Chatsworth: A Landscape History

The seat of the Cavendish family since 1549, Chatsworth is more than a great country house: it is one of Europe's finest designed landscapes. This book tells the story of Chatsworth's park and gardens, a grand, thousand-year narrative which draws together evidence from a wealth of different sources, especially Chatsworth's own archives and recent systematic surveys of the park's earthworks and trees. John Barnatt and Tom Williamson have been responsible for much of the research which has transformed our understanding of this magnificent landscape. In this book they show how its history is like a tapestry. Particular individuals - for instance Elizabeth of Hardwick, the successive Dukes of Devonshire, 'Capability' Brown and Joseph Paxton - come and go, weave their distinctive threads, and then move on. The authors trace these threads backwards and forwards in time, showing in detail the process of landscape evolution. As well as exploring the landscaping schemes of 1600 to 1900, they reveal for the first time Chatsworth's earlier history: the details of the medieval and earlier field systems and settlements that existed at Chatsworth 'BC' - Before Cavendish' - and which still underlie the park. Richly illustrated with historic maps, paintings and new archaeological plans, this is a book for every enthusiast of landscape and garden history. The reader is left with a deepened understanding of a remarkable place.