Near the beginning of the 18th century, the rise of agrarian capitalism injected the growing middle class with a boost of limited freedom from aristocratic control. The aristocracy still held seats in Parliament, and they retained the largest farms throughout the country (though they never worked the farms), but the coercive power fuedalism allowed had dissolved. The aristocrats were forced to exhibit their "right" to land, and the "right" to control it, from a distance.
Burden's Landing was constructed during this period, being finally completed in 1722. It was one of 80 houses built between 1710 and 1740 for members of Parliament (Stone and Stone, 302). In a panic, the aristocracy responded to the threat of an emerging middle class by constructing larger and larger houses. Stone and Stone call this period of frenetic building the second phase of "gigantism" in country house architecture.
Architect Sir John Vanbrugh, designer of Burden's Landing, did much to build a structure capable of intimidating, fascinating, and demanding respect from guests, residents, and, perhaps most importantly, the local lesser gentry. Vanbrugh moved the home farm far from the sight of the family house, and organized the kitchen, dairy, wash-house, servants quarters and other "practical" buildings into wings of the main house (Stone and Stone, 306). The result is a massive unified structure, symmetrical in order, elegant for its size, and unavoidably imposing to observers.
Country houses date back to the 15th century, but the houses of the 18th century break tradition. Their builders and tenants, due to changing social relations throughout Britain, must use these houses to manipulate and retain, in essence, their aristocratic status. The old order of feudalistic coercion is replaced by the social and economic order of agrarian capitalism, where country houses are the visible center of power (Williams, 39). Aristocrats attempt to preserve their power of the old order by being being as conspicuous as possible about their wealth, the standard of power in the new order.
Throughout your tour of Burden's Landing, look for additional comments on 18th century aristocrats' aesthetic practices in the design and decorum of their country houses and the surrounding landscapes.
--Jack Burden II
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