Encombe, Purbeck, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.   

HISTORIC INTEREST

During the medieval period, Encombe formed part of the estates of Shaftesbury Abbey. In 1552 the estate was acquired by Robert Culliford, with whose descendants it remained until 1734, when William Culliford obtained an Act of Parliament to sell the property in order to settle his debts (Oswald 1959). Encombe was purchased by George Pitt (d 1735) of Stratfield Saye, Hampshire and Kingston Maurward, Dorset, who settled it on his second son, John. John Pitt, second cousin of William Pitt the Elder, Prime Minister and first Earl of Chatham (1708-1778), was an able amateur architect who, in 1735, began to build a new house, incorporating elements of an existing building (RCHME 1970). Pitt, whose later works included the Rotunda at Hagley, Worcestershire, incorporated into his house, which was completed in about 1770, elements of design derived from Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor, and also from Palladio. An extensive park was formed, with a circuit of carriage drives allowing a succession of views and incidents, including a cascade on the coast, a picturesque grotto, and a lake south of the house. The effect of these improvements is shown in an engraving of about 1774 (Hutchins 1861). In the development of the landscape, John Pitt was advised by his cousin, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, who was a frequent visitor to Encombe (Garden Hist 1996), and who, with Lancelot Brown, laid out his own estate at Burton Pynsent, Somerset, and advised on the development of his friends' landscapes at Hagley, Worcestershire, Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and Stoke Park, Avon.

John Pitt inherited Kingston Maurward from his elder brother in 1774, and died in 1787, at which time Encombe passed to his son, William Morton Pitt. An estate map of 1794 indicates that William Morton Pitt extended the park by taking in former agricultural land, while a further map of about 1806 shows the combined effect of W M Pitt's development of his father's landscape. In 1806, Pitt sold Encombe to John Scott (created Baron Eldon, 1799 and Earl of Eldon, 1821), Lord Chancellor in William Pitt the Younger's Administration. Lord Eldon's elder daughter eloped with George Repton (1786-1858), son of Humphry Repton, and following a reconciliation, George Repton was commissioned by his father-in-law to make improvements to the estate village, Kingston, and to the grounds at Encombe (Country Life 1963). Lord Eldon died in 1838 and was succeeded by his son. The second Earl obtained a plan from George Repton for remodelling the north front of the house in 1841, but this remained unexecuted. The third Earl, who succeeded in 1854, instead commissioned Anthony Salvin (1799-1880) in about 1870 to remodel the house. Salvin transferred the entrance from the south to the north front, which in turn led to an alteration in the circuit of drives within the park.

When the third Earl died in 1926, Encombe passed to his younger son, Sir Ernest Scott, who in turn left it to his nephew, Colonel Harold Scott, in 1953. The estate was sold in 2002, and today (2004) remains in private ownership.