Inigo Jones and Lodge Park

This post is in a different format from usual. It won’t suit all my substack readers - it is long, academic, and detailed - I’m sorry! I won’t be offended if you can’t be bothered to read it.

Attached below is a formal 8000 word paper examining the attribution of Lodge Park, the remarkable Palladian grandstand within Sherborne, Gloucestershire , suggesting the designer was indeed Inigo Jones, the early 17th C master architect who introduced the Palladian style to England.

Currently extant attributions for the design of the building are somewhat vague and dismiss Inigo Jones. These attributions were based on a c1650s dating, now shown to be incorrect. This paper counters that the attribution should be reconsidered in the light of a dating to the period 1625-1633. The conjecture is that attribution to Inigo Jones is the most likely and proposes a mechanism whereby Jones’s designs were implemented by one Isaac de Caus. This makes Lodge Park a much more important building historically than its current vague attribution allows. It also leads us towards re-considering the context of Lodge Park and Sherborne House within parklands enclosed at the same time (the 1620s), which is the subject of a detailed geo-spatial paper currently being undertaken. A few years ago John Phibbs suggested that the parkland at Sherborne House and the parkland at Lodge Park should be considered as one - and their contemporaneous creation reinforces that, in my mind, but you’ll have to wait a couple more months for this second paper.

As we are approaching the 400 year anniversary of Lodge Park, I think this reconsideration is warranted. We all know that Lodge Park is some sort of jewel within the parish of Sherborne and a part of our community heritage- perhaps we hadn’t quite realised the size of this jewel and its national importance and value. What history we sit on here in Sherborne!

So, if you can spare half an hour to read an academic paper over the festive season, pour yourself a glass of sherry, find a quiet corner and take your time. I shared an earlier version of this paper with one or two of you - this version here has evolved significantly. I welcome feedback of any kind.