Iron Age farmstead was replaced by a Romano-British settlement. Domesday Book in 1086 recorded 31 households at Tollard . Much of the land was owned by Aiulf, whose other estates included Farnham in Dorset, immediately to
490-520: The 10th Baron sold most of the Wiltshire land to George Pitt, 2nd Baron Rivers (d. 1828). It passed to his nephew, the notorious gambler Horace Beckford , who then took the surname Pitt-Rivers. On the death in 1880 of his son, also Horace , the 27,000-acre (11,000 ha) estate was inherited by a cousin, Augustus Lane-Fox , who also adopted the Pitt Rivers name. Augustus Pitt Rivers had
525-458: The hazel underwood trades for many centuries, involving coppicing to produce strong, straight hazel wands. The gardens are privately owned and are open on a fee-paying basis from Easter to the end of September each year, but closed on Fridays and weekends as they are used for weddings and events. True to the spirit of Pitt Rivers, picnickers are encouraged at the gardens, croquet equipment and deckchairs are provided at no charge, and free music
560-428: The 16th and 17th centuries added wings, in part timber-framed. Augustus Pitt Rivers restored and extended the house, and opened it to the public around 1890 as a museum, but by 1907 it was again a residence. Pevsner describes the house as "memorable". The house was designated as Grade II* listed in 1966, and is operated by the Rushmore Estate as a holiday let and a base for events such as weddings. Tollard Royal has
595-404: The 16th centuries extensive Perpendicular Gothic alterations were made to the church. The tower was rebuilt and the south porch and three- bay north aisle were added and the nave was increased in height. A west gallery was added in 1714 and later removed, probably during rebuilding work in the 1850s. The works included rebuilding the north aisle, removing the chancel arch and blocking up
630-480: The Pitt Rivers at Rushmore. An annual sports day was held at the Larmer Tree Gardens on 4 September 1895, followed by a night-time dance. Hardy led off the country dancing with Agnes Grove, Pitt Rivers' youngest daughter and the wife of Walter (later Sir Walter) Grove . Agnes later became a literary pupil of Hardy's, and after her death in 1926 Hardy wrote the poem Concerning Agnes , reflecting on
665-568: The Road music festival since 2006. Ashcombe House and its 1,134 acres (459 ha) estate lies between Tollard Royal and Berwick St John, in Berwick parish. Photographer and designer Cecil Beaton lived there between 1930 and 1945; it was bought by entertainer Madonna and her then husband Guy Ritchie in 2002, and transferred to Ritchie in 2009 as part of their divorce settlement. William Thorne (d. 1630), Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford ,
700-514: The company that went on to produce The Sultan's Elephant and La Princesse , was performed at the gardens as part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival . 50°57′6.82″N 2°4′59.86″W / 50.9518944°N 2.0832944°W / 50.9518944; -2.0832944 Tollard Royal Tollard Royal is a village and civil parish on Cranborne Chase , Wiltshire , England. The parish
735-548: The east window, causing Pevsner to describe the church as "much renewed". In 1966 the church was designated as Grade II* listed . Today the parish is part of the Chase Benefice, a group of nine on both sides of the Dorset/Wiltshire border. In 1553 the church had three bells and a sanctus bell. One was recast by William Tosier of Salisbury in 1728 and another by Mears and Stainbank in 1882, but
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#1732773387052770-450: The far south of Wiltshire, on the county border with Dorset, south of Tollard Royal village and about 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2 km) southwest of Rushmore House . They cover around 11 acres (4.5 ha). The main entrance is on the south side, where there is a two-storey lodge or caretaker's cottage, built in 1881. Apart from a central lawn the site is planted with mature trees, mostly conifers, oak, and yew, with laurel beneath, and
805-432: The gardens as "Quite the prettiest sight I ever saw in my life". By 1899 the gardens were attracting over 44,000 people a year, some of them making a day trip from the growing seaside resort of Bournemouth . A map of 1900 names the area as Larmer Park. After Pitt Rivers' death in that year the gardens closed, opening only occasionally after that time. In early September 1895 Thomas Hardy and his wife Emma were staying with
840-496: The later 19th century, with 384 recorded at the 1871 census. Numbers fell to 280 by 1881, then declined for most of the 20th century, reaching a low of 92 at the 1981 census. Landowners included Sir Edward Bayntun (d. 1544), Sir James Stumpe (d. 1563) and Sir Matthew Arundell (d. 1598), whose son Thomas was created Baron Arundell of Wardour in 1605. The Tollard estate continued in the Arundell family until circa 1819, when
875-635: The latter continued in the Grove family, albeit reduced in size, until shortly after the death of the third baronet in 1962. The presumed fourth Baronet never successfully proved his succession and was never on the Official Roll of the Baronetage . As of 2007 the presumed fifth and present Baronet has also not successfully proven his succession and is therefore not on the Official Roll, with
910-402: The lawn, leading to woodland beyond. There are displays of camellias , rhododendrons , hydrangeas and eucryphias among the other trees and shrubs. Peacocks and free-flying macaws , neither indigenous to the United Kingdom, roam the gardens. The woods contain one of the largest discrete areas of semi-natural broad-leaved woodland in southern England, which were managed and exploited for
945-889: The new millennium. Many of the Victorian buildings, including the Nepalese Room, the Roman Temple and the Colonial-style pavilion which was originally the Tea Room, remain. The open-air theatre has a backdrop painted by the scenery department at the Welsh National Opera based on The Funeral of Phocion , a 1648 painting by Nicolas Poussin which is in the National Museum Cardiff . Wide cherry laurel-hedged rides radiate out from
980-417: The night they first met. The first two stanzas read: Restoration of the gardens started in 1991 under the direction of Michael Pitt-Rivers . In the 90-odd years that the gardens had been closed, the cherry laurel had taken over almost all the gardens apart from the main lawn, and many of the buildings had decayed. The gardens were re-opened to the public in 1995. In 1999 a new Larmer Tree was planted to mark
1015-506: The south. This was later reflected in the shape of the ancient parish, with land on both sides of the Wiltshire/Dorset border. The land in Dorset – including the hamlet of Tollard Farnham, and much of Farnham village but not its church – was merged in 1885 into Farnham civil parish. The 'Royal' suffix came into use in the 16th century, possibly because King John was overlord of part of the manor. The parish population peaked in
1050-581: The third mediaeval bell still hung in the tower in 1927. Two more bells were cast by Mears and Stainbank and added to the tower in 1889. In 1999 the three Mears and Stainbank bells and the mediaeval bell were replaced with a ring of six bells cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry . The 1728 bell has not been recast but it is no longer rung. The sanctus bell has also been retained; it was cast in Salisbury in about 1400. The parish had
1085-660: Was cancelled in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to return. Since 2006 another music festival, the End of the Road Festival , is held in late August or early September every year. The Enchanted Garden , a music festival that was part of The Big Chill , took place from 1998 to 2002. Other events and concerts take place at the gardens throughout the summer. In 1999 Dining with Alice , based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and produced by Artichoke ,
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1120-518: Was created on 18 March 1874 for Thomas Grove , Liberal Member of Parliament for Wiltshire South and Wilton . The Grove family descends from John Grove, who settled in Wiltshire in the 15th century. A later member of the family, William Grove (d. 1582), briefly represented Shaftesbury in the House of Commons . He purchased the Ferne estate in 1563 and the manor of Sedgehill , Wiltshire, in 1573;
1155-408: Was provided at the Singing Theatre, where plays were performed by workers from the estate, and poetry recitals given. A band was provided on Sunday afternoons during summer. Thousands of Vauxhall lights, hanging glass lamps lit by candles, illuminated the gardens in the evening, when there was open-air dancing. On the night that Thomas Hardy danced with Pitt River's daughter Agnes in 1895, he described
1190-513: Was rector from 1601. Vere Temple (1898–1980), wildlife artist and entomologist , lived at Tollard Royal for some time around 1951. [REDACTED] Media related to Tollard Royal at Wikimedia Commons Grove Baronets The Grove Baronetcy , of Ferne House , in the parish of Donhead St Andrew in the County of Wiltshire , is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom . It
1225-698: Was still living as late as 1894, around which time it was replaced by an oak , which was planted in the centre of the decayed rim. Pitt Rivers built several structures around the main lawn which were intended to educate and enlighten visitors to the garden. There was also a racecourse, an eighteen link golf course, a bowling green and lawn tennis courts . There were eight picnic areas, each enclosed by cherry laurel ( Prunus laurocerasus ) hedges and with thatched buildings in case of inclement weather. Pitt Rivers provided "crockery, knives and forks for picnickers, gratis", as well as "chairs, tables and dumb waiters" and accommodation for 20 horses. Music and entertainment
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