Queen Pool, Blenheim

Queen Pool is the stretch of Blenheim's lake north of the Grand Bridge, in the park beside Woodstock. It is part of the lake that Capability Brown made from 1764 by damming the little River Glyme, and it holds the best views in the park: the bridge and palace one way, the Column of Victory on the hill the other.

History

Before Brown, the Glyme ran through a marshy valley here, and Vanbrugh's Grand Bridge, built in 1706 to 1712 with Hawksmoor's help, crossed what its listing calls virtual marshland. Brown was called in from 1764 to make a new landscape for the heart of the park. He built an earth dam at the south end, with the Grand Cascade below it, and flooded the valley to make one great lake divided by the bridge, so that the bridge at last had water to cross. Queen Pool is the arm north of the bridge; the main body of the lake runs west and south of it.

Woodstock Palace and Rosamund

The valley was a royal place long before Blenheim. Henry I is said to have enclosed the park early in the twelfth century, and the royal hunting lodge, Woodstock Palace, stood on the slope north of the lake. After Queen Anne gave the manor to Marlborough in 1705 the old palace's ruins were pulled down, against Vanbrugh's plea in 1709 that they be kept; a tablet on the north bank of the lake marks the site. About 200m west of the Grand Bridge, on the lake's north shore just beyond Queen Pool, is Rosamund's Well, a spring and stone pool. Tradition makes it the site of the bower Henry II made in the mid twelfth century for his mistress, Rosamund de Clifford. By the fifteenth century the site had rooms and a cloister round a paved court, with the spring running through three pools; it was in ruins by the sixteenth.

What to look for

• Rosamund's Well: the stone pool at the water's edge just west of the bridge, where the footpath from Combe comes down to the lake.
• The Grand Bridge from the north: its great central arch across the water, with the palace beyond.
• The tablet on the north bank marking the site of Woodstock Palace.
• The Column of Victory on the high ground above the north-west shore.
• Fishery Cottage by the water, a house of the mid to late eighteenth century.

Visiting

Queen Pool can be reached free on public footpaths, which are open at all times; the palace, gardens and the rest of the park's roads need a ticket, which cost £31 online for adults in 2026, and day tickets are not sold during Christmas at Blenheim, from 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. Be clear on one point: the 570m estate road along the shore that walkers use between the footpaths is permissive, not a public right of way, so check the signs at the gates. Dogs must be on a lead in the park.

Getting there

The best free way in is from Combe, where Combe and Blenheim Park starts: it enters the park from Combe, comes down to the lake at Fair Rosamund's Well with the Grand Bridge across the water, follows Queen Pool and returns north through the park. From Woodstock, the Woodstock town walk points the way to the park's public footpaths, and Blenheim Park from Bladon crosses the Grand Bridge with a ticket. Ticket holders drive in from Woodstock and park free.

Nearby

Above the water is the Column of Victory, and across the bridge Blenheim Palace. St Laurence's Church at Combe is at the start of the walk, and in Woodstock are St Mary Magdalene, the Town Hall and the Oxfordshire Museum. For food, the Bear and the Woodstock Arms are a short walk from the gate.