The site on which The Alnwick
Garden is built has had a colourful history,
with gardens being built here designed by
leading contemporary designers of their day.
How fitting that The Alnwick Garden should
have been classed by many as one of the finest
public gardens to have been built in over
100 years. |
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The first garden was laid
down in 1750 by the 1st Duke of Northumberland
who employed locally born Capability Brown,
the most celebrated gardener of the day,
to landscape the parkland adjoining the castle
grounds. |
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The original Alnwick gardens
then underwent a century of development.
Hothouses were built for raising pineapples
and produce was sent to Paris for the 3rd
Duke when he was special ambassador there
in 1825. This Duke, who was a plant collector,
brought plants and seeds from all over the
world to be reared at Alnwick. He built a
large conservatory in the gardens which were
opened to the public one day a week. For
her part the 3rd Duchess transformed the
site into a garden of flowers. |
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The reputation of the gardens
attracted important visitors from abroad
and in the 1800s the head gardener of Tsar
Alexander 1st of Russia visited and subsequently
'head-hunted' Alnwick's head gardener, who
left for Russia. |
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The gardens were at their
most complete in the mid-19th century when
the 4th Duke created an italianate garden
which reflected the Italian Renaissance period
being created within the Castle State Rooms
at that time. |
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The 4th Duke purchased two pairs of 16th
century Venetian wrought-iron gates from
Italy. These have been restored and are
re-hung in their original positions in The
Alnwick Garden, at the main entrance and
at the entrance to the Ornamental Garden. |
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| At the end of the 19th century
the gardens were at their grandest with yew
hedges in topiary, a double avenue of limes,
acres of
flower garden, five grape houses, five pine
houses and a conservatory. |
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| The most important garden designers
and architects of their day worked at Alnwick.
In addition to Capability Brown, who created
the parkland, Decimus Burton (mostly noted
for The Palm House and Temperate House at Kew
Gardens) also influenced the gardens at Alnwick,
although these designs are long gone. |
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As well as its own network
of engineering and water pipes, the present
Grand Cascade hides the remains of a
network of underground
tunnels that provided hot air for earlier
greenhouses. The heat was provided by large
underground coal-fired furnaces. |
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Other historical features
still visible are the two large earth
banks that run down either side of the Grand
Cascade. These were first constructed in
the garden of the 1850s and became the starting
point for The Alnwick Garden. The main axis
of the Grand Cascade also runs down to the
existing viewing platform which was the site
of the 1860 pavilion and will eventually
become the site of The Alnwick Garden Pavilion
and Visitor Centre. |
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| A historic garden decoration
can also be found. It is an early 18th century
lead sculpture of a fox sitting atop a fruit-filled
urn decorated with masks depicting the four
seasons and supported by monkeys. |
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Two World Wars and the austerity
of the 20th Century saw the garden site fall
into disrepair. |
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During the Second World War, the site
again provided food when it was turned over
for the Government's 'Dig for Victory' campaign,
a 1942 scheme that called for every man and
woman in Britain to keep an allotment. |
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The Alnwick Garden was closed
as a working garden in 1950 and the
site was used as a tree nursery before The
Alnwick Garden project began in March 1996. |
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Since then, visitors to The Alnwick Garden have been able to watch history being made once again, as the site has become a magical landscape full of ideas, opportunities and fun. |
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