situated on the banks of the Avon, is in the parish of Wilsford, and
about three miles south of Amesbury. The exact date of its foundation is
uncertain. Its main features are Elizabethan, but an old letter in the
possession of the family clearly suggests an earlier date. “As to ye
date of ye house,” says the correspondent, “I do not remember anything in
that beautifully written deed to which you refer that would bear on it.
Great weight would belong to any opinion expressed by ye late J. H.
Parker, and you told me that you thought it might be as early as Edward
VI. or earlier, and probably Parker judged only by what he saw, and ye
architectural features that remain have in them nothing distinctive in
comparison with those what have vanished.” Lake House is one of the most
beautiful in this neighbourhood, and is built of the usual stone and
flint; it possesses yew hedges and delightful old-fashioned gardens
sloping to the river. It was purchased in 1591 by George Duke, and it
remained in the Duke family till 1897, when (just in time to save the old
house from utter ruin) it was bought by Mr. J. N. Lovibond, and most
beautifully restored by the architect, Mr. Detmar Blow, according to the
views of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. There are
barrows in the park at Lake, and many curious objects, such as amber
necklaces, &c., were discovered in them about fifty years ago during
excavations made by the late Mr. Duke. Some of the things then found are
in the British Museum. A cottage industry is now carried on in the
village of Lake: a sort of rough tweed in pretty colours being made in
hand looms by the women. This tweed is called “Stonehenge” cloth, and is
not expensive.