Athelhampton is one of the finest 15th-century manor houses in England, and is set in superb gardens. It is a privately-owned country house on 160 acres (647,000 m²) of parkland, located five miles (8 km) east of Dorchester, Dorset. The house is now open for public visits. A manor house is a country house, which has historically formed the centre of a manor (see Manorialism). ... Jump to: navigation, search Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK... In Britain (and also in Ireland) the term country house generally refers to a large house which was built on an agricultural estate as the private residence of the landowner. ... The main road through Dorchester Dorchester is a market town in south west Dorset, England, situated on the River Frome and A35 road 20 miles west of Poole and five miles north of Weymouth. ...

In 1086, the site was recorded in the Domesday Book which states that the Bishop of Salisbury, with Odbold as tenant, held the manor, then called Pidele. The name Aethelhelm appears in the 13th century, when Athelhampton belonged to the de Loundres family. In 1350 Richard Martyn married the de Pydele heiress, and their descendant Sir William Martyn, Lord Mayor of London in 1493, built the current Great Hall in or around 1485. He also received licence to enclose 160 acres (647,000 m²) of deer park and to fortify his manor. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Arms of the Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. ... Councillor Patrick (Pat) John Stannard, Lord Mayor of Oxford (2004). ... Jump to: navigation, search The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ...

A West Wing and Gatehouse were added in 1550, but in 1862 the Gatehouse was demolished. In 1891, the house was acquired by the antiquarian Alfred de Lafontaine, who carried out restoration to the interior and added the North Wing in 1920–21.

At the same time, de Lafontaine engaged Iniago Thomas to create one of England's great gardens as a series of "outdoor rooms" inspired by the Renaissance. Twenty acres (81,000 m²) of formal gardens are encircled by the River Piddle, and consist of eight walled gardens with numerous fountains and pavilions, plus a balustraded terrace, statues, obelisks and magnificent vistas through gate piers. Great Court contains 12 giant yew pyramids set around the pool by the great terrace. The lawn to the west has an early 16th-century circular dovecote, and the south terrace features a vast "Magnolia grandiflora" and a Banksian rose. Pear trees cover the old walls and support roses and clematis. The River Piddle or Trent or North River is a small rural Dorset river which rises next to Alton Pancras church (Alton Pancras was originally named Awultune, a Saxon name meaning the village at the source of a river) and flows south and then south-easterly more or less parallel... Stairs, staircase, stairway, flight of stairs are all names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Luxor obelisk in the Place de la Concorde in Paris An obelisk is a tall, thin, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramidal top. ... Species Taxus baccata - European Yew Taxus brevifolia - Pacific Yew Taxus canadensis - Canadian Yew Taxus chinensis - Chinese Yew Taxus cuspidata - Japanese Yew Taxus floridana - Florida Yew Taxus globosa - Mexican Yew Taxus sumatrana - Sumatran Yew Taxus wallichiana - Himalayan Yew Yews are small coniferous trees or shrubs in the genus Taxus in the... A colombier (dovecote) in Jersey A dovecote or dovecot is a building intended to house pigeons or doves, which were an important food source in history. ... Species See text Magnolia is a large genus of about 120 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. ... Species About 30 species, including: Pyrus amygdaliformis Pyrus austriaca Pyrus balansae Pyrus betulifolia Pyrus bourgaeana Pyrus bretschneideri Pyrus calleryana Pyrus caucasica Pyrus communis Pyrus cordata Pyrus cossonii Pyrus elaeagrifolia Pyrus fauriei Pyrus kawakamii Pyrus korshinskyi Pyrus lindleyi Pyrus nivalis Pyrus pashia Pyrus persica Pyrus phaeocarpa Pyrus pyraster Pyrus pyrifolia Pyrus... Species About 100, see text A rose is a flowering shrub of the genus Rosa and the flower of this shrub. ... Species See text. ...

External links

• Athelhampton (official website)
• Photo gallery of Athelhampton House
• "Marevna's Studio" at Athelhampton House] where the Russian emigrée cubist painter Marevna stayed and worked between c.1949-1957 (opening to the public in 2006).