Blenheim Park


Blenheim Park,

estate, Oxfordshire, central England, near Woodstock. The stately Blenheim Palace was designed by Sir John VanbrughVanbrugh, Sir John
, 1664–1726, English dramatist, architect, soldier, and adventurer, b. London, of Flemish descent. In 1686 he obtained a commission in the army. He was arrested for espionage in 1690 and spent two years in a French prison.
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 and stands on spacious grounds that included entensive formal gardens that were removed in the 1760s when Capability BrownBrown, Capability
(Lancelot Brown), 1715–83, English landscape gardener, b. Kirkharle, Northumberland. The leading landscape gardener of his time, he is known for designing gardens that broke with the French formal tradition.
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 redesigned the parklands. Seat of the dukes of Marlborough, the palace was the gift of Queen Anne to the first duke in honor of his victories in the War of the Spanish Succession. Its construction lasted from 1706 to 1729.