Image: Ashridge House - Formal Garden - geograph.org.uk - 1568931

Description: Ashridge House - Formal Garden Ashridge House is one of the largest Gothic Revival country houses in England and is Grade I. listed. The House stands on the site of Ashridge Priory, a medieval abbey founded by the Brothers of Penitence. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the building eventually became the private residence of Princess Elizabeth - later Elizabeth I. - and it was here that she was arrested in 1552 under suspicion of treason. In 1604 the priory was acquired by Sir Thomas Egerton. A descendant of his, the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater - he of canal-building fame - demolished the old buildings but did not live to see his plans for the House completed. His successor, the 7th Earl of Bridgewater, commissioned James Wyatt to build the present neo-gothic building as his home: it was completed in 1813. In 1921 the House was acquired by a trust established by Andrew Bonar Law, a former Prime Minister. In 1959 it became a management training college, and it continues in that role today with its own degree-awarding powers and an international reputation.
Title: Ashridge House - Formal Garden - geograph.org.uk - 1568931
Credit: From geograph.org.uk
Author: Ian Petticrew
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License: CC BY-SA 2.0
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