The history of Dyrham Park

Ancient Dyrham

People have occupied the site of Dyrham Park since at least the Bronze Age, with worked flints and the remains of barrows found nearby. Adjacent to the parkland is Hinton Hill Iron Age hillfort and within the gardens archaeological excavations have found Romano-British pottery and building debris.

In 577 a significant battle was waged at Dyrham. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded how Saxon leaders Cuthwine and Ceawlin defeated Britons Coinmail, Condidan and Farinmail ‘at the place that is called Deorham’ before capturing Gloucester, Cirencester and Bath. The battle was a decisive victory for the West Saxons repelling Britons into Wales and Cornwall.

Medieval Dyrham

In 972 Dyrham was an estate of Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire, and is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) as transferring from Aelfric to the Norman soldier Thurstan fitz Rolf and his nephew William fitz Guy.

The manor passed down Thurstan’s successors until the death of James de Newmarket in 1216. His daughter had married Ralph Russel (1216-c.50) and so Dyrham moved into this family’s ownership for the next 200 years.

Evidence of Dyrham house

The first documentary evidence for a manor house at Dyrham is in a survey of 1311 on the death of Sir William Russel. Later, Sir Maurice Russel (d.1416) was the first and last of his family to live at Dyrham, after fighting in France and becoming a county sheriff and JP.

The survey made on his death describes the house, including a hall, high great chamber and wine cellars. His memorial brass survives in the adjacent parish church of St Peter’s.

Courtiers and soldiers

Sir Maurice Russel left Dyrham to his two daughters, with Margaret’s husband Sir Gilbert Denys (c.1350-1422) buying out his sister-in-law to unite the ownership.

In 1466 Gilbert’s son Maurice Denys rebuilt the house with a ‘new courte’. Maurice’s grandson, Sir William Denys (c.1470-c.1530), a courtier and knight of the body for King Henry VIII, enclosed a 250-acre park to the south of his now enlarged house from 1511.

Sir William’s son Sir Walter II Denys (1501-71) was also a courtier and soldier, supporting Henry VIII and Edward VI, and profited from his connections by acquiring and selling dissolved monastic lands. Probably prompted by declining health, Sir Walter sold the manor of Dyrham for £1,800 to William and George Wynter in 1571.

The Wynters

Brothers Sir William (c.1525-89) and George Wynter (d.1581) were leading naval administrators, Surveyor and Clerk of Ships respectively. Sir William was an active sailor and a commander against the Spanish Armada (1588).

Both brothers owned ships used for trading, exploration and privateering, including investing in their colleague Sir John Hawkins slave-trading voyages, and George advanced £400 in Sir Francis Drake’s project to circumnavigate the globe in 1577.

John Wynter

His son John Wynter (d.1619) captained their ship Elizabeth, reaching the Strait of Magellan before separating from the fleet in violent storms and returning home.

Dyrham passed to John Wynter and an inventory of 1601 lists a richly furnished house of 22 rooms. John’s son Sir George Wynter (d.1638) received a new licence to empark though it was not enacted in his lifetime.

The English Civil War

Sir George’s son John Wynter (1622-88) suffered financial hardship after being an active Royalist during the English Civil War.

Finances evidently improved by the 1660s as the park had relocated to its current site by this time, though the house needed repair. All was to change after John’s daughter and heir Mary Wynter (1650-91) married William Blathwayt in 1686.

William Blathwayt

During marriage negotiations William Blathwayt (c.1649-1717) remarked on the ‘necessity of building a new house’. Dyrham today is very much his creation.

The first works started in 1691 with the digging of a canal for the new elaborate gardens, which involved the leading designer and plantsmen George London and Henry Wise. Mary Wynter died the same year and never saw the transformation of her ancestral estate.

Creating Dyrham house

Construction started on the west front of the house the following January under little-known Huguenot architect Samuel Hauduroy. In 1700 Blathwayt stepped up his ambitions with a new east front by William Talman, Comptroller of the Royal Works.

The house William Blathwayt created embodied his professional standing. As the leading colonial administrator of his age, his north American colleagues willingly sourced luxury walnut and cedar timber to construct stairs and panelling.

International influences at Dyrham

As Secretary at War to William III, his travels and connections in Europe enabled the purchase of Carrara marble tiles and luxurious silk fabrics, some of which were Indian textiles imported through the Dutch East India Company.

The decoration of the house was substantially shaped by William Blathwayt’s purchase of his uncle Thomas Povey’s art and book collections. Povey raised Blathwayt as his own son and set him off on a career in government and colonial administration. Through Povey (c.1613-c.1705) important paintings by Samuel van Hoogstraten and Bartolome Murillo arrived at Dyrham.

Grand Tourists

William Blathwayt raised his sons in a manner befitting their gentlemanly status. Between 1705 and 1708 William (1688-1742) and John (1690-1754) travelled across Europe on a Grand Tour. The surviving letters give a rich account of their activities and character. William was slow to learn and struggled socially and, on inheriting Dyrham, he spent his life simply managing the estate.

Younger brother John was bright and a musical prodigy, notably playing with celebrated composers in Rome. In later life he served in the army and founded an opera company with George Frederic Handel.