Friday, May 15th.
This is Wilderness House in Hampton, home to England's greatest gardener and landscape architect, Capability Brown, (no, not Monty Don), for nineteen years from 1764, aged 48/49, until his death in 1783.
The blue plaque recording his time here is, I think, based on pictures I have found on the internet, (see later), at the rear of the house. Access for the public is, unfortunately, currently off limits, along with Hampton Court and gardens.
It’s no good. I cant just let the name of the house go without first sharing a few thoughts. Was tumbleweed rolling around Hampton over 250 years ago? Was it a dust bowl? Christopher Wren’s gaff would’ve been about a hundred yards down the road, (though Wren himself died over forty years before Brown moved into Wilderness House), and Hampton Court Palace itself is only a similar distance away. Puts me in mind of R.D. Blackmore’s purchase about a hundred years later, in 1860, of Gomer House and sixteen acres of land in Teddington. It’s difficult to imagine how different things were not that long ago.
Born Lancelot Brown in Kirkharle in Northumberland in 1715–16, (despite the plaque, there seems to be some doubt, maybe he was born at the end of one year into the start of the next; or it was a very long labour), later in life he picked up the nickname “Capability" because he would tell clients that their property had "capability" for improvement (that old chestnut).
Brown designed over 170 parks, many of which are still with us today. From 1741 to 1751 he was head gardener for Lord Cobham at Stowe (Bucks), after which he established himself as an independent landscape architect, working on successive major commissions.
At the peak of his success, in the 1760s and 1770s, Brown had a remarkable annual turnover of £15,000, (around £1M today), and worked on over 200 estates. He would typically earn £500, (about £70,000 today), for a single commission. As an accomplished rider he was able to work quickly, taking only an hour or so on horseback to survey an estate and rough out an entire design. In 1764 he was appointed King George’s Master Gardener at Hampton Court Palace, succeeding John Greening and, as mentioned, consequently taking up residence at the Wilderness House.
In his role at Hampton Court Brown refused to sweep away William III's formal design “out of respect to himself and his profession”, but the little monkey stopped cutting the topiary into the established formal shapes, instead creating tall irregular forms. Reprimanded for neglecting the gardens, Brown claimed he was introducing a more naturalistic effect. (That’s my approach to my allotment).
A visual record of the Hampton Court gardens, as well as Home Park and Bushy Park, during Brown’s tenure, is provided by a large collection of watercolours made by his surveyor, John Spyers, and bought by Catherine the Great (now in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg). Brown planted what is now known as the Great Vine at Hampton Court, and was reported to have kept turkeys for his own use in the Wilderness to the east of the house, (each to his own). Nearby he remodelled the gardens at Richmond for George III, and assisted David Garrick with his temple to Shakespeare, building the tunnel under Hampton Court Road to join it to the rest of his estate. In 1767 Brown bought his own estate, Fenstanton Manor in Cambridgeshire, but became very attached to Wilderness House, and spent the majority of his time here until his death whilst visiting his daughter in London.
Wilderness House remained the principal Hampton Court gardener’s house until 1881, almost a hundred years after Brown’s death. Work was done to improve the building for use as a grace and favour residence, and in 1883 the first occupant moved in. The house was fitted with electricity in 1907, and its first bathroom was fitted in 1912. From 1937 to 1960 Wilderness House was occupied by the Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia, sister of Tsar Nicholas II, for whom some alterations were made; Brown’s dining room was converted to a Russian Orthodox chapel for her use. In the 1960s an extension containing a kitchen and lobby was built to the west, over the former laundry.
The house remains a residence to this day.
I’m done. Before I go I might add that since “Stay at Home” became “Be Alert” there’s been a noticeable and predictable increase in road traffic, including heavy lorries. This has made me realise, as a fair-weather cyclist, just what a charmed life I’ve been living on the roads during lockdown up to now.
Off for a cup of tea.
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