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| Lydney Park | |
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 Lydney Park Gardens | |
| Location | Lydney,Gloucestershire,England |
| Coordinates | 51°43′14.52″N02°33′11.52″W / 51.7207000°N 2.5532000°W /51.7207000; -2.5532000 |
  Location in Gloucestershire | |
Lydney Park is a 17th-centurycountry estate surroundingLydney House, located atLydney in theForest of Dean district inGloucestershire, England. It is known for itsgardens andRoman temple complex.
Lydney Park was bought in 1719 byBenjamin Bathurst, son of theCofferer of the Household toQueen Anne, and has remained in the family since then. The original house was close to themain road, with a largedeer park behind it which was previously part of the estate ofWhite Cross Manor.[1]
In 1875, Rev.William Hiley Bathurst built a new house in the centre of the deer park, with views over theRiver Severn. The new house was built by C. H. Howell, with a formal garden and shrubberies. The old house was demolished, apart from the buildings now occupied by the Taurus Crafts centre. Rev. Bathurst's grandsonCharles, later Viscount Bledisloe, made some further changes to the garden before the house became used in theSecond World War, first to house theDutch royal family and then a girls' school.[2]
The current garden was developed after 1950 by the second Viscount Bledisloe and his family.Betty Fairfax Horsfall was also a involved in the re-design of many areas.[3] There is awoodland garden running along a secluded valley, planted with magnolias, rhododendrons, azaleas and other flowering shrubs. There is a paved terrace above and formal gardens which are popular in the Spring, when the daffodils bloom.[citation needed]
The gardens are private land, and are open to the public on certain days depending on time of year. The house also has a museum containing findings from the Roman site and artefacts from New Zealand collected by the first Viscount Bledisloe.[citation needed]
The area has an earlyBritish Iron Agepromontory fort–typehill fort, known asLydney Camp, covering 4.5acres. TheRomans dug there foriron ore, probably in the 3rd century AD, but apparently abandoned the workings as unproductive.[4] Open-castiron mines, orscowles, and tunnels still exist throughout the hill.
In the late 4th century, the Romans built aRomano-Celtic temple[5] toNodens, aCeltic divinity who is reflected by the later figures ofNuada and Nudd/Lludd in Irish and Welsh mythology respectively. Lludd's name survives in theplacename of Lydney. Several model dog images have been found there, indicating it was ahealing shrine; dogs were associated with such shrines and may have been kept to lick wounds. The structure was a somewhat unusual design, rectangular rather than the usual squareRomano-Celtic style temple. The end of the sanctuary orcella was not completely open, as usual; it had three rooms separated by stone walls. The walls of the cella were arched colonnades until a fault in the rock below caused the almost total collapse of the temple. It was rebuilt with solid walls. There was a fish-coveredmosaic with an inscription that referred to 'Victorinus the Interpreter', probably an interpreter ofdreams. The temple was accompanied by a large courtyard guest house, a long building used as dormitory accommodation and an elaborate bath suite orthermae.[4]
Tessa Wheeler excavated the site between 1928–9 with her husbandMortimer Wheeler[6][7][8] and more excavations took place in 1980–1.[9][10] The finds included a hoard of imitation Roman coins which were thought to date from the 5th century, but are now believed to be 4th century artefacts.[4] The excavation report includes an appendix, "The Name 'Nodens'", written by Oxford philologistJ. R. R. Tolkien.[11][12]
51°43′15″N2°33′12″W / 51.7207°N 2.5532°W /51.7207; -2.5532
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