Tag Archive | Sense and Sensibility

Filming locations: Wilton House

Nov28

I’ve been meaning to write about Wilton House for a while, but was spurred on today when I sold a little brooch in my Etsy shop. I sent a thank-you notecard with the order, one from a set I’d bought many years ago from the Wiltshire Records Office (as was: now the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre), and the one I chose featured a late 18th century engraving of Wilton House:

Wilton House. Late 18th century engraving.

Wilton House. Late 18th century engraving, showing the south front of the house on the left and the Palladian Bridge on the right.

(Or perhaps more accurately, an engraving of a couple of lovely trees and a party of people, with a section of Wilton House and the Palladian Bridge lurking in the background.)

I regularly drive past the impressive gates of Wilton House—so regularly that I’ve almost stopped noticing them. Not an easy feat: just look at them! Isn’t it terrible to take something so spectacular so for granted?

The impressive gates to Wilton House. Photo by MrsCommons.

The impressive gates to Wilton House. Photo by MrsCommons.

Unlike many of the other grand houses I’ve written about, Wilton House is still a family home, the seat of the Earls of Pembroke for the last 400 years. The first building on the site was a priory founded in c. 871 AD; the first Earl of Pembroke took possession of the site in 1542. Relatively little of the first, Tudor house survives: what is visible today is mostly the Palladian building of the 1630s and 1640s, designed with the involvement of Inigo Jones, and later alterations by James Wyatt in the early 19th century.

The south front of Wilton House. Photo by John Chapman.

The south front of Wilton House. Photo by John Chapman.

Wilton House, south and east fronts. Photo by Henry Kellner.

Wilton House, south and east fronts. Photo by Henry Kellner.

Wilton House, east front. Photo by Mike Searle.

Wilton House, east front, with the Tudor tower in the centre. Photo by Mike Searle.

The interiors of Wilton House are sumptuous, and among the state rooms designed by Inigo Jones are the Single Cube Room (measuring 30 feet (9.14 m) long, wide and high, and the Double Cube Room, which is 60 feet (18.29 m) long and 30 feet (9.14 m) wide and high.

Wilton House, the Double Cube Room.

Wilton House, the Double Cube Room.

The grounds and gardens are beautiful, with one of only a handful of Palladian bridges in the country, built over the River Nadder.

Wilton House, the Palladian Birdge. Photo by Mike Searle.

Wilton House, the Palladian Bridge. Photo by Mike Searle.

Such stunning locations have not surprisingly been used a lot in movie and television filming.

There is a much more comprehensive list on the Wilton House website location filming page.

A scene from Pride and Prejudice filmed at Wilton House in the Double Cube Room.

A scene from Pride and Prejudice filmed at Wilton House in the Double Cube Room.

Update 10 August 2015: I’ve just learned that the television series Outlander has just finished two weeks’ filming at Wilton House, which is standing in for the Palace of Versailles. Apparently the British furniture and furnishings were moved out, and appropriate French ones were moved in for the duration of the filming. Plus the candle budget was £1000 a day! Simon Callow was one of the actors.

Filming locations: Saltram House

Aug10

Today I watched the 1995 Ang Lee directed film of Sense and Sensibility again. I haven’t watched it for years and had forgotten what a good adaptation it is, and how sumptuous the filming locations are. It was mainly filmed in various stately homes and estates in Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire—my favourite part of the world (along with Dorset), so there’s no way I’m not going to love this film! I wrote a previous post about how I was lucky enough to watch just a tiny bit of the filming back in 1995, outside Mompesson House in Salisbury. In spring this year we visited one of the other filming locations, Saltram House, while Chap and I were staying with my younger sister and her hubby in Devon. To our shame Chap and I had never visited before, despite having driven past it too many times to mention. Like Mompesson House, Saltram is owned by the National Trust.

In the film, Saltram House stands in for Norland Park, the home of the Dashwoods before they are forced to leave after Mr Dashwood’s death.

Saltram House, just outside Plymouth in Devon. The stand-in for Norland Park in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility.

Saltram House, just outside Plymouth in Devon. The stand-in for Norland Park in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility. Photo by Chilli Head.

Saltram House.

Saltram House. Photo by Wigulf.

We took a long walk around the grounds but didn’t have time to look around inside the house, so I have no idea whether the interior scenes set at Norland Park were filmed at Saltram too (given that both the interior and exterior scenes of Mrs Jennings’ townhouse were filmed at Mompesson House, I’m guessing it’s likely that they were).

The grounds are beautiful, if perhaps a little spoiled by the road noise from the nearby A38, and go down to the River Plym. Margaret’s wonderful treehouse in the film is no longer there, but the estate is beautifully kept, with many old and interesting trees.

Margaret Dashwood's treehouse int eh film Sense and Sensibility, filmed at Saltram House,.

Margaret Dashwood’s treehouse in the film Sense and Sensibility, filmed at Saltram House. The avenue beyond leads to the house.

The avenue leading to the house. Margaret's treehouse is at the end of this, and Elinor and Photo by Adrian Platt.

The avenue leading to the house. Margaret’s treehouse is at the end of this, and Elinor and Edward Ferrars go for a walk along it in the film. Photo by Adrian Platt.

The orangery was filled with citrus trees in pots, and pots stuffed full with clivias. The stables, where in the film Elinor almost gets a profession of love from Edward Ferrars (drat his pesky sister for coming along just when she did), were alive with the twittering of nesting swallows: a really joyous sound.

The stables at Saltram House. The swallows were nesting under the arch.

The stables at Saltram House. The swallows were nesting under the arch. Photo by Derek Harper.

We arrived in style. My brother-in-law is a Rolls Royce nut so this was our transport:

1929 Rolls Royce. Sadly the Spirt of Ecstasy at this point was in brother-in-law's pocket because if she was left on the car she might well have been pinched!

1929 Rolls Royce in the Saltram car park. Sad sign of the times: the Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet ornament at this point was in brother-in-law’s pocket, because if she was left on the car she might well have been pinched!

Filming locations: Mompesson House

Jun11
Mompesson House. Photo by Tony Hisgett.

Mompesson House. Photo by Tony Hisgett.

Mompesson House is a beautiful Queen Anne house, completed in 1701 and owned by the National Trust. It is located in the glorious Cathedral Close in Salisbury. It is the sort of house I can imagine living in: not too impossibly grand and high-ceilinged and museum-like, with cosy rooms full of interesting and lovely things, and with a pretty walled garden at the back. And of course, that view of the Cathedral to the front!  It houses a fantastic collection of 18th century drinking glasses.

Salisbury Cathedral viewed from the front gate of Mompesson House, 11 June 2014. Peregrines nesting on the spire just out of shot!

Salisbury Cathedral viewed from the front gate of Mompesson House, 11 June 2014. Peregrines nesting on the spire just out of shot!

In the summer of 1995 I was working on an archaeological project in the storerooms of Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, which is also situated in the Cathedral Close. If the weather was good I would eat my lunch sitting out on the Close, enjoying the fabulous surroundings and watching the world go by. One lunchtime I noticed a gaggle of people and equipment outside Mompesson House, and so wandered over. Some sort of filming was in progress, but I didn’t know for what. Lots of people were sitting on the grass and watching the goings-on, so I plonked myself down among them. We were very close to the filming set-up, and I was pleasantly surprised that we were allowed to be so close and were not asked to move back. There were lights and reflectors and cameras and cables and endless crew busying around.

Mompesson House. I was sitting a little to the left of where this photo was taken from. Photo by Derek Voller.

Mompesson House. Photo by Derek Voller.

And then as I munched on my lunch, filming started, and Alan Rickman rides up to the house and dismounts. Alan Rickman. In breeches. My sandwich hung half way to my mouth, and my mouth hung open. Alan Rickman. Alan Bloody Rickman. In breeches. Right in front of me. There were other scenes filmed too, with a carriage, but all I could think of was Alan Rickman. In breeches. Right in front of me.

Needless to say, I took a rather longer than usual lunch break and didn’t concentrate too well on my work that afternoon.

I asked around and it turned out that I had witnessed some of the filming for the Ang Lee version of Sense and Sensibility, with Alan Rickman playing Colonel Brandon, and Mompesson House standing in for Mrs Jennings’ London townhouse.

I can’t find any online photos of Alan Rickman in this scene. In 1995 not many (if any?) mobile phones had cameras—in this day and age everybody would be snapping away like crazy. I must rewatch the film and get a screengrab.

Alan Rickman during filming of Sense and Sensibility (not at Mompesson House, from the looks of it).

Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (not at Mompesson House: this scene was filmed at Trafalgar House near Salisbury, standing in for Barton Park, Sir John Middleton’s estate).

Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon in sense and Sensibility. Again, not photographed at Mompesson House.

Alan Rickman in Sense and Sensibility. Again, not photographed at Mompesson House: this scene was at the Dashwood’s cottage in Devon, actually a house on the Flete Estate in Devon.

Alan Rickman and emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility. Mompesson House in the background. I didn't see this scene being filmed.

Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. Mompesson House in the background. I didn’t see this scene being filmed. I was probably back in the storeroom, having a fit of the vapours.

I was in Salisbury today so snapped the photo above of the view of the Cathedral from the front of Mompesson House. I wandered over to see if I could see the peregrines—I asked a stonemason working on the east front and he said the nest was on the south face of the spire. I stood by the cloisters entrance and watched for ten minutes or so, but didn’t see anything. I could certainly hear one though, squawking away on the spire. So exciting!

Update 10 August 2014: I’ve just watched the film again and the scene is a blink and you’ll miss it one: it’s when Colonel Brandon is leaving Mrs Jennings’ townhouse to take the Dashwood girls back to Devon: he’s on horseback accompanying their carriage:

Colonel Brandon leaving Mrs Jennings' house with the Dashwoods. The scene I watched being filmed.

Colonel Brandon on horseback leaving Mrs Jennings’ house with the Dashwoods in the coach. The scene I watched being filmed outside Mompesson House.