Building record 3321/0/5 - The Menagerie

Garden building. Begun 1761 (contract signed October 1761), certainly no later than 1774, with alterations of c.1840 to rear. Limestone ashlar, lead and slate roofs.

{1} Garden building. Begun 1761 (contract signed October 1761), certainly no later than 1774, with alterations of c.1840 to rear. Limestone ashlar, lead and slate roofs. Tripartite plan. Single storey; 7 bays. Central 5-bay segmental portico with 4 Tuscan columns and pilasters either end approached by 3 moulded stone steps. Triple-stepped bases to columns which bear plain frieze with paterae above columns and to centre of lintels, deep moulded cornice with elements of Roman Doric cornice, blocking cornice, and cast-iron ogee-section gutter to base of lead-covered dome. Dome has slight ogee profile and is crowned by dragon supporter bearing armorial shield, both of lead. Curved rear wall of portico, with different radius to that of portico, forms elliptical space and is divided into 5 bays by pilasters supporting frieze with paterae. Round-headed niches to upper level of 3 central bays containing bronzed plaster busts, casts after the antique, one of which is now missing. Stone-paved floor to portico, fitted wood bench within and low cast-iron railings between columns with gate to central bay. Single-bay wings either side, slightly set back with round-arched sash windows set in shallow round-arched recesses. Portico cornice is continued over wings, with blocking cornices with recumbant lions looking out either end. Brick cottage to rear extensively altered or rebuilt c.1840. Design of Menagerie is attributed to Lancelot "Capability" Brown for 8th Earl of Northampton. Brown's plan for the landscaping of the park, begun 1764, in Castle Ashby archives, shows no building on site of Menagerie. Robert Adam's plan for improvements to the park of 1760 does however show a garden temple near the site, although the building shown on the plan has no particular resemblance to the Menagerie. As executed it is notably more advanced in its neo-classical design than Brown's Kentian-style Dairy (q.v.). (Castle Ashby park and gardens are included with HBMC Register of Parks and Gardens or Northamptonshire at Grade I; Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: 1973, p144; Castle Ashby Archives; Lucinda Lambton "Beastly Buildings": the National Trust book of Architecture for Animals: 1985, p142)

{4} From Knucklebone Arbour it is possible to walk along the east side of the park for a further 450m to Temple Menagerie (listed grade II*). This, also intervisible from the Castle and its gardens, is a single-storey, ashlar limestone building of c 1764 with a central five-bay segmental portico on its west side. It was probably designed by Robert Adam. Attached to its rear is a brick cottage added c 1840.

{5} Undated photo;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 13/41 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F12 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.144 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<4> English Heritage, 1994, Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (1994, Northamptonshire), (unchecked) (Report). SNN1324.

<5> Photographs of buildings in Castle Ashby (Photographs). SNN111838.

Record last edited

Aug 2 2021 3:54PM