Remains Of Old Fonthill Abbey

FONTHILL GIFFORD FONTHILL ABBEY WOOD ST 93 SW (north side)

1/86 Remains of Old Fonthill Abbey 6.1.66

GV II*

Remains of Gothic country house fantasy. 1796-c1818 by James Wyatt for William Beckford, altered in 1840s. Limestone ashlar, Welsh slate roof. All that remains of the vast cruciform building is a fragment of the north wing; the tower fell 1825 and the three other wings were demolished c1845 during building works for the Marquess of Westminster's Fonthill Abbey by Burn. Now consists of the Lancaster tower with short 2-storey wing attached to the north, 4-storey tower has angle buttresses, west side has two lancets to ground floor, 3-light Perpendicular-style window with hoodmould to first floor, oriel window with heraldic shields below and casements to second floor, third floor has blocked mullioned window with hoodmould, battlemented parapet to pitched roof. Two-storey range to left has three small lancets to ground floor and three large pointed lancets with hoodmoulds to first floor, battlemented parapet with corner pinnacles. Left return has angular 2-storey bay with Tudor-arched window and lancets with tracery, some blind, buttresses with offsets and battlemented parapet, rear of this range has lancets and Tudor-arched doorway. Right return of tower has 2-light Perpendicular window with wooden tracery inserted in wall blocked off following demolition of formerly attached range. To rear of tower is square stair turret with chamfered loopholes, rear of tower has two Tudor-arched windows with casements and blind lancet with hoodmould over. Attached to rear of 2-storey range is single-storey cloister range rebuilt in this position. after demolition of rest of Abbey; 5 bays of chamfered Tudor-arched openings with flat roof to right of range with 3-light and 2-light mullioned casements, planked door with hoodmoulds, and double- gabled roof with parapet and crocketed pinnacles, right part ends with octagonal turret with open cupola on shafts with octagonal pointed roof with finial. Interior partly inaccessible at time of survey (December 1985) but ground floor retains Tudor-arched openings and fireplace, possibly reset. The first floor of the tower and short range to north was occupied by the Vaulted Corridor, the Oratory and the Sanctuary with bedrooms in the two floors above, including the state bedroom; no original fittings survive. Service quarters on ground floor. Fonthill Abbey approached from the west via a wooded avenue, half a mile long and set in woodland, partly planted by Beckford, and enclosed by a wall in 1793. Important as only tangible remnant of an extraordinary house. (J. Lees-Milne, William Beckford, 1976; B. Alexander in Country Life 1st December 1966)

Listing NGR: ST9182230997