Fonthill Abbey is featured in this pastoral view wrapped in a paisley-like border similar to Spode's Italian. Two men fish in a foreground pond while cattle graze a bit farther back. At the center stands the house in the Wiltshire countryside.

Fonthill Abbey was known both for its Gothic style and the scandalous lifestyle of its owner, the wealthy William Beckford. Never finished, Beckford sold it in 1823. In 1825, the great tower, the tallest in England, collapsed destroying much of the abbey