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|<div style="width:158px; float:left;">[[Image:Map ashton court.png|158px]]<br>Shown within Bristol (above) and England.</div><div style="width:120px; float:right;">[[Image:EnglandBristol.png|120px]]</div>
|<div style="width:158px; float:left;">[[Image:Map ashton court.png|158px]]<br>Shown within Bristol (above) and England.</div><div style="width:120px; float:right;">[[Image:EnglandBristol.png|120px]]</div>
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'''Ashton Court''' ({{gbmapping|ST553723}}) is a [[mansion]] house and [[Estate (house)|estate]] to the west of [[Bristol]] in [[England]]. Although the estate lies mainly in [[North Somerset]], it is owned by the City of [[Bristol]]. The estate has been a venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct [[Ashton Court festival]], [[Bristol International Kite Festival]] and the [[Bristol International Balloon Fiesta]].
'''Ashton Court''' ({{gbmapping|ST553723}}) is a [[mansion]] house and [[Estate (house)|estate]] to the west of [[Bristol]] in [[England]]. Although the estate lies mainly in [[North Somerset]], it is owned by the City of [[Bristol]]. The estate is the venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct [[Ashton Court festival]], [[Bristol International Kite Festival]] and the [[Bristol International Balloon Fiesta]]. Bristol's weekly [http://www.parkrun.com/home parkrun] event (a free, timed 5km run organised by volunteers) is held at Ashton Court every Saturday morning at 9am.


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 17:50, 19 March 2013

Ashton Court
Map
General information
Town or cityBristol
CountryEngland
Construction started1633
ClientSmyth family
Ashton Court

Shown within Bristol (above) and England.

Ashton Court (grid reference ST553723) is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The estate is the venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court festival, Bristol International Kite Festival and the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. Bristol's weekly parkrun event (a free, timed 5km run organised by volunteers) is held at Ashton Court every Saturday morning at 9am.

History

The lands of the estate show evidence of being Saxon fields, but after 1066 William the Conqueror transferred the lands into Norman ownership. In 1392 Thomas de Lyons, originally from Lyons, France, was granted a licence to enclose his lands and make a park, the foundation of the modern one.

In 1495, merchant John Smyth of Small Street, Bristol, bought the estate. Smyth never took residence, but his descendants enlarged and adapted over the centuries the core 15th century house:

  • South facade and the wing: commissioned by MP Thomas Smyth, it is incorrectly attributed to Inigo Jones.[1] Date from 1633,[2] and was further extended eastwards in the 19th century.
  • North West Wing: after demolishing the medieval domestic wing, in 1770 Sir John Hugh Smyth built the Neo-Gothic North West Wing

During World War I, the estate was used as a military hospital, and in World War II was requisitioned by the War Office and used in turn as a Transit Camp, RAF HQ and US Army Command HQ.

In 1946, the last resident of Ashton Court Dame Esme Smyth, died. After the house became derelict, it was taken over by the City in 1959. Restoration has been an ongoing process since then, but even after extensive investment by both the council and from Heritage Lottery Fund grants, presently only about a quarter of the building is occupied or useable. The available facilities of the house are rented out for business conferences, parties and weddings.

The mansion house and stables have been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.[3] The lower lodge to Ashton Court and attached gates, railings and bollards, which were built in 1805 by Henry Wood, are Grade II* listed buildings.[4] The garden and perimeter walls and railings are also listed.[5][6][6][7][8]

The estate

The estate covers 850 acres (340 ha) of woods and open grassland laid out by Humphrey Repton.[2] It includes two pitch-and-putt golf courses, a Disc Golf Course, an orienteering course and horse riding and mountain bike trails.[9] There is a deer park which was started in the 14th century and extended in the 16th and 17th centuries. The park contains a great variety of wildlife; much of the site (an area of 210.31 hectares) was notified in 1998 as a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the presence of rare woodland beetles.[10]

Ashton Court Meadow

Aerial view of Ashton Court Estate

Ashton Court Meadow (2.37 hectares) is managed as a nature reserve by the Avon Wildlife Trust. It contains a wide range of flowering plants, including wild carrot, yellow-wort and field scabious. Some unusual parasitic plants are also found here, such as common broomrape which feeds off clovers, and yellow rattle, which feeds partly off grass.[11]

Clarken Combe

Clarken Combe, at the western edge of the estate, is a woodland area with a range of plant species, including narrow-lipped helleborine, which grows here in small numbers under beech.[12]

Domesday Oak

In 2002 a 700-year-old oak tree, called the Domesday Oak, was selected by The Tree Council as one of 50 Great British Trees. In 2011 a crack appeared in the trunk and oak support beams were fitted to support the tree. The supports were only partly successful and a section of the tree collapsed, and the remaining part of the tree was pruned to reduce the weight of the surviving section.[13][14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Dunning, Robert (1980). Somerset and Avon. Edinburgh: John Bartholomew & Son. p. 117. ISBN 0-7028-8380-8. The most striking part of the house is the s wing of the early 17th century, […] derived from copy-books of the period and not from Inigo Jones. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ a b Burrough, T.H.B. (1970). Bristol. London: Studio Vista. ISBN 0-289-79804-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ "Ashton Court Mansion and Stables". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  4. ^ "Lower Lodge to Ashton Court and attached gates, railings and bollards". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  5. ^ "Former perimeter wall of Ashton Court estate". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
  6. ^ a b "Garden wall extending to south-east from east corner of Ashton". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
  7. ^ "Garden wall extending to south-east from south corner of Ashton". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
  8. ^ "Two sets of railings, gates and gatepiers at south end of Ashton". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
  9. ^ "Ashton Court Estate". Bristol City Council. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Ashton Court" (PDF). English Nature. Retrieved 2006-06-13.
  11. ^ "Ashton Court Meadow". Reserves. Avon Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  12. ^ Green, Ian P., Myles, Sarah (2000). The Flora of the Bristol Region, p. 249. Pisces Publications. ISBN 1-874357-18-8.
  13. ^ "Bristol's 700-year-old Domesday Oak tree future secured". BBC. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  14. ^ "Bristol Tree Forum - Minutes" (PDF). Bristol City Council. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashton Court.
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