Registered Park or Garden: Stepleton House (2284)

Pleasure grounds and a park developed in the second half of the C18 by Julines and Peter Beckford. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT Soon after 1623, the Stepleton estate was bought from the Daccomb family by Sir William Pitt of Stratfield Saye, Hampshire (qv). In 1634, it was sold by George Pitt to Thomas Fownes, who constructed the present house (Pearson Assocs 1993). Fownes' descendant, also Thomas Fownes, a pioneer of the scientific breeding of fox hounds (Oswald 1959), sold the property in 1745 to Julines Beckford, brother of Alderman William Beckford of Fonthill, Wiltshire (qv). Julines Beckford remodelled Stepleton House, and developed pleasure grounds and a lake formed by damming the River Iwerne. The park also appears to have formed part of Julines Beckford’s improvements, with a public road passing to the south of the House being diverted to the west c 1753 (Mowl 2003). At Julines Beckford's death, the estate passed to his son, Peter Beckford (1740-1811), Ranger of Cranborne Chase and author of Thoughts upon Hare and Fox Hunting (1781). Beckford also published two volumes of letters describing his tour of Italy (1787). Peter Beckford married a daughter of George Pitt, Lord Rivers, of neighbouring Ranston (qv) see Ranston, and in 1828 their son, William Horace, assumed the name Pitt Rivers in order to inherit the Rivers title in right of his mother. When William's son, George, inherited the estate, Stepleton was let to Sir John Hadley D'Oyly. It was purchased in 1917 from the last surviving daughter of Lord Rivers by Sir Randolph Baker. It has subsequently passed through several ownerships, but remains (2003) in private hands. LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Stepleton House is situated at Iwerne Stepleton, a village depopulated by the Black Death in the C14 (Mowl 2003), which is itself situated in the valley of the River Iwerne c 5km north-west of Blandford Forum. The c 110ha site is approximately rectangular on plan and is bounded to the west by the River Iwerne and the A350 road, while a minor road, Smuggler's Lane, and a track form the southern and northern boundaries respectively. A row of cottages to the west of the A350 road, opposite the present entrance to the site (outside the site here registered), were built as kennels for Peter Beckford’s hounds c 1770 and closely resemble a design published by Beckford in 1781 (Oswald 1959; Pevsnerand Newman 1972). To the north the site is adjoined by the Ranston estate (qv), from which it is separated by the A350 road. REFERENCES P Beckford, Thoughts upon Hare and Fox Hunting (1781) Country Life, 71 (9 January 1932), pp 42-8 A Oswald, Country Houses of Dorset (2nd edn 1959), pp 159-61 N Pevsner and J Newman, The Buildings of England: Dorset (1972), pp 240-2 Stepleton House, Iwerne Stepleton, Dorset - A Preliminary Assessment of the historic Park and Garden, (Nicholas Pearson Assocs 1993) [copy on file] T Mowl, Historic Gardens of Dorset (2003), pp 93, 95, 171-2 Maps Isaac Taylor, Map of the County of Dorset, 1765 Tithe map for Iwerne Stepleton parish, 1840 (Dorset Record Office) OS Old Series 1" to 1 mile, published 1811 OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1885, published 1891 Illustrations F Sartorius, three oil paintings of Peter Beckford’s hounds in parkland setting, 1785 (National Trust/Bearsted Collection, Upton House, Warwickshire)

Record last edited

Sep 15 2011 5:28AM