Monument record 3321 - Castle Ashby Park

Landscape park and formal gardens at The Castle. Gardens are documented during the later 17th century, were present to the east and north of the house and were enlarged between 1688-1712. A plan of 1760 shows the gardens comprising nine compartments. in 1760 Lancelot Brown simplified the garden scheme. Much of the present garden scheme dates to the 1860s and comprises the Terraces, the main gardens, which were laid out in 1862 by WB Thomas and Joseph Newton with buildings designed by Matthew Digby Wyatt. The gardens feature large amounts of terracotta garden furniture supplied by John M Blashfield's works at Stamford. Additional gardens were laid out during the later 1860s on the site of the kitchen garden. The park was documented in 1565 and in by 1695 planting of tree avenues and landscaping had started. Additional plans for improving the park were made by Robert Adam and Lancelot Brown in 1760-61. Brown's plan was chosen and work started in 1761 but was abandoned in 1774. An extension to the park was made circa 1874.

{1} Eyre 1779 and 2nd edition 1791, both marked as belonging to The Earl of Northampton.

{4} Improved by Brown in 1761 for the 7th Earl, and later the 8th Earl.

{5} Compton Wynyates, Spyers made survey 1765-71. In 1767 Brown wrote to the Earl of Northampton. It is unlikely that any work was carried out.

{23} Of Capability Brown's time (1761-7) the remains are The Temple to the north east, The Dairy (north-west of the house, with a wooden veranda), The Bridge (the balustrade is dated 1865), and The Aviary (behind the Temple, and is now a private house).

{24} The Earl of Northampton's seat was finished in 1624.

{30} In the early C14 Ashby was owned by Walter de Langton, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, who had licence to crenellate in 1306. In 1512 the manor of Castle Ashby, together with the reversion of other estates including Yardley Hastings, was bought by Sir William Compton of Compton Wynyates (Warws), a courtier and soldier. In the following year Yardley Chase was purchased. The family did not however reside here until 1574 when Sir William’s grandson Henry, Baron Compton (d 1589), began a major building campaign. His son William (d 1630), a prominent statesman, was created Earl of Northampton in 1618. In 1584 he married Elizabeth Spencer, who in 1610 inherited a vast fortune. This financed both further rebuilding on a grand scale and extravagant entertainment, with the King visiting in 1605, 1610, 1612 and 1619. Their son Spencer Compton (d 1643) also spent and entertained on a grand scale, and the King and Queen were at Castle Ashby in 1634. James, the third Earl (d 1681), repaired the house after Civil War damage. The fourth Earl, George (d 1727), entertained William III in 1695. Charles, the seventh Earl, was born in Lisbon in 1737 where his father was Consul General. In 1757 8 he was on the Grand Tour, meeting Robert Adam in Padua in 1757. After succeeding to the earldom in 1758 both Adam and Lancelot Brown were invited to produce designs for improving the park, on which work began to the latter’s scheme in 1761. Both Charles and his wife succumbed to consumption in 1763. Work continued under Spencer, the eighth Earl (d 1796), but he spent so lavishly on house, park, and politicking that he left for Switzerland in 1774 never to return. Thus when Charles, ninth Earl (cr Marquess of Northampton 1812; d 1828), inherited Castle Ashby it was in need of urgent repairs. The second Marquess and his wife spent long periods in Italy until her death in 1830, involved in archaeological, literary, and scientific interests. His son Charles, who inherited in 1851, also spent long periods in Italy, and met Matthew Digby Wyatt there. The extensive formal gardens at Castle Ashby were laid out in the years following 1862 and several of the structures were designed by Wyatt. It remains in private hands in 1998.
Parkland. Formal gardens of c.1860 by Matthew Digby Wyatt. Four linked terraces of 1865 with terracotta balustrades. There were formerly elaborate parterres. Italian gardens dated 1860 with an orangery and elaborated walls to the east and the north formed from the C18th kitchen gardens. Current walled kitchen gardens date to the C19th. The 208ha parkland was originally enclosed soon after The Conquest. It was landscaped by Capability Brown from 1761 onwards. It retains some late C17th and mid C19th features. There are extensive remains of Brown's planting, mainly chestnut, beech and cedars. The Park Pond and The Menagerie are by Brown. There is a ha-ha on the north side of the old garden wall. The menagerie tample is Ionic. A dairy is located to the north-west of the house. A bridge over the Menagerie Pond is in terracotta. Bark Temple. Station Lodge is dated 1869.

{35} Some of the medieval village has been lost under the gardens of the great house, which was built in 1574 onwards on the site of an earlier 'castle' or fortified manor. Formal gardens were originally laid out and four avenues of trees added in 1695. The area was landscaped by Capability Brown in 1761-7; many apparently isolated trees and other features line up to give the outline of the earlier geometric design. Ridge and furrow is well-preserved in the park.

{37} There was apparently a park of sorts at Castle Ashby as early as 1565, when a survey noted a 14 acre (c 6ha) enclosure called Le Parke. The visit of William III in 1695 prompted the planting of four avenues radiating from the house to each point of the compass, and planting and levelling in the park continued for some thirty years.
Alternative plans for improving the park were drawn up in 1760 1 by Lancelot Brown and Robert Adam, with Brown’s being chosen. Work began in 1761, but was abandoned in 1774. The main works included, in addition to the grassing over of the old formal gardens, the removal of houses on the east side of Castle Ashby village and the felling of the north and west avenues and the breaking up of that to the east. The ha-ha was constructed, as was the carriage drive and bridge (later remodelled as Terracotta Bridge) between Park Pond and Warren Pond. The dam was raised between Park and Menagerie ponds and plantations planted in a circle to the south, east and north. A circuit walk with views was established, taking in, on the east, Temple Menagerie, which screened a menagerie behind, and presumably Knucklebone Arbour. The west half of the circuit approached the house up Dairy Walk, at the end of which stood The Dairy. The costs of Brown’s scheme, abandoned before a great north lake was constructed, were met by a sale of lands and by substantial sales of timber from the Chase. The deeds were endorsed, satirically, by the owner: ‘I take the manor of Fen Stanton to belong to Lawrence Brown Taste, Esq., who gave Lord Northampton Taste in exchange for it’ (VCH 1937, 232).
The Castle stands within, and overlooks, a landscape park, which c 1874 was almost doubled in size when c 1000 acres (c 416ha) was imparked north of the Grendon to Castle Ashby road. This later parkland has now returned to arable cultivation, although it remains well studded with parkland trees. Crossing it, from a bridge at the east end of Scotland Pond to Station Lodge on the north edge of the park, is a well-defined track laid in 1865.
The main landscape park, partly surrounded by a stone wall of the 1760s, lies north, south and east of the Castle. Separated from the C19 formal gardens, Italian Garden, Arboretum and ornamental woodland east of Warren Ponds by a ha-ha, the park is all permanent pasture with a high density of mature parkland trees. Underlying the pasture are extensive areas of ridge and furrow, notably north of the north terrace and along the ground rising east of Warren and Park ponds. The principal scenic vistas from the garden are eastward, as the ground falls fairly gently to a chain of ponds. At the south end of the chain are three small ponds, collectively Warren Ponds. Between the first and second ponds is Bathstone Bridge (listed grade II), a limestone ashlar, elliptical-arched structure probably of c 1765. Terracotta Bridge (listed grade II), also of c 1765 but remodelled and refaced in pink terracotta c 1868, stands between the third pond and Park Pond. The 500m long, triangular Park Pond is retained by a massive, 15m high earth dam at its north end (set in the east end of which is an icehouse of 1761, listed grade II), beyond which is the irregularly shaped, 250m long Menagerie Pond. Some 150m north-west of the north end of Menagerie Pond is the small Jew’s Harp Pond.

<1> Eyre T. (Revised by Jefferys T.), 1779, Map of the County of Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Map). SNN1852.

<2> 1904, Country Life (1904), p.666-76 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN31685.

<3> 1926, Country Life (1926), p.422-31 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN31686.

<4> Hyams E., 1971, Capability Brown and Humphry Repton, p.43 (unchecked) (Book). SNN42136.

<5> Turner R., 1985, Capability Brown and The Eighteenth Century English Landscape, p.63+71+112-14 (unchecked) (Book). SNN42509.

<6> PENNANT, 1782, A Journey From Chester to London, p.17 (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN59260.

<7> Neale J.P., 1820, Views of Seats (1), (unchecked) (Series). SNN54894.

<8> EVANS J.; BRITTON J., 1810 c., The Beauties of England and Wales, p.101 (unchecked) (Engraving). SNN59155.

<9> 1881, The Garden (Vol.19 1881), p.7-8 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN59264.

<10> 1898, The Gardener's Magazine, (unchecked) (Journal). SNN54862.

<11> 1898, Country Life (1898), p.16-19 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN59265.

<12> 1904, Country Life (1904), p.702-11 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107227.

<13> Holme C., 1908, Gardens of England in Midland and Eastern Counties, p.25-28 (unchecked) (Book). SNN54863.

<14> JEKYLL G., 1918, Garden Ornament, p.241+244 (unchecked) (Book). SNN59268.

<15> 1986, Country Life (1986), p.248-53 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN59267.

<16> LADY ROCKLEY, 1938, Historic Gardens of England, p.180-81 (unchecked) (Book). SNN56174.

<17> Stroud D., 1975, Capability Brown, p.107-9+219 (unchecked) (Book). SNN42133.

<18> Jones B., 1974, Follies and Grottoes, p.190+192 (unchecked) (Book). SNN56966.

<19> Binney M.; Hills A., 1979, Elysian Gardens, p.15+37 (unchecked) (Article). SNN42578.

<21> The Compton Family Papers, (unchecked) (Archive). SNN59234.

<23> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<24> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.341 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<25> Salzman L.F.(ed), 1937, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.230-33 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100371.

<26> 1871, Gardener's Chronicle, p.1324 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN54861.

<27> 1889, Gardener's Chronicle, p.465 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN59262.

<28> 1909, Gardener's Chronicle, p.49-51 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN59263.

<29> Anthony J., 1979, Gardens of Britain, (unchecked) (Series). SNN34164.

<30> English Heritage, 1991, Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (1991, Northamptonshire), (checked) (Report). SNN1167.

<31> Mowl T.; Hickman C., 2008, The Historic Gardens of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN106082.

<32> Bryant A., 1827, Map of The County of Northampton, (unchecked) (Map). SNN2733.

<33> Ordnance Survey, 1950s, Ordnance Survey 2.5 Inch Series (General), SP85 (unchecked) (Map). SNN54933.

<34> SCRIVEN R.G., 1878, The History of Castle Ashby, p.360-71 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107099.

<35> Hall D.N.; Martin P., 1978, C.B.A. Group 9 Newsletter: Northamptonshire Parish Surveys, p.21 Castle Ashby (unchecked) (Article). SNN32353.

<36> Morton J., 1712, The Natural History of Northamptonshire, p.492-3 (unchecked) (Book). SNN10113.

<37> English Heritage, 1994, Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (1994, Northamptonshire), (unchecked) (Report). SNN1324.

<38> 1760, Map of Castle Ashby, (unchecked) (Map). SNN107223.

<39> 1898, Country Life (1898), p.48-50 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107224.

<40> 1986, Country Life (1986), p.310-15 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107228.

<41> Compton W.B., 1930, A History of The Comptons of Compton Wyngates, (unchecked) (Book). SNN107229.

<42> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.16-18 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77380.

<43> Melville R., 1979, Castle Ashby, (unchecked) (Report). SNN107230.

<44> 1997, Follies, p.7 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107233.

<45> Bailey B.A., 1996, Northamptonshire in the Early Eighteenth Century: The Drawings of Peter Tillemans & Others, p.37 (unchecked) (Series). SNN41766.

<46> Heward J.; Taylor R., 1996, The Country Houses of Northamptonshire, p.129-39 (unchecked) (Book). SNN41757.

<47> Stuart D., 1988, The Garden Triumphant, p.21-22 (unchecked) (Book). SNN107232.

<48> Palmer, J.E., 1983, Ice Houses, (unchecked) (Article). SNN57557.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:37PM