Newsletter of the Staffordshire Gardens and Parks Trust. Registered Charity No. 1013862. SUMMER 2015 ISSUE No. 52 News Staffordshire Gardens & Parks Trust Published by the Staffordshire Gardens and Parks Trust. c/o South Staffordshire LETTER Council, Wolverhampton Road, Codsall, Staffordshire WV8 1PX. Tel: 01902 696000 A LOST LANDSCAPE REDISCOVERED When, in 1758, Arthur Chichester, 5th Earl and later 1st Marquess of Donegall, bought Fisherwick Hall, between the villages of Whittington and Elford, near Lichfield, it was a ‘fine old timbered and gabled hall’ built in the late sixteenth century. He then commissioned ‘Capability’ Brown increasing its length and creating to design and build a new house in the a ha-ha, extending the length of fashion of the times and more befitting to an existing lake and laying out a his dignity, a task which lasted from 1766 second, connected to the first by till 1779 and cost £200,000. No expense a cascade, building an orangery was spared; floors and fireplaces were of and planting 10,000 trees, including marble, doors of mahogany, walls were oaks, elms and firs (which earned painted or hung with silk. Furniture was the Marquess a medal from the designed by Joseph Bonomi, an Italian-born, Society of Arts for planting the London-based architect who had worked greatest number of trees in that for Robert Adam and who, towards the year). end of his life, was appointed architect to St. Peter’s, Rome; the ceiling of the The result was, in the words of principal drawing-room was painted by Timothy Mowl and Dianne Barre, Conservatory an Italian artist, John Francis Rigaud, who “one of his most attractive parks”, specialised in decorative painting for the which Arthur Chichester stocked town and country houses of the nobility. with deer and game. Several He commissioned Thomas Gainsborough entrance lodges were built, a deer to paint the family’s portrait and filled the cot and kennels were added, a house with antiquities and objets d’art. ‘Ladies Botanical Garden’ complete with a Chinese pavilion was laid By this time, Brown was no stranger to out, and a new carriageway leading Staffordshire, having already worked at to the house was laid down, Chillington, Ingestre, Weston, Trentham and flanked by trees which, in keeping Himley. He had been commissioned by with Brown’s established style, an earlier owner, Samuel Hill, to prepare prevented visitors from seeing a plan, but, when Hill died in 1757, Brown the house until the last minute. Gate Posts once part of the main entrance had not yet submitted his proposals. Arthur In another characteristic flourish, Chichester, who, in spite of his title, never Brown used the churches of distant town house), proved an unsustainable drain lived in Ireland and was, in fact, educated Tamworth and nearby Elford as eye- on his resources; and after the Marquess’s at Oxford and Eton, instructed Brown to catchers. death the estate was sold off in 1808, design both house and park, and Brown half to Sir Robert Peel, of Drayton Manor, responded by designing a house in the Sadly, such extravagance, when added to half to Richard Bagot Howard, owner of fashionable Palladian style very similar to his son’s addiction to gambling (in those the Elford estate.* Subsequently, Brown’s the house he had designed at Croome days, there was a racecourse just outside landscape was divided into nine farms Court. He went on to landscape the park, Lichfield, where the Marquess also had a and most of his trees felled and sold. The continued overleaf house was demolished six years later and garden at Elford, and Richard its contents and architectural features Bagot Howard would not have dispersed; for a number of years the wanted the expense of running magnificent Corinthian portico fronted a two labour-intensive walled hotel in Walsall until the hotel itself was gardens. demolished. No plans had survived which The lakes, now reduced to ponds, are could give them any indication as buried deep in thick woodland, though the to how the garden had originally cascade still functions, and a length of the been planted, so Andrew and ha-ha has been cleared of brambles. Annamarie set about putting it back to how they thought it The magnificent Orangery, otherwise might have been. Currently, it is Bridge over which carriages once rumbled known as “The Greenhouse”, which was laid out in four large rectangular once fronted by a Corinthian portico, was beds, planted in rotation, three to used for many years as a cow-shed and grow a wide variety of vegetables has become so ruinous that, in spite of its such as beetroot, parsnip, onion, age, English Heritage has declined to list it garlic, asparagus and vines, and the on the grounds that not enough of it has fourth of soft fruit. survived. Though there is evidence that The stable block has now been converted the South Wall of the Garden into privately-owned residences. was once heated and may have supported a hothouse, its honey- Despite these depredations, enough combed wall continues to exude remained to make a guided tour of the heat absorbed from the sun and site led by someone familiar with surviving can reach temperatures of 15°C Walled Garden landmarks interesting to garden historians, (such is the size of the Garden and such a person is Annamarie Stone, that, conversely, the North Wall acts as a It is heartening to find couples like Andrew who took our party on an informative walk frost-trap!). This enables nectarines, peaches, and Annamarie Stone who can look round that part of Fisherwick Park which apricots, grapes and figs to be grown along beyond primary commercial needs and now forms Woodhouse Farm. The farm, it. Cherries, plums, pears and apples are recognise the heritage attached to the which covers twenty-two acres, occupies grown on the adjoining West Wall. historic environment (albeit in this case land which was once the back lawn and depleted) in which they work, and, while cherry orchard of the now-demolished Woodhouse Farm is part of Community striving to make a living, also work to Hall, and includes the Walled Garden. Supported Agriculture, a scheme promoted ensure that that heritage is not completely Annamarie and her husband, Andrew, run by the Soil Association to encourage lost to later generations. Woodhouse Farm, previously worked partnerships between farmers and their since the 1960s by Andrew’s late father, community through an arrangement by * Elford Estate followed a downward Annamarie undertaking the responsibility of which local people sign up to buy produce trajectory very similar to that of Fisherwick. running the Walled Garden, while Andrew for a season, thus guaranteeing them a In 1936 its owner, Francis Howard Paget, runs the farm. weekly share of fresh, seasonal produce “desirous of preserving the estate for all and the farmer the security of knowing that time for the benefit of the public”, donated Prior to being taken on a guided tour of he has a regular, reliable market. In addition the Hall, built in 1758, and surrounding land the Walled Garden led by Alan, the head to the produce from the Walled Garden, to Birmingham City Council, who used it to gardener, the party was given a short Andrew and Annamarie sell beef from Irish store its arts treasures during World War account of the more recent history of the Moiled Cows and pork from Gloucester II. Thereafter, its condition was allowed to site by Annamarie, who explained that, after Old Spot , both raised on the farm. A farm deteriorate until it was finally demolished in prolonged negotiations with the owners, shop is open on Tuesday and Saturday 1964 and the land used for housing. Birmingham City Council, to whom the afternoons throughout the year. farm had been donated for the recreational However, the task of restoring the Walled use of its citizens in 1936, Andrew and In furtherance of a policy of encouraging Garden, which was once planted with half Annamarie took over the tenancy in community involvement, the farm offers a mile of fruit trees, has been undertaken 2009, though neither had had any formal opportunities for classes in planting and by a group of local residents who got training in agriculture, Andrew’s previous cookery and has community areas which together to submit a successful application occupation having been an electrician and can be hired for parties, group visits or for a £½m from the Heritage Lottery Annamarie’s a beautician. workshops, while afternoons are organised Fund in order to develop the garden for for volunteers to carry out clearance work community use. The Elford Hall Garden They found the Walled Garden, which which protects and exposes some of the Project, when completed, will, amongst pre-dates the house and may possibly be historic features of the landscape like the other objectives, have restored the the largest in the County, to be just a field, ha-ha. The farm entertains visits from local Victorian gardens, established allotments, used, Annamarie thought, first for planting organisation such as schools, Scouts, Cubs laid down a bowling green and laid out a agricultural crops, and, latterly, for grazing and Brownies, and Women’s Institutes and is tennis court. horses. She speculated that this might have also engaged in a project designed to help been because there already was a walled those overcoming mental health problems. “One of the prettiest retreats it is possible to conceive” Nicholas Pevsner’s description of Biddulph Old Hall as “a late 17th Century house of no pretension which is attached to an Elizabethan Mansion sacked in the Civil War” does little credit to its extraordinary history.