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| The ornamental parapet to the 1st Duke's Greenhouse |
Leaving the Sculpture Gallery, at the end of my tour of the interior of Chatsworth House, the first thing that I did was sit down, have a cup of coffee and plan a route around the gardens, which I had never seen before.
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| A general view along the east elevation of the North Wing |
The house is set on bedrock of Ashover Grit, which forms relatively high ground above the floodplain of the River Derwent, and to the east, the land rises sharply across the Marsden Formation to form an escarpment of Chatsworth Grit. Here, large blocks of gritstone and loose material form a blanket of head on the now thickly wooded slopes.
Having achieved my principal objective of taking photographs of decorative stones from the Chatsworth Estate, which I would use to illustrate a forthcoming talk at St. Peter’s church in Edensor, I had just over 3 hours before catching my back to Sheffield.
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| Flora's Temple |
Starting at Flora's Temple, I then had a very quick exploration of the area around the greenhouses, where the Cavendish serpent and a star laid out in cobbles formed the highlight of the modern greenhouse, built in 1970 to a design by G A H Pearce.
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| The Cavendish serpent |
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire had a passion for building and, along with the rebuilding of the Elizabethan house in the late 1690’s, he designed a garden to match, with his greenhouse ornamented by 12 busts and a balustrade topped with large urns.
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| A view towards the 1st Dukes's Greenhouse from the Rose Garden |
The Rose Garden, formerly the French Garden, was originally laid out by the 6th Duke, after his accession in 1811, but was remodelled by the Duchess Mary, wife of the 10th Duke, in 1939 - including the tall yew hedges that border it.
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| The Rose Garden |
Originally ornamented with a statue of Flora, statues from the temple at Carnac and a white cistern from Carrara, most of the statuary and ornaments have been moved and all that remain are a couple of large figurative sculptures, carved in white marble.
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| A sculpture in the Rose Garden |
Tall gritstone columns, which came from the inner court of the house during its rebuilding, line the central path and the Derbyshire fossil marble fountain that once formed its centrepiece is now located in the Inner Court of the house.
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| A view towards Edensor |
I then headed up the hill to the Kitchen Garden, from which there are some great views looking over The Stables towards Edensor and the moorland beyond, where the Ashover Grit and Marsden Formation form the bedrock.
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| A sundial |
Along the way, I came across various miscellaneous sculpted stones – including an old chest tomb a sundial and a waymarker – and other fantastic views of the landscape.
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| A waymarker |
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