John Bastard
(1668-1770)

Died aged c. 102

John (ca 1688–1770) and William Bastard (ca 1689–1766) were British surveyor-architects, and civic dignitaries of the town of Blandford Forum in Dorset. John and William generally worked together and are known as the "Bastard brothers". They were builders, furniture makers, ecclesiastical carvers and experts at plasterwork, but are most notable for their rebuilding work at Blandford Forum following a large fire of 1731, and for work in the neighbourhood that Colvin describes as "mostly designed in a vernacular baroque style of considerable merit though of no great sophistication.". Their work was chiefly inspired by the buildings of Wren, Archer and Gibbs. Thus the Bastards' architecture was retrospective and did not follow the ideals of the more austere Palladianism which by the 1730s was highly popular in England. The brothers, the sons of Thomas Bastard (died 1720), a joiner and architect, the founder of a family firm of provincial architects in the area. However little remains today of the works of the brothers' ancestors, chiefly as the result of the 1731 fire and a previous fire in the town in 1713.

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Commemorated on 4 plaques

Lime Tree House built by the Bastard Brothers in 1760 for their five sisters

Lime Tree House, The Plocks, Blandford Forum, United Kingdom where they built

Greyhound Inn A coaching inn rebuilt after the Great Fire by the Bastard family.

The Greyhound, Market Place, Blandford Forum, United Kingdom where they built

The Bastards' House Rebuilt by John and William Bastard in 1732 for their occupation

73 East Street and 26-28 Market Place, Blandford Forum, United Kingdom where they rebuilt

The Town Hall and The Shambles completed in 1734 by local architects/builders, John and William Bastard

Market Place, Blandford Forum, United Kingdom where they built (1734)