The Seminal Example of Formal Gardens in England
The gardens at Chatsworth were created in the late 1600s by William Cavendish. It began as a grand Palladian Manor House, with extensive formal gardens, and ranks as one of the most splendid estates. With the additions and changes by successive heirs, the estate has grown into a lavish and wonderful landscape of the best that the formal gardens can be in all of England. This is an estate dotted with waterworks and fountains, and while not as lavish as those at Versailles or other villas and palaces on the continent, they are an important feature at Chatsworth.
The willow tree fountain, created in 1693, reflected the European taste for ingenius "joke" fountains that suddenly drenched unsuspecting visitors who had paused to admire its life like qualities. According to Chatsworth accounts, a designer was paid 60 pounds for an artificial tree of brass for a fountain at Chatsworth. In 1826 Joseph Paxton was made head gardener at Chatsworth, by the sixth Duke of Devonshire. By this time, the willow tree fountain had long fallen into disrepair, so Paxton arranged for a new one. It was composed of 8,000 pieces of copper and brass and had 800 jets of water hidden in the branches and leaves. Paxton erected the fountain, not in the original location in the center of the ring pond, but in a partially concealed glade fashioned from Paxton's new naturalistic rock garden. It was to be an artificial element in the middle of the artfully arranged natural landscape. A new reservoir was dug on top of the hill to supply water to the fountain, which was later dubbed a squirting tree by the delighted young Princess Victoria, who was to become Queen of England in 1837.
The joke element did not fade with time. In 1862, James Croxton wrote: "We were in a party of which one member was a know-it-all. When we reached the willow, the gardener, with a malicious smile, appealed to our "expert" for the name of the tree. Certainly he would just examine the formation of the leaf and be able to identify it easily. No sooner said than done. He stepped onto the grass and in that instant a thousand jets reporting their water streams upon his head. He made his escape soaking wet and drenched and ran into the bushes, and we saw him no more." Since this time, the willow tree fountain has been replaced twice, most recently in the mid-1980s.
The cascade of the willow tree fountain is a dramatically splashing and rushing water feature, originally designed in the 1690s by Grillet, a pupil of Ande Le Norte. Several years later, this cascade was dug up and extended, and a temple pavilion designed by Thomas Archer was placed at the top of the cascade in 1703 to provide a dramatic vista from the east side of the house. Around 1830, Paxton supervised the rebuilding of more than half the water cascade to align it better with the house. A new water aqueduct filling the garden ponds, reservoirs, and pipework were built to supply it. Later in the 19th century, some criticized the cascade, which is rather unique for an English garden. Joshua Major, in his book on the theory and practice of landscape gardening, remarked on how the cascade combination of art and nature opposes the dictates of good taste. However, pushing the limits of water power and its effects interested Paxton, his innovative work on the cascade and other fountains, as well as his designs for the garden, still delights visitors today. The water cascades, a sheet of water flows over the series of elegant steps, down from the Baroque pavilion to disappear abruptly into a culvert at the bottom, and feed into yet another fountain, the Sea Horse Fountain on the South lawn close to the house. The Gardens at Chatsworth remain an excellent example of English Formal Gardens.