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Fonthill Lake

Lakes of WiltshireWiltshire geography stubs
Fonthill Lake 1
Fonthill Lake 1

Fonthill Lake (grid reference ST933319) is a lake in southwest Wiltshire, England. It lies just to the south of the village of Fonthill Bishop, east of the village of Fonthill Gifford, and northeast of Fonthill Abbey. The lake is 1.6 km (1 mi) long and approximately 100 m (328 ft) wide at its maximum breadth. The Fonthill Brook flows out of the southern end of the lake and joins the River Nadder at Tisbury, 2 km (1 mi) to the southeast.The lake was created in the mid-18th century by building a weir below fish-ponds fed by the brook, for Alderman William Beckford, the builder of the house later known as Fonthill Splendens. In 1987 the extensive landscaped park, including the lake, was recorded as Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.A sizeable population of the introduced Mandarin duck is resident at Fonthill Lake (and on surrounding rivers) together with a number of wild swans. The lake was used as the location for the filming of the river scenes in the 2000 film Chocolat, which starred Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. It is also where the ashes of pioneering Everest mountaineer Eric Shipton were scattered.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fonthill Lake (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Fonthill Lake
Knap Lane,

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Wikipedia: Fonthill LakeContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.0886 ° E -2.0959 °
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Address

Knap Lane

Knap Lane
SP3 5SE , Fonthill Gifford
England, United Kingdom
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Fonthill Lake 1
Fonthill Lake 1
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Nearby Places

St Leonard's Church, Berwick St Leonard
St Leonard's Church, Berwick St Leonard

St Leonard's Church in Berwick St Leonard, Wiltshire, England, was built in the 12th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It was declared redundant on 22 June 1973, and was vested in the Trust on 9 June 1976.The manor was held in the 12th century by Shaftesbury Abbey's manor of Tisbury. At that time there was no right of burial at Berwick, and bodies were taken to Tisbury. The right of advowson was later held by a variety of individuals, and there was a dispute over the right between John Benett and John Maclntyre, an East India Company general during the early 19th century.The small church was built of flint and limestone, in the 12th century. The three bay nave is 33 feet 6 inches (10.21 m) by 16 feet 4 inches (4.98 m), while the chancel is just 18 feet 9 inches (5.72 m) long and 13 feet 3 inches (4.04 m) wide. The entrance is beneath the small two-stage south tower which was added in the 14th century, and is supported by diagonal buttresses. The tower holds two bells dating from 1725 and 1766. The church roof is tiled in a fish-scale pattern. Monuments inside the church include those to George Howe, who died in 1647, and his six children. The cylindrical stone font with a brass cover, the lintel over the blocked north doorway, and a sculptured relief of the Lamb of God over the inside of the south doorway date from the Norman era.By the 19th century the fabric of the building was decaying, and it was rebuilt in 1860 with little change to its external appearance, at the expense of Alfred Morrison of Fonthill Gifford. The church was closed in 1966.