Two statues of a seated shepherd and shepherdess returned to the Grecian Valley in 2007. They were donated by Barbara Edmundson from Castle House in Buckingham but had previously been housed at the Cobham Arms in Buckingham, having been sold from Stowe in the sale of 1921.

The site in the Grecian Valley is thought to have been the location for the Dancing Faun, which Bevington suggests was moved here by 1751. An engraving by Thomas Rowlandson, thought to be of Stowe, shows a dancing faun surrounded by shepherds and shepherdesses, therefore the two figures were returned to the site based on this evidence. Archaeological excavations in 1994 unearthed a single mortared rubble stone base for a statue (155030), which may or may not have been that for the faun. However, the two returned statues were placed some 10 metres north of this base to form part of a circle of 5 statues (the number is somewhat conjectural and suggested by Parks and Gardens Curator Richard Wheeler).
heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA148078

Sasha Taylor

March 3, 2025

During his tenure as Head Gardener at Stowe, Brown created the Grecian Valley, a long sweeping view out across the landscape from the Temple of Concord and Victory. Within the valley, Brown carefully situated a series of statues, including the Circle of the Dancing Faun.

The group of statues, with the Dancing Faun in the centre, represent the shepherds and shepherdesses from the nearby village of Dadford. Folklore says they came to Stowe and danced and played music with the faun when he came to life at night, before turning to stone again when the sun rose. Barry Smith, Head of Gardens and Estates at Stowe, explained that ‘The statues of the shepherds and shepherdess are painted in polychrome, whilst the faun is bare stone, to differentiate between real and mythical people.’

The Seeley guidebook from 1766-1798 noted about the figures ‘…The Circle of the Dancing Faun, surround with the statues of shepherds and shepherdesses…and every shepherd tells his tale, under the hawthorn in the dale…’.

The sculptures in the Grecian valley did not, unfortunately, remain in their places for very long. Throughout the nineteenth century, the Buckingham family lost a vast amount of wealth, and so they began to sell off possessions. Lady Mary Arundell, the 1st Duke of Buckingham’s sister, recalled in a letter the removal of the Circle of the Dancing Faun, and the faun’s replacement with an urn, on 4 August 1813: ‘…the vase put up on the Pedestal where the statue stood surrounded by sundry gentlemen and ladies that [they] were pulling down when I was at Stowe…’

The restoration of the Grecian Valley has been underway for 25 years now. Two of the stone statues that formed part of the circle were returned to Stowe from the garden of a local house in 2008. The original dancing faun was never found again, so a mould was taken from a similar marble version at Hughenden Manor, another National Trust property in Buckinghamshire. The recent arrival of three more copies of the original statues, expertly recreated by Cliveden Conservation, complete the circle after 200 years of separation.

Source: visitsoutheastengland.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/circle-of-the-dancing-faun-returns-to-stowe-after-200-year-absence /

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Location: Stowe, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire, South East England, England, United Kingdom

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Circle of the Dancing Faun, Grecian Valley, Stowe

1. Palladian Bridge at Stowe – Palladian Bridge, Stowe loop from Mount Pleasant

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3. Palladian Bridge at Stowe – Palladian Bridge, Stowe loop from Mount Pleasant

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