S t o w e  G a r d e n s

L o r d  C o b h a m 's  M o n u m e n t

The woodland path continues on South, from the Grecian Valley through Lord Cobham's walk, and down to a clearing where his monument is erected.

Lord Cobham's Monument is an octagonal, as opposed to circular, fluted, hollow, doric column-come prospect tower, rising to over 115 feet above the ground, to a small belvedere, that can accommodate 3-4 persons. It allows a very lucky visitor, a full panoramic view of the entire gardens, and beyond. It is accessed via a spiral staircase, from a gated doorway in the base of the column, but unfortunately for me, sealed, on both occasions that I visited it.

Construction of this column began in 1747 by Lancelot "Capability" Brown and was completed in 1749, the year of Lord Cobham's death. Lady Cobham requested that it be commissioned as a memorial to her late husband, and a huge statue of Lord Cobham was set in place, above the belvedere at its summit. Plaques with fitting quotations from Alexander Pope's Moral Epistles, were mounted to the base of the column. Unfortunately, the column received a direct strike by lightning in 1957, and the statue of Lord Cobham was disintegrated, apart from the head! A replacement statue of Lord Cobham, dressed in Roman armour, was re-erected in place at the top of the column in 2001, and the whole structure was again lime washed, to protect it from the elements.

The base of the column has a modern Coade stone copy of a lion set atop each one of the 4 corner buttresses.

Above the door to the column is another plaque with a Latin epitaph, which as John Martin Robinson explains in his book, translated it states Lord Cobham's claim to fame, "He saved his country as well in the cabinet as in the field and adorned it by a more elegant system of modern gardening first illustrated here!" And, also a eulogy by Cicero, "How many have imitated the magnificence of Lucullus Villas! But how few have aspired to emulate his virtues."

 

 

 

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