Hutton-in-the-Forest

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Hutton-in-the Forest is situated in rural surroundings c 8 km north-west of Penrith, immediately east of the hamlet of Unthank. The c 200 ha site is on ground which rises to the north-east and east. The B5305 forms part of the northern boundary, there is a mixture of walls and fences around the former deer park to the north and north-east, and Kennel Wood and Doghills Wood form the remaining eastern boundary. The western boundary is formed by a mixture of walls and fencing.

Entrances and Approaches

There are two main entrances, both on the B5305. The principal entrance has gate piers and flanking walls (listed grade II) leading to a drive which runs south-east to the service yard north of the main building. Some 120 m east of this there is a gated entrance with a drive running south to a car park. Other access points to the site are informal farm tracks. The 1926 OS map shows a drive running west from the B5305 to the house from the point at which a gateway with stone gate piers (early C19, listed grade II) is situated on the side of the road. It is possible that this route was devised in the early C19 by William Sawrey Gilpin (Piebenga 1994) and it lies to the south of the line of an avenue shown linking the house with the deer park on Jeffreys(?) county map of 1770 and an undated C18 estate plan.

Principal Building

Hutton-in-the-Forest (listed grade I) originated as a medieval pele tower. An east wing with a long gallery was added in the early C17 by Alexander Pogmire, but a matching wing to the south, shown on an engraving by Knyff & Kip of c 1705, was probably never built. The east side of the house was refronted c 1685 by Edward Addison for Sir George Fletcher, the building being remodelled again during the early and later C19 by Anthony Salvin (1799-1881).

To the north of the house there is a double courtyard, walled on the east side, with two stable ranges (buildings and wall listed grade II) parallel to one another with their gable ends attached to the east wall of the kitchen garden. Buildings in approximately this position are shown on the Kip engraving and on the large-scale OS map of 1860; they appear to have been be substantially or wholly rebuilt during the C19. The gable ends have ball finials on the kneelers, matching the ball finials which surmount the garden walls.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

A forecourt on the east side of the house is formed by the north-east wing on the northern side and a yew hedge on the south side. The east side is closed by a stone wall with central gate piers (listed grade I) which are probably those shown on the engraving of 1705. The engraving also shows a large circular fountain in the forecourt. To the east of this is a secondary grassed court with yew hedges on the north and south sides and a fence dividing the area from parkland to the east, which is in the approximate position of a fence with ornamental gate piers shown on the Kip engraving. On the south side of the house there is a paved terrace with a central stone staircase leading down to a substantial terraced walk which extends along the south side of the east courtyard. Beneath this terrace the land falls as a grassy bank to an area called the Low Garden which was laid out under the guidance of Salvin in the 1870s and consists of a series of interconnecting radial paths in an area planted with ornamental trees and shrubs, now (1997) overgrown. The Kip engraving shows the Low Garden divided into formal rectangular compartments.

On the west side of the house the West Terrace, which is connected to the South Terrace, extends for over 100 m along the whole of the west front of the house, and along the length of a walled kitchen garden to the north of the house, terminating at a raised platform with a stone seat flanked by stone piers with ball finials. Both south and west terraces are shown, but in different form, on the Kip engraving of 1705. It is thought that William Sawrey Gilpin (1762-1843) may have remodelled them in the 1820s for Sir Francis Fletcher Vane (Piebenga 1994). The West Terrace is shown in approximately its present form on the large-scale OS map of 1860, while the South Terrace is shown without the central stone steps, which may have been introduced as part of Salvin's scheme during the 1870s.

The West Terrace overlooks grassed banks which slope down to the edge of a stream which enters the site c 220 m north-west of the house at Unthankend Bridge, which carries the B5305 over it. The stream then runs south through the site, as suggested on the Kip engraving, turning east to feed two ponds south of Low Garden (see below). There are footbridges over the stream, most of C20 date with the exception of a stone bridge c 100m north-west of the house which is probably of the C19 or earlier. These lead to a system of paths through an area of woodland called The Grove. The 1705 engraving shows the woodland with a circular clearing and central fountain aligned with the west front of the house, but no evidence for this is visible and it is not known if it was executed.

The gardens were briefly described in 1705 by William Nicholson, Bishop of Carlisle, who wrote: 'the gardens in very good condition; with several new plants from the Indies, fair plantations of Fir, Beech, Elm, Lime trees etc'. On an earlier visit, when he was Archdeacon, Nicholson described tobacco and nasturtium plants and trees and shrubs including horse chestnuts and lilacs (Carlisle Museums and Art Galleries 1985).

There is woodland with paths leading through it to the north-east of the house. A dovecote (late C17/early C18, listed grade II) is situated c 70 m north-east of the house, on the edge of the woodland.

The area south of the Low Garden is wooded and c 200 m south of the house there is a small lake, called Middle Pond, with the overgrown remains of a cascade at its northern tip. This area is shown as boggy ground on the large-scale OS map of 1860, and is south of what appears to have been a canal running from east to west shown on the Kip engraving. This is one of the ponds created by Henry Vane Fletcher in the 1740s. It is shown on C19 plans of Low Garden. On its eastern shore, c 250 m south-east of the house, there is a simple boathouse, which is shown on the 1926 OS map. Another lake, also shown on the 1926 OS map, is situated to the south, c 600 m south-east of the house. The remains of a path around the lakes is discernible in some places.

The walled garden, used as an ornamental garden, is situated to the north of the house. It consists of a large rectangular area which is walled on the north and east sides, and has boundaries consisting of yew hedges with topiary on the other sides which divide it from the house and the West Terrace. The walls are of brick with a flat parapet of stone and the north wall falls in a series of steps on which stone ball finials are positioned. An opening at the west end of the north wall has a stone architrave and a raised parapet above this with a ball finial. The interior of the garden is planted with borders and divided into compartments by gravel and grass walks and yew hedges. A simple stone-roofed monopitch summerhouse of late C19 date lies at the east end of the main grass walk. The garden occupies an area shown as a compartmentalised garden divided into squares by tree-lined walks on the Kip engraving. Sir Henry Vane Fletcher built the two walls in the 1730s, possibly to protect fruit trees which were purchased in large numbers at this time. Margaret, Lady Vane, wife of Sir Henry Ralph Vane, was responsible for much of the topiary work in the 1890s.

Park

There is parkland to the south, east and north of the house. To the south a crumbling C19 stone wall runs south from the former home farm (outside the registered area) dividing agricultural land from open parkland with scattered mature trees, as shown on the large-scale OS map of 1860. There is woodland in the southern part of the park along the line of the stream running south from the ponds, and areas of woodland called Doghills Wood and Kennel Wood run along the south-eastern boundary.

Parkland immediately to the east is called Front Park and consists of open land, fenced along the B5305, with scattered trees. Some 300 m east of the house there is a pond which is not shown on the large-scale OS map of 1860 but is suggested on earlier maps and is probably one of a series of ponds created by Henry Vane Fletcher in the 1740s and restored by Sir Henry Ralph Vane in the second half of the C19. The 1705 Kip engraving shows part of a double avenue, with inner rows of pines and outer rows of broadleaved trees, aligned with the east front of the house and Jeffreys' county map of 1770 shows an avenue in the same position linking the east side of the house with the former deer park which is situated on rising ground to the north-east. It is shown on an estate map, probably of late C18 date, as a polygonal area planted with bands of trees and rides, and although the planting has gone part of the boundary wall survives. William Sawrey Gilpin advised Sir Francis Fletcher Vane on the gardens and park in the early C19 and it is thought that this advice resulted in the linking of the 'Near Park' around the house with the 'Far Park', or deer park (Piebenga 1994).

Maps

• T Jeffreys, The County of Cumberland, surveyed 1770
• OS 6" to 1 mile: Cumberland sheet XLIX, 1st edition surveyed 1860
• Cumberland sheet XLIX, published 1926
• OS 25" to 1 mile: Cumberland sheet XLIX NW, 1st edition surveyed 1860

Archival items

• Estate maps and plans, nd (private collection)

Description written: October 1997

Amended: June 1998

Edited: March 1999