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Why The Fortunes Of Kings Weston House Changed Between 1700 And The Present Day

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Why The Fortunes Of Kings Weston House Changed Between 1700 And The Present Day

Kings Weston House was built on the side of a ridge probably with idyllic pastoral views (as was the fashion in the 1700's). Kings Weston House was probably built on this site because of those views, it was surrounded by countryside with a few grazing cattle's of sheep and most likely farmland visible, but the main view from the house was the River Severn and the rolling green hills of Wales visible on the other side. These views made it the perfect country house for a wealthy family. Today the view from the house is very different, you can see the built up council estates of Sea Mills and Lawrence Weston. Where in the …show more content…

He wanted to build it on the same site as the Tudor mansion because it was in the ideal place for everything he needed. It was near the village of Shirehampton where he could hire people as servants to help run the house, and as they came from the village he did not have to pay to house them. It was only five miles from the city of Bristol so he could easily get there to sort out business, or for him and his family to enjoy what the city had to offer them. It was also very close to Sea Mills, where he wanted to build up the roman harbour because Bristol docks were beginning to lose trade to Docks in Liverpool. This is because Liverpool dock was a lot easier for ships to get to, unlike Bristol where they had to travel up the bendy and very tidal River Avon. So by building a floating harbour in Sea Mills ships would not have to travel all the way up the Avon. But Sea Mills harbour soon failed because it did not have sufficient links with Bristol. Also if you wanted to be elected in Parliament you had to have a certain amount of land and as Kings Weston has 60 acres of land it was the ideal place to build the new house.

The current house was designed by John Vanbrugh. He was born in Londonin 1664 and came to Bristol in 1710 at the age of 46. John Vanbrugh was first a foot soldier, then a play righter in 1696, writing plays like "Loves Last

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