A Garden Begins

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Fri 9 May 2014 22:37
An Awesome Garden is Born at Castle Howard
 
 
 
 
 
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The famous birds-eye view of Castle Howard that appeared in Vitruvius Britannicus in 1725. This is an idealised view, showing the house with symmetrical wings, when in fact the West Wing was constructed in the 1750’s to a different style. The area behind the house did include the wilderness and the bastion walls and some version of the pavilions.
 

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The three pictures above are conjectural views based on early estate maps and drawings. The first shows the view south at the end of the 17th century on the site of the village of Henderskelfe, which comprised a handful of houses, a church and a medieval castle, all of which were swept away when Castle Howard was built. The grassed area is the bowling green inside the walls of Henderskelfe Castle. The second is the view south in 1727. In just over a quarter of a century the 3rd Earl had transformed an empty landscape, and with the help of Vanbrugh had laid out a parterre filled with obelisks, vases, statues and a tall column; beyond is the wilderness. The third is the view south in 1773 when Vanbrugh’s parterre had been simplified, the terraces levelled and the wilderness beyond removed. A few pieces of lead sculpture remain, as does the Ionic column with the gilded vase at the top.
 
 
 
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A watercolour view of Castle Howard by William Marlow dating from the last quarter of the 18th century. This shows the wide expanse of lawn with a few shrubs planted at the edges.
 
 
 
A photograph c.1870 after William Andrews Nesfield had been commissioned by the 7th Earl to lay out an elaborate parterre of box hedging, coloured gravel pathways and planting. The centrepiece to the design was the huge Atlas Fountain, this alone survived when the parterre was erased by the 9th Countess at the end of the 19th century.
 
 
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Today. The grounds cover ten thousand acres, with almost one thousand acres being Grade I listed parkland. There are nearly two hundred listed buildings and monuments.
 
 
 
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ALL IN ALL JUST BEAUTIFUL