The history of Dyrham Park

William Blathwayt

William Blathwayt (c. 1649–1717) was the son of a London lawyer, who rose to become a successful civil servant and one of the most influential governmental, military and colonial figures of the late 17th century. One of the wealthiest government administrators of the day, he channelled much of his wealth – about £4,000 a year (millions of pounds today) – into Dyrham Park.

During marriage negotiations, William remarked on the ‘necessity of building a new house’. The first works started in 1691 with the digging of a canal for the new elaborate gardens, which involved 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 in 1692, designed by the French Huguenot architect Samuel Hauduroy, and a decade later a new east front was created by leading architect William Talman, who worked for the royal family at Hampton Court.

William Blathwayt’s role in Government echoes throughout the fabric of the building and its collections. He received part of his salary from colonies reliant on the transatlantic slave trade - Barbados and Virginia each contributed £150 per year, and gifts arrived from governors seeking influence. Timber was sourced from North America, such as red cedar and black walnut, to create the two main staircases within the house.

Art collection

Thomas Povey (c. 1613–c. 1705) was a significant influence in William’s life, shaping his career in government and colonial administration and informing his developing cultural tastes. The collections at Dyrham were substantially formed through William’s purchase of his uncle Thomas’s art and library, combined with William’s own ambition as a collector. What survives today represents only a small proportion of what was once a substantial collection. Povey’s collection included important works by Samuel van Hoogstraten and Bartolomé Murillo, as well as two sculptural stands depicting enslaved and chained African men.

William’s own collection of art highlights his royal connections, international influence and time spent in the Netherlands, showcasing Carrara marble tiles, luxurious silk fabrics, and a significant collection of Dutch Delft ceramics. Indian textiles were imported through the Dutch East India Company.

18th-century decline

The next generation were raised to appreciate and care for their inheritance, and between 1705 and 1708 William’s sons, William II (1688–1742) and John (1690–1754), travelled across Europe on a Grand Tour. His eldest son, William II, struggled academically and, after inheriting Dyrham, led a quiet and largely unremarkable life, fulfilling the traditional role of a country squire.

His son, William III Blathwayt (1719–87) inherited Dyrham as a young man. It appears that without his grandfather’s career income to supplement that of the estate, Dyrham began a slow decline and in 1765 paintings were auctioned to raise funds – though many have subsequently returned to the house.

The gardens also suffered, writer Samuel Rudder remarking in 1779 that those ‘which were made at great expense, are much neglected and going to decay’.

William Blathwayt IV (1751–1806) started repairing the house and, with designer Charles Harcourt-Masters, the remains of the eastern gardens, which were ‘reconciled to modern taste’ as an open parkland setting around 1800. When the fourth William Blathwayt died in 1806 without a direct heir, the estate was inherited by his nephew, William Crane, the nine-year-old son of his sister’s clandestine marriage, who took the name of Blathwayt in 1817. Until the boy’s majority, Blathwayt’s widow, Frances, had control of Dyrham and resumed it (in accordance with her husband’s will) after William Crane Blathwayt’s death. By this time Frances had married Admiral James Douglas and between them they managed the estates very badly, building up considerable debts.

19th-century revival

In 1844 Dyrham was inherited by Lieutenant Colonel George Blathwayt (1797–1871), a nephew of William IV. Though born near Dyrham, he lived mostly in Ireland and joined the Light Dragoons aged 17, fighting at the Battle of Waterloo (1815).

George had only dined in the house twice before inheriting it, but was determined to reverse its recent decline. He wasn't left the contents and took out a £50,000 loan to buy back the furniture and pictures and to repair and modernise the house. Extensive works included new roofs, central heating and kitchens, remodelled servants’ quarters, and glazing the Greenhouse roof.

Sales and losses

George’s two eldest sons both inherited Dyrham. Captain George (1824–99) died without children and so Dyrham passed to his brother Rev. Wynter Thomas (1825–1909) who was Rector of Dyrham. He moved into the house with his second wife Mary Sarah Oates (1833–1925). Sarah, as she was known, was born in Jamaica to Margaret Cross, a free woman of colour and plantation manager, George Hibbert Oates. She moved to Bath and met Rev. Wynter Thomas, who served as an executor to her aunt’s estate.

Wynter’s eldest son from his first marriage, Robert Wynter Blathwayt (1850–1936), managed the Dyrham estate on behalf of his elderly father, the Rev. Wynter Thomas Blathwayt, between 1899 and 1909. The family were compelled to sell the collections to fund maintenance of the property. A celebrated painting by Meindert Hobbema(1665), was sold by the Rev. Wynter Thomas Blathwayt at Christie’s in 1901 for £9,870, after which it entered the Henry Clay Frick Collection in New York, fund repairs and installing electricity at Dyrham. Robert inherited Dyrham upon his father’s death in 1909.

20th-century history

Robert had no direct heirs but had relatives living locally. His cousin Henry Wynter Blathwayt (1877–1917) was killed in action during the First World War and Dyrham passed to his sons, Christopher Blathwayt (1912–1990) and Justin Blathwayt (1913–2005).

In 1938 the Blathwayts leased Dyrham to Anne Beauclerk Dundas, Lady Islington (1869–1958). In 1939 she invited the Pro Patria Day Nursery, originally established in Canonbury, London, to evacuate to Dyrham. From 1941 the nursery moved to the Downton Rectory where it remained until late 1944. That same year, an Anglo–American Nursery, financed and administered by the American Red Cross, was established at Dyrham Park, bringing around 80 evacuee children from heavily bombed West ;Ham, London. Most of the house was given over to the nursery with only a few rooms on the north side reserved for Lady Islington’s use.

Anne was part of a high-society group of interior designers popularly known as the ‘Lady Decorators’. She made substantial changes to the house, including painting panelling in off-white colours, installing pale wallpapers and introducing new bathrooms.

War memorial

In 1948 Anne left the house and Justin Blathwayt and his family moved in for the remaining time of private ownership. In 1956 the Ministry of Works purchased the house through the National Land Fund. This was an endowment for the purchase of culturally significant property as a memorial to those who died during the Second World War.

Dyrham Park today

Dyrham was transferred to the care of the National Trust and, after extensive repairs, the house opened to visitors in 1961. In 1976 the park was purchased with the support of the successor National Heritage Memorial Fund.

Over the last 60 years the National Trust has conserved, repaired and reopened more of Dyrham Park. The gardens have been revived, inspired by their 17th century splendour and large-scale conservation work, recently undertaken, has transformed the house. Historic schemes and historic, often colonial, narratives have been uncovered, and visitors are encouraged to step inside the world of the late 17th century.