Site of the Temple of Sleep, (Sleeping Parlour), Stowe Landscape Garden

Summary

The Sleeping Parlour at Stowe was demolished in the1760’s. Its location, size and shape have now been established by excavation, and elements of the internal plaster decorative scheme identified.

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Description

(1) The site of the Temple of Sleep. A smaller and simpler version of Vanbrugh's Temple of the Four Winds at Castle Howard. Basically a box with a small pedimented portico. This was probably designed by Vanbrugh and built about 1724. Probably demolished about 1760, the urns from the parapet of this building possibly being used on the Oxford Bridge.

(3) Hidden in the dense wilderness which separated the Western Garden from the South Vista was the Sleeping Parlour or Temple of Sleep, probably by Vanbrugh and erected in 1725. Situated at the confluence of six paths, it was a square brick building with attached Ionic porticoes on two of its faces, one of which bore the tempting inscription ‘cum Omnia sint in incerto, fave tibi’ (‘Since all things are uncertain, indulge thyself’). The interior was decorated with frescoes of ‘the Caesars Heads, with several Festoons of Fruit and Flowers’ and contained couches for weary visitors. It was demolished in 1760, but the extraordinary urns with sneering masks which formerly surmounted its parapet survive and now adorn the Oxford Bridge.

The 2007 excavations did not completely uncovered the floor plan of the parlour since some of it lay, or is assumed to lie, beneath a spread of demolition material containing quantities of decorative plasterwork and it was felt that as little of this as possible should be removed. However, enough of the building was uncovered to extrapolate the remaining parts. The north, east and south external and internal corners were all uncovered along with the entire south-east
footing for the flight of steps on that side. Where the foundation remained in situ it was found to comprise limestone rubble pieces set in a soft creamy yellow lime mortar. The remainder of the outline of the buildings footings were present only as a robber trench with clearly defined edges cutting a mid brown loamy material, not the natural, but almost certainly a layer of introduced soil, perhaps used to build up a level platform on which to construct the building.

The area within the footprint of the foundations was devoid of features apart from two post settings, each approximately 300-400mm in diameter. The position of the post settings suggests that they were almost certainly associated with a scaffold constructed within the walls of the building, and presumably there were two more at the opposite corners though these were not identified. Such a simple scaffold, with four posts and supporting a horizontal working surface could have had the outer ends set into the wall and as it rose this surface could be raised as necessary.

The building externally was 6.3m wide across the portico fronts (20 feet 8 inches) and 6.7m along the side walls (22 feet). The internal measurements are 4.3m wide across the portico fronts (14 feet) and 4.8 m along the side walls (15 feet 9 inches). The excavation has proved that the building had steps on two sides and these projected from each portico front by 1.2m (4 feet) and were 4.25m wide (14 feet). All of these measurements are the robber trench dimensions, but due to the clear edges and vertical sides of the trench it is thought that these figures are very close to the finished building size.

The foundation, in the small area that survived, was of limestone rubble bonded in lime mortar, it is probable that the upper parts of the walls were of brick and rendered. No dressed stone was recovered from the site and even if most of it had been re-used it would be unlikely that none would survive even in fragmentary form. The remainder of the wall footings had been completely robbed out and the trench backfilled with debris from the upper part of the building including element of the internal plaster decoration.

Evidence for paths in the vicinity of the Sleeping Parlour proved less conclusive, although three definite spreads were located and recorded. Trenches 1122 and 1123 revealed firm evidence for a N-S aligned path which probably corresponds with the 1843 map evidence, though this remains to be confirmed. The second path lay across the Sleeping Parlour and continued into trench 1129. the excavated evidence is limited but the orientation suggests that the path was aligned towards the south from of Stowe House. The date of construction remains uncertain; a date soon after the demolition of the Sleeping Parlour (c.1763) seems likely. The third path uncovered was identified by trenches 1134-1137 within the former quincunx. [SNA62835]

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