BOWOOD, 

 WILTS HIRE 



THl- hue scat of the Marquess of I-ansdowne 

 commands admiration from many point* <>t 

 view. Its history, as .1 ijre.it country house, 

 associated with men famous in their country's 

 story, the rich treasures of art which they have 

 enshrined in it, and the extremely interesting 

 gardens with which they have embellished it, all 

 titutc sources of attraction which few great 

 houses can surpass. The name of the place- suggests 

 its sylvan glories, and there is no part <>t Wiltshire 

 more varied in the character of the landscape. One 

 topographer has traced nine different valleys in the 

 park, ami although our pictures do not illustrate the 

 green and umbrageous expanses of the great domain, 

 they arc enough to suggest its character. Here in 

 ancient times were the woode I depths of the Royal 

 forest of I'ewisham, which extended from Chippenham 



nearly as t'.ir as Devi/es, and from I..i<u<.k to 

 Calne, and it is said that James 1. enjoyed the 

 pleasures of the chase in its glades. Afterwards the 

 forest was divided, one p.irt mining to the aiueston. 

 of the Lords Audley and the other to the Careys ; but 

 it was dispaled during the Protectorate, and tradition 

 says the deer were driven to Spye Park, the Wiltshire- 

 clothiers streuh;ng two lines of broadcloth across 

 l.ockshill Heath to form the way by which they went. 

 A little later Kowixul was granted to Sir Orlando 

 Bridgeman, son of the celebrated Lord Keeper, but 

 after his death it vs.is sold, and passed to the family 

 of Petty, Barons and afterwards I-'.arN of Mielburne. 



A considerable part of the noble structure was 

 built in cl.issu simplicity by John, second Karl or 

 Shelburne, but there is no proof of the assertion 

 'hat he employed the designs of the famous Robert 



THE MARHLK h'OU.\TAI\S l\ THh. (MM.U./-AT 



