William Kent

Timothy Mowl (University of Buckingham)
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The Gardens at Rousham — Kent’s Rill© Marianne Majerus

William Kent was one of the most important garden designers in the history of Britain, being responsible for inventing the natural style of garden and in particular for his work at Stowe and Rousham, two of the most important gardens in the country. Kent was born and bred in Bridlington (Brillington and Burlington being accepted variants of the town's name) . Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, heraldically originally Lord Bridlington and Kent's partner in creativity, was also an East Riding of Yorkshire man. He was brought up at Londesborough, some 20 miles to the south west, so they spoke with the same joshing Yorkshire accent. Kent's real surname was Cant but he changed that for obvious reasons when he encountered the wits

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Citation: Mowl, Timothy. "William Kent". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 November 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11844, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11844 William Kent 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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