There is nothing quite like a whiff of scandal to turn an architectural gem into an intriguing story.
The Bankes were a long-established and noble family with a seat at Corfe Castle in Dorset. Perhaps one of their most distinguished members was Lady Mary Bankes who defended the castle against two sieges during the Civil War while her husband, Sir John, was away fighting in support of the Royalist cause.
Sadly, the castle was so badly damaged by the end of the war that the Bankes had to seek accommodation elsewhere. Their descendant, Sir Ralph Bankes, commissioned Roger Pratt to build a new mansion and the family moved to Kingston Lacy in 1663, remaining there until 1981 when the estate was left, in its entirety, to the National Trust.
Perhaps little would have been heard of Kingston Lacy at all had it not been for the eccentric and dissipated William John Bankes (1786-1855). Very wealthy, a friend of Byron and addicted to travel, he toured extensively, and, with the help of Sir Charles Barry (architect of the Houses of Parliament), decided to turn Kingston Lacy into an Italian palazzo.
In the middle of his grand design and after an alleged incident with a soldier in a London park, he had to flee to Italy in 1841, never to return to the house again. From his exiled Italian base, he continued his work through his sister, Lady Falmouth, travelling and garnering a wonderful collection which found its way to his developing palazzo.
The piano nobile (first floor), reached by a beautiful white Carrara marble staircase, includes the library, drawing room, dining room, salon and Spanish room containing the bulk of the treasures sent home by Bankes. There are glorious paintings by Titian, Van Dyck, Velasquez, Murillo, del Piombo, and Veronese. If these were not enough, Bankes' collection of Egyptian relics, sadly pilfered in the style of the times, fills the basement.
Kingston Lacy offers more than a wonderful day out. It is an opportunity to immerse oneself in the culture of bygone days — an overdose of the right kind!
Jim Clifford