Prior Park Landscaped Garden

Endowment to enable the National Trust to accept the gift from the school which retains use of the house, of Prior Park landscaped garden. The house was built in 1750 for Ralph Allen, the entrepreneur and philanthropist. The garden is grade 1 listed and a fine example of the 18th century landscape garden movement. It was created in two phases. the first, from 1734 to 1740, was largely influenced by the poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) who often visited Ralph Allen. The second, from 1740 to 1764, included the creation of the present lakes and the building of the Palladian bridge, probably Prior Park's best-known feature, and one of only four such features in the world. Prior Park is unique in that, unlike Stowe or Stourhead, it has not had subsequent fashions and movements layered on top of the 18th century design. Indeed, nothing significant happened at Prior Park after 1764 when Ralph Allen, the creator of Prior Park, died.