Lyme Park

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
South facade of the manor house with lawn south of the house and pond

Lyme Park is a large estate south of the village of Disley in the English county of Cheshire . The property is managed by the National Trust and consists of a mansion and formal gardens surrounded by a deer park in the Peak District National Park . The mansion is the largest in Cheshire and has been listed as a Grade I Historic Building by English Heritage .

The manor was given to Sir Thomas Danyers as a fief in 1346 and fell to the Leghs of Lyme by marriage in 1388 . It remained in the family's possession until 1946, when it was given to the National Trust. The present mansion dates from the second half of the 16th century. In the 1720s it was modified by Giacomo Leoni , who removed some Elizabethan details and replaced them with others, especially in the courtyard and the south wing. It is difficult to classify Leoni's work in Lyme Park because it contains both Palladian and Baroque elements. Lewis Wyatt made further modifications in the 19th century, particularly to the interior. Formal gardens were created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The house, gardens and park served as a film set and are open to the public. The Lyme Caxton Missal is on display in the library.

history

The north facade of Lyme Park from Jones' Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen (1819)

The land that is now Lyme Park was given to Sir Thomas Danyers in 1346 by King Edward III. Fiefdom for his services to the Black Prince at the Battle of Crécy . After the death of Sir Thomas, the estate fell to his daughter Margaret, who married Piers Legh I in 1388 . Richard II counted Piers among his favorites and awarded him a coat of arms in 1397 . However, two years later, Piers was executed by Richard's rival for the English throne, Henry Bolingbroke .

When Piers Legh II was wounded at the Battle of Agincourt , his mastiff stood over him and protected him for many hours. The mastiff was later brought back to Legh's house and became the forefather of the Lyme Hall Mastiffs . They were bred in the estate and kept separate from other breeding lines , essentially establishing the new breed . This breeding line died out in the early 20th century.

A house on the property is first mentioned in a handwritten tome from 1465, but this was demolished when the construction of the current house began under Piers Legh VII in the mid-16th century. This house by an unknown builder was L-shaped with an east and a north wing. In the course of the 17th century, further extensions were gradually built. In the 1720s, Giacomo Leoni, a master builder from Venice , added a south wing, creating a courtyard and making other changes. He received some of the Elizabethan details and many of his changes were a mix of Palladianism and English Baroque. In the second half of the 18th century, Piers Legh XIII bought it. most of the furniture that is still in the house today. But the Legh family's fortunes dwindled and the mansion began to deteriorate. At the beginning of the 19th century, the manor belonged to Thomas Legh , who commissioned Lewis Wyatt to restore the house in the years 1816–1822. Wyatt's changes mainly affected the interiors; he actually changed every single room. Leoni wanted to put a lantern on the south wing, but this was never realized. Instead, Wyatt put on a tower-like structure that housed dormitories for the servants. He also created a one-story extension to the east wing, in which a dining room was built. Later in the same century, William Legh had stables and other outbuildings added to the manor and a Dutch garden laid out. Thomas Legh and his wife had further changes made to the gardens at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1946, Richard Legh signed Lame Park over to the National Trust.

Mansion

Buildings and facades

Courtyard with main entrance

The mansion is the largest in Cheshire, measuring 58 x 40 m around a courtyard. The older part is made of rough, reddish-yellow sandstone blocks with sandstone facings. The younger parts are made of sandstone ashlar . The entire house is covered in Welsh slate . The symmetrical north facade has 15 bays and 3 floors; the middle yoke contains the slightly protruding entrance area. The arched entrance in this yoke has Doric columns with a wall niche on each side. Above the entrance there are three more Doric columns with an ornamental gable and three more columns above. Above all there are four additional columns with an open decorative gable bearing an image of the goddess Minerva . The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner calls this entrance area "the craziest Elizabethan front spike ". The three outermost yokes on each side protrude slightly. The ground floor of these yokes is rusticated and their upper floors are divided by large Corinthian pillars.

The west facade is divided into nine bays and also has three floors. The two outermost yokes on each side protrude. The facade is rusticated on the ground floor and smooth on the upper floors.

North facade of the mansion seen through the entrance gate
South facade over the pond

The symmetrical south facade with 15 bays and three floors faces the pond and was created by Leoni. While Leoni was influenced by the works and principles of Andrea Palladio , Pevsner and the authors of the National Heritage List of England agree that the style of this facade is more baroque than Palladian. The ground floor is rusticated with arched windows and the upper floors are smooth and have rectangular windows. The middle three bays form a portico , the ground floor of which has three arches. Above it rise four huge, slender Ionic columns that support a triangular ornamental gable. On the ornamental pediment are three lead statues depicting the Greek gods Neptune , Venus and Pan . The ornamental gable partially covers Wyatt's blind balustraded attic made of stone. The other yokes are separated from each other by smooth Ionic columns and the outer three yokes on each side protrude slightly.

The east facade with three storeys and nine bays is mainly in Elizabethan style. Wyatt's one-story annex protrudes from the center.

The inner courtyard was rebuilt by Leoni, who provided it with a rusticated cloister on all four sides. Above the cloister, the architectural styles differ on all sides, even if all the windows on the first floor, the bel étage , have ornamental gables. On the west side there is a middle section only one yoke wide with a window between two Doric pillars, on the south and north side there are three windows each with four similar pillars and on the east side is the large entrance portal with Tuscan aediculas . This entrance is between the ground floor and first floor and a symmetrical pair of staircases with iron balustrades leads there, created in 1734 by John Gardom of Baslow , Derbyshire . In the center of the courtyard is an Italian Renaissance style fountain surround surrounded by cubed white and pink stone that was designed to simulate marble .

inside rooms

The entrance hall in the east wing was redesigned by Leoni. It is asymmetrical and contains huge pillars and a screen of three slender, Ionic columns. The passage to the inner courtyard has an open ornamental gable. A hinged picture can be swiveled out of the wall and reveals a leprosy fissure through which one can see into the entrance hall. There are also pictures in the entrance hall, which were woven in Mortlake between 1623 and 1636 . They were originally located in the Legh family's London home in Belgrave Square and were only brought to Lyme Park in 1903. In order to be able to hang them, the interior designer Amadée Joubert had to make changes, e.g. B. the removal of the tabernacle and sections on four pillars. To the south of the entrance hall is the library and to the east of it is Wyatt's dining room, which has a stucco ceiling and a carved over doorway , both in the style of the late 17th century, and a frieze . The decoration of this room is considered an early example of Edwardian neo- baroque .

North of the entrance hall are the two main Elizabethan rooms, the drawing room and the deer living room. The salon is paneled with wood and has broken arches over it that form a marquetry frieze . The ceiling has truss bands , fittings factory cartridges and a wide frieze. A large stone mantelpiece is placed above the open fireplace, decorated with pairs of atlases and caryatids that frame Elizabeth I's coat of arms . The leaded glass windows in this room date from the Middle Ages. They were moved from the first house in Lyme Park to St. Mary's Church at Disley and returned to Lyme Park in 1835. The deer sitting room has a mantelpiece depicting an Elizabethan house and hunting scenes. It also contains the coat of arms of Jacob I. The other Elizabethan rooms in the house are the stone living room on the ground floor and the long gallery, which is on the second floor in the east wing. The Long Gallery is also equipped with a mantelpiece that shows Elizabeth I's coat of arms. The main staircase dates from the time of the renovation by Leoni and has a baroque ceiling. The salon is located on the first floor of the south wing behind the portico. Its ceiling is decorated in Rococo style and the room contains wood carvings attributed to Grinling Gibbons . The chapel in the northeast corner of the first floor also contains detailed carvings.

Lyme Caxton Missal

This missal had belonged to the Legh family at least since 1508. It is the only known, almost complete copy of the earliest edition of a missal based on the Sarum custom that still exists today. When the family moved out of the manor in 1946, they took the missal with them and it was kept in the John Rylands Library in Manchester for security reasons . The National Trust bought it in the late 2000s and decided to bring it back to Lyme Park. In his honor, the library was restored to the way it was in the 19th century. This included sanding the ceiling, restoring the velvet for the upholstery and curtains, and wallpapering the room with the original mock-up wallpaper.

estate

The mansion is surrounded by formal gardens that cover 6 acres. These are in turn enclosed by a 550 hectare deer park, which is designated as Annex II *. Degree is listed. There are a number of buildings and other facilities in the gardens and in the deer park.

Gardens

Dutch garden

To the west of the manor house is the former mill pond . From the south side of the house a lawn extends down to another pond, a small ravine with a stone bridge. This area is called Killtime . To the west of the lawn is the lower-lying Dutch garden that William Legh had laid out. It consists of formal flower beds and a fountain in the middle. To the west, south, and east of the orangery are other formal flower gardens, including rose gardens.

Deer park

Piers Legh I had the park pacified in the 14th century. In the 17th century Richard Legh built avenues of mountain maples and linden trees . Richard's son, Peter Legh XII, had more trees planted in the park, giving it its current appearance. Today, red deer graze on the property instead of the roe deer that lived in the park at the time of the enclosure, as do highland cattle . There used to be an unusual wild white breed of cattle with red ears in the park too, but it died out in 1884. Fallow deer and sheep also graze in the park.

Buildings and facilities

"The Cage"
"The Lantern"

The most visible building in the park, next to the mansion, is a tower called "The Cage," which stands on a hill east of the access road to the house . It was originally a hunting lodge and later served as a home for the park rangers and a prison. The first building on this site was built around 1580. It was demolished and rebuilt in 1737, possibly according to a plan by Leoni for Peter Legh X. The tower is made of coarse, reddish-yellow sandstone and is clad in sandstone. Its floor plan is square. It has three floors and at each corner there is a square turret, which is surmounted by a lantern. "The Cage" became a historical building II *. Grade listed. Also in the park is the Paddock Cottage the Peter Legh IX. built. It was restored at the beginning of the 21st century. To the east of it are the remains of the Stag House . To the left of the house in Lantern Wood is a belvedere called Lantern . It was built of sandstone and has three floors and a helmet. The bottom floor is square in plan, while the upper floors and the helmet are octagonal. The top floor and the helmet date from around 1580 and originally formed an open bell tower on the northern gatehouse . This was removed during the restoration of the mansion by Wyatt and rebuilt at the current location. The Belvedere is a historical building II *. Grade listed. World icon World icon World icon

Directly northeast of the manor is the Orangery , designed by Alfred Darbyshire in 1862 . The orangery is connected to the manor house by a covered passage called the Dark Passage . This was designed by Wyatt for Sir Thomas Legh in 1815 and is listed as a historical building of the 2nd degree. The stables are further away from the manor house, to the northeast of the orangery . They date from 1863 and were also designed by Darbyshire. They were built from sandstone around an inner courtyard and are listed as historical buildings of the 2nd degree. Other buildings on the property that are listed as historical buildings of the second degree are the pheasant house from around 1870, an Italian fountain surround made of white marble from around the 18th century, which is in the middle of the inner courtyard of the manor house and from Venice around 1900 H-shaped sandstone dog houses from around 1870, a pair of gardener's huts from 1871, terraced hillside retaining walls west of the manor house with 17th century masonry and later repairs, the hut, the gate frame and the gates at Lyme Park Drive, the late 17th century front gate frames of Lyme Park Drive relocated to their current location around 1860, the gate frames on Red Lane, and the gate frames, gates and railings north of the mansion. World icon

Sightseeing and events

Lyme Park is owned and administered by the National Trust. The mansion, gardens and park are open to the public on the published times. All but members of the National Trust have to pay admission to the mansion and gardens, parking is extra. There are shops, a kiosk for soft drinks, a café and a restaurant on the property. The Lyme Caxton Missal is on display in the library. In addition, there is an interactive audiovisual facility with a touch screen, which enables the individual pages of the missal to be “turned over” and the chants written there to be sung like 500 years ago. Various events are held in the park. The Bowmen of Lyme use the park for archery .

In film and television

Lyme Park and his mansion have been used as a backdrop for a number of films and TV shows. The exterior of the mansion depicted Pemberley , the manor house of Mr Darcy in the 1995 BBC film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice . It was also used as the backdrop for the Red Dwarf episode Timeslides . It also appeared in the 2011 and 2014 film The Awakening in the second series of the television series The Village .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Peak District: Dark Peak area. Outdoor leisure map 1 . Ordnance Survey.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Claire Hartwell, Matthew Hyde, Edward Hubbard, Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England . Chapter: Cheshire . Yale University Press, New Haven & London 1971 2011, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6 , pp. 440-446.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  4. ↑ The house is often described as Palladian, but not all experts agree that it is an example of pure Palladianism. As for the south facade, the author of Heritage Gateway writes : "For a garden facade it is great, but more baroque than Palladian" and gives no other reference to Palladianism. Nikolaus Pevsner writes: "But his (Leonis) magnificent south facade is not a Palladian facade" and "Leoni was more original in Lyme Pake than you could tell at first glance". Merlin Waterson, author of the official guide to this manor, writes: “The dramatic use of huge pillars on the southern front was far too close to the tradition of the English Baroque (...) He (Leoni) never devoted himself to Lord Burlington's very exclusive and academic Palladianism ”.
  5. ^ Nikolaus Pevsner, Edward Hubbard: The Buildings of England . Chapter: Cheshire . Yale University Press, New Haven & London 1971 2003, ISBN 0-300-09588-0 , p. 260.
  6. ↑ a b Merlin Waterson: Lyme Park . National Trust. 1975, p. 9.
  7. ↑ Merlin Waterson: Lyme Park . National Trust. 1975, p. 5.
  8. ^ Mastiff History. Rockport Mastiffs, accessed May 28, 2015 .
  9. ↑ a b Lyme Park. (No longer available online.) The Heritage Trail, archived from the original on August 28, 2008 ; accessed on May 28, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theheritagetrail.co.uk
  10. ↑ a b Merlin Waterson: Lyme Park . National Trust. 1975, p. 11.
  11. ↑ a b c d e Linden Groves: Historic Parks & Gardens of Cheshire . Landmark, Ashbourne 2004, ISBN 1-84306-124-4 , pp. 50-57.
  12. ↑ a b Norman Bilsborough: The Treasures of Cheshire . North West Civic Trust, Manchester 1983, ISBN 0-901347-35-3 , pp. 123-124.
  13. ^ Nikolaus Pevsner, Edward Hubbard: The Buildings of England . Chapter: Cheshire . Yale University Press, New Haven & London 1971 2003, ISBN 0-300-09588-0 , p. 259.
  14. ^ TP Connor: Leoni, Giacomo (c.1686-1746). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed May 28, 2015 .
  15. ↑ Merlin Waterson: Lyme Park . National Trust. 1975, p. 10.
  16. ^ Geoffrey Beard: Georgian Craftsmen and Their Work . Country Life 1966, p. 40.
  17. ↑ Gardom worked under the Huguenot blacksmith Jean Tijou on Chatsworth House and also created the garden gates of Castle Howard .
  18. ^ Geoffrey Beard: Georgian Craftsmen and Their Work . Country Life 1966, p. 46.
  19. ↑ Merlin Waterson: Lyme Park . National Trust. 1975, pp. 12-13.
  20. ↑ Merlin Waterson: Lyme Park . National Trust. 1975, p. 4.
  21. ↑ a b Merlin Waterson: Lyme Park . National Trust. 1975, p. 17.
  22. ↑ The family lore that the carvings are said to be from Gibbons, evidence of this and their possible rearrangement are discussed by Waterson.
  23. ^ Turning the pages of history. Heritage Lottery Fund, July 24, 2009, accessed July 19, 2017 .
  24. Jump up ↑ Lyme Park Description. Parks & Gardens UK, accessed January 27, 2010 .
  25. ^ Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  26. ^ Lyme Park - Disley, Cheshire (NT). MicroArts, accessed May 28, 2015 .
  27. ↑ The Cage . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  28. ↑ The Lantern . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  29. ^ The Dark Passage, Joining the Orangery to Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  30. ↑ The Stables at Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  31. ^ The Pheasant House at Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  32. ^ Well Head at Center of Lyme Park's Courtyard . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  33. ↑ The Kennels in Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  34. ↑ Pair of Gardener's Cottages at Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  35. ↑ Terrace Revetment Walls up to 50 Meters to the West of Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  36. ↑ Lodge and gate piers and gates on Lyme Park Drive, Buxton Road West . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  37. ^ Forward Gate Piers to Lyme Park Drive, Buxton Road West . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  38. ^ Gate Piers to Lyme Park Drive, Red Lane . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  39. ^ Gate Piers, Gates and Railings 48 Meters North of North Front of Lyme Park . Historic England. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  40. ^ Lyme Park. National Trust, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  41. ↑ Prices. National Trust, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  42. ↑ Eating and Shopping. National Trust, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  43. ↑ Lyme Caxton Missal goes on public display thanks to Art Fund help. Art Fund, July 16, 2009, accessed July 19, 2017 .
  44. ↑ Things to see and do. National Trust , accessed August 5, 2012 .
  45. ↑ Who are we? (No longer available online.) The Bowmen of Lyme, archived from the original on July 1, 2014 ; accessed on May 29, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bowmenoflyme.co.uk
  46. ↑ Timeslides. Internet Movie Database, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  47. ↑ Step Back in Time in Hayfield. Derbyshire Times, June 8, 2014, accessed May 29, 2015 .

literature

  • Lady Newton: The House of Lyme: From its Foundation to the End of the Eighteenth Century . GP Putnam's Sons, New York 1917.
  • Lady Newton: Lyme Letters 1660-1760 . William Heinemann, London 1925.
  • James Rothwell: Lyme Park . National Trust, London 1998.

Web links

Commons : Lyme Park  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 53 ° 20 '17.2 "  N , 2 ° 3' 17.3"  W.