Page 84 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

82  BRIT AIN AND IRELAND

t Blenheim Palace

After John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeated
the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, Queen Anne
gave him the manor of Woodstock and had this palatial house
built for him in gratitude. Designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor
and Sir John Vanbrugh, it is one of the country’s most
outstanding examples of English Baroque. The magnificent
palace grounds, at the center of which is a huge lake, owe
their present appearance to the great 18th-century landscape
designer, Lancelot (Capability) Brown. Blenheim Palace was
the birthplace, in 1874, of the wartime British prime minister,
Winston Churchill. Today, the palace is the home of the 11th . Long Library
Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. This 55 m (183 ft) long room
was designed by Vanbrugh as
a picture gallery. The stucco
work on the ceiling is by Isaac
Mansfield (1725).

KEY
1 The Grand Bridge was built in 5 East Gate
1708. It has a 31 m (101 ft) main 6 Red Drawing Room
span and contains rooms within
its structure. 7 The Green Drawing Room has a
full-length portrait of the 4th Duke of
2 The Chapel holds a marble
. Water Terrace Gardens monument to the 1st Duke of Marlborough by George Romney
These splendid gardens Marlborough, sculpted in 1733. (1734–1802).
were laid out in the 1920s 8 The Italian Garden contains the
by French architect Achille 3 The lion sculptures (1709), Mermaid Fountain, dating from the
Duchêne in 17th-century which overlook the Great Court, late 19th century.
style, with detailed are by Grinling Gibbons.
patterned beds and 4 The Untold Story exhibition
fountains.

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