Fonthill Gifford
Fonthill Gifford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, to the north of the Nadder valley,14 miles west of Salisbury. The name of the village and parish derives from the Giffard family, the parish had 70 taxpayers in 1377. In 1944, the 55th Armored Infantry Battalion of 11th Armored Division of the United States Army trained for two months on Salisbury Plain and was encamped at Fonthill New Abbey and in Fonthill Park, in 2004 a plaque was added to the war memorial at Tisbury in their memory. In 1952, John Morrison began to breed racehorses at 19th-century stables to the east of the village and his son James, 2nd Baron took over the Fonthill Stud in 1972, and breeding continues under Alastair, 3rd Baron. The stud has produced winners of classic races, the Nassau Stakes, the Oaks. The Church of England parish church of Holy Trinity was built in 1864–66 to designs by the Gothic Revival architect T. H. Wyatt and is Grade II* listed. Groups extremely picturesquely from the E, with its NE tower with a spire rising between pyramid pinnacles, an apse, and a turret to its N.
Today the church is part of the Nadder Valley Team Ministry, wyatts church replaced a neoclassical church built in 1747–49 for Alderman Beckford, near the parish boundary where the Hindon – Tisbury and Fonthill Bishop – Semley roads cross. An earlier house was damaged by fire in 1624 or 1625 and was bought by Lord Cottington in 1632, who by 1637 had finished restoring it, around 1715, Cottington put a classical facade on the house and removed the formal gardens. Between 1745 and 1753 William Beckford re-aligned the estate, making the main entrances to the north and he added a five-arched bridge over the lake, placed a folly on the high ground to the west of the house and demolished the old parish church. Fonthill House burnt down in 1755 and was replaced with a new one, Fonthill Splendens, the design of the house was initially based on Houghton Hall in Norfork. Those involved in the project included Robert Adam, Sir John Soane and James Wyatt, Andrea Casali, J. F. Moon, Thomas Banks. An archway with two lodges, built c,1756, spans the estates northern entrance road.
This house was inherited in 1770 by Beckfords son, William Thomas Beckford, in the 1790s Beckford began to build Fonthill Abbey, on high ground a mile to the southwest, and he had parts of the house demolished to provide building material. The west portion of the house survived, becoming known as The Pavilion, and was bought around 1829 by James Morrison and his second son, added one storey and an Italianate tower. The house was demolished in 1921 except for the west service wing which was converted into cottages that were demolished in 1975, in 1972 it was replaced by a smaller house, still the seat of the Morrison family. As of 2013 the estate amounted to 9,000 acres, Fonthill Abbey was an enormous mansion southwest of the village, in the style of a medieval abbey. Built by William Beckford between 1796 and 1813, the rest of the building was damaged by the collapse of the tower in 1825, and almost wholly demolished by 1845
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from and inspired by the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio. That which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of Palladios original concepts, Palladios work was strongly based on the symmetry and values of the formal classical temple architecture of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. From the 17th century Palladios interpretation of classical architecture was adapted as the style known as Palladianism. It continued to develop until the end of the 18th century, Palladianism became popular briefly in Britain during the mid-17th century, but its flowering was cut short by the onset of the Civil War and the imposition of austerity which followed. In the early 18th century it returned to fashion, not only in England but also, the style continued to be popular in Europe throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, where it was frequently employed in the design of public and municipal buildings.
However, as a style it has continued to be popular and to evolve, its pediments, symmetry. Buildings entirely designed by Palladio are all in Venice and the Veneto, with an especially rich grouping of palazzi in Vicenza and they include villas, and churches such as Redentore in Venice. Palladio always designed his villas with reference to their setting, if on a hill, such as Villa Capra, facades were frequently designed to be of equal value so that occupants could have fine views in all directions. Also, in cases, porticos were built on all sides so that occupants could fully appreciate the countryside while being protected from the sun. Palladio sometimes used a loggia as an alternative to the portico and this can most simply be described as a recessed portico, or an internal single storey room, with pierced walls that are open to the elements. Occasionally a loggia would be placed at floor level over the top of a loggia below. Loggias were sometimes given significance in a facade by being surmounted by a pediment, Villa Godi has as its focal point a loggia rather than a portico, plus loggias terminating each end of the main building.
Palladio would often model his villa elevations on Roman temple facades, the temple influence, often in a cruciform design, became a trademark of his work. Palladian villas are built with three floors, a rusticated basement or ground floor, containing the service and minor rooms. The proportions of each room within the villa were calculated on simple mathematical ratios like 3,4 and 4,5, earlier architects had used these formulas for balancing a single symmetrical facade, Palladios designs related to the whole, usually square, villa. Palladio deeply considered the purpose of his villas as both farmhouses and palatial weekend retreats for wealthy merchant owners. These symmetrical temple-like houses often have symmetrical, but low, wings sweeping away from them to accommodate horses, farm animals. The wings, sometimes detached and connected to the villa by colonnades, were designed not only to be functional but to complement, the Palladian, Serlian, or Venetian window features largely in Palladios work and is almost a trademark of his early career
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, Penguins success demonstrated that large audiences existed for serious books. Penguin had a significant impact on public debate in Britain, through its books on British culture, the arts, and science. Penguin Books is now an imprint of the worldwide Penguin Random House and it is one of the largest English-language publishers, formerly known as the Big Six, now the Big Five. The first Penguin paperbacks were published in 1935, but at first only as an imprint of The Bodley Head with the books originally distributed from the crypt of Holy Trinity Church Marylebone, Penguin Books has its registered office in the City of Westminster, England. However the question of how publishers could reach a larger public had been the subject of a conference at Rippon Hall, inexpensive paperbacks did not initially appear viable to Bodley Head, since the deliberately low price of 6d.
This helped Allen Lane purchase publication rights for some works more cheaply than he otherwise might have done since other publishers were convinced of the short term prospects of the business. By March 1936, ten months after the launch on 30 July 1935. It was Frost who in 1945 was entrusted with the reconstruction of Penguin Inc after the departure of its first managing director Ian Ballantine, from the outset, design was essential to the success of the Penguin brand. In the central panel, the author and title were printed in Gill Sans. The initial design was created by the 21-year-old office junior Edward Young, series such as Penguin Specials and The Penguin Shakespeare had individual designs. Lane actively resisted the introduction of images for several years. Some recent publications of literature from that time have duplicated the original look, from 1937 and on, the headquarters of Penguin Books was at Harmondsworth west of London and so it remained until the 1990s when a merge with Viking involved the head office moving to London.
Paper rationing was the problem of publishers during wartime, with the fall of France cutting off supply of esparto grass. This was particularly advantageous to Penguin who as a volume printer had enjoyed a successful year that year. Further in a deal with the Canadian Government, Penguin had agreed to publish editions for their armed forces for which they were paid in tons of paper. Penguin would receive 60 tons a month from Paper Supply in return for 10 titles a month in runs of 75,000 at 5d, however demand was exceeding supply on the home front leading Lane to seek a monopoly on army books made specifically for overseas distribution. This dominance over the paper supply put Penguin in a strong position after the war as rationing continued
Scottish baronial architecture
Scottish Baronial architecture is a style of architecture with its origins in the sixteenth century. Castle-like, the draws on the features of Medieval castles, tower houses. Buildings of the style frequently feature towers adorned by small turrets called bartizans, roof lines are uneven, their crenelated battlements often broken by stepped gables. While small lancet windows may appear in towers and gables, large bay windows of glass were not uncommon. Porches and porte-cocheres, were given the castle treatment. An imitation portcullis on the houses would occasionally be suspended above a front door, flanked by heraldic beasts. This architectural style was employed for public buildings, such as Aberdeen Grammar School. In the 19th century it became fashionable for private houses to be built with small turrets, in fact the architecture often had little in common with tower houses, which retained their defensive functions and were deficient with respect to 19th-century ideas of comfort. The 20th-century Scottish Baronial castles have had the reputation of architectural follies, among most patrons and architects the style became disfavoured along with the Gothic revival style during the early years of the 20th century.
The unique style of great houses in Scotland, known as Scots baronial. Particularly influential was the work of William Wallace, James VIs master mason from 1617 until his death in 1631. He worked on the rebuilding of the collapsed North Range of Linlithgow from 1618, Winton House for George Seton, 3rd Earl of Winton and began work on Heriots Hospital, Edinburgh. He adopted a style that applied elements of Scottish fortification. The Gothic revival in architecture has seen as an expression of Romanticism and according to Alvin Jackson. Some of the earliest evidence of a revival in Gothic architecture is from Scotland, inveraray Castle, constructed from 1746 with design input from William Adam displays the incorporation of turrets. These were largely conventional Palladian style houses that incorporated some features of the Scots baronial style. Important for the adoption of the style in the nineteenth century was Abbotsford House. Re-built for him from 1816, it became a model for the revival of the baronial style
Exposition Universelle (1867)
The International Exposition of 1867, was the second worlds fair to be held in Paris, from 1 April to 3 November 1867. Forty two nations were represented at the fair, following a decree of Emperor Napoleon III, the exposition was prepared as early as 1864, in the midst of the renovation of Paris, marking the culmination of the Second French Empire. In 1864, Napoleon III decreed that an international exposition should be held in Paris in 1867, a commission was appointed with Prince Jerome Napoleon as president, under whose direction the preliminary work began. In addition to the building, there were nearly 100 smaller buildings on the grounds. There were 50,226 exhibitors, of whom 15,055 were from France and her colonies,6176 from Great Britain and Ireland,703 from the United States and a small contingent from Canada. In the gallery of Labour History Jacques Boucher de Perthes, exposes one of the first prehistoric tools whose authenticity has been recognized with the accuracy of these theories.
The exhibition included two prototypes of the acclaimed and prize-winning hydrochronometer invented in 1867 by Gian Battista Embriaco. Farcot and sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Be Belleuse, farcot exhibited several units, one of them it is currently in the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. Its base, which features the face and inner mechanical movements, is carved from solid onyx marble. Atop the base, a sculpture depicting a robed female figure holds a scepter. Rotating soundlessly from the subjects hand, the scepter provides consistent motion that adds to the clocks sense of grandeur. From its base to the top of the figure stands at nearly 10 feet tall. Carrier de Belleuse was one of the most important and renowned sculptors of the 19th century, the exposition was formally opened on 1 April and closed on 31 October 1867, and was visited by 9,238,967 persons, including exhibitors and employees. This exposition was the greatest up to its time of all international expositions, for the first time Japan presented art pieces to the world in a national pavilion, especially pieces from the Satsuma and Saga clans in Kyushu.
The Paris street near Champs de Mars, Rue de LExposition was named in hommage to this 1867 universal exhibition. Jules Verne visited the exhibition in 1867, his take on the newly publicized discovery of electricity inspiring him heavily in his writing of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A famous revival of the ballet Le Corsaire was staged by the Ballet Master Joseph Mazilier in honor of the exhibition at the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra on 21 October 1867. The World Rowing Championships were held on the Seine River in July and was won by the underdog Canadian team from Saint John, rejtan This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Gilman, D. C
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a dense solid. It is used as coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural. Stucco may be used to cover less visually appealing construction materials such as metal, cinder block, or clay brick and adobe. In English, stucco usually means a coating for the outside of a building, and plaster one for interiors, as described below, but other European languages, importantly including Italian, do not have the same distinction, stucco means plaster in Italian and serves for both. This has led to English often using stucco for interior decorative plasterwork in relief, especially in art history, the difference in nomenclature between stucco and mortar is based more on use than composition. Animal or plant fibers were often added for additional strength, in the latter nineteenth century, Portland cement was added with increasing frequency in an attempt to improve the durability of stucco.
At the same time, traditional lime plasters were being replaced by gypsum plaster, traditional stucco is made of lime and water. Modern stucco is made of Portland cement and water, lime is added to increase the permeability and workability of modern stucco. Sometimes additives such as acrylics and glass fibers are added to improve the properties of the stucco. This is usually done with what is considered a one-coat stucco system, lime stucco is a relatively hard material that can be broken or chipped by hand without too much difficulty. The lime itself is white, color comes from the aggregate or any added pigments. Lime stucco has the property of being self-healing to a degree because of the slight water solubility of lime. Portland cement stucco is very hard and brittle and can easily crack if the base on which it is applied is not stable, typically its color was gray, from the innate color of most Portland cement, but white Portland cement is used. Todays stucco manufacturers offer a wide range of colors that can be mixed integrally in the finish coat.
As a building material, stucco is a durable, attractive and it was traditionally used as both an interior and exterior finish applied in one or two thin layers directly over a solid masonry, brick or stone surface. The finish coat usually contained a color and was typically textured for appearance. The lath added support for the wet plaster and tensile strength to the brittle, cured stucco, while the increased thickness, the traditional application of stucco and lath occurs in three coats — the scratch coat, the brown coat and the finish coat
William Chambers (architect)
Sir William Chambers RA was a Scottish-Swedish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House and the pagoda at Kew, Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. William Chambers was born on 23 February 1723 in Gothenburg, between 1740 and 1749 he was employed by the Swedish East India Company making three voyages to China where he studied Chinese architecture and decoration. Returning to Europe, he studied architecture in Paris and spent five years in Italy, then, in 1755, he moved to London, where he established an architectural practice. He worked for Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales making fanciful garden buildings at Kew and he developed his Chinese interests further with his Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, a fanciful elaboration of contemporary English ideas about the naturalistic style of gardening in China. His more serious and academic Treatise on Civil Architecture published in 1759 proved influential on builders and it included ideas from the works of many 16th- and 17th-century Italian architects still little known in Britain.
His influence was transmitted through a host of younger architects trained as pupils in his office, including Thomas Hardwick, who helped him build Somerset House. He was the rival of Adam in British Neoclassicism. Chambers was more international in outlook and was influenced by continental neoclassicism when designing for British clients, a second visit to Paris in 1774 confirmed the French cast to his sober and conservative refined blend of Neoclassicism and Palladian conventions. From around 1758 to the mid-1770s, Chambers concentrated on building houses for the nobility, in 1766 Chambers was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His initial plans for an oval courtyard, connected to three smaller, narrow rectangular courts, were soon modified into a simpler rectalinear scheme. On 10 December 1768 the Royal Academy was founded and he was appointed the Academys first Treasurer. Chambers died in London in 1796, designed two garden temples, similar to those at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Within Kew Gardens, some of his buildings are lost, those remaining being the ten-storey Pagoda, the Orangery, the Ruined Arch, the Temple of Bellona, the Pagoda, in Pagoda Gardens, London is attributed to Chambers. A three-storey house built as a pavilion for the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, caroline of Brunswick lived here after her separation from her husband, the Prince Regent, in 1799. Somerset House in London, his most famous building, which absorbed most of his energies over a period of two decades The gilded state coach that is used at coronations. Hedsor House, the seat of Lord Boston, equerry to George III, for James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, he designed Charlemont House and the Casino at Marino, as well as the chapel and public theatre in Trinity College, Dublin. He is associated with Gothic additions to Milton Abbey in Dorset, wick House, Richmond Hill, commissioned in 1771 by painter Sir Joshua Reynolds
Earl of Devon
The title of Earl of Devon was created several times in the English peerage, and was possessed first by the de Redvers family, and by the Courtenays. It was a re-invention, if not a continuation, of the pre-Conquest office of Ealdorman of Devon. During the Tudor period all but the last Earl were attainted, the last recreation was to the heirs male of the grantee, not to the heirs male of his body. During this period of dormancy the de jure Earls of Devon, unlike the Dukes of Devonshire, seated in Derbyshire, the Earls of Devon were strongly connected to the county of Devon. Their seat is Powderham Castle, near Starcross on the River Exe, the Earl of Devon has not inherited the ancient and original Barony of Courtenay or the Viscountcy of Courtenay of Powderham, his heir is styled Lord Courtenay by courtesy. Before the Norman Conquest of 1066 the highest sub-regal authority in Devon was the Ealdorman, of office the Earldom of Devon was a re-invention. He founded Tavistock Abbey in 961 and his son was Ordwulf, who realised the founding.
He seized Exeter Castle, and mounted naval raids from Carisbrooke, but was out of England to Anjou, France. She created him Earl of Devon after she established herself in England, William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon was the third son of Baldwin, the 1st Earl. He had only two children who left issue and his son Baldwin died 1 September 1216 at the age of sixteen, leaving his wife Margaret pregnant with Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon. King John forced her to marry Falkes de Breauté, but she was rescued at the fall of Bedford Castle in 1224 and divorced from him and she is thus called Countess of Devon in several records. The fifth Earls youngest daughter, Mary de Redvers, known as de Vernon, was sole heiress of the 1141 Earldom. She married firstly, Pierre de Preaux, and secondly, Robert de Courtenay, the 6th Earl was succeeded by his son, Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon, who died without progeny. His sister, Isabella de Forz, widow of William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle and her children predeceased her and she had no grandchildren.
Her lands were inherited by her second cousin once removed, Hugh de Courtenay, feudal baron of Okehampton and he was summoned by writ to Parliament in 1299 as Hugo de Curtenay, whereby he is held to have become Baron Courtenay. Although some sources consider this a new grant the wording of the grant arguably indicates a confirmation, historic sources thus variously refer to him as either 1st Earl or 9th Earl, and the position cannot be decided either way due to the uncertainty of the surviving evidence. The 1st/9th Earl was succeeded by his son, Hugh de Courtenay, Three of the eight sons of the 2nd/10th Earl had descendants a fourth, William Courtenay, was Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor. Sir Edward de Courtenay, the son, predeceased his father, but left an eldest son, Edward de Courtenay, 3rd Earl of Devon, The Blind
Vathek
Vathek is a Gothic novel written by William Beckford. The first French edition, titled simply as Vathek, was published in December 1786, Vathek capitalised on the 18th century obsession with all things Oriental, which was inspired by Antoine Gallands translation of The Arabian Nights. Beckford was influenced by works from the French writer Voltaire. His originality lay in combining the popular Oriental elements with the Gothic stylings of Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto, the result stands alongside Walpoles novel and Mary Shelleys Frankenstein in the first rank of early Gothic fiction. William Beckford wrote Vathek in French in 1782, when he was 21, Beckford said that it took him only two to three days and the intervening nights to write the entire book. Vathek was written during a time part of European culture was influenced by Orientalism. It is an Arabian tale because of the setting and characters and the depiction of oriental cultures, societies. Vathek is a Gothic novel with its emphasis on the supernatural, the title character is inspired by al-Wathiq, son of al-Mutasim, an Abbasid caliph who reigned in 842–847 who had a great thirst for knowledge and became a great patron to scholars and artists.
During his reign, a number of revolts broke out and he took an active role in quelling them. He died of fever on 10 August 847, the narrative of Vathek uses a third person, semi-intrusive narrator. When, after a narrative focusing around Gulchenrouz, the narrator tells us, But let us return to the Caliph, the narrative is often made up of lists that chronicle the events one after the other, without emphasis on character development. Characters and events are introduced forcefully at times, one such example is the introduction of Vatheks brother and successor Motavakel, based on al-Mutawakkil, who reigned in Samarra from 847 until 861. Up to the point when he is introduced in the novel as the leader of a rebel army, the reader is never exposed to Motavakels character, except as Carathis mentions him. The novel, while it may lend itself to be divided into chapters, is one complete manuscript without pause. At the end of the novel, instead of attaining these powers, the ninth caliph of the Abassides, ascended to the throne at an early age.
He is a figure, terrible in anger, and addicted to the pleasures of the flesh. He is intensely thirsty for knowledge and often invites scholars to converse with him, if he fails to convince the scholar of his points of view, he attempts a bribe, if this does not work, he sends the scholar to prison. To better study astronomy, he builds a tower with 11,000 steps
Virtual reality
VR simulates a users physical presence in this environment. A person using virtual reality equipment is able to look around the world, and with high quality VR move about in it. Virtual reality is displayed with a virtual reality headset, VR headsets are head-mounted goggles with a screen in front of the eyes. Programs may include audio and sounds through speakers or headphones, advanced haptic systems may include tactile information, generally known as force feedback in medical, video gaming and military training applications. Some VR systems used in games can transmit vibrations and other sensations to the user through the game controller. Virtual reality refers to remote communication environments which provide a presence of users with through telepresence and telexistence or the use of a virtual artifact. The immersive environment can be similar to the world in order to create a life-like experience grounded in reality or sci-fi. In 1938, Antonin Artaud described the nature of characters and objects in the theatre as la réalité virtuelle in a collection of essays.
The English translation of book, published in 1958 as The Theater. The term artificial reality, coined by Myron Krueger, has been in use since the 1970s, the term virtual reality was used in The Judas Mandala, a 1982 science fiction novel by Damien Broderick. Virtual has had the meaning being something in essence or effect, the term virtual has been used in the computer sense of not physically existing but made to appear by software since 1959. A dictionary definition for cyberspace states that word is a synonym for virtual reality. Virtual reality shares some elements with augmented reality, AR is a type of virtual reality technology that blends what the user sees in their real surroundings with digital content generated by computer software. The additional software-generated images with the virtual scene typically enhance way the real look in some way. Some AR systems use a camera to capture the surroundings or some type of display screen which the user looks at. The Virtual Reality Modelling Language, first introduced in 1994, was intended for the development of worlds without dependency on headsets.
The Web3D consortium was founded in 1997 for the development of industry standards for web-based 3D graphics. The consortium subsequently developed X3D from the VRML framework as an archival and these components led to relative affordability for independent VR developers, and lead to the 2012 Oculus Rift kickstarter offering the first independently developed VR headset
William Beckford (politician)
William Beckford was a well-known political figure in 18th century London, who twice held the office of Lord Mayor of London. His vast wealth came largely from his plantations in Jamaica and the numbers of slaves working on these plantations. He was, and is, often referred to as Alderman Beckford to distinguish him from his son William Thomas Beckford, Beckford was born in Jamaica the grandson of Colonel Peter Beckford. He was sent to England by his family in 1723 to be educated and he studied at Westminster School, and made his career in the City of London. In 1744 Beckford bought an estate at Fonthill Gifford, near Salisbury and he made substantial improvements to the property but it was largely destroyed by fire in 1755. I have an odd fifty thousand pounds in a drawer, I will build it up again, Beckford promptly declared, on 8 June 1756, aged 47, he married Maria March, daughter of Hon. George Hamilton. His only child by this marriage was William Thomas Beckford, born at Fonthill Splendens in 1760, Beckford had eight children born out of wedlock who were left legacies in his will.
From 1751 until his death, his London residence was at 22 Soho Square and he became an alderman in 1752, a Sheriff of London in 1756 and was elected Lord Mayor of London first in 1763 and again in 1769. He was returned as Member of Parliament for the City of London in 1754, the Negroes and stock of the island are worth above four million sterling and the conquest easy For Gods sake attempt the capture without delay. Although some laughed at his faulty Latin, his wealth, social position and he hosted sumptuous feasts, one of which cost £10,000. He drew some popular support due to his promotion of political liberalism, a few weeks later, on 23 May, Beckford publicly admonished George III
