A bit of an experiment on our web site, but this is the first ever MOVIE we’ve hosted here.

Over the last few years we’ve undertake a lot of research that has changed knowledge about the buildings and landscape around Kings Weston. A hugely important part of testing our theories, and exploring new ideas has been the use of 3D computer modelling. We’ve posted still images of this work before, but now we can share something a little more exciting!

This short movie is an accurate reconstruction of the Elizabethan mansion at Kings Weston based on all available data we have on it. It is, most famously, illustrated in an engraving of 1711, but other information also exists in the form of drawn plans, and descriptions of the interior of the house before it was completely demolished in 1713 to make way for the present building.

This animation shows how prominent the pair of viewing towers were, and the intended castle feel in the inner courtyard, then the main entrance to the building. It is interesting to note that when the same courtyard was redesigned by Sir John Vanbrugh he chose to repeat the idea, and echo ancient castle architecture in his own designs.  The two towers are still evoked by the arcaded chimney when viewed from the rear of the house today.

More info on the early history of the house and its illustrious owners can be found on our dedicated web page.

Kings Weston House is still host to an incredible collection of family portraits of the Southwell family who lived there between 1679 and 1833. But their likenesses can be found elsewhere too. A recent trip to Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, uncovered a little sister portrait to the vast canvas by Sir Godfrey Kneller in the Saloon at Kings Weston. The paintings depict Lady Elizabeth Cromwell, wife of Edward Southwell who rebuilt Kings Weston.

The two paintings are shown together here, probably for the first time since they were painted, and the similarities are striking. The Kings Weston Painting is signed by the artist Kneller, but the other, held in the County Down Museum, is not. The latter is likely to have been made as a copy at some point in time though it’s history has not yet been unravelled.
The same museum also has a matching painting of Edward Southwell, identical in detail of the one of him hanging at Kings Weston, but the pose is reversed! This probably shows that it was copied from a contemporary engraving, rather than directly from the original as his wife’s may have been.

An article about the Downpatrick paintings is available to download, though sadly the author appears to have been unaware of the Kings Weston paintings when they were writing it. http://www.kwag.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Downpatrick-museum-paintings-reduced2.pdf