Charles Saumarez Smith with a copy of his new book.
Back in June 2024, we were delighted to have been able to share some of our research and time with Sir Charles Saumarez Smith, distinguished British cultural historian and curator known for his leadership of national institutions including the National Gallery and the Royal Academy. We spent an enjoyable time with him on his tour of Kings Weston house as part of his research into its architect Sir John Vanbrugh. Now, after a long wait, his new book on Sir John Vanbrugh to be launched in November!
We hope there will be some good coverage of Kings Weston and its buildings. Charles will be the first author to correctly document the dates and construction of the house in any book. We were pleased to be able to share our own research with him and support his own archival investigations.
The book, titled John Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture, will be launched on 20th November with a lunchtime talk to be held at Wigmore Hall, London. Copies of the book will be available at discounted prices after the event. If you would like to attend, full details are available here.
The cover of John Vanbrugh: The drama of architecture.
Also coinciding with the tercentenary of the death of Sir John Vanbrugh, Charles will be co-curating an exhibition on the famed architect at Sir John Soane’s Museum. Organised along with the V&A, the exhibition will open in February and feature many of Vanbrugh’s drawings, and, we hope, some Kings Weston exhibits.
These events are all part of a national celebration of the work of Sir John Vanbrugh. The Georgian Group have been fortunate to receive a six-figure grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to coordinate a series of events and commemorations across six of the architect’s most famous sites (though sadly not Kings Weston) throughout 2026. Dr Anya Lucas, Director of the Georgian Group, says “The tercentenary of Vanbrugh’s death represents an important opportunity to celebrate and bring to the fore the story of one of our period’s great architects, a bold and theatrical figure who is sure to have broad appeal and who should be better known.VANBRUGH300 will bring the life, stories, and work of Vanbrugh together for a wide range of audiences.”
We hope to share more of the commemorative events when they’re launched, and perhaps will be able to organise our own celebrations at Kings Weston.
There were some herculean efforts put in last month from a crowd of volunteers, over a dozen, and we managed to make serious restoration progress on the historic lily pond on Napier Miles Road. There were two objectives the work; firstly, the cutting-down or rooting-up of trees and vegetation that has grown to suffocate the pond, and to enable a clearer survey of the condition of the pond walls and bottom.
Even after a long dry Summer, it was a surprise to find no open water at all in the pond tank! The vegetation has acted to soak up much more water than would be usual, and the ground was relatively firm across the whole area.
Volunteers rake-up the cut rubbish in an effort to clear the historic lily pond.
The target to cut and remove the vegetation was only just met by the end of the day, the hot conditions meaning volunteers tired quickly despite the great turnout. The waste was lifted to the pond edges and stacked in existing piles of debris up and away from the water line. Sadly, there was little sign of any of the 49 individual native pond species recorded here in 2012 as part of our Bioblitz. There were two types of reeds, sporadic water lily plants, some froglets, and an invasion of sallow trees, but nothing that indicates a thriving environment.
Before and after work focussed on reversing the decline of the Georgian pond.
A volunteer inspects the trial hole dug through the decaying vegetation to find the pond base.
Initial review showed the original hydraulic lining applied to the pond walls has dried and begun disintegrating, allowing water to leak away around the edges. We dug a small trial hole to establish the depth and condition of the lining of the pond. Digging down through an astonishing 18 inches of black sloppy rotting organic material, we encountered the original clay bottom of the pond.
In the area inspected, this looked to be in a decent wet condition, but where areas dry out in the summer, any cracked clay base or root damage will also be letting the water leak away. The hole we dug filled with water during the afternoon, showing that even though it looks like a field right now, the water is still close to the surface.
A quick calculation suggests there are around 350 cubic metres of mud needing clearing out to start restoration of the pond lining. This could equate to about 340 tons of black gunk that need removing from the pond!
We’re grateful too for the incredible positive reaction to this work, and the kind words of support we’ve received; more than for any other project we’ve undertaken on the estate!
The view from the road before and after restoration workThe dense monoculture of reeds is cut out to slow the decline in the pond’s condition.
July’s working party location coincided with a large pile of rubblestone strewn down the hillside at the foot of the steps through Penpole Wood. It’s an area we’ve explored before, with the knowledge that the stones are some of the last remnants of Sir John Vanbrugh’s Penpole Lodge that once stood immediately above.
Victorian map of Penpole Wood annotated to show the debris field of rubble from Penpole Lodge.
The landmark lodge, built around 1724, survived in good condition until the last private owner of the estate, Philip Napier Miles, died in 1936. It was kept in good condition too by Bristol Scouts who bought the woods as a campsite shortly after, but decay set in during WWII, accelerated through vandalism in the years following, and finally succumbed to demolition teams in 1951.
Penpole Lodge in the 1920s showing the cylindrical altar-like urns.
It’s not known whether all the rubble arrived at its present location hurled from the building by vandals or simply by labourers, but both were probably responsible. It looks as though the stones settled naturally in the location rather than being dumped deliberately, though the area is well defined and localised amongst the trees.
Having hunted through the pile for architectural artefacts before and been disappointed, it was a surprise that working party volunteers began discovering some interesting fragments as they worked. Other pieces have since been recovered.
So far, five individual stones have been salvaged, four of which have since been identified as having been parts of monumental urns from the flanks of the 18th Century building. There were two types of urns on the building, four on the central tower, and four squatter cylindrical ornaments lower down on the supporting piers; in their general form these were designed to evoke ancient roman temple altars. The fragments come from these
A clearer detail of one of the lower urns illustrating the gathered and draped swags
A photograph taken shortly before Penpole Lodge was demolished shows it in a derelict condition and from the angle taken three of the cylindrical urns had already been toppled and lost. The fragments now discovered are most likely to have been from the most northerly corner, out of view from the photographer here. The other urn on the western corner had vanished much earlier, and the location of fragments close to the surface suggest they arrived there at about the time the building was disintegrating by one means or another.
A fragment of hanging drapery carved with delicate folds.
It’s been possible to identify the source of these stones by carved details still preserved and recognisable through comparison with historic photos. Fragments are curved and carry carved swags replicating textiles that are seen decorating four sides of each cylindrical urn. One represents the gathered rosette or knot, another the end of the cloth hanging loose beneath it, whilst two are sections of the intermediate swags.
Having scanned the stones using photogrammetry, it’s been possible to arrange them to suggest how they might have fitted together. But, we’re far from certain whether the fragments were in this actual configuration, as none of them fit together. The two swags are from similar locations from two of the swags.
The four fragments scanned in 3D an arranged to give an impression of the location on the drum of the urn.
What is odd is that the urn has been so comprehensively destroyed, broken into such small pieces. Whether the drums were solid or hollow, a great deal of effort must have been expended in rendering them down to a collection of such similar sized pieces. Surely this was a deliberate reduction to rubble?
A fourth stone is more of a puzzle. It doesn’t correspond with any known detail of Penpole Lodge, either from photos or recorded in survey drawings made in 1947. One side of it has white mortar applied over its carved detailing, suggesting it was re-used from elsewhere. The carving is regular and linear, and has convex and corner mouldings on two of its outer edges. A rough slit runs up most of the ling edge, suggesting it was a rebate for glazing. The mouldings stop close to the bottom, suggesting it connected with something at its lower edge.
Two angles on the fourth fragment showing some of its key features.
It’s likely to have been part of a window surround. It’s location in the debris field suggests it came from the rubble fill of the walls of Penpole Lodge, but this can’t be proven. Neither can the original source of the stone be confirmed. However, there was an earlier ornamental belvedere on the same site, known from engravings, estate plans, and other illustrations. It was a hexagonal structure, perhaps a banqueting house, and would have been demolished to make way for Vanbrugh’s more ostentatious Baroque building. Perhaps this is a fragment of that earlier structure?
One final artefact is worthy of note – referred to as the stone doughnut. This is the last portion of one of the other urns, the larger structures from the very top of the lodge. These urns were formed with great bulbous centres surmounted by tapered pinnacles from which stone flames once emitted. At some point one of these urns fell from the lodge, shed its pinnacle, and rolled like a wheel much further than any of the other debris, finally coming to a rest at the very edge of the woods. There is survives today, too massive an heavy to move, but, hopefully, salvageable someday.
The “stone doughnut”, the major portion of one of the upper urns, now to be found at the foot of Penpole Wood.
The Council’s Nature Nurture events happen across parks in the north of the city every Friday. A number of these have focussed on nature conservation work around the Kings Weston estate and included several opportunities for scything.
A few regular KWAG volunteers came out for the two events last month focussing on the grassland on Penpole Point, joined by Council rangers and new volunteers.
Scything isn’t something KWAG has put on before, so it was interesting learning to use different tools and techniques to help maintain the important grasslands. Over two of the Friday sessions we got to grips with the area sown with wildflower meadow five years ago, raking-off the cut material to keep the grassland healthy. The area around the ruins of Penpole Lodge were also tended to, but the encroachment of brambles and elm runners remains an issue.
the area around the 17th Century dial before and after scything and raking.
The Nature Nurture team also hope to focus on the two ponds close to the Echo, brining a corporate group of volunteers to help clear in and around it, and set up a post and wire fence to keep dogs and debris from finding their way into the pools instead of the wildlife hoped for.
The Council are also looking at thinning some of the self-seeded trees from around the pond, trees that undermined KWAGs last effort to clear them by overshadowing them and filling them with dead leaves in Autumn. We hope everyone will appreciate the efforts now being put into increasing the biodiversity of this part of the historic parkland. If you have any concerns or queries, please email us and we can pass them on.
The current sorry state of the ponds below the Echo.
It was one of the hottest days of the year when we met in July for volunteer work in Penpole Woods. Not only was it hot, but the chosen location was distant from all of the usual meeting points. The area, deep in Penpole Wood, was at the bottom of the steps we rebuilt about ten years ago. Until last month they deposited the visitor into a thicket of cherry laurel.
Animated transition showing the view from the bottom of the Penpole Wood steps.
Already, someone had been trying to keep the paths there open, taking out branches overhanging the path, but our ambitions were somewhat greater. Considering the forecast, we had a good turnout, and thank you to all our regulars who made it. We started with the knowledge we’d cut things short to avoid the worst of the heat, but the shady area on the north-facing slope gave us some respite from the worst of it.
The impact of work turned out to be more incredible than expected. A relatively dense cherry laurel gave way quickly, revealing a number of handsome mature trees that hadn’t really been noticeable at the start of work; If we’d have spotted them earlier, we might have been a bit more careful over the location of spoil piles and their visibility.
Animated transition showing the view eastwards along the middle path.
By the end of the day, the section of the middle path we worked on was unrecognisable. Now, coming off the end of the steps, the scene opens out into a light clearing with a backdrop of fine trees. The route up from Lawrence Weston has been cleared of a lot of obstacles and joins the middle path at a junction at the stone steps. Hopefully the path remains traceable through the stone rubble.
We had planned to return here this month to continue work, but an urgent matter has cropped up at the Lilypond. September will be Heritage Open Day, and October is usually the Big Bulb Plant, so continuing the work may take longer than planned.
Looking west along the middle path before and after work clearing cherry laurelThe three stone steps between the middle path and main steps appear from beneath the cherry laurel.
Worked carried on into July to clear the regrown cherry laurel in Penpole Wood. Most visitors will see little change from the recent work much is hidden well back from the main path through the woods. However, the impact of cherry laurel on the native woodland is severe if it’s let get out hand.
looking west through the wood before and after the re-trimming of the cherry laurel.
Since we cleared the area in 2016 there has been a lot of regrowth, particularly on the harder to reach area along the top of the former quarry. Because the laurel has historically stunted tree growth in the area an opening had developed in the tree canopy and Brambles had begun to colonise the area aided by the catenary of laurel stems; in short, the area was in a big mess again.
the view east through the working party area.
A relatively small group of volunteers, a usual state of affairs for the holiday season, set about putting things in order and extending the areas cleared in the last few months. Cherry laurel has been felled again, untangled from the brambles and stacked out of the way. More of the saplings planted in 2016 have also been revealed again in thriving condition. Whilst there remain some laurel bushes to the periphery of the area, ones we had neither time nor energy to tackle on a hot day, there’s not enough to occupy a full working party. These will be left for the moment while we focus on new areas.
looking up slope from the edge of the old quarry and towards the main Penpole Wood path.
Anyone with an interest in archaeology will probably have heard of LiDAR before. It’s a technology that uses laser pulses to measure distances and can be used to create complex 3D models and map large areas of land. It has the ability to penetrate trees and vegetation and help reveal what lies beneath. It’s been used in archaeology for a number of years now and has helped discover features as large as cities in Egypt and temples hidden in the Amazonian rainforest.
Lidar mapping of the UK has been publicly accessible for a while, even appearing as a layer of Bristol’s Know Your Place website. We’ve made use of it before, but recently a more detailed and informative new survey has become available through the National Library of Scotland website. This new map has helped reveal some of the hidden features of the estate with new clarity.
The Lidar map for the whole of the Kings Weston estate, trees and buildings removed to reveal the topography below. The Avon is obvious at the bottom of the image, Penpole the bright finger of land on the left, and Kingsweston Hill identifiable by the sharp outline of paired quarries.
Unfortunately, Penpole Wood and the steep slope down to Lawrence Weston has proved too confusing for useful interrogation, but the lawns around the house, largely flat and open and undeveloped for centuries, prove perfect for enhancing the data to better through features into relief. When compared to documentary sources, what we’ve discovered from this exercise is interesting but throws up new questions over the development of the grounds.
At first glance the plan looks a psychedelic confusion of stripes and rectangles. The location of Kings Weston house has been added to the plans to help orientation. The ancient avenue it a distinctive line running south-west, diagonally from the house to the bottom left-hand corner where it meets The Circle. The South Walk runs through the jumbled ridge along the bottom of the image, and the formal gardens and path to the Echo complete the basic triangle back to the house. Different colours show slopes of land exposed to five different directions, explaining the red, orange, yellow, turquoise, and blue colour scheme.
The area around the house and lawns enhanced to throw details into relief. Kings Weston house is in black at the top of the image.
The lines and stripes can eventually be read, some crossing over the top of others, and some cutting through different layers. Using what we know from maps and other illustrations we can interpret these lines and place them in order of when they were created.
The lowest of these layers, Phase 1, the features which pre-date the historic park, are a series of wide strips running south-west to north-east, roughly the same alignment as the ancient lime avenue, but much earlier. We’ve previously postulated that some of the more significant ridges, visible with the naked eye even, could be the alignment of a roman Road passing through the estate, but the new LiDAR map shows a distinct curve at their south end, definitely not something the Roman engineers would have approved of! Instead this is likely a field boundary or track passing between two fields. South of this, the grain of ridges becomes tighter and less pronounced. The ridges can be traced passing through later features, albeit more faintly, or stop abruptly, showing attempts were made at erasing them later in time. In other areas, such as the south-west corner, they seem to survive ghostly beneath stronger features laid above them.
PHASE I – strip fields and ridge-and-furrow marks are interspersed with field boundaries and, perhaps, a trackway.
These lines represent long field divisions and the tighter-grained likely to ridge-and-furrow agricultural management of the landscape. The City Archaeologist has suggested that these are early-medieval in character, so perhaps established around the Norman Conquest. At this date then, we see that the plateau was principally farmland, though it’s unclear whether a manor house existed, or whether it was even on the same site as the present house. Of course, the ridges do not preclude an earlier, Roman, landscape having existed below them.
The next phase has only become visible using this new edition of the mapping. It also includes lines, but these are of an irregular fan-like pattern bounded by a shallow banked perimeter. This looks to overlay the old field pattern below it, and is interpreted here as the levelling-out of the park, with material being dumped in lines, each line built up from west to east, gradually building up the land before being levelled-out. These features are hardly noticeable when standing there today. That the lines spread out along the ancient lime avenue suggest that it existed as the main access for the work.
PHASE IIA – A levelled area pushes out from the line of the present ancient lime avenue and over earlier agricultural features.
Dating this phase is difficult. There is nothing that documents its formation, but its relationship with the avenue and the apparent intention to landscape the terrain suggest it relates to aesthetic improvements, so possibly the 16th or 17th Century when the agricultural landscape had become the park to the late-Tudor mansion.
The levelled area was certainly in place before a series of trees were planted in a straight line mirroring the orientation of the ancient lime avenue. These trees can be seen as a series of shallow circular depressions dug through the fan of ridges. From the c.1710 engraving of the house we know that there was an avenue on this alignment, one that stretched as far as the Tudor house. The survival of the avenue depressions on the levelled area, but not closer to the house, might be explained by the softer nature of the made ground.
PHASE IIB – Regular lines of trees and formal garden boundaries redefine the landscape as a parkland focussed on the late-Tudor mansion.
Of this same phase, a long straight bank through the park and more apparent tree pits seem associated with each other; both are noticeably deliberate and linear. They relate to a second line of trees shown in the engraving, and are another designed garden feature. Garden works at this period also involved the north-eastern side where the earlier agricultural formations are sliced through, or heavily overlaid by new rectilinear boundaries aligned with the formal gardens laid out on this side of the house. A formal grove or orchard shown in 1710 seems to have extended closer to the house than shown in this illustration of a plan from a decade later; this was an anomaly noticed a few years ago when dry weather caused parch marks to form.
Features in this engraving by Johannes Kip of around 1710 correspond with those identified on the LiDAR plan.
Great changes were wrought across the estate between 1713 and 1728 when Edward Southwell employed the architect Sir John Vanbrugh to redesign his house and parkland. A plan, the Hallett plan, was drawn-up in 1720 and shows many features from the next phase of development. The provision of a grand new frontage facing the old avenues resulted in a new formal court being required to receive guests. Although the carriage drive continued to follow the ancient lime avenue on its northern alignment, substantial works were enacted to excavate and level the new court and create a perfectly flat axial lawn leading up to it. A low causeway was thrown-up to bridge a natural depression in the landscape in the cause of perfection. The embankment and spoil from these works overlaid the medieval field pattern.
PHASE III – Sir John Vanbrugh’s fondness for grand gestures is embodied by the efforts required to excavate a level Great Court and build a perfectly flat causeway leading to its gates.
Two other features register faintly from this phase: the vestiges of the Great Terrace and a linear garden feature known only from the 1720 plan. These are both to the north of the ancient avenue and have been heavily impacted by the de-formalisation of the parkland and landscaping that occurred later in the Georgian era. Of these works little can be detected from Lidar, perhaps on account of the intention to naturalise the landscape in the picturesque manner.
Hallett’s 1720 estate plan at the same scale and orientation as the LiDAR plan helps pinpoint this phase’s features on the landscape.
A gap exists in the story LiDAR provides, between the early 18th Century and the 20th. Deformalizing removed formal features rather than creating new ones, and had a generally lighter impact. No great changes were made during the 19th Century, nor early Twentieth. The next obvious mark is a curious dumbbell-shaped feature that, from aerial photos, was constructed in 1947. What this feature was is something of a mystery, but if anyone knows what it was used for, we’d be keen to know! A couple of other features sit outside of the known phases, one amorphous lump lying over the medieval landscape, and a small circular depression further eastward. These, perhaps, will remain a mystery.
PHASE IV and unplaced phases. The dumbbell shaped feature close to The Circle was built immediately after WWII. Does anyone remember what it was?
For a number of years, the dreaded Ash Dieback has been slow to take hold at Kings Weston. While other areas in the city were quickly decimated by this fungal disease the estate has been less quick in succumbing. We identified early signs it had arrived several years ago, and perhaps it’s the prevailing winds off the Severn have blown spores away and slowed it’s progress. However, it’s now very much caught up with us.
A series of ash trees and large boughs have fallen recently, these across one of the main paths through the woods between The Circle and Mancroft Avenue below. KWAG volunteers have now cleared all but the trunks from here. .
Even trees on The Circle have become bare and begun dying. These grew up since the 1960s.
Whilst Ash was not commonly planted in the Kings Weston parkland in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century, it has become established, particularly since WWII and the institutional decline of the historic estate. There are of course some notable exceptions, huge mature trees that have established in Penpole Wood and elsewhere. Most, though, are of middling size and have thrived on neglect.
These more mature trees are now the victims of die-back, with many now showing advanced signs of ill health. Penpole Wood has recently been littered with fallen ash, or large boughs that have broken away from distressed trees. You’ll notice the ground around ash trees littered with leaves and dead twigs, and their canopies thinning and full of dead twigs and dying branches.
There are a series of dead or dying trees alongside the historic Viewing Terrace behind the Echo, a number on the Circle, and many more overhanging paths and public rights of around the estate. There is a genuine risk to the public from these dying trees, so we urge everyone to be aware, particularly during windy weather. We hope to go through the parkland soon with the parks team to discuss the problem and identify which trees may need to be dealt with and brought down before they fall.
Ash trees at the top of the slope above Shirehampton Road, immediately over the Georgian Viewing Terrace and the public right of way are now heavily impacted, with some already dead.
Our gradual passage back through Penpole Wood continued last month, retracing our steps with removing cherry laurel. Having built-up momentum on this job since April we’ve continued westwards through the woodland, tracking along the top edge of the former quarry.
Animated image showing the same area before and after work. This view looks back towards Kings Weston house, with the main path just out of sight behind the trees on the right.
The sunnier Summer months are best spent labouring in the relative shade, the heat usually tiring our team of volunteers quicker. Despite the warm conditions, we tackled a large portion of the laurel that had regrown to considerable height in some areas. Over the last eight or nine years, the laurel had bushed-out with some areas with very dense coverage.
Looking south, upslope from the edge of the historic quarry. Many of the liberated saplings can be identified.
The are was planted with saplings following our original work, and we’re glad to say that there were many left, albeit somewhat overshadowed by their more established and overpowering neighbours. This work will help protect the progress we made and allow these saplings to bring greater biodiversity into this part of the woods.
The flat area adjacent to the main path through Penpole Woods was less choked than the top of the quarry. The path can be seen passing in the background after volunteers removed the invasive laurel.
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, circa 1703.
A painting with Kings Weston interest recently went through auction. On the face of it, a posthumously painted 1700s portrait of Sir Thomas Cromwell, he of “Wolf Hall” notoriety, might not strike you as having a connection, but delving deeper through the archives its importance becomes clearer.
The rather gloomy oil painting was attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller by the auction house, who included detail of an old label attached to reverse which stated “This picture which hangs here at the request of … Russell daughter of the 24th Baron de Clifford was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller for a member of the Southwell family from an engraving of Holbein’s”. It had hung in a manor house in Faversham, Kent, though the label clearly identifies it as having formed part of the family collection of the Barons de Clifford, the descendants of the Southwell family of Kings Weston.
The last of the direct line of the Southwell family was the 21st Baron de Clifford on whose death the Kings Weston estate was sold along with the majority of its contents. This painting is, in fact, described as having been sold at Auction in 1834 for a derisory £14, but must have been re-purchased by the family. Many paintings that remain in the trusteeship of the descendants found their way back into family hands in this way, including a series of portraits by Kneller.
Kneller’s portrait of Lady Elizabeth as Diana the huntress, hanging today at Kings Weston.
There survive in Kings Weston house today, several other portraits by Kneller, including the full-length portraits of the first Edward Southwell (he who rebuilt the mansion) and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Cromwell. And it’s through this marriage that the painting arrived at Kings Weston in 1703.
Lady Elizabeth was a very wealthy heiress with extensive landholdings in Northern Ireland. Sir Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, was her great x4 grandfather. Through his rise to great fame and power under Henry VIII, and the considerable wealth and titles bestowed upon him, he was considered as the founder of the Cromwell dynasty. It would have been apt that Lady Elizabeth held her family name in high regard, and it’s notable she retained it after her marriage to Edward Southwell on 29th October 1703. Edward, no doubt, considered it an accolade to have such a great name in English history associated with his.
Lady Elizabeth was something of a patron of the arts, or at least to Kneller, with whom she spent huge sums. Her great wealth enabled her to indulge in commissioning works. Earlier in 1703 she’d been in receipt of sixteen paintings from him totalling an extraordinary £415. Fortunately, Kneller’s list of these pictures survives. Four were intended as gifts, two were whole-length portraits of Lady Elizabeth, and several of auspicious ancestors including her father, Vere Essex Cromwell, Earl of Ardglass, and “Ld Essexes picture – whole length” – the picture recently sold.
Kneller’s 1701 whole-length of Lady Elizabeth Southwell, still in the ownership of the descendants.
Lady Elizabeth settled her bill, or most of it, by a £400 bond received by Kneller on 5th June 1703. One of the paintings in this series, one of the full-length portraits of herself, is dated 1701, suggesting that the collection was produced over a several years. The other, “A diana, whole length”, is the portrait of Elizabeth as the goddess of hunting that hangs today in the hall at Kings Weston. Together, these were the two most expensive of her purchases, £50 each, indicating the more direct attention of the artist rather than his workshop. That of Sir Thomas Cromwell was £30, suggesting it was produced with more involvement with artists employed by Kneller in his studio.
Aged 27, marriage came unusually late for the period. Her father had died in 1687 leaving her as an only child and sole heir. Always strong-willed, she appears to have been independent in spirit and unconcerned about making a match unless it was on her terms. It appears likely that the collection of paintings are connected with Lady Elizabeth’s hunt for a husband. By displaying images of herself and her illustrious ancestors she may have been promoting herself as a worthy match for any suitor. However her marriage to Edward Southwell came about, it was more than a one of convenience despite her enormous wealth and the prestige brought to Southwell’s house through the great Cromwell name. On her death in 1708, we know that Edward was bereft and took many years before he sought to fully reengage with society.
Most of the paintings commissioned by Lady Elizabeth can be identified as hanging at Kings Weston throughout the 18th Century. In 1777, we have the portrait of Thomas Cromwell above the fireplace in the eating parlour, todays Canaletto Room. Fittingly, it was matched on the adjacent wall by one of the full-length portraits of its commissioner, Lady Elizabeth.
The Eating Parlour of Kings Weston house, now the Canalletto Room, showing the relative locations of two Kneller paintings known to have hung there. The dashed lines indicate the locations of three oil paintings of ruins, two by “Pasla Panini” and the third possibly another work by Kneller.
The same inventory that ties these pictures to this room also explains helpfully that Cromwell’s portrait was “copied from Holland”, rather than from Holbein. This goes some way towards explaining why Kneller’s portrait looks so unlike the famous portrait of the sitter by the Tudor artist (itself a copy, the original now being lost): It was a third-hand impression of the original painting, copied and adapted from a small engraving published by Henry Holland in his Herologia Anglica in 1620.
Despite its historical interest, the painting is far from the best example of a Kneller. Kings Weston still boasts several examples including a portrait of Edward Southwell. Dated 1710, the pose and format suggest that it was commissioned as a partner to the whole-length of his wife Elizabeth after her death. Today, they still hang together, fittingly either side of a portrait of their son, the second Edward Southwell.
To the left, one of the contemporary copies of Holbein’s lost original portrait of Cromwell, and to the right, Holland’s 1620 engraving from which Kneller took his likeness.
