Hutton Hall park and garden, Guisborough

Background

Hutton Hall park and garden was the creation of Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease who decided to build himself a new estate in 1864. Pease was a member of the well-known Quaker family of industrialists and financiers who were responsible for the development of the railways around Darlington and Middlesbrough as an industrial centre. It is therefore fitting that Pease chose a site that he had first encountered when he and his father invested in the local ironstone mine and built a railway to it from Middlesbrough. Its natural topography with the Cleveland Hills surrounding it to the south made it an ideal site to create a designed landscape. Pease may have been inspired by the gardens in Cornwall of Glendurgan and Trebah, created respectively by his wife’s father and uncle, Alfred and Charles Fox.

Pease had the resources to build an estate that employed the best in their field: including the renowned architect, Alfred Waterhouse; the rockwork specialist, James Pulham; the landscape designer, William Broderick Thomas; Simeon Marshall of James Backhouse & Sons, the nursery and landscape designers and William Richardson, the horticultural building expert. In 1874, he engaged as his head gardener James McIndoe, who skilfully managed an extensive kitchen garden of over 6 acres and about 20 different glasshouses. McIndoe was later recognised by his peers by being one of the first to receive the Royal Horticultural Society’s Victoria Medal of Honour.

The manor of Hutton Lowcross was owned by Gisborough Priory and on the latter’s dissolution in 1540 it was split between the Crown, the See of York and the Chaloner estate in nearby Guisborough. From 1859, Pease began to acquire land but negotiating with the many landowners meant it was not complete until 1875. The historic park and gardens of 737 acres that included extensive parkland and hillside plantations is largely in place today although key features such as the glasshouses and summerhouses in the woodland have not survived.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

3.1 Estate owners

The township or manor of Hutton [Lowcross], owned by Gisborough Priory, was divided three ways following the dissolution of the priory in 1540. The first section of the land (c. 271 acres) was granted to Thomas Leigh as a tenant that year and became part of the estate of Gisborough, which wassold to Thomas Chaloner in 1550 by the Crown (Walker Ord1846, 579-580). The second section of c. 255 acres was granted to the See of York [Archbishop of York] in 1545 (PRO 1905, 214), who leased it out to a succession of tenants.The remainder of the land (c. 426 acres) in Hutton was kept by the Crown, rented out and administered by the Hospital of the Savoy in London until 1702 (Dixon 1991, 59). In 1545, the tenant of both the Crown and the Archbishop of York was Adam Pursglove, possibly the brother of Robert, the last prior of Gisborough (PRO 1905, 214). On his death, his tenancy was shared between his two sons, John and Robert.

Chaloner lands

By 1806, this part of Hutton on the western side was divided into two farms that were sold by Robert Chaloner to JosephHickson that year (GM Grace Dixon Archive, Deeds). ‘Hutton House Farm’ occupied 141 acres of lowland and was sold by Hickson in 1814 to Thomas Pym Williamson for £5500 (ibid).Thomas Shaw Bancroft Reade bought it in 1837 and it wasinherited by his son, George, in 1841. ‘Codhill Farm’ had 130acres of upland and had a succession of owners from 1806 until it was acquired by Henry Thomas in 1851 for £2000 (ibid).

Archbishopric of York lands

John Pursglove was the tenant for these lands on his death in 1587 (Dixon 1991, 49), which he passed onto his son, John. By 1596, the lease had been given to Thomas Sandys (NA C 111/223) for 21 years, followed by Thomas Mudd in 1616. The Mudd family sold the lease to Sir James Pennyman in 1654 for £1200 and it stayed with the Pennyman family until 1752 (Dixon 1991, 54). Charles Robinson then sold his rights to Richard Harding in 1767 for nearly £4000 (ibid). In 1808/9, John Moon of Bousdale and David Thomas of Lowcross Farm bought the tenancy rights from Richard Harding’s son, with the latter buying out the former in 1817. Thomas left his property to his two sons, William and John with the latter inheriting after his brother’s death in 1833. In 1843, John Thomas died and his son, Henry (later owner of Codhill Farm, see above), gained the leases that he held until his death in 1864.

Crown lands

The first surviving lease for this part of Hutton is from 1634 when it was granted to Cuthbert Corney, Robert Colthirst and Nicholas Proddy, who occupied Lockeris [also Locker] House (now Lowcross Farm) for 21 years (Dixon 1991, 59). In 1653 a new lease was granted to Thomas Mudd (who held the Archbishop of York lands) but in 1660, they passed to Robert Rosse for Richard, Ralph and Matthew Yoward. Following the dissolution of the Savoy Hospital, in 1716 Richard Yoward was granted direct rights and lands in Hutton belonging to the Crown (ibid, 60). Richard’s son, Ralph, died intestate in 1781 and his nephew, Mann Horsfield, administered his estate which was inherited by his stepchildren, Edmund (d 1800) and Jane Robinson (d 1842). The survey of 1812 (TA CRES 34/300) lists a Mrs Mary Robinson, widow, as the holder of the main lease. This may have confused Horsfield’s wife Mary, who died in 1793, with Edmund’s widow, Elizabeth (neé Metcalfe).

By 1859, Joseph Whitwell Pease had acquired part of the former estate belonging to the Archbishop of York (TA U.OME/21/1), including what would become Home Farm and a small part of the Crown lands to the south of the old village.In 1864 he acquired the Hutton Hall estate from Reade (TAR/M/RSG/5/82), having leased it from c. 1855 (Dixon 1991, 89) and the remaining part of the estate leased by Henry Thomas. In 1865, he exchanged lands with Crown and became the lessee for further Crown lands by 1874. In 1872, he bought the Codhill estate from John Thomas’ widow (Dixon 1991, 80) and with additional purchases from the Crown meant that by 1881, the estate at Hutton of c. 820 acres was now in Pease’s possession (TA U.OME/22/M1).

Following a legal claim against the family-owned bank, Pease had to sell the Hutton estate in 1903 (NYCRO K). It wasbought two years later by James Warley Pickering in 1905 for £43,000 (TA R/M/RSG/5/82), who retained it until his death in 1925. The estate was left to son, Warley, who transferred the ownership of estate to a family company in 1931, just prior to his death. The estate was then valued at £27,000.

The Pickering family company sold Hutton Hall estate to the Middlesbrough Estate company in 1936 for £30,000 (TA R/M/RSG/5/82). This was the company set up in 1829 by Joseph W. Pease’s father and grandfather to develop Middlesbrough and his sons were still involved in the business. In 1937, the Middlesbrough Estate company wanted to sell off the Hall and part of the historic landscape of 54acres, as well as the five adjoining farms (NYCRO K). The Hall and 13.5 acres was finally sold to John Mathison in 1948 (TA U.OME(5)/83), together with the Lodge and 3.5 acres in 1954 (TA U.OME(5)/232). In 1999, the stables and other outbuildings were converted into residential units and sold off.

Key owners responsible for the development of the designed landscape and the dates of their involvement:

Thomas Shaw Bancroft Reade (1837 – 1841)

George Reade (1841 – c. 1855)

Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease (1864 – 1902)

3.2 Early history of the site

Note while the town is currently spelt ‘Guisborough’, the historic name ‘Gisborough’ is used for the Priory, Hall and Manor.

In 1086, Hutton [or Hoton] was recorded in the Domesdaybook as part of Gisborough, belonging to Count Robert of Mortain, the half-brother of William I and a large landowner following the Norman Conquest. By the early 12th century, the lands had passed to Robert de Brus, who founded Gisborough Priory in 1119. By the late 12th century, the ‘de Hoton’ family were resident when Robert de Skeltonconfirmed c. 1170-1185 that his grandmother, Emma de Hoton, had granted to the canons of Gisborough Priory 3bovates (c. 60 acres) and 3 tofts (houses) in Hutton (Farrer 1915, 47-48).

In 1241, the manor passed from Peter de Brus to his son-in-law Marmaduke de Thweng. At Kirkby’s Inquest of c. 1276, Hugh de Hoton living in Hoton, was the mesne (tenant) Lord, holding six carucates (c. 120 acres) here and at Pinchinthorpe(Surtees Society 1867, 129). In 1290, Hugh died and the manor passed to his son, John (ibid). In 1335, John de Hotonwith the licence of Sir Bartholomew Fanacourt and Lucia his wife (daughter of Robert de Thwenge), gave the manor of Hoton to the prior and convent of Gisborough. In 1338, the prior then granted the manor to John during his life for anannual pension (YAS 1910, 93 & 130). In 1346, Nicholas de Hoton (son of John) quitclaimed (relinquished) the manor to Gisborough Priory and it remained the owner until its dissolution in 1540.

The leper hospital of St. Leonard at Hutton Lowcross was thought to have been founded in the late 12th century (Surtees Society 1889, 179) but its precise location or locations is not known. In one charter Richard, son of Hugh de Hoton,confirmed to the lepers of Lowcross, 2 acres in Hutton, where ‘the hospital had anciently stood’ (ibid, 171) but from other charters, it is described as being between ‘Hotonam’ (Hutton) and ‘Bernaldby' (to the north) (ibid, 181). By the mid 14thcentury, it appears to have become part of Gisborough Priory, as there are no further references to it as a separate unit and it is not mentioned in the accounts when the Priory was dissolved (ibid, xxi).

The origin of the building that became ‘Hutton Hall’ by the mid 19th century is not clear but it is sited in the medieval village of Hutton. In 1290, the possessions of the deceased Hugh de Hoton were listed as following: the manor of Hoton; 130a of arable land; 16a of meadow; 22 bovates (c. 440a) of land in bondage (i.e. as tenant); capital messuage; 21 cottages and a watermill (YAS 1898, 106). The ‘capital messuage’ or manor house occupied by Hugh de Hoton had a fishpond fed by a spring (Dixon 1991, 44). Whether this building survived as part of or on the site of later structures is not known. The slopes of the hills between the village and the upper moorland were wooded and Hugh was given permission to ‘make a park over and above his manor of Hutton’ (YAS 1955, 107-8). The land belonging to Reade’s ‘Hutton House Farm’ estate included an area of 7 acres called ‘Parkes’ (NA CRES2/1413). This name does not appear on any maps although it may be the ‘Pinderdyke Whins’ that is also 7 acres and is next to Kemplah Wood on Guisborough estate maps (NYCRO ZFM).

A ‘tenement’ or building at Hoton was given to the then Prior, James Cockerill, in 1536 when he resigned and surrendered the Priory (PRO 1887, No 927). Cockerill was executed the following year and his possessions were probably seized by the Crown. In 1540 when the Manor of Gisborough (including part of Hutton) was transferred to Thomas Leigh from Gisborough Priory, it was described as (Walker Ord 1846, 575):

‘one tenement called Hoton House with the toft adjacent containing by estimation half an acre as also one messuage or mansion in the same place enclosed with a stone wall called Hoton Hall and one close of meadow called Hoton Great Close containing by estimation twenty acres and one close of pasture called More close together with Coddale otherwise called Rothergate close containing by estimation fifty acres and one close of land called Sleddale close containing by estimation two acres

Some buildings are shown on the Guisborough estate map ofc. 1773 (NYCRO ZFM) next to a garth or enclosed area of 2 acres and a field called ‘Close End’ of 4 acres. These are on the site of the later (old) Hutton Hall. In the old village are more buildings in Crown lands, tenanted by Ralph Yoward, including two barns. These are shown on the map of Hutton manor of 1782 (NA MR 1_133). Whether either of these are the 16th century ‘Hoton Hall’ and ‘Hoton House’ is not known but the property on Crown lands has two large barnsnearby, so would lay greater claim to being the Hall and possibly the medieval manor house. It is next to the area known as ‘The Parks’ identified by Alfred Pease due south (TA U.PEN(2)/25/5), although the Parks were part of Reade’s property (see above). Prior to 1859, Reade’s property was known as ‘Hutton House Farm’ according to an affidavit by William Potter who claimed to have known it ‘fifty years and upwards’ (NA CRES2/143).

A further complex of buildings listed in 1595 was the residence of Adam Pursglove and later his two sons on the land owned by the Archbishopric of York:

‘Two capital messuages one slated (roof) another straw thatched, one bakehouse, one oxhouse, two barns, one calf house, one kiln house’ (NA C 111/223)

These are shown on the map of Hutton of 1782 (NA MR 1_133) surrounding an area called ‘Hooton Green’ in the part belonging to the Archbishopric of York. The description from 1595 (NA C 111/223) equates to the land shown on the 1782 map (NA MR 1_133):

‘One close called the Longe close adjoining to the south side of the said two capital messuages…one close or garth called Ashclose adjoining to the north side of one of the barns, divers closes of pasture and meadow lying together at the North and North west side of the lane leading from the said two capital messuages towards Gisborne [Guisborough], then commonly called and known by the names of Somerfield Haverfield Middlefield Wheatfield Wynterfield and Calf close, and one close called Bynge close lying about Bowesdale[Bousdale]…situated…at Hooton in Cleveland…of late in the tenure or occupation of Adam Pursglove’

In 1550, the lands of the former Gisborough Priory (including Hoton Hall and House as described above) were bought by Sir Thomas Chaloner. The tenant in the 1781 land tax survey of ‘Hutton House Farm’ [later Hutton Hall] was John Lincoln. In1806, Robert Chaloner sold off Hutton Farm [Hall] and 141acres to his agent, Joseph Hickson, who then sold the farm with 116 acres to T. P. Williamson for £5500. Williamson mortgaged it to Thomas Shaw Bancroft Reade, a merchant from Leeds in 1820 and following Williamson’s death in 1836, Reade gained control of the estate (GM Grace Dixon Archive, Deeds). It is mentioned in his will of 8 February 1841 (Reade 1906, 102):

‘Estate or farm called Hutton Low Cross in the North Riding of Yorks., with all the buildings, etc., lately built by me, to my son George Reade…[to] George, £800 and the Hutton Low Cross estate which I value at, £2,500.’

A description from 1859 (NA CRES 2/1413) lists the propertyas having: Messuage or Mansion House Gardens and Homestead – 1 acre; Fields and Closes (lowland) – 53 acres; Park and Hill plains – 31 acres and Plantations – 32 acres. The latter can be seen on the 1st edition OS map but not marked on the Guisborough estate map of c. 1799 (NYCRO ZFM), so they were planted after it had been sold by Robert Chaloner. Later maps call the area ‘Reed’s (sic) Wood’ so may have been planted by the Reade family. The stable complex to the east was built before 1816 and was added to by Thomas Reade before 1841 (GM Grace Dixon Archive, Deeds).

The Crown farm in the old ‘Hooton’ village was tenanted by Robert Trenholme from the 1780s but it was being slowly reduced in size. In a survey of 1811 (BI CC.Ab.7), 7 of the cottages in the village had been pulled down:

Dodsworth House in Glover Close, down 42 years; Robert Weatherill’s house in Mark Garth down 55 years; Three Cottages tenants William Barker, Colburn and Sunley house down 40 years [in Salter Garth]; Swainston [close] house and garth down 40 years; Proddy House in Low Pasture [possibly in later ‘Calf Close’ next to Mark Close] down 40 to 80 years

By the time of the tithe award in 1844 (NA IR 29/42/190), only the main farmhouse and barn opposite remained. The former was said to have pulled down in 1855 (Dixon 1991, 90) when the site was chosen for buildings related to the new mining operation including a row of workers’ cottages, a school and Mine Agent’s House. On the deed of exchange in 1865 (GM Grace Dixon Archive) however, 144a is listed as ‘Hutton Hall Farm House’ and 143a as ‘Hutton Hall Farm Buildings and Yards’, so they presumably were rebuilt. They are shown on the map of 1862 (NA MPEE1_42).

In addition to the plantations in High and Low Bousdale, Nettle Pit and Harrison Gill shown on the 1782 map, the 1812 Crown estate survey (TA CRES 34/300) also noted that there was a mix of mature and ‘improving’ timber at Haggs and Mark Close just south of the old village. Further areas of High Bousdale had also been recently planted and the surrounding previous woodland had been replanted as both were described as ‘improving’.

The ‘Hooton Green’ farm belonging to the Archbishop of York as described above remained largely intact until the 1820s when the later ‘Home Farm’ was built. David Thomas had taken over all the tenancy rights of the Archbishop’s lands by 1817 and decided a new farmstead was needed. By 1844, only one building remained (NA IR 29/42/190) at the corner of the ‘stackyard’, presumably a barn.

Joseph Pease and his son, Joseph Whitwell, took the lease of the Codhill estate with its ironstone mine in 1851 and were instrumental in building the railway to it, proposed in November of that year. They were directors of the Stockton to Darlington Railway and this line, known as the Middlesbrough and Guisborough Railway, was principally intended to move the ironstone from the mine to Middlesbrough (Harrison and Dixon 1982, 191). In 1855, Pease took the lease of George Reade’s estate, including Hutton Hall and stayed at this property when visiting Hutton, his main residence being in Darlington (Dixon 1991, 89). Two paintings by Joseph’s son, Alfred (private collection) show the old Hall and its surroundings in 1866.

3.3 Chronological history of the designed landscape3.3.1 1859 – 1874

By 1859, Joseph W Pease had acquired the land around the railway to the mine (TA U.OME/21/1) and from 1863, he started to acquire further land in Hutton including the old Hutton Hall from George Reade and its surroundings on 17 May 1864 (TA R/M/RSG/5/82). In 1864, Pease also acquired the neighbouring estate of Pinchinthorpe House from Henry Thomas (Dixon 1991, 29) and on 13 October of that year, herecorded in his diary that ‘we went on to Wards [High Farm, Pinchinthorpe] and Thomas’ [Lowcross Farm] farms and laid out there a few plantations by way of making it look warmer and snugger’. These are the ‘Ward’s Bank’ and ‘Thomas Plantation’ that are to the west of Bousdale Hill.

Pease though was planning a new estate for himself at Huttonand he commissioned the noted architect, Alfred Waterhouse, to design a new mansion (RIBAL PA1514/WATA[38](1-2)).In his diary entry for the 1 November 1864 (private collection), he noted that he and Waterhouse ‘walked over the place and canvassed various sites – at last pretty much fixed and staked it out; after lunch we had another examination. Cockburn gave us a lecture upon the sun rise which had some effect upon our plans. After dinner, we sat down again and redrew the back offices and arranged carriage drive &c to suit the house, the work amusing and interesting.’ As well as plans for the house, Waterhouse also designed the terraced gardens to the south and west of the new mansion (RIBAL PA1514/WATA[38](10)).

On 12 May 1865, Pease obtained an order to close the road into the old Hutton village (NYCRO QSB 1865 2/13) that crossed the site of the new Hall. The Codhill mine had closed in 1865 and the railway to it was redundant, so this was removed. On the 4th May that year, he ‘looked at the position of the bridges over the stream by the road & the bridges over it near the house. Alfred Waterhouse will send designs for these’ and the following day ‘set out the carriage drive, examined minutely into site of a kitchen garden and stables if ever built there and studied the same from the hill, at bridges in the wood’ (JWP diary). The following year work began on the new estate and proposals from Waterhouse included a ‘game larder, bridges, lodge, walled garden, gardeners’ cottages, conservatories and vineries’ (Waterhouse andCunningham 1992, quoted in The Northern Echo 21 October 2009). The initial cost of the building work was £10,036(ibid).

Work on the grounds started in February 1868 when William Broderick Thomas, the landscape gardener, arrived at Hutton on the 4th. Pease noted that ‘Thomas came in and we were soon at work; we looked at the carriage drive, at the Terraces, the road to the wood etc’. On the 13th of that month, he saw‘Alfred Waterhouse and talked over with him Thomas’s plans for the terrace walks – he was to see Thomas and report further’. The work continued that year and on the 9 OctoberPease was ‘with Mr Thomas on kitchen garden front, on plantations in new part of Park, on terrace &c, planting position of walks & streams – his eye is wonderfully good…then into woods and did some work at cleaning out and gaps to let in light’.

On the 21 October, Pease recorded ‘Pulham the rock workman came to lay out the stream here in front of the west windows. Walked with him up to the quarries, and took him generally round the place. Started him at work…then with Pulham over his work which looked well in stakes.’ On 1 April 1869, he noted that ‘The stream rockwork (west side of the Hall) [was] looking really well’.

James Pulham recorded in his promotional booklet Picturesque Ferneries and Rock Garden Scenery (published c. 1877) that he designed and built ‘Waterfalls in mountain stream; Exotic fernery; Rocky stream through Pleasure Grounds, in natural stone’ at Hutton Hall(www.pulham.rocks/2015/05/31/49-jun-15-1868-74-hutton-hall-guisborough-north-yorkshire/#_edn1). The estate improvement accounts for 1869 and 1870 record that the Pulham rockwork cost a total of £1,085. In 1874, Pulham was said to be building a rock garden at Hutton (The Garden, 22 August). This may have been the work landscaping the beck in Reed’s Wood/High Bank Bottom (see Section 4.8).

On 2 Feb 1869 Pease says ‘I went with Thomas the landscape gardener to the old garden [of the former Hutton Hall], to kitchen garden walk between them, plantations, stream &c’. A plan of the grounds dated 1869 (GM 2015.140) shows the new layout with the completed mansion, kitchen garden, parkland, plantations and lake.

Work continued throughout 1870, as on the 7 November, Pease records: ‘A beautiful morning; went with Thomas to the old Hutton Hall kitchen garden and about the place, then to Pinchinthorpe where we set out some planting and the road near the house, spent most of the day on it and in setting out the flower garden.’

The estate improvement accounts (private collection) showthe following expenditure in these two years:

William B Thomas was still at Hutton in 1871 as on the 26 October, Pease ‘went out with Thomas the landscape gardener; he worked at the pond and plantations behind the stables’ and 2 days later, Thomas was cutting down trees. Thomas later laid out the grounds at Sandringham and the terrace gardens at Upsall Castle and Dalton Hall.

An estate map of 1874 (TA U.OME/5/10) shows more detail of the landscaping to the south around Hutton village and the former Codhill mine. A path led from the mansion via the Poultry House (site of former Hall) to High Bank Bottom where there were two summerhouses on the paths that ran along the hillside, affording views back to the Hall and across to the hills opposite with the local landmark of ‘Hanging Stone’. To the north of the railway line, there was a new road from Hutton station to Hutton Field House. South of this was ‘The Cottage’ which was also landscaped, mainly around the beck that flowed through its grounds.

An obituary for Simeon Marshall (The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 27 August 1910) credits him with laying out or developing the grounds at Hutton Hall, while working for Messrs James Backhouse & Sons, the nursery based in York. He joined the firm in 1861, first as a temporary hand then responsible for the glasshouses and later as a landscape contractor. JW Pease was related by marriage to the founder of the nursery, James Backhouse III (1794-1869), as his maternal aunt, Hannah Chapman Gurney, had married Backhouse’s cousin, Jonathan. There are some extracts from Pease’s diary that would indicate Marshall’s advice was sought on the glasshouses, conservatory and possibly the wider designed landscape:

30 Dec 1873 - I returned home to meet Marshall from Backhouses of York. He went through all my [green]houses with me and we had a good deal of conversation; he thinks Funnell is not good enough a gardener for me - that the conservatory is wrongly piped, and that there are not succession houses enough to keep the place up… I was pleased with him [Marshall].

22 Jan 1874 - With Alfred Waterhouse on old walls and new works, Marshall of Backhouses of York, and Holmes hot water man of York came, and we went into the alterations required to heat the conservatory and grow climbers – a good morning's work at it

18 Feb 1874 - At Hutton met William Richardson, Marshall of Backhouses &c, about new vineries at alteration of conservatory pipes - a good deal of discussion

20 Mar 1874 - I had a call from Marshall of Backhouse & Co., we went into the question of planting the conservatory and various minor details about Hutton gardens. I gave him a margin of £3-£500 to put the conservatory in good order for the big plants.

17 July 1874 - setting house in order with MacIndoe & Carrington about greenhouses.

Pease was clearly not happy with his glasshouses and this led to the large complex being built (see Section 4.9).

3.3.2 1875 – 1883

In 1875, Pease acquired the Crown lands that he had previously leased (TA R/M/RSG/5/82) and continued to make improvements to the designed landscape. In the previous twoyears, he had commissioned further work from Alfred Waterhouse including adding a large conservatory onto the eastern wing (RIBAL PA1514/WATA [38](12-21)) andalterations to the stables (RIBAL PA1514/WATA [38](23-26)).

In late 1874, James McIndoe (1836-1910) was recruited as head gardener by Pease (The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 10 October 1903), presumably to oversee the large extension in the kitchen garden. He had previously been the head gardener at Bishopthorpe Palace, home of the Archbishop of York. By1881, he led a team of eight, up from three in 1871 (census records). He was well-known for his ability to produce exceptional fruit and was asked to supply some as part of British contribution to the Chicago expo of 1893 (The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3 December 1892 & 3 June 1893). He was recognised in 1897 for his outstanding achievements by the RHS by being one of 60 recipients of the first Victoria Medal of Honour (Journal of Royal Horticultural Society, Vol XXI, Part I, 3).

Soon after McIndoe’s arrival, an article in The Gardeners’ Chronicle (26 August 1876) described the new designed landscape:

‘Hutton Hall is a modern residence of first-rate importance…It is of goodly proportions, aesthetically designed, beautifully situate at the base of the Cleveland range of hills, and the grounds about and around it are admirably laid out and in a splendid state of keeping. As a horticultural establishment, for scope and style…it is hardly second in importance to that of any establishment in the country. Only a few years ago it was an unpretending little place, with a goodly number of aged trees, which in these times have been…used up, to give a stateliness to the landscape. The undulating character of the surface has rendered the work of landscape gardening a comparatively easy task, and what with the chain of mountains rearing their heads in broken outline in the background, with the tableland beneath, there is much to please the eye…Mr Joseph Whitwell Pease, M.P.…has certainly neither spared skill or expense to make it “a thing of beauty”. All the temperate globe…has been laid under contribution to beautify the grounds’.

In 1878, an avenue of trees was planted extending north from Hutton beck towards Hutton Field House to commemorate the 21st birthday of Alfred Edward Pease, Joseph’s eldest son.

Between 1875 and 1880, the kitchen gardens were extended to the north and the east. In the northern section was a large complex of glasshouses that are detailed in Section 4.9 and to the east another walled kitchen garden with a lean-to orchard house. Eight seats were put in High Bank Bottom [later Home Wood] at strategic places along the paths. An additional summerhouse was built at the southern end together with adiversion to Hutton Beck to form a small pond and a waterfall, possibly also by Pulham.

In the eastern parkland, there was more landscaping around Poultry House and by 1881, the shape of the lake had been altered and a boathouse had been added on its eastern bank. On its western side were added two more summerhouses on either side of the lake (NYCRO K).

3.3.3 Later history

In 1903 the estate was put up for sale and it was finally sold in 1905 to James Warley Pickering, a wealthy shipowner. He clearly had the means to maintain the estate and employed W Richardson & Co. presumably for the glasshouses and/or conservatories (The Gardeners’ Magazine, 16 September 1911). However with his death in December 1925, the estate started to decline. In 1926, Warley’s executors put it up for sale (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 5 March) but it did not sell. By 1927 some of the glasshouses on the western side had been removed including the long connecting ‘corridor’ but rest of the estate remained intact. Warley Pickering had inherited the estate from his father (Gloucester Journal, 20 February 1926) but in September 1931 had transferred it to a family run company, the ‘Hutton Lowcross Estate Company’.

Following the death of both Warley and his brother John in 1932, the estate was acquired by The Owners of the Middlesbrough estate (OME) in 1935. By this stage, large parts of the woodland on the slopes had been felled: High Bousdale (1930-36), Low Bousdale (1936) Hall Heads (1927) and Sawmill (1937) (NYCRO K). In 1937, OME tried to sell off Hall and surrounding estate of 1600 acres (ibid) but they had no takers for this or the alternative of the Hall and 54 acres (mainly the pleasure grounds, kitchen garden and a small part of the eastern parkland).

In 1948, the Hall and 13.5 acres was sold to John Mathison,who also bought the Lodge. The rest of northern glasshouses had gone by early 1950s and by 1967 only the orchard house remained. This disappeared too when the area was redeveloped in 1999.

Detailed History contributed by Yorkshire Gardens Trust 2018

Civil Parish

Guisborough