Cliveden

View looking north from the Ring in the Parterre showing Terrace Pavilion and Clock Tower to the left with Lower Terrace and Borghese Balustrade below

Cliveden, is an Italianate stately-home at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. Set on cliffs 200 feet above the River Thames, it has been home to an Earl, two Dukes, a Prince of Wales and the American Astor family. It is now owned by the National Trust and the house is leased as a five-star hotel run by von Essen hotels. During the 1970s it was occupied by Stanford University of California who used it as an overseas campus. It was the meeting place of the so-called "Cliveden Set" in the 1920s and 1930s and the setting for key events in the Profumo Affair in the 1960s.

"Cliveden" (pronounced CLIV-d'n) means "valley among cliffs" and refers to the dean or valley which cuts through the estate to the east and south of the house. The gardens and woodlands are open to the public, together with parts of the house on certain days. There have been three houses on this site: the first, built in 1666, burned down in 1795 and the second house (1824) was also destroyed by fire, in 1849. The present Grade 1 listed house was built in 1851 by the architect Charles Barry for George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland.

The present house

Designed by Sir Charles Barry in 1851 to replace a house previously destroyed by fire, the present house is in the English Palladian style. The Victorian three-storey mansion sits on a 400-foot-long, 20-foot-high brick terrace or viewing platform which dates from the mid-seventeenth century. The exterior of the house is rendered in Roman cement, with terracotta additions such as balusters, capitals, keystones and finials. The roof of the mansion is meant for walking on and there is a circular view, above the tree-line, of parts of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire including Windsor Castle to the South. Below the balustraded roofline is a Latin inscription which continues around the four sides of the house and recalls its history; it was composed by the then prime minister Gladstone. On the West front it reads: "POSITA INGENIO OPERA CONSILIO CAROLI BARRY ARCHIT A MDCCCLI" which translated reads: "The work accomplished by the brilliant plan of architect Charles Barry in 1851." The clock tower next to the house is in fact a disguised water tower. The house has a Berkshire postal code leading many (including the media and the hotel itsel) to believe it is in the county of Berkshire. In fact, the Berkshire postal code extends into much of Buckinghamshire, even though the two counties are separated by the River Thames.

Early history

Cliveden stands on the site of a house built in 1666 designed by architect William Winde as the home of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. But before Buckingham's purchase the land was owned by the Mansfield family and previous to them it belonged to the de Clyveden family. The details are recorded in a document compiled by William Waldorf Astor in 1894 called "The Historical Descent of Cliveden". It shows that in 1237 the land was owned by Geoffrey de Clyveden and by 1300 it had passed to his son, William, who owned fisheries and mills along the Cliveden Reach stretch of the Thames and at nearby Hedsor. The document also shows that in 1569 a lodge existed on the site along with 50 acres of land and was owned by Sir Henry Manfield and later his son, Sir Edward. In 1573 there were two lodges and 160 acres. Buckingham pulled down these earlier buildings to make way for his house. After Buckingham's death the estate was sold to Lord Orkney and was let to Frederick, Prince of Wales from 1739 to 1751 during whose tenure, in 1740, the song "Rule, Britannia" was first performed, in the rustic theatre in the garden. In 1795 the house was seriously damaged by fire and for the next 30 years it remained a shell; following a second rebuilding it was again destroyed by fire in 1849.

"Cliveden" has been spelled differently over the centuries. Here are some of the variations: Cliffden, Clifden, Cliefden, Clyveden and Clyveden.

Owners

• 1666-96, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1628-87); built the first house as a "hunting box" and to house his mistress, Anna, Countess of Shrewsbury.
• 1696-1824, George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney (1666-1737) and his heirs; Orkney was a general at the Battle of Blenheim and became Governor of Virginia, USA without ever setting foot on American soil. From 1737 to 1751 the estate was leased to Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-51), son of George II and father of George III. He was instrumental in setting up the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and it was during his tenure that "Rule Britannia" was performed in the amphitheatre at Cliveden for the first time in public.He died after being hit in the chest by a ball while playing cricket at Cliveden.
• 1824-49, George Warrender, MP, (1782-1849); built the second house at Cliveden after fire destroyed the first.
• 1849-68, Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, industrialists and landowners. House burns down for the second time and the Duke commissions Sir Charles Barry to re-build house in the style of an Italianate villa in 1851.
• 1868-1893, Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster, (1825-99).
• 1893-1967, the Astor family. Bought by William Waldorf Astor, later 1st Lord Astor, (1848-1919) for $1.25 million. Given to his son Waldorf and daughter-in-law Nancy Langhorne (Britain's first woman MP in 1919) in 1906 as a wedding present. They gave Cliveden to the National Trust in 1942 but their son Bill Astor continued to occupy house until his death.
• 1942-Present, The National Trust. House leased to Stanford University of California 1969-1983. House now leased as a luxury hotel and run by von Essen Hotels.

Architects and Designers

• William Winde, soldier and engineer, designed the 400-foot-long terrace in 1666 on which the present house sits.
• Thomas Archer, architect, worked at Cliveden in the eighteenth century adding the East and West wings and connecting curved corridors. A staircase by him survives today in the West wing.
• Charles Bridgeman, garden designer, laid out grounds and walks in the eighteenth century and created the cliff-side theatre where "Rule Britannia" was first performed in 1740.
• Giacomo Leoni, architect, built the Blenheim Pavilion and the Octagon Temple.
• Sir Charles Barry, architect, designed the third (present) house in the Italianate style in 1851. He is best known for designing the Houses of Parliament in London.
• Henry Clutton, architect, built the 120-foot-high water tower in 1861 in the style of a campanile clock tower. Also added the stables, dovecote and porte-cochere to the front of the house in 1869.
• John Fleming, gardener; the appearance of the parterre today is largely due to him.
• George Devey, architect, built six vernacular style cottages on the estate as well as the Boathouse and Dairy, all in c.1857-8.
• Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, garden designer, created the Rose Garden in the early 1960s (now the "Secret" garden due to rose disease).
• Julian Harrap, the National Trust's architect, created the pavilion to house the indoor swimming pool for Cliveden Hotel and has overseen much of the restoration work.

The Astor era

In 1893 the estate was purchased by the American billionaire William Waldorf Astor (later 1st Lord Astor) who made sweeping alterations to the gardens and the interior of the house, but lived at Cliveden as a recluse after the early death of his wife. He gave Cliveden to his son Waldorf on the occasion of his marriage to Nancy Langhorne in 1906. They used Cliveden as a centre for social and political between the two World Wars, principally as a weekend retreat in which to host house parties. At the outbreak of World War I, Astor offered the use of some of the grounds to the Canadian Red Cross for the building of a hospital - the HRH Duchess of Connaught Hospital - which was dismantled at the end of the hostilities. In September 1939 with the outbreak of World War II Astor again offered the use of the land at a rent of one shilling per year to the Canadian Red Cross and the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital was built to the designs of Robert Atkinson. After the war the hospital's main focus was as a nursing school, a maternity unit and a rheumatology unit which was headed by Dr. Barbara Ansell. The hospital closed in the early 1980s.

In 1942 the Astors gave Cliveden to the National Trust with the proviso that the family could continue to live in the house for as long as they wished. Should this cease, they expressed the wish that the house be used:

for promoting friendship and understanding between the peoples of the United States and Canada and the other dominions

The Astors ceased to live at Cliveden in 1968, shortly after the Profumo Affair scandal and Bill Astor's death.

Interior

The interior of the house today is very different from its original appearance in 1851–52. This is mainly due to the 1st Lord Astor who radically altered the interior layout and decoration c. 1894–95. Whereas Barry's original interior for the Sutherlands had included a square entrance-hall, a morning room and a separate stair-well, Lord Astor wanted a more impressive entrance to Cliveden so he had all three rooms knocked into one large one (the Great Hall). His aim was to make the interior as much like an Italian palazzo as possible, which would complement the exterior. The ceiling and walls were panelled in English oak, with corinthian columns and swags of carved flowers for decoration, all by architect Frank Pearson. The staircase newel posts are ornamented with carved figures representing previous owners (eg. Buckingham and Orkney) by W.S. Frith. Astor installed a large sixteenth-century fireplace, bought from a Burgundian chateaux which was being pulled down. To the left of the fireplace is a portrait of Nancy, Lady Astor by John Singer Sargent. The room was and still is furnished with eighteenth-century tapestries and suits of armour. originally the floor was covered with Minton encaustic tiles (given to the Sutherlands by the factory) but Nancy Astor had them removed in 1906 and the present flagstones laid. Above the staircase is a painted ceiling by by French artist Auguste Hervieu which depicts the Sutherland's children painted as the four seasons. This is the only surviving element of Barry's 1851-2 interior and it is believed that Lord Astor considered it too beautiful to remove.

The "French Dining Room" is so called because the eighteenth-century Rococo panelling (or boiseries) came from the Chateau d'Asnieres near Paris, a chateau which was leased to Louis XV and his mistress Madame de Pompadour as a hunting lodge. When the panelling came up for sale in Paris in 1897, the 1st Lord Astor recognised that it would exactly fit this room at Cliveden. The gilded panelling on a turquoise ground contains carvings of hares, pheasants, hunting dogs and, surprisingly, rifles. The console tables and buffet were made in 1900 to match the room. The main dining room of the house until the 1980s, today it is a private dining room with views over the Parterre and Thames.

The second largest room on the ground floor, after the Great Hall, was the drawing room which today is used as the hotel's main dining room. This room, which has views over the Parterre and Thames,was redecorated in 1995 by Eve Stewart, with terracotta-coloured walls, gilded columns and trompe l'oeil shelves of books. The ceiling is painted to resemble clouds and three Bohemian glass chandeliers hang from it. The portraits in the room include the 2nd Duke of Sutherland, the 1st Lord Astor, and Miss Mary Hornack by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Also on the ground floor is the Library, panelled in cedar wood, which the Astors used to call the "cigar box", and, next door, Nancy Astor's boudoir. Upstairs are five bedrooms and on the second floor another five. The East wing was and still is guest accommodation, whereas the West wing was domestic offices but in 1994 these were converted into more bedrooms.

The National Trust tour only includes the Great Hall and French Dining Room.

Cliveden Hotel

Cliveden Hotel from the Parterre.

In 1984 a hotel company - Blakeney Hotels (later Cliveden Hotel Ltd)- acquired the lease to the house. Led by chairman John Lewis and managing director John Tham (husband of Railway Children actress Jenny Agutter) they restored and refurbished the interior. Rooms are furnished with Edwardian antiques and the house is run in a similar style as it would have been when Nancy Astor was chatelaine. In 1990 they added the indoor swimming pool and spa treatment rooms in the walled garden, complementing the existing outdoor pool (known as the Christine Keeler swimming pool). Also in 1990 a new 100-year lease was granted to run from 1984. In 1994 the conversion of the West wing from domestic offices to provide more bedrooms and two boardrooms (Churchill and Macmillan) was completed. There are 37 bedrooms in total, two dining rooms (the Terrace Dining Room and Waldo's), and four private dining rooms. Bedrooms are named after previous owners and guests (eg. Buckingham, Westminster). Three rooms are licenced for civil ceremonies and each year many couples are married at Cliveden. The hotel also lease Spring Cottage by the Thames, one of the key places in the Profumo affair, and offer it as self-contained accommodation.

The hotel was listed on the London Stock Exchange for a period of time in the 1990s (as Cliveden Plc). This company was bought in 1998 by Destination Europe, a consortium led by billionaire Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. In the early years of the 21st century the lease was acquired by von Essen hotels.

In 2007 Cliveden Hotel claimed to offer the "world's most expensive sandwich" at £100GBP. The von Essen Platinum Club Sandwich was confirmed by Guinness World Records in 2007 to be the most expensive sandwich commercially available.

The hotel's insignia is that of the Sutherland family and consists of a crown with interlaced "S"s and acanthus leaves. It can be found on radiator grills in parts of the house. The hotel's motto is "Nothing ordinary ever happened here, nor could it."

Gardens and Grounds

The estate extends to 375 acres (1.52 km²) of which about 180 acres (0.73 km²) comprise the gardens, the rest being woodland and paddocks. The formal Parterre to the South of the house is one of the largest in Europe at 4 acres (16,000 m²). It consists of clipped yew pyramids and wedge-shaped beds edged with box hedging and filled with catnip, santolina and senecio. The Long Garden consists of topiary spirals and peacocks and box hedges and was designed by Norah Lindsay in c.1900. The Water Garden was laid out by the 1st Lord Astor in c.1900 and features a pagoda, on an island, bought from the Bagatelle estate in Paris. The planting here is mostly Spring-flowering: cherry trees, bush wisterias and giant gunneras. The original Rose Garden, designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe for the Astor family in the early 1960s has since suffered from rose disease and has been replanted as a "Secret" garden of herbaceous plants. The planting in the Herbaceous Borders in the forecourt was designed by Graham Stuart Thomas in the early 1970s. There is a lime tree avenue either side of the main drive to the house. Cliveden holds the National Plant Collection of Catalpa (aka "Bean Tree").In 1897 the 1st Lord Astor imported a section of a Californian redwood and had it installed in the woods. At 16 ft 6 in (5.03 m) across it is the largest section of a Sequoia gigantea in Britain. The woodlands were first laid out by Lord Orkney in the eighteenth century on what had been barren cliff-top; they were later much restocked by Bill Astor but they suffered badly in the Great Storm of 1987. The National Trust continues the re-planting of the beechwoods.

Temples, pavilions and follies

Giacomo Leoni's 1735 "Temple".

The earliest known garden buildings at Cliveden were both designed by Giacomo Leoni for Lord Orkney; the Blenheim Pavilion (c.1727) was built to commemorate Orkney's victory as a general at the Battle of Blenheim. The Octagon Temple, situated two-hundred feet above the Thames, was originally designed as a gazebo and grotto but was later converted by the 1st Lord Astor to become the family chapel. Its interior and dome are decorated with colourful mosaics by Clayton and Bell representing religious scenes. The pagoda in the Water Garden was made for the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 and was purchased by the 1st Lord Astor from the Bagatelle estate in Paris in 1900. In the woods there is a small flint folly thought to date from the mid-nineteenth century.

Sculpture Collection

Thomas Waldo Story's Fountain of Love inscribed "Waldo Story, Roma 1897".

One of the features of the gardens is the large collection of sculpture, most of it acquired by the 1st Lord Astor from 1893 to 1906. The shell fountain, known as the "Fountain of Love", greets visitors at the end of the lime tree avenue up to the house. It was sculpted by Thomas Waldo Story, (American, 1855-1915) in Rome in 1897 and was commissioned by Lord Astor for this site. It features a large Carrara marble shell supporting three life-size female figures attended by cupid. The "Tortoise" fountain near the Parterre was also made by T.W. Story at around the same time.

In the forecourt there is a collection of eight marble Roman sarcophagi, some of which date from c.AD 100 and were bought by Lord Astor from Rome.

The "Queen Anne Vase" at the end of the Long Walk is said to have been given to Lord Orkney by Queen Anne in the eighteenth century and consists of a tall urn on a plinth decorated with the Greek key pattern.

The largest sculpture in the grounds, technically in two parts, is the 17th century Borghese Balustrade on the Parterre. Purchased by Lord Astor in the late 19th century from the Villa Borghese in Rome, it is crafted from Travertine stone and brick tiles by Giuseppe Di Giacomo and Paolo Massini in c.1618-19. It features seats and balustrading with fountain basins and carved eagles.

The well-heads and oil-jars found throughout the gardens came from Venice and Rome respectively.

Major Restorations 1980s-Present

• In 1984-86 the exterior of the mansion was cleaned and repaired and a new lead roof installed by the National Trust while inside repairs were carried out by Cliveden Hotel.

Henry Clutton's disguised water tower of 1861.

• The Clock Tower (water tower) was fully restored in the late 1990s by the NT at a cost of £650,000 of which at least £35,000 was spent on the gold-leaf embellishments to the four clock-face surrounds and urns.
• At the same time the Octagon Temple's dome was recovered in copper and its interior mosaics conserved.
• The Terrace is in need of full restoration and this is expected to start soon.
• The Cliveden statuary collection receives an ongoing programme of conservation.
• When the restoration of the old maze between the Water garden and the walled car park is completed in 2011-12 its size is expected to rival the world-famous maze at Hampton Court Palace.

The "Cliveden snail"

In 2004, a colony of small Mediterranean land snails of the species Papillifera bidens was discovered living on the Borghese Balustrade. Presumably this species, new to the English fauna, was accidentally imported along with the balustrade in the late 19th century, and managed to survive through all the intervening winters to the present day.

Famous Guests

Cliveden has always been used for entertaining on a lavish scale. The combination of the house, its setting and the leisure facilities offered on the estate - boating on the Thames, horse riding, tennis, swimming, croquet and fishing - have made Cliveden a destination for film-stars, politicians, world-leaders, writers and artists. The heyday of entertaining at Cliveden was between the two World Wars when the Astor's held weekend house parties here. Guests at that time included: Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, Joseph Kennedy, George Bernard Shaw, Mahatma Gandi, Amy Johnson, F.D. Roosevelt, H.H. Asquith, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), A.J. Balfour, and the writers A.A. Milne, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling and Edith Wharton.

The entertainer Joyce Grenfell was Nancy Astor's niece and she once lived in a cottage on the estate. She also entertained injured troops in the hospital on the estate during WWII.

The Cliveden Set

This was the name used by the Communist pamphleteer Claude Cockburn to describe the Astors and some of their guests who were thought to be considering pro-appeasement with Hitler in the 1930s. In 1938 the Communist Party published the following in one of its publications:

From Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire operates the Cliveden Set - making and breaking British Cabinet Ministers - bringing Britain to the verge of War - weilding the power of International Fascism.

There is no real evidence to prove or disprove these claims. The guests at Cliveden represented every political leaning and the Astors ignored the claims. However, when the Washington Post ran an article entitled "Astor Country House Becoming Real Centre Of Foreign Policy" they felt the need to act. With the help of their Marxist friend George Bernard Shaw they sort to dispel the myth of the Cliveden Set. Shaw wrote: " If I wanted, I could prove that Cliveden is a nest of Bolshevism or indeed of any other bee in the world's bonnet."

Cliveden on film and television

• The 2001 Bollywood film Yaadein was partly filmed at Cliveden.
• In the 2004 film Thunderbirds, Cliveden is used as the location for Lady Penelope's house, 'Creighton-Ward Mansion'.
• The house is featured in the 2005 film Mrs. Henderson Presents.
• In the second Beatles film, "Help!"(1965), the scenes that were supposed to be in Buckingham Palace were filmed at Cliveden.
• The house appears in the film, Don't Lose Your Head
• Horse and carriage sequences in The Card (aka The Promoter) (1952) starring Alec Guinness were filmed on the drive.
• The Thames at Cliveden appears in both Chaplin (1992) and Carrington (1995).
• Cliveden's panelled library stands in for a priest's New York study in Maid of Honour (2008) starring Patrick Dempsey.
• A UK lotto advertisement portrays a man running around on the grounds at Cliveden.
• Cliveden was featured as part of a reward on the UK television show, The Apprentice with Sir Alan Sugar.
• In 2000 the BBC Antiques Roadshow used the grounds as a venue for a valuation day.
• Cliveden was also feaured in the Film "The Yellow Rolls Royce" with Rex Harrison ,George C Scott ,and Shirley MacLaine.
• SCANDAL, (1988), story of the profumo affair.

Cliveden in Literature

Cliveden from the River Thames

• In Chapter 12 of Three Men in a Boat (1889), Jerome K. Jerome describes the Cliveden stretch of the Thames as "unbroken loveliness this is, perhaps, the sweetest stretch of all the river..."
• In Boogie Up the River (1989) Mark Wallington retraces Jerome's journey to mark its centenary, with the Thames at Cliveden described in Capter 5.
• The poet Alexander Pope wrote (c.1730) of the Duke of Buckingham's affair with Anna, Countess of Shrewsbury: "Gallant and gay in Cliveden's proud alcove/The bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love."
• Daniel Dafoe describes the first house in A Tour Through England and Wales (1726).

Bibliography/References

• Astor, Michael, Tribal Feeling, London,1963.
• Coates, Tim, The Scandal of Christine Keeler and John Profumo: Lord Dennings Report 1967, London,2003.
• Crathorne, James, Cliveden: The Place and the People, London, 1995.
• Fox, James, The Langhorne Sisters, London, 1998.
• Hayward, Allyson, Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer, London,2007.
• Jackson-Stopps, Gervase, An English Arcadia, London, 1992.
• Keeler, Christine, The Truth at Last: My Story, London, 2002.
• Lacey, Steven, Gardens of the National Trust, London, 1994.
• National Trust, The, Cliveden [Guide to], London, 1994.
• Rose, Norman, The Cliveden Set: Portrait of an Exclusive Fraternity, London, 2000.
• Sinclair, David, Dynasty: The Astors and their Times, London, 1983.
• Stanford, Peter, Bronwen Astor: Her Life and Times, London, 2001.

External links

• nationaltrust.org.uk Cliveden information at the National Trust
• Cliveden House Hotel
• The Anglo-American Establishment: From Rhodes to Cliveden by Carroll Quigley

Gallery of images

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  Cliveden as seen from its lawn.
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  The Tortoise Fountain and view over the River Thames.
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  Fountain of Love.
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  Overlooking 42 inscribed stones to the dead of The Great War Sir Bertram MacKennal's figure represents Canada with the head reputedly modelled by Lady Astor
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  This copy of Vincenzo de'Rossi's work on a pedestal in The Ring of the Parterre faces the Garden Front of Cliveden House
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  Thomas Waldo Story's Fountain of Love inscribed Waldo Story Roma 1897
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  Henry Cluttons disguised water tower 1861
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  Giacomo Leoni's 1735 "Temple"
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  1893 Gas Yard Concrete Tree disguising the gas works chimney
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  Elephant carving in the grounds
• View of the River Thames from the river walk at Cliveden.
  View of the River Thames from the river walk at Cliveden.
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  Cliveden from the River Thames