The Garden History Blog

The dragon finial from the staircase in the newly restored Stainborough Castle in the grounds at Wentworth Castle
David Marsh, April 2016

It’s rare that family disputes give rise to anything positive but Wentworth Castle is the  exception that proves the rule.  The story might appear a bit confusing but it’s a pretty impressive piece of trying to outdo your rivals and led, in the next few decades, to the building of two magnificent houses, Wentworth Woodhouse and Wentworth Castle, and the creation of two magnificent gardens to match.

The  initial row was over the inheritance of the childless William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford in 1695, and in particular the Wentworth family seat at Wentworth Woodhouse.  From the next few generations  the two sides of the family competed for social status and political power.

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, as a Roman general, Michael Rysbrack, c.1740
http://shimmer.shu.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/SHU~3~3~590082~168404:Thomas-Wentworth,-1st-Earl-of-Staff

But by the mid-20th century the Wentworth Castle estate, like so many others, had fallen into disrepair and in 1948 was split up.  The mansion became a teacher training college, the outbuildings were largely abandoned and, as the guide book says, “nature reclaimed the carefully planned vistas and the designed elegance of the gardens.”

Stainborough Castle, Folly in the Grounds of Wentworth Castle
Thomas Bardwell, c.1750.   Government Art Collection
http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?obj=11156

Read on to find out more about the early history of the gardens and landscape at Wentworth Castle, which I’ll continue in another post shortly, when you can take heart from the amazing restoration programme that has been underway since 2001. Continue reading →