Marston Bigot is a small village near Nunney

Nunney

Nunney is a village and civil parish near Frome in the Mendip local government district within the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the hamlet of Holwell.The name of the village comes from Old English and means Nunna's island....

 and 3 miles (5 km) south of Frome

Frome

Frome is a town and civil parish in northeast Somerset, England. Located at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, the town is built on uneven high ground, and centres around the River Frome. The town is approximately south of Bath, east of the county town, Taunton and west of London. In the 2001...

 in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

History

Marston Bigot was listed as "Mersitone-tora" in the Doomesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

, which gave the name of the then Saxon landowner as Robert Arundel. It became known as Marston Bigot some time after it was given by William the Conqueror

William I of England

William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

 to Roger de Bigod, which later became the Bigott family. The manor

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 of Marston Bigot was held by the Crown after the execution of Lord Charles Stourton, 8th Baron Stourton

Charles Stourton, 8th Baron Stourton

Charles Stourton, 8th Baron Stourton was the son of William Stourton and Elizabeth Dudley, daughter of Edmund Dudley.Stourton succeeded his father as baron in 1548. He was a nephew of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, as well as a Catholic...

 in 1557. It was sold by Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 in 1596 to William Brown and James Orenge, or Orange.

The parish was part of the hundred of Frome

Frome (hundred)

The Hundred of Frome is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was...

.

Nearby is Marston Moat

Marston Moat

Marston Moat is the site of a fortified manor house in the parish of Trudoxhill, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is now on the Heritage at Risk register due to animal burrowing....

 the site of a fortified manor house.

Marston Bigot Park

Marston Bigot Park encompasses approximately 222 hectares (2,220,000 m²) and includes Marston House, Marston Pond and the remains of the medieval shrunken village of Lower Marston.

House

The earliest description of Marston House is contained in a letter from Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork , also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland....

, in 1641, when he purchased the Manor from Sir John Hippisley. In 1714, Marston was inherited by Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery

Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery

Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery KT PC FRS was an English nobleman, statesman and patron of the sciences....

, who rebuilt it. The house later passed to John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork

John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork

John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and 5th Earl of Orrery, FRS was a writer and a friend of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson....

, and successive generations, who each left their mark on the house and grounds, including Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork

Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork

Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork and 7th Earl of Orrery was an Irish peer.A younger son of the 5th Earl of Cork and Margaret Hamilton, he succeeded to his half-brother's titles in 1764...

 who added added Marston Pond, a boathouse, and three gate lodges. However late in the 19th century the house fell into disrepair and it was sold in 1905 to the Bonham-Christie family.

Marston House and its grounds were used by the US Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and were finally rescued from dereliction in 1984 by John and Angela Yeoman of Foster Yeoman Ltd

Foster Yeoman

Foster Yeoman Limited, based in the United Kingdom, is one of Europe's largest quarrying and asphalt companies, owned by Swiss construction materials conglomerate Holcim.-Company history:...

, and used as the company headquarters.

The house is a Grade II* listed building. It is built of squared and coursed Doulting

Doulting

Doulting is a village and civil parish east of Shepton Mallet, on the A361, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England.-History:The parish of Doulting was part of the Whitstone Hundred....

 stone with a slate roof and balustraded

Baluster

A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...

 parapet, located on a 180 metres (591 ft) long terrace with stone urns. The house is 130 metres (427 ft) long but generally only 20 metres (66 ft) deep, therefore presenting a massive facade when viewed from the park. In the three-storey central block of this front are four Ionic

Ionic order

The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...

 columns, which were built by Sir Jeffry Wyattville

Jeffry Wyattville

Sir Jeffry Wyattville was an English architect and garden designer. His original surname was Wyatt, and his name is sometimes also written as Jeffrey and his surname as Wyatville; he changed his name in 1824.He was trained by his uncles Samuel Wyatt and James Wyatt, who were both leading architects...

 around 1817, with two-storey wings on either side, which were added in 1776 by Samuel Wyatt

Samuel Wyatt

Samuel Wyatt was an English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th and 19th century English architects, his work was primarily in a neoclassical style.-Career:...

.

Gardens

The gardens

English garden

The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...

 were laid out by Stephen Switzer

Stephen Switzer

Stephen Switzer was a garden designer and writer on garden subjects, an early exponent of the English landscape garden who admired and emulated the formal grandeur of French broad prospects and woodland avenues, finding in the state of horticulture an index of cultural health, in Augustan Rome as...

 between 1724 and 1745 and altered with advice from William Sawrey Gilpin in the 1820s. They cover an approximately rectangular area of approximately 8.5 hectares (85,000 m²). They include a rustic, rectangular-shaped, above-ground limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 grotto dating from 1743, north-east of the house near the Frome road, which was built by James Scott. The garden at Marston House is listed Grade II in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens

In England, the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by English Heritage under the provisions of the National...

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Church

The small stone church of St Leonard

Church of St Leonard, Marston Bigot

The Church of St Leonard in Marston Bigot, Somerset, England was built on the site of an older one and was opened to the public in 1789. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.It is dedicated to Leonard of Noblac....

, which is dedicated to St Leonard

Leonard of Noblac

Leonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...

, was built on the site of an older one and was opened to the public in 1789. It has a tower containing a peal of six bells. It was altered in 1844 by Edward Davis. The nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 has three bays with semi-circular headed windows with heavily enriched surrounds and an elaborate hammerbeam roof

Hammerbeam roof

Hammerbeam roof, in architecture, is the name given to an open timber roof, typical of English Gothic architecture, using short beams projecting from the wall.- Design :...

. It has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a Grade I listed building. The stained glass in the east window dates from the 15th century and is from the abbey of Altenberg

Altenberg, Germany

Altenberg is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, close to the border with the Czech Republic, 15 km northwest of Teplice, and 32 km south of Dresden....

 near Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It depicts a scene from the early life of St Bernard

Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...

, the driving force of the Cistercian order.

Henry Waldegrave, 11th Earl Waldegrave

Henry Waldegrave, 11th Earl Waldegrave

Henry Noel Waldegrave, 11th Earl Waldegrave was a British peer and minister of religion.Waldegrave was born in 1854, the posthumous son of William Waldegrave, Viscount Chewton and his wife Frances. He was educated at Eton and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1878...

, was rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

of the village from 1905–12, and lived in the rectory, which is also a listed building.