Is it said that due to Capability Brown's desire for a perfect pastoral scene at Bowood, he ordered the flooding of a village known as Mannings Hill by the Whetham stream to create the lake of Bowood gardens.
One apocryphal story tells of one old lady who refused to leave her house, only leaving when the rising waters finally reached her hearth.
Could it be that so many people were turfed out of their homes for the absolutely luxury of flooding the valley for the sake of a lake?
Read on to discover the truth behind this tale...
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| Bowood Lake |
When walking towards the tranquil lake at Bowood, watching the geese and great crested grebes go about their lives, it feels like this body of water must be a natural feature. It can be difficult to imagine that the lake has existed for little longer than 250 years. However, the lake was created by the ever-famous Lancelot “Capability” Brown, by damming the north end of the valley.
Brown first visited Bowood in 1757 just three years after John Petty had purchased the Bowood estate with its unfinished house. While Brown was more than complimentary about Bowood, this two-day stay, for which he pocketed 30 guineas paid by his host, did not seem to be an immediate success, partly due to Brown revealing no thoughts about how he may go about making improvements to the garden.
In fact, it took until 1762, a year after John Petty had died, that a lengthy agreement was signed between Brown and William Petty; John’s eldest son and successor. An inauspicious beginning which led to a visionary Grade I listed, 2000-acre parkland, with the lake as the crowning glory, that has delighted visitors since Bowood opened its doors in 1975.
The agreement of eight articles, made clear the details of Brown’s plan, such as to ‘make a good and sufficient Head, to cause the Water to flow in such a shape and manner as is agreed to by his Lordship’, improvements and enlargement of the pond below the lodge, and to make a path around the great Pond Head, etc. The total recorded cost of Brown’s work at Bowood was £4,300, close to £500,000 in today’s money, paid in stages between April 1763 and completion of the work in 1766.
The lake was the principal feature of the works, created with the construction of a dam, which allowed the waters of Whetham brook and Wash Way stream to slowly fill the valley. To ensure that the lake could reach its potential, land was purchased, which included acquiring land on the opposite bank from George Cary in 1766. This land contained the hamlet of Mannings Hill.
Mannings Hill (likely called Wodelands in earlier times), named for the Mannyngs family that owned the land at one time, was first mentioned in a deed of 1328, whereby the estate was granted some land at nearby Pinhills, the cost: “rent of a rose”, which was likely a nominal ground rent and not usually demanded in practice.
As Mannings Hill had been left to the Master and Senior Fellows for Clare Hall, Cambridge, for the express purpose of educating ‘two poor scholars’ at the college, a special Act of Parliament was required for the 1766 purchase by Shelburne.
The agreement of eight articles, made clear the details of Brown’s plan, such as to ‘make a good and sufficient Head, to cause the Water to flow in such a shape and manner as is agreed to by his Lordship’, improvements and enlargement of the pond below the lodge, and to make a path around the great Pond Head, etc. The total recorded cost of Brown’s work at Bowood was £4,300, close to £500,000 in today’s money, paid in stages between April 1763 and completion of the work in 1766.
The lake was the principal feature of the works, created with the construction of a dam, which allowed the waters of Whetham brook and Wash Way stream to slowly fill the valley. To ensure that the lake could reach its potential, land was purchased, which included acquiring land on the opposite bank from George Cary in 1766. This land contained the hamlet of Mannings Hill.
Mannings Hill (likely called Wodelands in earlier times), named for the Mannyngs family that owned the land at one time, was first mentioned in a deed of 1328, whereby the estate was granted some land at nearby Pinhills, the cost: “rent of a rose”, which was likely a nominal ground rent and not usually demanded in practice.
As Mannings Hill had been left to the Master and Senior Fellows for Clare Hall, Cambridge, for the express purpose of educating ‘two poor scholars’ at the college, a special Act of Parliament was required for the 1766 purchase by Shelburne.
With no objection given the Act was passed and the property, which included a pew in Calne Church, was purchased at a cost of £1074 18s 9d, with the condition that the Master of Clare Hall immediately invest in real estate for future scholars.
There are different versions of the events, the most extreme suggesting that the rising lake eventually subsumed the village. A less extreme version tells us that the half a dozen houses were taken down for the land to be overflowed with water to become the lake. Cottages were built for the displaced residents, possibly at Sandy Lane.
Over time, even the idea of a village or hamlet under the waters of the lake became myth; with rumours of an ancient church steeple visible at times. A myth it remained, until a 2007 underwater expedition revealed what truly remains. Some 20 years after Lord Lansdowne himself ventured into the pitch-black lake in search of the lost village, the amateur divers of Calne Sub Aqua Club deployed sonar, kit not available to his Lordship during his dive. Speaking to The Independent in 2006, Jon Dodsworth commented, “It seemed to be the foundations and wall of a cottage, as well as the remains of a dry stone wall that was probably the boundary for the garden or to divide a field”.
While there is no church steeple, we can conclude that buildings do remain, seductively hidden, in the waters of Bowood Lake.
There are different versions of the events, the most extreme suggesting that the rising lake eventually subsumed the village. A less extreme version tells us that the half a dozen houses were taken down for the land to be overflowed with water to become the lake. Cottages were built for the displaced residents, possibly at Sandy Lane.
Over time, even the idea of a village or hamlet under the waters of the lake became myth; with rumours of an ancient church steeple visible at times. A myth it remained, until a 2007 underwater expedition revealed what truly remains. Some 20 years after Lord Lansdowne himself ventured into the pitch-black lake in search of the lost village, the amateur divers of Calne Sub Aqua Club deployed sonar, kit not available to his Lordship during his dive. Speaking to The Independent in 2006, Jon Dodsworth commented, “It seemed to be the foundations and wall of a cottage, as well as the remains of a dry stone wall that was probably the boundary for the garden or to divide a field”.
So, yes, people were displaced from their homes to aid Capability Brown's desire for a perfect pastoral landscape at Bowood.
