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I I &»»»»L s * m LEGACIES TO THE ART COLLECTIONS FUND The LAC F depends for its income entirely on members and supporters. Please consider leaving the I.AC F a legacy in your will: it is a charitable organization and all legacies to it are exempt from Capital Transfer Tax and aggregation without limit. Bequests can take the form of a lump sum or the residue or a fraction of your estate. Some members might prefer to consider leaving works of fine or decorative art but if you contemplate doing this it would be helpful if you could please seek the advice of the Secretary who can let you know if any item will fit into the permanent collection of the Leeds City Art Galleries. The following would be a suitable form of words to send to your solicitor for inclusion in your will: 'I bequeath to the Leeds Art Collections Fund of House, Leeds, a legacy of ...... free of all taxes'he Hon Solicitor of the LAc F is always very happy to advise potential benefactors.

THE LEEDs ART coLLEcTIQNs FUND is one of the oldest supporting bodies for the visual arts in Great Britain, a source of regular funds for buying works of art for the Leeds collections. Why not identify yourself with the Art Gallery, Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, receive your Arts Calendar free, receive invitations to all functions, private views and organized visits to places of mterest. Membership is open to everyone on payment of a minimum annual subscnption of Lio. There is also a concessionary )oint membership For LI I and liFe membership for Ei oo per person or Ei Io )oint. Corporate membership for organizations is Lzy. If you would like to jom simply complete the Form and send it with your remittance to the Hon. Secretary, Leeds Art Collections Fund, Temple Newsam House, Leeds t s I I oAE. Telephone 6A7I xi.

President Lord Martm Fitzalan Howard; Vice President Thc Rt Hon the Earl of Harewood t.i.D; Trustees E. M. Arnold, Mrs S. Gilchrist, W. T. Oliver; Commirtee W. A. B.Brown (Chairman), E. M. Arnold ( Vice-Chairman), Dr H. R. A)pin, Councillor B. P. Atha, Mrs D. H. Boyle, P. R. P. Chadwick, Mrs J. H. Epstone, Mrs S. Mason, Mrs M. Morris, Mrs B.Roberts; Joint Hon Treasurers E. M. Arnold, J. S. Fox; Hon Secretary C. G. Gilbert; Hon Membership Secretary Dr R. B. Welch; Hon Legal Adviser T. A. Last; Hon Excursions Secretary Mrs Audrey Warburton; Events Committee Chairman Dr J. R. Sherwin.

LElsURE sERvlcEs coMMITTEE The Lord Mayor; Chair Councillor B. P. Atha; Deputy Chair Councillor T. Briggs; Councillor Miss A. D. Atkinson, Councillor M. J. Bedford, Councillor J. L. Carter, Councillor C. B.Cliff, Councillor P. Crotty, DBE, KsG, Councillor Mrs I. Flavell, Councillor J. G. B. Frank)and, Counallor Mrs S. M. Gill, Councillor G. P. Kirk)and, Counmllor A. Miller, Councillor G. Moakes, Councillor Mrs M. Monks, )F, Councillor E. H. Morris, MBE, Councillor Mrs C. Myers, Councillor Jill Page, Councillor S.J, Sadler. s TAFr Director of Art Galleries Christopher Gilbert MA FMA; Principal Keeper Anthony WcllsColc MA AMA; Principal Keeper (Art Gallery and Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture) Terry F. Friedman BA FHD; Keeper (Art Gallery) Alexander Robertson MA AMA; Keeper (Lotherton Hall) Sarah C. Nichols MA; Keeper (Temple Netvsam) James Lomax MA AMA; Keeper (Conservation) lan Fraser; Keeper (Education) Adam White BA MA; Senior Assistant Keeper (Education) Judith Nesbitt MA; Senior Assistant Keeper (Art Gallery) Corinne E. Miller BA AMA; Sem'or Assistant Keeper (Exhibitions) Nigel Walsh BA; Research Assistant (Henry Moore Centre for the Study ofSculpture) Daru Rooke BA; Curatorial Assistant post vacant; Pamtings Conservator Michael Sheppard; Technical Supervisor John Berry BA; Metalu ork Conservator Phoebe Clements DA(EDIN) DIFCONS (DES)vscA); Technical Assistant David Hudson; Administrator Christine Stokes; Secretary Denise Lawson; Clerk Typist Va)erie Jackson; Clerical Assistants Shee) Bharj, Jacqueline Wade; Manager, Craft Centre and Design Gallery Marcia Southon.

NQTE Starting with rhe first issue published in 1947, the entire Leeds Arts Calendar is now available on microfilm. Write for mformation or send orders direct to Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan AS to6, UsA.

COVER ILLUSTRATION The formal garden at Lotherton Hall, looking east. Yorkshire Post

PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS Archives Service, Leeds IA Yorkshire Post 9, ro, I I, I J LEEDS ARTS CALENDAR NUMBER IO4 . I989

The last editorial reported that we were cam- days. An eloquent plea is made that photographic paigning to purchase a distinguished pedestal writ- evidence be used to reinstate certain vanished ing table which Henry yth Viscount Irwin features and original planting schemes, so enhanc- commissioned for the Library at Temple Newsam ing the authentic charm of this fragile gardenscape. in about ryq5, so it is very gratifying to announce The author, Mrs Mette Eggen, Associate Professor that the target of Er 65,ooo was reached with the at the Agriculture University of Norway, carried aid of nearly E3o,ooo raised through the LACF. out her research in tq8y and we are grateful for this The table, now back in its original setting, forms a opportunity to publish her fine article. magnificent centrepiece for this richly architectural Conservation is an increasingly significant interior because the scale, design and embellish- aspect of curatorship. In Leeds we aim to concen- ment are perfectly attuned to the decor. trate on preventive conservation through environ- Another cause for rejoicing is the famous success mental control rather than repairing damage after of the Art Gallery Centenary celebrations. Our it has occurred. There exists, however, a contin- main show, zoo Years ofArt in Britain, sponsored uous need to maintain the art collection and we by Barclays Bank, pLc, attracted over too,ooo have r'ecently moved our conservation studios and visitors —an all-time record —and attendances workshops from the isolated Almshouses for the year totalled 235,000 which represents a to quarters in the stable block at Temple Newsam dramatic increase. Numbers at Temple Newsam where work is far easier to supervise. Ian Fraser, and at Lotherton are fairly static, although higher who trained at West Dean College, took up the than many other country house museums such as post of Keeper of Conservation in May with special Osterley and Ham which are not lived in. A special responsibility for furniture. effort is being made to promote Lotherton Hall Other staff changes include the arrival of Chris- during the present year and, in readiness for the tine Stokes as Administrative Assistant following expected influx, the LACF now has a striking new the early retirement of Jean English who joined us donations box in the form of a pedestal, painted to in the early t95os. One of Jean's outstanding simulate gold spangled lapis-lazuli, supporting a achievements was re-organizing the inventory and seated pottery Buddha figure. cataloguing systems which were badly in need of Almost eighteen months ago, following a spate upgrading; thousands of record cards form an of silver thefts actoss the north of , we enduring tribute to her commitment and exact removed all the Lotherton silver to Temple scholarship before, in the 196os, she was given Newsam while new high security bullion cases promotion and extended responsibilities for were constructed. These are now finished and the operating a rapidly growing department. Besides splendid Gascoigne race cups and arrays of Vic- her professional capabilities Jean was an inexhaus- torian silver are back on show. As part of the tible reservoir of Temple Newsam folk history and display we have opened up the old butler's plate will be sadly missed but not forgotten. closet still fitted with suitably decrepit baize-lined Lastly, reference must be made to an intact shelving and cutlery drawers; this space is now a laundry room from Preshaw Hall, Hants, which kind of Aladdin's cave for the display-storage of has been donated by Hugh Dixon of Clarendon our reserve silver collection. Still lingering at House, together with a generous sum for re- Lotherton, the present Calendar is devoted to a instating it in an outbuilding at Temple Newsam. sensitive study of the lovely garden created by This makes a most welcome and interesting addi- Laura Gwendolen Gascoigne during Edwardian tion to our country house interiors. THE EDWARDIAN GARDEN AT LOTHERTON

METTE EGGEN

Lotherton Hall is well known and loved by book Views ofLotherton Hall of z 984. Apart from numerous visitors from the vicinity of Leeds as a articles on the garden by Nancy Boydell and Ken place for recreation and the experience of art. Since Lemmon of z9y8 in other publications,'his article z968, when Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne so is the first attempt to give a comprehensive picture generously presented the house and grounds to the of the house and garden at Lotherton as they were with an endowment fund, Leeds City in their heyday. Art Galleries and Leeds Leisure Services have been The main scope of the MA case study was to responsible for the development and upkeep of the analyse an Edwardian garden designed by its property. owner, which is a special category in the history of During the past twenty years a number of articles gardening in Great Britain, and to suggest a policy have been published in the Leeds Arts Calendar on for its conservation. This article presents only the the transformation and use of the house as a analysis, which shows that the garden at Lotherton country house museum, focusing, naturally, on its Hall is a very good example of an Edwardian various collections and the special exhibitions that one-person garden. Its creator was Sir Alvary's have taken place there. The Edwardian house and mother, Mrs Laura Gwendolen Douglas Trench- the adjoining garden were first published in Leeds Gascoigne, who laid out the garden between z 8yg Art Calendar No. 64, in z969. Brief descriptions and ref z4 with only few alterations and additions have appeared in the guide books and in the picture until her death in r94ct (Plate z). Apart from studying the well preserved existing garden, a great number and variety of sources were used to define its original layout. Although Mrs Gascoigne apparently never made any plans her- self, a few other drawings turned up during the research in z98y: Plans for the rock garden (West Yorkshire Archive Service, Gascoigne Archives, Pl. z4) and designs for the main drive gates (Temple Newsam/Lotherton Files, Pl. y), all by the land- scape designer William Goldring, dated z9o6. Apart from early Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, documentation has been found in the small collec- tion of surviving photographs (Lotherton Files) and in private photo collections of later years. Interviews with people who knew the garden in the old days, in particular Mrs Gascoigne's daughter, Cynthia Lady Sandys, have been absolutely invalu- able in the attempt to re-create the history of the garden. Even if many tracks are still unexplored and numerous questions remain unanswered, this article gives an interpretation of the garden based on the intentions of its creator and its relationship with the house and grounds.

THE LOTHERTON LANDSCAPE Lotherton Hall was the last home of the Gascoigne family after the vacation and later demolition of Mrs Laura Gwendolen Douglas Trench-Gascoigne, the nearby Parlington Hall. As one of the old and from a rv4t photograph by Compton Collier powerful landed families the Gascoignes held vast properties in the eastern parts of the West Riding. ing Lotherton. Lotherton Hall, presently the The estate that Sir Alvary presented to Leeds covers property of the people of Leeds, provides a unique afresh. c.6o ha (r y5 acres) and is the remaining core of the opportunity to look at local history old township of Lotherton-curn-Aberford, whose A HISTORY OF LOTHERTON HALL UNTIL ?893 landscape boundaries are still largely intact, including the Great North Road through Aberford The earliest record of the existence of a hall at village and the parts of the Aberford Dykes that Lotherton is in zo86, according to the West form the modern county boundary between West Yorkshire Archaeological Survey of r98z. How- and North Yorkshire. ever the place name Lotherton dates from the late c Within the Magnesian limestone belt with its seventh century AD and indicates a Saxon 'tun (a well-drained, fertile soil, human settlements have farmstead or vill) named after 'Hluttor', who must existed since prehistoric times. The nearby coal have taken over an earlier settlement. The raised measures, the limestone, the arable land and the site of the present hall may thus have been built on remaining woods formed the base of the Gascoigne continuously, in which process all traces of earlier family's wealth and influence, and their impact on buildings have disappeared above ground. The the landscape is still clearly visible. However, the oldest standing building at Lotherton today is the new Ar bypass and the main electricity transmis- Norman chapel close to the west front of the hall, sion lines are today competing in scale with the dating from the twelfth century. The historic historic landscape elements. With few exceptions, sources reveal that a village existed at Lotherton in the landed families have sold out and left the area, I 3 59 and possibly until after z'7po, but was and an insurance company owns all land surround- definitely gone in z8qo when the first tithe award

Je.. z Lotherton Hall drain plan, r 896, showing the extent of the pre-t Sag house with the bow window, centre right map was drawn up, showing that the village had curious asymmetry of the south front, created by been replaced by a park. the different number of windows at either side of From when John Gascoigne of Lasingcroft the bay, two to the east (still intact), but only one to bought Lotherton in z5yo until Richard Oliver the west, removed by the z9o3 entrance hall and Gascoigne had plans made for the rebuilding of the west wing. This irregularity was to be the leading hall in z8z8, nothing is recorded of its building architectural motive of the three extensions of history, probably because Parlington Hall was the z896, z903 and z92y (Plate z). family residence. Interestingly, about half of the pre-z8z8 house is still intact as the core of the A HOME FOR THE GASCOIGNES z893 —z979 existing building, the Boudoir (formerly the Draw- When Richard Oliver Gascoigne died in z8q3, his ing Room), decorated in the style of Greek Revival. daughters Mary Isabella and Elizabeth divided the The exact dating of the pre-z 82,8 house has proved Gascoigne properties between them. Mary a puzzle to earlier writers in the Leeds Arts Isabella, who took Parlington, married Frederick Calendar, and more research is obviously needed Charles Trench who assumed the name and arms to establish the precise time of building between of Gascoigne, and Elizabeth married Frederick c. zygo and z 828. From z 828 to z 893 no changes Mason Trench, who succeeded as the 2,nd Lord were made to the hall apart from a rebuilding of the Ashtown, and took Lotherton. Lord and Lady domestic wing. Ashtown never lived there, but let the estate to One quality of the pre-z8z8 house that was tenants. When Lady Ashtown died without an heir continued in the Edwardian remodelling was the in z 893, she left Lotherton to her sister's only son,

I otherton Hall in t 9or showing part of the new formal garden Frederick Richard Thomas (r8gt —t93y). He building process. This may have been an important became the sole owner of all Gascoigne estates reason why this last extension was carried through seventeen the were when his father died a widower in t9og. at all, years after plans made.'he In r89z Frederick R. T. Trench-Gascoigne had use of Lotherton Hall as an auxiliary married Laura Gwendolen Douglas Galton, and hospital during the First World War did not require when he inherited Lotherton, they decided to make any alterations to the building. After t 924 no more it their home, for the first time in the history of the changes were made to the hall in Frederick's and Gascoigne family. During the next fifteen years the Gwendolen's lifetime, but the gardens were further small, but pleasant hall was twice rebuilt and developed. Mrs Gascoigne died in 1949, at the age extended into a modern country house with all the of ninety, twelve years after her husband, leaving a necessary conveniences like electricity and hot complete Edwardian country house to Sir Alvary water central heating, complete with domestic Gascoigne. When he retired from his distinguished wings, a motor house in the old stable block, a diplomatic career in t9gg and came to live here lodge at the main gate to the park and an extended with his wife Lorna, they maintained the character home farm. The gardens were largely completed by of the house almost undisturbed apart from paint- the outbreak of the First World War in t9t4. ing the window woodwork white. In the garden The two main extensions of the hall before t 9 t4 only minor alterations were made. gave more space as the children arrived, Alvary Sir Alvary died in t9yo, only two years after his Douglas Frederick (t893—r9yo), Edward Oliver great donation to Leeds, but Lady Gascoigne (b. and d. t896) and Cynthia Mary (born r898). continued to live in their flat on the first floor of the The designs for the t 896 extension, the east wing, hall until her death in t9p9. By that time the hall were made by the architect John Osborne had been successfully transformed into a country Smith, who also added a small west front porch. A house museum, the bird garden was established t90I water-colour vignette shows an asymmetri- (t9pg) and the garden was maintained by Leeds cal, informal south facade with a small new bay Leisure Services. Thanks to the Director of the east of the old bow (Plate 3).The whole house was Parks Department until t9pz, Mr George Knight, covered with grey rough-cast, hiding the pre-r 8z8 its Edwardian character survived in spite of the stone walls, the windows were surrounded by changes that had to be made before it was opened dressed sandstone of a light colour and the window to the public in r 969, twenty years ago. woodwork was painted dark brown. The r9ot Apart from these and later changes, the plants vignette also shows a part of the formal garden in are growing older, some have disappeared or been its earliest stage.4 replaced, and the original layout is no longer The extension of t9og produced an entrance hall evident even to people who know the garden well. and a west wing at a right angle to the existing To be able to understand Mrs Gascoigne's garden, building, removing approximately one half of the we must therefore first make ourselves better pre-t8z8 house. A vestibule and a porte-cochere acquainted with the lady herself. replaced the t896 porch, which was carefully taken down and re-erected as the 'White Summer MRS GASCOIGNE House', the focal point of the main vista in the new Laura Gwendolen Douglas Galton was born in formal garden (see Pl. 9). This time the architect t 8 5 9 as the second daughter of very gifted parents, was the estate agent for Lotherton, Thomas Her- Douglas Strutt Galton and Marianne Nicholson. bert Prater, who succeeded well in maintaining the Her father was the second son of John Howard well balanced symmetry of the south front, resem- Galton of Hadzor House, near Droitwich, Wore., bling the style of the famous Arts-and-Crafts and Isabella Strutt. As a Royal Engineer Douglas architect Voysey. Galton became a national expert on hospitals, In r9op —o8 T. H. Prater also made plans for the urban sanitary conditions and related fields, receiv- elongation of the t 896 east wing to the south. ing a Kac in t88y. From the t8gos he actively However, contrary to what has hitherto been supported Florence Nightingale: his wife, understood, these plans were for some reason not Marianne, was Florence's first cousin. carried out until t 9z4. Cynthia had married in that To Gwendolen and her elder sister the homes of year and lived in York with her husband, Arthur their grandparents played an important part Sandys Hill, later Lord Sandys, who was a Royal throughout their childhood and youth. Gwendolen Engineer and therefore able to give a hand in the was sent down from London to her grandmother at Hadzor every winter because she 'had a chest'. She Laird, Osgood Mackenzie (r8yz —r9zz) of Inver- came to know every corner of that modest, but ewe, Wester Ross, Scotland. excellently composed garden, apparently laid out Gwendolen may have first met the sisters Rose by her grandfather, who died when she was only and Ellen Willmott in r 888, when they first visited three. The house contained her the Berkeley family at Spetchley Park, close neigh- grandparents'xtensive art collection, from which she later was bours and friends of the Galtons at Himbleton and left a few items. Hadzor. Rose married Robert Berkeley in r89r From his father Douglas inherited Himbleton and they came to live at Spetchley in r 898. Ellen Manor only y km from Hadzor. A new garden was and Rose were both very good gardeners, but Ellen laid out there by Marianne, whose parents were became famous for her garden at Warley Place also greatly interested in botany. The love of plants where she developed a fabulous world of plants in and gardens was passed on to Gwendolen through the 'wild'ashion of William Robinson. Gertrude her family and their social circle, where everybody Jekyll, William Robinson and Ellen Will mott had a garden for parties, games and recreation. became the three most important advocates for the However, as a girl Gwendolen seems to have abandoning of the Victorian carpet bedding and preferred riding and tennis to gardening. The first the introduction of more hardy British plants into fields in which she as a young woman developed gardening. Ellen would have opened Gwendolen's her artistic talents were music and writing. She eyes to these new ideas, and as their friendship wrote three books; two novels, published in r 89 r continued, she frequently visited the Gascoignes in and r893, and an account of a tour through Yorkshire during the years when the garden at Burma, Among Pagodas and Fair Ladies, Lotherton was taking shape. No doubt both plants published in r896. Although the reviews were and good advice were given generously, as was her fairly complimentary, she stopped writing, pro- habit. bably because married life demanded her full Miss Willmott would in fact have met attention. Taking part in the extending of the house Gwendolen's second great gardening friend, and designing the new garden were challenges that Osgood Mackenzie, on her visits to the Gascoig- allowed her to use her creative talents without nes'ummer resort on the west coast of Scotland, leaving the family circle. Craignish Castle in Argyll. Frederick had taken Frederick was above all a soldier of the Empire, Gwendolen to see Craignish while they were receiving the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the engaged, probably c. r 89o, and she loved the place Boer War in r9or. Although his mother and aunt at first sight. Scotland was to have a strong had carried out many local building projects, he influence on her for the rest of her life. Every does not seem to have taken a great interest in summer the Gascoignes sailed their yacht up the architecture himself apart from the rebuilding of coast to Inverewe, where Osgood Mackenzie had Lotherton Hall. The decisions about the extensions begun his garden on a bare peninsula in the r86os were made by Frederick and Gwendolen together, by planting shelterbelts against the Atlantic gales. but the garden layout he obviously left to his wife By the turn of the century a great variety of exotic and was always very proud of her achievements. shrubs and trees were growing well behind the Frederick and Gwendolen also travelled exten- shelter, including Eucalyptus trees, palms, bam- sively during their long life together, in Asia, boos and Rhododendrons. The Gascoignes asked Africa, South America and the West Indies. These him to make another garden for them at Craignish, travels were of importance to Lotherton because of which he did c. t9oy. Mrs Gascoigne had been the works of art and furniture that were brought developing the existing small, formal garden at the home and for the plants that Gwendolen would foot of the castle, but the Mackenzie Garden was to have seen, apparently without buying any outside be a wild exotic garden in the spirit of Inverewe, the British Isles. containing a good selection of the species that were growing there at the time. A few of these species GARDENING FRIENDS were also tried on the calcareous soil at Lotherton, The people who had the strongest influence on except acid-loving Rhododendrons. Gwendolen in her adult life in terms of gardening Within Mrs Gascoigne's wide social circle there ideals were no doubt the two well-known gar- were a number of other gardening friends, some of deners of the time, Miss Ellen Willmott (r8g8- great fame. The landscape gardener William Gold- I934) of Warley Place, Sussex, and the Highland ring (r8gy —r9r9) was commissioned to design the new terrace at Lotherton I9oz—og. He became a entic'eriod gardens. New gardens could therefore good friend of the family and was also asked to be added without disturbing the overall design. design the new gates on the main drive in I9o6. The one style that was not in fashion, according to Other friends were plantsmen and even plant formalists like Reginald Blomfield, was the land- hunters, like Reginald Farrer (t 88o—I9zo) of scape style; however, towards the close of the Ingleborough in Yorkshire, and Frank Kingdon- Edwardian era a revival of the eighteenth-century Ward (I885—I9gg), who introduced the blue style was also possible, thus ending a hundred poppy to Great Britain in the I9zos. Mrs Gascoig- years'ircle of revivalism. ne's own influence as a gardener on neighbours and During the last golden years before the Great friends in Yorkshire is another chapter that needs War changed the world, the Victorian myth of the to be explored sometime. heroic head gardener was replaced by the myth of the artistic garden owner, the amateur plants-man EDWARDIAN GARDENS AND THEIR OWNERS or -woman, aristocratic or at least wealthy, who Throughout the revivalism had been designed his/her own garden. Even the Arts-and- the main theme in architecture and garden design. Crafts movement ignored the gardener craftsman, At the turn of the century the keyword was variety, who was reduced to a mere mechanic, carrying out meaning that the Edwardians experimented with a his master's concepts.~ number of styles. The two main trends, however, were the formal and the vernacular, GARDENING AT LOTHERTON

'formal'mplying the more historically accurate, 'vernacu- Even if the head gardener at Lotherton, David lar'eaning the old-fashioned and traditional. As Hazelwood, is not forgotten, there is no evidence a rule these two trends were reconciled in that the that he had any influence on the garden layout, and vernacular gardens had a formal framework and Mrs Gascoigne was seen as the sole creator of her the formal gardens incorporated vernacular garden. Hazelwood and his staff of about six motifs. The gardens of the Lutyens-Jekyll partner- gardeners did the practical work in the kitchen ship are the best example of this reconciliation. garden and pleasure grounds, while Mrs Gascoigne The rivalry between advocates of bedding and took part in the propagation of annuals in the those of the 'wild'erbaceous garden also became greenhouse. Most other garden plants were bought less antagonistic, and the two systems were used in according to her plans or received as gifts, and the combination. In the Edwardian flower garden most interesting plants were labelled with metal or there was a tendency towards massing and stronger porcelain labels. colours, to be seen in its extreme in the one-colour Mrs Gascoigne was a member of the Royal gardens, for which cool, light colours were favour- Horticultural Society and would have read their ites. Warm colours and roses were used in bedding, journals plus a number of other periodicals and which was finally developed into an all-year books, a few of which have come to light again; she process, keeping the gardeners busier than ever to would have been well acquainted with the for- avoid empty spaces in their beds at any time. malist doctrines of her era. She was nevertheless The experimenting with styles was often solved able to see the existing qualities of her site, by making not one, but a series of gardens within landscape style motifs as well as other features, and the garden, each one enclosed and with a different incorporate them all in her new scheme. motive, frequently in the attempt to recreate 'auth- THE EDWARDIAN GARDEN LAYOUT WITH LATER DEVELOPMENTS

THE PRE-I 893 GARDEN B. A shrubbery east-south-east of the walled gar- To be able to understand Mrs Gascoigne's layout it den with winding paths in a naturalistic style. is necessary first to look at a plan of Lotherton as it There is a faint possibility that this part was was when the Gascoignes moved in. The Ordnance designed by the Victorian landscape gardener Survey map of z 893 (Plate y) shows that the Joshua Major of Knowstrop, Leeds, some time existing buildings were the pre-r82,8 house with before his death in z 862.. domestic wings and outhouses, the chapel, the gardener's cottage and the stable block with the c. A south garden connecting the house and the 'Old House'cross the lane. The following parts of parts A and B. the garden may be identified: D. A north garden. A. A walled garden with edging paths, rows of trees and a south facing greenhouse centrally E. A plantation linked with Captain Wood to the situated between the two curving flued walls. The north-east and continued to the west beyond the south 'wall'as the battlemented yew hedge. gardener's cottage to form a screen around the

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Lotherton Hall z 893, Areas A—F Area r Park Area 8 Rock Garden Area a Entrance Area Area y Tennis Court Area g Formal Garden Area to Meadow Area y Terrace Area r r Parhngton Garden Area y Walled Garden Area x z, Shelterbelts Area 6 Pond Garden Area t3 Kitchen Garden and Orchard Area y Shrubbery chapel and hall. No through road from the hall to as all hedgerows, leaving only the bigger trees in an the stable block is seen. open pasture, probably after c. Tpyo. The oldest standing trees in the park still in parts define the old F. A paddock, seen on the tithe award of map field boundaries, clearly seen on the first 0 S map of z84o. Its south boundary towards the park was t 84', although many trees have now disappeared. formed by a ditch that continued around the To create a more favourable approach to the shrubbery an (R) to Captain Wood, probably hall, a drive was made through the park from the ancient ditch. boundary main north gate at the junction between Collier Lane and Lotherton Lane, the present one-way car Ihe parts A, B, c and F were developed by Mrs Gascoigne as pleasure grounds, while D and E were entrance (Plate 6). Between z 84o and z 84 'he incorporated in the kitchen garden. drive was laid west of the stable block, approaching the hall from the south-west. In zyo6 the Gascoignes re-routed this last part of the gently A TOUR OF THE GARDENS curved drive once more in connection with the We now take a tour through the gardens, starting extension of the entrance area to the west, whereby at the main entrance to the park and ending in the a new boundary was formed towards the park. kitchen garden and orchard. The information given has been confirmed by various sources unless AREA 2.: ENTRANCE AREA otherwise stated. For a complete list of sources the The extension of this area was part of the general reader is referred to my dissertation. improvement process that had already produced The different areas are defined by a name and a the terrace and the formal garden. The new number from t to zg (Plate 5). entrance gates and the pier-and-chain fence were designed in zyo6 by William Goldring, whose AREA I: PARK drawings survive (Lotherton Files, Plate y). The The park was apparently a result of the emparking wrought-iron gates were probably made by process that removed the Lotherton village as well Joubert. The designs for the stone piers of the

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6 The main entrance to Lotherton, showing the Lodge

IO .,,.s~g, 7 William Goldring's design for the entrance gates, 1906

gateway and flanking walls were identical with a horse once bit its top shoot off while waiting for a those of Iyo3 for the terrace, which are lost, delayed passenger. repeating its cornices and ball-shaped ornaments. A road between the hall and the stable block Iron chains were hung between the piers along the where the new motor houses were installed was sunken fence at either side of the gate. The chains opened in I9o6. A wire fence with two pairs of were replaced with iron bars in I98o as a fence wrought-iron gates was put up from the south-west towards the new deer park, all to no purpose, corner of the terrace to the south corner of the because a double wire fence was built instead at a garden to keep the rabbits out. The main garden distance from the drive. Today the only original gate stood between two old lime trees at the present chains are found in the 2,g m boundary of the entrance to the formal garden, the other about half garden of the Old House. way down the footpath. When the garden was Additional plantings were made not only to give opened to the public in I969, the fence and gates the garden a better shelter against the south- were removed. One pair of gates was re-erected at westerly winds, but also to create a handsome the north corner of the east wing, the other seems to approach to the house and garden. By Iyo3 a yew be lost. hedge was planted along the drive and the new The footpath was flagged in the typos and four front yard, ending at the chapel. New trees and 'urns'ere placed along the path. The 'urns're in shrubs, in particular clumps of hollies, were addi- fact pieces of masonry from the medieval church of tions to the older boundary vegetation. Specimen St Ricarius in Aberford, renovated by the trees were the cut-leaved beech by the corner of the Gascoigne sisters in I86 I.Some of the old masonry terrace and the two cedars of Lebanon just inside was reused by Mary Isabella in a garden temple by the gates, planted by Alvary and Cynthia in a pond at Parlington. The ornaments and probably accordance with Goldring's design. The metal also the flags were reused once more at Lotherton when Parlington Hall demolished. The tablets with their name on, one beside each tree, was 'urns'sed have long disappeared. The tree to the north of the to be filled with flowers in Mrs Gascoigne's gate is much smaller than the southern one because days. The footpath forms a part of the ancient north- made in connection with the east wing extension of south road through the lost village of Lotherton, r 896 when the white summer house was erected, passing between the stable block and the hall, and was largely finished by t9o3. crossing the main drive and continuing south of the The formal scheme was created by a grid-iron garden through Ringhay Wood as Ranger's Walk. pattern of gravelled paths, about 3 m wide, under- Today it is a public footpath, but in Mrs Gascoig- lined by herbaceous borders, clipped yew hedges ne's time it ended in a circular arbour of box, and conically shaped yews forming a series of possibly inspired by a similar box enclosure at enclosures and vistas (Plate 8). The lines of the grid Hadzor. Today the box plants are barely alive, but were not quite at right angles with the house. A the arbour circle is still easily identified. The terrace (Area q) linked the house to the ground, footpath travels past it and continues south served as a viewing platform towards the formal through a gate. From the Old House to the main garden and closed it to the west. The boundary drive the old road was re-laid after r 968 to form a walls to the north and east were formed by more obvious route to the hall and gardens for plantings of various shapes and textures, enclosing visitors, who now arrive from the stable block area. a series of different gardens (Areas g —9). To the south, the shrubbery (Area 7) and the freely- AREA FORMAL 3: GARDEN grown, tall vegetation in the entrance area formed This part is Mrs Gascoigne's main contribution to the side scenes of a pastoral view of open fields the new layout of the garden. Through a formal across the ha-ha at the end of the meadow (Area scheme she managed to tie together old and new co), one of the main motifs of the landscape style. parts, giving the whole setting the necessary sim- The centre of the formal garden is the square plicity while making the most of the wider land- parterre, laid out at the crossing of the main scape in her composition. The design was probably east—west vista and the north —south axis that

jv,'W>, ~ 8,iL= .Ik.

.~.IISSI g Aerial v>ew of the house and gardens, 1967

I 2. extends from the walled garden through an open- clipped yew hedge, of which only the south wing is ing in the battlemented yew hedge. This opening clipped today. may have been made by Mrs Gascoigne to fit the From the terrace, looking east across the circular formal pattern. The central motif of the square is a parterre, the main vista was dominated by two richly carved ornament in 'standing coade stone, probably rows of conical yews, like guardsmen'ith the Victorian base of a sundial moved from an a pole through their middle. In David Hazel- unknown position in the pre-t893 garden. The wood's time their shape was maintained not by square was enclosed by clipped yew hedges almost clipping, but by tying the outer twigs to the inner like today, with a few exceptions: The hedges ones in pairs! extended a few metres to the west along the path, The circular parterre (Plate ro) in front of the there were two openings at the west side of the house was probably laid out while the t9o3 terrace square and all hedges were taller and had square- was being built. The circle allows the different lines cut end 'towers'. The two openings meant that the of the house and the formal grid to meet and the flower beds in the square could be glimpsed from deviation in angles to become equalized, creating the western parts of the garden. only a charming turn of the main vista as seen from The four right-angled beds in the square were of the terrace. The original design included the exis- interest not so much for their shapes, which remain ting four-part central bed with box edgings, filled the same, but for their original planting and edging, with bulbs and annuals, but with a stone font at the forming what must be called a 'rock parterre's a central point instead of the present Japanese stone strong contrast to the clipped hedge enclosure. 'lantern'. On the lawn, at the corners of the paths Irregular stones were used as an edging and a few extending from the gravelled circle, were placed bigger ones were scattered, half buried, among the three pairs of large vases, two more pairs along the plants. The planting was mainly low perennials, south path from the parterre and another on the surrounded by masses of ground-covering heathers terrace, tz vases altogether. None of these orna- and clumps of Bergenias, with a few annuals and ments seem to have survived. taller perennials adding colour and contrast within The font was bought by Mrs Gascoigne in an all-year scheme. The use of heathers as a ground Venice, probably in t9o4. It was made of a white cover was one of Mrs Gascoigne's ways of creating stone, the font itself carved with four lions'eads an image of Scotland in Yorkshire. The Scots between which were two birds and two horses on heather, Calluna vulgaris, would not have survived opposite sides, the pillar decorated in a fish-scale on the calcareous soil, but the lime-tolerant Aus- pattern and with a band of opposed Cs around its trian heath, Erica herbacea (carnea) served beauti- middle, standing on a square base with a human fully. The plants may not have come fror, face at each corner. The font stood in its original Inverewe, but from Backhouse of York, a firm that position until the t94os, but at the wedding of Sir originally raised and distributed many garden Alvary's daughter Yvonne in r9gz it was photo- varieties of heather. Mrs Gascoigne's inside the filled with flowers. 'wild'eds graphed chapel, (A would have pleased William Robinson, similar font presently in the chapel is not the one). who recommended all heathers to be used in Later it was put up on the terrace, and the present masses. Japanese 'lantern'ook its former place at the Since t968 the 'rock parterre'as disappeared centre of the circular parterre. The font is believed and been replaced with a traditional bedding-out to have cracked up beyond repair after t968 scheme that leaves the beds bare during winter. A because of being filled with soil and plants, which circular bed around the sundial base has also been never happened in Mrs Gascoigne's time. The added. A thorough renewal of the yew hedges present ornament, an incense burner, is most likely seems to be in good progress, except for the one that the Gascoignes brought home from the difference from the original ground pattern, men- Far East in t9z4 and placed somewhere in the rock tioned above. garden until it was moved to its present position in The east extension of the square, leading up to the t95os. Unfortunately, these events are now the white summer house, was flanked by a pair of more or less forgotten. herbaceous borders between the clipped hedges. The twelve terracotta vases were bought by the This was the east ending of the main vista as seen Gascoignes in Singapore in t9oy. Photographs from the terrace (Plate 9). The formal background show that they were elaborately decorated with of the former porch was originally a semi-circular multi-coloured flowers and leaves in relief and p II I ~ I ~ I » 'ii ~ ii IIP

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ki %."

rt The Terrace of the formal garden, photographed in the typos r6 old trees. The original layout incorporated two half-hardy, most of which have now grown to lime trees and a beech that died in the z97os and is considerable dimensions. The plants on the house now a 'stump sculpture'ear the Chinese lantern. walls were supported by vertical wires drawn up A copper beech, planted c. z9og at the north-west through still-existing metal hooks and were let as corner of the square parterre, today nearly equals far up as the edge of the roof when possible, some the size of the two old limes. The bigger central lime clipped like thick blankets. The still profuse effect tree was called 'The Old Man'y the family, who of these plantings is most certainly as intended by practically lived under it in the summers. In spite of Mrs Gascoigne, who also had the beds below the periods of deterioration the two old trees have retaining walls of the terrace filled with masses of survived thanks to cut-back operations and other summer annuals. The plants on the west wing and remedies. However, no tree lives for ever, and their south front of the house were, from west to east: future replacement will be a great importance. Five Pyracantha coccinea 'Lalandei'firethorn), a rose specimen trees (two cedars, a red-leaved maple, a climber, Choisya ternata (Mexican orange blos- golden rain and a monkey puzzle) have been added som), Magnolia grandi flora, Garrya elliptica (silk in the lawn since z 968, plus a number of lilacs in tassel bush), Cotoneaster saiicifolius, another rose z 989. climber and Clematis montana rubens, now replaced by a Boston creeper. AREA 4: TERRACE Ornaments were placed where the architect had The formal character and proportions of the left space for them, flower urns on the balustrades terrace were well adjusted to the asymmetrical and stairs and a pair of the Singapore vases architecture of the house with its new east wing, between the right-angled beds..A bird table in indicating a close contact between William Gold- coade stone stood on a base in the flag stone paving ring and T. H. Prater during the building process in in front of the pre-z8z8 bow, possibly a gift from z9oz—o3. The rectangular terrace, modified by an Mrs Gascoigne's sister in z9o3. This most uncom- end platform, reflects the outlines of the west wing mon ornament was somewhat vandalized a few (Plate zz). The stone balls and cornices of the years ago and moved to the back yard of the hall, balustrade piers (later repeated in the main drive where it still remains. gates) were a well-known Renaissance motif, The end platform of the terrace was made as a popular in formal gardens. setting for an ornament to form a focal point for While the bed shapes were part of Goldring's the view from the house. The present ornament is design, the plantings were apparently Mrs the 'Pilgrim Priest', a Japanese bronze sculpture Gascoigne's. The beds nearer to the west wing were that was placed here in z968. It was presented to in the z9yos planted in a simple geometrical Leeds in zygo by the Brotherton family and was pattern: a thick ground cover of clipped heaths previously at Temple Newsam. with a band of snapdragons along the middle and The original ornaments for the platform seem to one standard winter jasmine, supported by a pole, have been three lead cisterns from Parlington with at the corner of each right-angled bed. In the curved the figures of two 'little men'r garden gnomes beds near the end platform flowers and heathers placed between them. The cisterns were moved to seem to have been used more freely, resembling the the back of the hall in z968 to flank the entrance square parterre plantings with the addition of door to Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne's private standard jasmines. The formal use of heathers as an apartment. After z979 they were moved to their edging instead of box was well known during the present location by the Old House and filled with Victorian era in , according to John plants. More obscure is the origin, dating and fate Loudon, which may indicate another Scottish of the 'little men'. They were probably of coade influence. stone, squatting with a flower bowl between their Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne replaced the knees, and were last seen in z968 before they heathers in the right-angled beds with hybrid tea disappeared without a trace. roses, but left the 'wild'eds, where they put the font, unaltered and in the end quite overgrown. In AREA 5: WALLED GARDEN z968 all terrace beds were cleared out and This may be the oldest of the gardens at Lotherton, replanted with new hybrid teas and standard roses. built before z8yo, possibly at the same time as the The house walls and terrace balustrades were house. It is a sun-trap garden, perfectly exposed further enhanced by shrubs and climbers, some towards the south-west, its two flued wing walls

z7 curving from a straight north wall with, in the came to be at Lotherton is unknown except for the nineteenth century, a centrally placed greenhouse Mahonia lomariifolia, which probably arrived or orangery. Even without the artificial warmth before tyre via E.H. Wilson and Ellen Willmott from the hot air channels, possibly long out of use who was a sponsor of his plant hunting expedi- in t 893, Mrs Gascoigne found here a perfect place tions. Seeds were later brought from Asia by Major for tender shrubs and trees. By r9tq the walled Lawrence Johnston of Hidcote in r 93t. Two other garden was transformed from a kitchen garden to specimens of this Mahonia are still seen in the an 'old-fashioned'ose garden. Mackenzie garden at Craignish, possibly Lother- The north —south axis from the opening in the ton cuttings planted when this garden was laid out battlemented yew hedge through the square par- c. t9oy. Osgood Mackenzie is not known to have terre had at its north end in the walled garden a red had any Mahonias at Inverewe. The story that the brick summer house, its back against the wall and plant survived inside a glasshouse during its first two short wings extended into the garden. Mrs years at Lotherton is so far unexplained, as the Gascoigne had it built just before t9ty when the Victorian glasshouse did not cover the spot where Victorian glasshouse was pulled down; the it is growing today. summer house stood a few metres further east to The original planting by the battlemented yew secure the axial connection. Possibly a Renaissance hedge was a profuse herbaceous border, regretta- inspiration, it had tri-partite columns, semi- bly invaded by bindweed and therefore cleared of circular arches and a flat roof with a cornice, but by plants and grassed over in the t9gos. Some trees mistake the colour of the bricks far from matched that were intended for another garden and brought the old garden walls. No one therefore protested to Lotherton by mistake were planted in the former when the house was taken down in the typos to be border and allowed to stay. A very typical Edwar- replaced by the present teak seat and stone table, dian element were the rose trellises along the linear the latter of Parlington origin, formerly standing path, apparently one pair at the opening in the yew near the fountain in the 'Parlington Garden'Area hedge, two single ones to the west and one at the tr). east end of the path (Plate tz). The trellises were While the pre-t8y9 path system was left prac- removed before r 968. tically unaltered, a major change was seen in the Two of the circular rose beds have been grassed planting. The tree rows aligning the paths were over and in the one in the middle there is a sundial, removed, tender species planted against the shel- put up by Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne. The tering walls, and beds with scented herbaceous walled garden with its basic pre- r 8y9 layout is still plants were laid out between the walls and the a beautiful, secluded place, although many of the gravelled paths, edged with clipped box at either scented plants and rare climbers have disappeared side. The central lawn had three circular rose beds during later years. and rose borders along its edges, including a few standards. Some half-hardy specimen trees were AREA 6: POND GARDEN planted in the lawn: Eucalyptus gunnii (the cider The pond garden or 'William and Mary garden', as gum), Davidia involucrata (the handkerchief tree), the family called it, was finished before r9ty as an Magnolia denudata, Gingko biloba (the 'authentic'eriod garden in an Edwardian version maidenhair tree) and Tamarix tetrandra. The three of the Dutch style, small and formal with strictly first species were among Osgood Mackenzie's controlled proportions, shapes and colours earliest plantings at Inverewe, but may not have (Plate tg). The design shows a simple concept of been planted at Lotherton until after the First rectangles within rectangles, the smallest one for- World War. med by the sunken pond at the lower level —the Among the tender wall shrubs were: Buddleia only water feature at Lotherton. Formal vegetation colvilei, Buddleia globosa, Drimys uinteri, Hyd- elements were the clipped box spirals and low box rangea sargentiana (all four found at Inverewe hedges enclosing beds with white flowers. Carpet- before tyzz,); Azara dentata, Ceanothus forming wall plants, irregularly spaced in plant impressus, Sophora tetraptera, Stranvaesia holes in the retaining walls and in the flag stone davidiana (found at Inverewe today); Mahonia paving, formed a careful contrast to the architec- Iomarii fotia, Holboellia lati folia, Indigofera ture, not unlike the manner of Gertrude Jekyll. A heterantha (gerardiana), Xanthoceras sorbi folium, pair of wrought-iron gates in a dry-stone plant wall Wisteria sinensis and Simplocas. How these plants to the east of the garden allowed an open view t8 towards the edge of Captain Wood where later the easterly winds at Lotherton. To protect the new Parlington portico was re-erected. garden the shrubbery was further developed and In z9z3 Cynthia and her mother brought home extended to the south-west. The pre-t8qo main from Venice the four fine fruit baskets of artificial path circuit was not altered, but a new path was stone and placed them by the stairs to the pond. made through the core of the shrubbery where the Two small metal figures, a boy and a dolphin, were rock garden (Area 8) was laid out. The path put up on a pair of stones in the pond by Sir Alvary continued through the new south-west part out and Lady Gascoigne; the figures were removed into the open meadow (Area zo) near the ha-ha. some years ago. Two original shell urns at the east From this point an alternative path, now grassed gates have also disappeared. over, led back to the south-east corner of the At the walls to the kitchen garden and the walled formal garden, another path branching off from it garden a few of the original climbers are still seen, back to the rock garden. e.g. the white-flowering Clematis chrysocoma ser- The northern, denser part of the shrubbery was icea (C. spooneri). New interesting species were developed by Mrs Gascoigne by replanting and added by George Knight, who maintained the adding new species where necessary. Among the original colour scheme which seems to have been main genera and species seen today are Berberis, white with occasional red contrasts. White Iceberg Cotoneaster conspicuus decorus, Drimys winteri, roses were planted in the box enclosures. The Forsythia, Mahonia japonica, Sorbus domestica yellow-flowering Berberis darwinii, growing freely (Service tree), Viburnum, hollies and yews. They at the foot of the retaining wall, is probably self- have all grown freely, a couple of yews to more sown. The four yellow-leaved maples, Acer pseudo- than 6 m. One of these yews, at the entrance to the platanus 'Brilliantissimum', were planted in z968. shrubbery from the pond garden, form the back- ground for the two most conspicious Inverewe AREA 7: SHRUBBERY species that are seen at Lotherton, the chusan palm, Before Mrs Gascoigne's time this corner of the Trachycarpus fortunei, and a clump of bamboos, garden formed the main shelter against the south- probably Arundinaria simonii. Both were among

tz The walled garden, looking west, with rose trellises and circular rose beds in the lawn, r9zos

I9 Osgood Mackenzie's earliest plantings and were niscence of their years at Lotherton. The dogs of Sir most likely brought to Lotherton before r9ty. Alvary's parents are buried under the erect rectan- Behind the white summer house the edge of the gular stone of Scottish slate near the white summer shrubbery was drawn back to form an open lawn house. where two circular beds were made. Their original planting is uncertain, although a New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax, is believed to have come AREA 8: ROCK GARDEN from Inverewe. The south circular bed forms the By the family the rock garden was named 'The focal point of the linear east —west path from the Dell', possibly after a small woodland valley at main garden gate. The golden rain, Laburnum, Hadzor. Its main motive was a winding sunken that has recently been planted in these beds is also path, dug out inside the path circuit in the shrub- seen in the south-west extension of the shrubbery bery. The banks were partly left as earth slopes, together with foxgloves, two of Ellen Willmott's partly rebuilt with big sandstone rocks, incorpo- favourites. rating a number of caverns or open caves of various At the south-east corner of the formal garden is sizes. A cave near the south end of the sunken path found the Lotherton landmark, the four (formerly was meant to contain a small stream of water five) Lombardy poplars, apparently planted before running from a rain water trough, another was a t 9r q. At their feet are the graves of Sir Alvary's and fern grotto. The path and the steps at its north end Lady Gascoigne's dogs, a very personal remi- were laid with flag stones.

'sli i~it

rq The pond or 'William and Mary'arden, photographed in the r9yos, looking towards the re-erected portico from Parlington A II

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t4 Plan of the Rock Garden, October tvo6 West Yorkshire Archives Services, Leeds

All this is seen in two drawings (Plate t4), dated paths were made, branching off from the sunken October I9o6, that came to light in the Gascoigne path to the east to join the main circuit. The area Archives in r 98', the only plans for any part of the east of the sunken path was developed with garden at Lotherton that have been found apart Japanese plant species and one, possibly two, from the designs for the main gates of the same Japanese stone lanterns. The south-west bank was year. The layout of the rock garden is also believed pulled down when the water system was installed to be by William Goldring, based on discussions and rebuilt with limestone rocks to form the with Mrs Gascoigne. The plans are signed by T.H. 'Moraine'. From the trough on its top the water Prater, who gives himself away as the mere now ran down between the rocks to the grating in draughtsman by the spelling mistakes in the plant the return water tank in the sunken path. The list. system was seen working in the t92,os, but not in However, the stream-bed motif in rock garden- the t93os. The trough was removed in I968. ing was one that Ellen Willmott also advocated. Whether the original I9o6 planting scheme was After her own famous alpine garden at Warley carried out is impossible to say since no survey was Place in the r88os she is known to have designed ever made. One or two of the species on the list do the rock garden at Newby Hall, North Yorkshire, exist today, partly in a different place, e.g. Daphne c. I9oo, using the same motif. None the less, the mezereum, but this has not been fully researched. 'Pyrenean stream-bed style'irst introduced at Kew Moreover, Mrs Gascoigne continued to develop in t882 and after that the leading rock garden her plantings for nearly forty years after the Dell theme, would have been equally well known to was made. A survey of the existing plants in Goldring at the time when the Dell was planned, combination with earlier written documentation considering his professional experience and Kew and people's observations could still produce a connections. fairly comprehensive picture of the rock garden The rock garden was built in two stages, the first plants in Mrs Gascoigne's time. possibly not until I 9 I 2, the second c. I924. In the first stage it seems that everything was built AREA 9: TENNIS COURT according to plans with the exception of the As a good tennis player Mrs Gascoigne would have running water system. In the second stage two new wanted something better than lawn tennis and in

2I tyo6 or shortly after, one of the first hard tennis eighteenth- but twentieth-century and, as such, a courts in the country was made at Lotherton. The good piece of design.. court was laid with shiny, hard-faced red bricks by The serpentine path divided the meadow in two, the estate mason who tested each stone with a spirit the south part full of daffodils and other narcissi, flame before he set it in place, side up and with forming a sea of yellow flowers in spring. The extreme precision so that no uneven cracks would larger north part had cowslips of all colours and cause bad bounces. probably squills, with clumps of daffodils along the The court was laid out on pasture land south of linear path. The use of daffodils in masses was most the shrubbery and outside the old boundary pitch, likely inspired by Ellen Willmott, who was a great a fairly wind-exposed location. This was probably Narcissus grower and hybridizer. However, in this the reason why it was orientated east —west, its meadow they were used as a design element rather longer north side against a belt of mixed vegeta- than as an imitation of nature. The precise ser- tion. More shrubs and trees were also planted pentine edge of the yellow flower field, underlined around the court. by the conical yews, was clearly man-made. The use of this fast and demanding tennis court Alterations made since t y68 include the removal declined in the late r9zos, and it was eventually of five yews (of a total of eleven) and the two made into another garden area. The four corners clumps of shrubs in the middle of the meadow, were cut off and a circular bed was made in the whereby the composition has more or less fallen centre of the court. That was the layout that apart. A third group of shrubs, the one in the emerged from beneath a cover of grass and shrubs south-west corner, has been replanted with lilacs as when the area was cleared in rq69, revealing the only species, while the original clumps were all surprisingly little damage to the hard bricks. In Mrs mixed. The fourth clump to the east appears to be Gascoigne's days the area at either side of the path intact, and so is the daffodil field, although some- between the ditch and the court was apparently what thinned out. The boundary vegetation along more open than it is today, with a cover of the west bank also seems to have gaps, but is flowering herbaceous plants and less shrubs and otherwise much the same as in Mrs Gascoigne's trees. Along the south edge of the ditch, west of the days. path, a clipped hedge of deciduous shrubs is seen AREA I PARLINGTON GARDEN on a photograph from the early t96os, probably I: forming a visual screen between the entrance to the The sole reason for making this garden in the far rock garden and the tennis court at this point. The north-east corner of the area seems to have been the plantings around the court were renewed in z968 demolition of Parlington Hall and the wish to in a way that secured its half-open character, using re-erect its entrance portico as a garden temple. roses and other good shrubs, now somewhat Two more Parlington ornaments were also added, overgrown. a fountain and a stone table opposite the kitchen garden gates. I therefore use the name 'Parlington Garden'or this area (see Pl. T3). AREA IO: MEADOW The temple stands on the east extension of the The meadow covers the major, southern part of the central axis of the pond garden, its back to the edge former paddock which was filled up several feet to of Captain Wood. If it had not been for the form a plane grass field, an operation that may formally clipped beech hedge behind the temple, its have been finished by z9or. From the house the curved wings extending at either side, this would meadow is seen as an extension of the grass- have made another landscape style motif. The carpeted floor of the formal garden into the open original sculpture in the temple was one of Mrs landscape across the ha-ha, the classical landscape Gascoigne's Hadzor heirlooms, a two-thirds life- style motif. The 'natural'ayout of the meadow size marble copy of Dupaty's The %'ounded Philo- included a serpentine grass path aligned with ctetes, of which the original is at Compiegne, conical yews, winding its way between four clumps France. Because of vandalization it was replaced of shrubs, carefully placed as composition elements only a few years ago with an early twentieth- and windbreaks. By introducing the conical yews, century sculpture, The Alarm (The Ancient Briton) Mrs Gascoigne made the formal garden continue by Edward Caldwell Spruce. The fine bronze into the informal meadow, thereby creating a sculpture is vandal-proof, but much darker than fusion of the two styles that was clearly not the original as viewed from the pond garden. Since

2.2. t968 a lime avenue has been planted between the cement flower urn. The Japanese maples in the pond garden gate and the temple, a row of lime basin and the linear cypress plantings have been trees aligns the dry-stone wall and a pinetum is added since t 968. being developed in the lawn. The formal composition in the narrower north AREA I 2.: SHELTER BELTS end of this garden was formed by the entrance gates An important part of the planting policy for to the kitchen garden, a fountain between four Lotherton during Mrs Gascoigne's long life was to conical yews and a platform in a semi-circular secure sufficient shelter for the gardens. This recess in the clipped beech hedge. On the platform incentive would have been supported by Osgood was the stone table, presently in the walled garden, Mackenzie, whose own experiences in sheltering flanked by two pillars that probably carried a pair were vital to his success as a gardener. of flower urns. The whole layout may have been The pre-18yo Captain Wood, possibly a part of made at the same time, most likely in the early the original woodland, was the backbone of the t95os. The elaborate wrought-iron gates, supplied sheltering plantations. The first new shelter belts, by J. Addy R. Son, Clayton West, near Hud- made by r9o6, were a planting east of the shrub- dersfield, were moved c. ?975 to the pedestrian bery, protecting the new gardens, and a belt of entrance to the garden near the stable block when conifers aligning Copley Lane, closing the gap west the bird garden was made and the kitchen garden of Captain Wood against northerly winds. Addi- gate bricked up. The fountain consists of a number tional planting had also been made in the boundary of unexplained fragments, of which the circular zone west of the meadow. By the z95os, presuma- marble basin and pedestal are those of the best bly, Captain Wood had been extended to the east quality. The water system is known to have and south, eventually incorporating the tennis worked, but today the fountain is crowned by a court planting. A belt between the stable cottages

t5 Detail of Boulton gc Paul's Proposal for glasshouses in the kitchen garden, t9t9; the pond of the William and Mary garden is visible to the south and the lodge, mainly of conifers, had also been of the same length as the existing one, and only the planted. The importance of these shelter belts is no Parlington span house was re-erected, at an obtuse less today when more woodland has disappeared in angle on top of an existing pit. Former gardeners the neighbourhood, also considering the condi- remember beautifully shaped cast-iron bars and tions for wildlife. other details in the glasshouses, all of which were taken down in I97S and apparently sold or AREA I 3: KITCHEN GARDEN AND ORCHARD dumped. Although this garden today has been obliterated by The orchard existed for a period of about fifty the bird garden, it should be mentioned as an years, planted after I9o6 and removed by Sir important part of the Edwardian household, Alvary before I964. A small field was laid out as securing not only a daily supply of fruit and allotment gardens for Gascoigne employees. To the vegetables, but also the production of some garden west was a plantation, still largely intact inside the plants. The development of the walled garden as a bird garden. place for tender shrubs may indicate that it was never fully used by the Gascoignes as a kitchen CONCLUSION garden, all the more because the big kitchen garden The Edwardian garden at Lotherton is still a at Parlington Hall would have supplied both beautiful and peaceful place where everyone may houses with garden produce. David Hazelwood find privacy and 'manifold charms', as Mrs was the head gardener of both estates until Ix9o3, Gascoigne once herself wrote. It is this author' when he moved to Lotherton. At the I9oy sale at hope that the documentation, however incomplete, Parlington most of the contents of the glasshouses of Mrs Gascoigne's original design may create an were sold, but a quantity of plants and pots were understanding of the personal character of this bought-in and taken to Lotherton. The old glass- garden, and that a future conservation policy will house in the walled garden remained until the handle this fragile quality with care. red-brick summer house was built before I9I4. By Iqo6 the new kitchen garden area north of NOTES the walled garden had been extended, and in Ix) I9 'oydell, Nancy, 'The Gardens at Lotherton Hall', Garden a glasshouse, a boiler house and two pits existed in History, 6, no. a ( x 978), pp. x x —x 5. Lemmon, Kenneth, 'Lother- its south-east corner. In the Lotherton Files are ton Hall. City of Leeds Council', The Gardens of Britain, 5 (1978)y xgo—83. two for new glasshouses at Lother- pp. kept proposals x Faull, M. L. and S. A. Moorhouse (ed.). West Yorkshire: an ton of May Iyt9, complete with drawings and Archaeological Sxxr vey to AD. x 5oo, vols x—4 (, x 98 x). estimates for a new fruit house (with vineries and Wells-Cole, A., Leeds Arts Calendar 6a (x969); Taylor, A., peach house) and taking down and refixing an ibid., 77 (x975). Friedman, T. F.,ibid., 78 (x976). 4 existing span house and lean-to forcing house from The watercolour vignette by Samuel Smith is on a scroll presented to F. R. T.T. Gascoigne at his safe return from the Parlington. The competing firms were Messenger South African War in x9ox. 5L Co Ltd of Loughborough, and Boulton 5c Paul Information from Lady Sandys, August x988. Ltd of Norwich (Plate IS); the former seems to le Lievre, Audrey, Miss Willmott of Warley Place. Her Life have got the job, even though neither proposal was and Her Gardens (London 8c Boston, x98o). 'lliott, Brent, Victorian Gardens (London, x 986). fully carried out. The fruit house that was built was ~ ~. 1l. l~ )S Leeds

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