The History of Castle Howard Gardens

The collaboration between Charles Howard and his two architects, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, at the beginning of the 18th century, gave birth to a sublime landscape at Castle Howard. It became filled with walkways, rivers, lakes, mock fortifications, temples, obelisks, pyramids and a grand mausoleum.

Talk of the town
The grand façade of Castle Howard and its grounds were the talking point of 18th-century society. Started by Charles Howard, the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, the house took more than 25 years to complete, and was designed to run north-south (rather than the usual east-west) to make the best of the wonderful Yorkshire views.

Theatrical flourish
The Baroque flamboyance was down to John Vanbrugh, a theatre man with no architectural experience who was employed to design it. Luckily Vanbrugh had enough sense to bring in Nicholas Hawksmoor (assistant to Christopher Wren) who could actually translate his designs into reality.

Spectacular scenery
Together Carlisle, Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor created a park and landscape to equal the grandeur of the house. It was a landscape designed to be viewed from the back of a horse, not on foot! The three-mile approach to the house is lined with beech and lime trees and the 1,000 acre grounds are scattered with monuments to amaze the visitor - including the Mausoleum, which was as big as one of Christopher Wren's churches and of which Horace Walpole said: 'it would tempt one to be buried alive!'

Lead figures
Lord Carlisle was a great collector of lead statuary. Lead was commercially produced in England from the early 18th century and between the 1720s and '40s he commissioned 30 pieces. Those that survive today include Apollo, Venus, Bacchus, Hercules, a gladiator and four Roman Empresses. Repaired, reassembled and cleaned there are 18 figures still on show.

The classics
The Pyramid and the Temple of the Four Winds are references to Classic Greece and Egypt, a very popular device in 18th-century England. The temple was originally called the Temple of Diana and beneath it is a cellar where servants stored and prepared food for outdoor parties. It has views to the north to the Temple of Venus which collapsed in the 1940s but which will hopefully be rebuilt.

Waterways
All of the lakes and rivers have been dug out, widened and diverted to create an array of water features. From a reservoir in Ray Wood, water is pumped downhill to power the jets in the Atlas Fountain in the walled former kitchen gardens. These were redesigned in 1850 by WA Nesfield with a figure of Atlas supported by Tritons.

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