Prior Park Gardens, Bath
For Revista Travesias, February 2005
Prior Park is an eighteenth century landscape garden in a small dramatically-sloping valley two miles south of Bath city centre. The landscape garden movement of the 18th century featured houses with gardens reaching right up to the doors of the house.
According to Humphrey Repton, 1752-1818, who was the first to use the term landscape garden, “the act can only be advanced and perfected by the united powers of the landscape painter and the practical gardener.”
In the autumn glow of the garden here, it looks like both have been at work; and just as the garden looks onto amazing city views, there is something endearingly intimate about the closed-in nature of this twenty-eight acre site (just over eleven hectares).
In 1734 Ralph Allen, entrepreneur and philanthropist, commissioned John Wood the Elder (architect of most of Bath’s interesting buildings and mystic) to build the grand Prior Park Mansion, now a college.
The garden saw several transformations. At first it was a formal French affair, with triangular lawn and parterre flower beds. In the 1750s, however, a revolution occurred – lines and paths were more curvaceous, and parterres were superseded by grass. Trees came in clusters rather than in straight lines, and three rounded lakes replaced the earlier rectangular ponds. The garden became spacious, a park linking the house to the outside world rather than a refuge from it.
This natural style, begun by William Kent with advice from poet Alexander Pope, evolved into the Landscape Garden under Kent’s pupil and son-in-law, Brown, whose curious nickname came from his habit of telling prospective clients that their gardens showed “great capabilities”, had a massive effect on the course of English gardening and architectural style. His diligently orchestrated vistas included a Gothic temple, a grotto, and an open grass “cabinet” area, which are all set to be restored. The garden was acquired by the National Trust in a state of neglect in 1993, and they are applying ecological, archaeological and historical surveys with great care and sensitivity.
The Wilderness Area, suggested by Alexander Pope, is currently being revived. The 150 metre Serpentine Lake through the middle is designed to reflect the mansion and the Sham Bridge in its surface.
The views here are carefully stage-managed; a grove of young yew trees delays the impact until it is at its point of maximum impact. The vista of the Palladian bridge straddling the lake, with Bath down below and Lansdown Hill beyond, is stunning. Likewise, at the bottom end a line of carefully-planted trees shields the equally-stunning view back towards the house. Shrubbery has been thoughtfully planted at staggered heights at the sides of the paths, leading down through woods – mostly yews and laurels – to the bridge.
The ornate Palladian bridge dates from 1755, and is one of only four in the world. It was built in imitation of that of Wilton House in nearby Wiltshire, built in 1737 by Henry Herbert after Italian Palladio. An impressive piece of stonework, it provides shelter from the elements. While recent graffiti have been erased, older ones are still carved into the stone; the oldest dates from 1794.
It was lovely when I visited in Autumn, but they say it’s best seen March to May, when the wild garlic begins. You might want to plan how you get here, as it’s nearly impossible to park within a mile of the garden. Local buses number two and four go from Dorchester Street by Bath train station.
