THE FORGOTTEN COUNTRY HOUSE: THE RISE AND FALL OF ROUNDWAY PARK. By Simon Baynes.

2019 1st edition. 4to (193 x 253mm). Ppxii,276. Colour and b/w photographs and illustrations, map end-papers, bibliographical references. Red boards, spine titled in gilt.

." A social and architectural history of an English country house." "When the fine Palladian house known as New Park near Devizes, Wiltshire, was built between 1777 and 1783. it became part of the golden age of the Georgian country house. Its owner, James Sutton, was one of a new breed of landowners, benefitting from the proceeds of the boom in late eighteenth century trade and from local political influence. As neo-classicism became the defining style for the late eighteenth century English country house, New Park, later re-named Roundway Park, perfectly represented the high ambition of the age, the product of the prestigious architect, James Wyatt, and landscape designer, Humphrey Repton." This book "tells for the first time the story of Roundway's rise and fall, the people who built and owned it, lived and worked there, and house's eventual partial demolition in 1954. It paints a vivid picture of the lives of gentry families, including the Colstons of Bristol fame who owned the house for a century, who far outnumbered their more aristocratic counterparts." A good read, packed with detailed information drawn from family papers and new research in wider records.