InfoBritain

 

Stourhead, Wiltshire

Stourhead was built between 1717 and 1725 by Henry Hoare, whose father, Sir Richard Hoare, had made his fortune in establishing Hoare's Bank. Henry built the house on the site of the family's earlier property. The house then remained in the possession of the Hoare family until 1946. Henry Hoare, the Sixth Baronet lost his only son during the First World War, and a year before his death in 1947 he gave Stourhead to the National Trust.

Many of us have taken out a bank loan, used a credit card. Many people have got into debt and then had annoying mailings from credit card companies offering more credit. All these experiences are relevant to the huge estate at Stourhead which illustrates a crucial stage in the history of economics. Stourhead and the banking fortune which created it date from the financial revolution that accompanied the Glorious Revolution of 1688. In 1688 Parliament finally put an end to the power of monarchy after deposing James the Second, and replacing him with the more malleable William and Mary. Following this watershed event the financial situation of Britain changed. Before the Glorious Revolution the debt the country ran up in managing its affairs was the monarch's debt. This debt caused many conflicts between monarch and Parliament, since it was Parliament who provided tax revenue, and it was Parliament who used this revenue as a lever to gain control over the monarch. Disputes over tax revenue had caused bitter divisions in the governing of Britain, and had even been a fundamental cause of the English Civil War. After 1688 British monarchs were obliged to work within the constitution set out by Parliament. Now the banking system could have more confidence in the government, and the debt ran up by the country became the "national debt." In Wealth of Nations the eighteenth century economist Adam Smith describes how the Bank of England was created in July 1694, and advanced the government £1,200,000 at an interest rate of a rather steep 8%. This was a debt that belonged in a sense to everyone, rather than the monarch alone. Debt became an accepted fact of life. Meanwhile the sin of usury, the practice of lending money at interest, was rapidly losing its sinful status. This change in attitude dated to the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, the decades around the Glorious Revolution. Adam Smith, who published his Wealth of Nations in 1776 outlined clearly the benefits of responsible lending at interest. If money can be made with money, money could justifiably be paid for. The philosopher Jeremy Bentham published his influential Defence of Usury in 1787. Debt became increasingly accepted, and this new attitude was one of the reasons Britain became such a powerful country in the eighteenth century. Debt was a way of magically multiplying money. Today an echo of the sin of usury remains in periodic news stories about credit card companies offering credit to customers already in debt. Stourhead is physical evidence of the power of buying and selling money. When you visit Stourhead, and perhaps pay the entry charge with your credit card, you are surrounded by the result of a banking system we now use everyday.

 

The gardens at Stourhead illustrate the world wide power that Britain began to enjoy following the financial revolution. It became increasingly fashionable to have exotic foreign plants in gardens, brought back from countries under British influence. Rhododendrons from the Far East were incredibly popular. Information boards at Stourhead have detailed information on the many naturalists who travelled overseas in the nineteenth century to collect plants and bring them back to Britain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The estate is huge, and includes King Alfred's Tower, a folly of monumental proportions. This fifty meter high building lies at the end of a long coach track leading away from the house. It commemorates King Alfred's victory over the Danes in 878AD. A new financial confidence seemed to bring a new historical confidence expressed in the form of a lavish memorial.

Opening Times: the garden is open every day, 9am - 7pm, all year. The house is open from the 15th March to the 2nd November, 11.30am - 4.30pm, closed on Wednesday and Thursday. Dates and times of opening for the Tower are as for the house, but apply seven days a week. Last entrance at 4pm.

 

 

 

Directions: Stourhead is south of Warminster in Wiltshire, just off the B3092. Click here for an interactive map centred on Stourhead.

Access: there are steps to the main door, but all showrooms are on one level. A wheelchair and adapted toilet facilities are available. The grounds are partly accessible. Maps of accessible routes are provided. For use in the grounds there are five wheelchairs, and two powered vehicles. There are Braille and large print guides, and a tactile map of the garden.

Contact:

telephone: 01747 841152

web site: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-stourhead.htm