South Cave/Cave Castle

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

Estate owners

The manor of ‘South Cave alias East Hall' was purchased by Sir Thomas Danby in 1582. It was sold to Francis Harrison in 1649, to John Idell in 1720 and to Leuyns Boldero in 1748. In 1769 the latter assumed the surname Barnard in accordance with the will of his great-uncle, Dr Henry Barnard. His son, Henry Boldero Barnard, built the house known as Cave Castle where the family lived until the 20th century. This house and the surrounding park were sold to the Carmichael family in 1937. There have been several other changes of ownership from 1950 onwards, and Cave Castle is now a privately-owned hotel and country club. (Allison, VCH Yorks ER IV, 43-4)

The owner chiefly responsible for the landscaping was Henry Boldero Barnard (1783-1815). Some further improvements to the grounds were reported in the 1830s when the estate belonged to his son, Henry Gee Barnard.

Early history of the site

A manor house was mentioned in the early-16th century; in 1672 the Harrisons, then owners of the manor of East Hall, South Cave, had a house with 14 hearths. (Allison, VCH Yorks ER IV, 44). A plan drawn up in 1759 shows a small manor house (East Hall) set within formal grounds of around 10 acres. The plan shows a short avenue of trees running north of the hall to a small boundary plantation, with a similar avenue running south towards a canal which lay on the opposite side of the road in Bull Pasture. (HCC, BD/4/31)

Chronological history of the designed landscape

Late-18th century

The open-fields and common lands of South Cave were enclosed in 1785-7, vigorously promoted by Henry Boldero Barnard who had succeeded to the East Hall (later Cave Castle) estate in 1783. He already owned a large block of enclosed land to the east of the house, but enclosure gave him a substantial additional block to the north and east. In the area south of East Hall he exchanged lands with the vicar of South Cave (the vicarage was relocated to Market Place), closed a footpath across his grounds, and moved the road so that it ran south of the canal. (Neave & Turnbull, Landscaped Parks, 26) St Helen's well, once a roadside well or spring, now lies within the parkland.

Barnard apparently commissioned William Emes to landscape the grounds immediately after enclosure in 1787. (Hall, South Cave, 61) The park was extended northwards, with an arm going eastwards to the Weighton Road, where a lodge was built. Another lodge was built near the church, on Church Hill - both are shown on the mid-19th-century OS plan.

The parkland was surrounded by narrow bands of plantations, a feature characteristic of the work of Emes. An area known as the Wilderness was created to the north of the house, with winding paths.

Henry Gee Barnard recorded in his weather journal or ‘register' that in the summer of 1793, ‘a remarkable dry one', most of the newly planted trees in the ‘young plantations' had died for want of rain, particularly beech, larch and Scotch fir. References in 1794 and 1795 respectively to elm and horse chestnut probably refer to trees in the park. (Barnard, ‘Register')

The mid-19th century and later OS maps also show a small oval pond with a lawned area north of the house, with the kitchen garden beyond, and an ice house nearby. In Barnard's weather journal there are references to filling the ice house.

To the south of the house the old formal canal was enlarged and transformed into an irregular lake with a small island, with trees at either end, another feature typical of an Emes' landscape. The new road, south of the canal, was in a hollow giving an uninterrupted view from the house towards the Humber across Bull Pasture, which had been converted to parkland. (Neave & Turnbull, Landscaped Parks, 26)

Barnard is said to have enlarged and partly rebuilt the manor house around 1791, after the new park had been created. A painting by William Burgess probably made soon after this date shows a couple, presumably Mr and Mrs Barnard, in the parkland in front of this house. At the bottom left hand corner is part of the lake, with a pair of swans. (www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/william-burgess-late-18th-century-view-of-1476502-details.aspx)

By 1794 Barnard was calling the house ‘Cave Castle', although the house shown in the late-18th-century painting had no castle-like features. Alterations to the rebuilt house took place 1802-9 when it was made to look like a Gothick castle with turrets and battlements. (Pevsner & Neave, Yorkshire: York & ER, 702)

In May 1803 a local newspaper reported that Cave Castle ‘is now one of the most improved places in the East Riding. The plantations that surround it, are disposed in the most picturesque style.' (York Herald, 14 May 1803) Several early-19th-century images of the house and parkland exist.

19th century

Henry Boldero Barnard died in 1815 and his son, Henry Gee Barnard, succeeded to the Cave Castle estate. He took less interest in it, and was often non-resident (Neave, South Cave, 2). However, on 26 July 1836 the local schoolmaster Robert Sharp noted in his diary ‘It is said that Mr Barnard wants to let, or has let the manor for shooting, but not the castle, as it seems he is not for leaving it yet, he is making some improvements (or alterations) about the Grounds in forming flower beds, gravel walks etc.' (Crowther & Crowther, Diary of Robert Sharp, 531). A few days earlier he had noted that Mr Barnard was going to build a wall or high fence on the plantation by the road side to keep out of the park ‘the idlers who cut the trees, with which he is much vexed.' (ibid. 530)

A local guidebook, published in 1841, gave the following account of Cave Castle and its grounds:

‘The present elegant edifice occupies a much larger site than that of the old building, and the park, gardens and pleasure-grounds have been equally enlarged, and improved. The east and west entrance, to the Castle are both very neat, and the latter will no doubt especially attract the attention of the stranger. The Church tower on the left shews itself though the trees, considerably elevated, the lodge entrance overhung with lofty elms is directly before you, and the road to the right winds through the thick shade of elm trees which meet over head..... On the east side of the Castle, the beach [sic] walk is a wide and beautiful promenade, it is adorned with several noble trees on each side which stretch out their branches over your head, to a great extent. From this spot there is a very beautiful view of the conservatory which stands at the northern extremity, and in which there is a choice specimen of plants and flowers. The flower garden is a lovely spot, and in a shrubbery, not far from it is an excellent aviary, stocked with white pheasants, the beautiful golden hood pheasant, &c. The path in which these are placed is a portion of a most retired walk through the plantation extending along the whole northern side of the park, terminating at the lodge gate at the eastern end.' (Allen, Stranger's Guide, 82-3)

A great storm on Whit Monday in 1860 caused much damage in the parkland: ‘300 trees near the hall and on the grounds were torn up, one the pride of the family, and a really noble tree both in height and circumference, for which £100 would not have been taken, was torn out of the earth'. (York Herald, 2 June 1860). In May 1878 various trees ‘fallen in or near the Park, on the Cave Castle estate', were offered for sale. These included 129 elm, 81 beech, 38 oak, 14 birch, 16 alder, 11 ash, 1 chestnut, 1 poplar, 2 acacia, 1 cherry, 7 sycamore, 1 lime and several small large and spruce poles. (York Herald, 1 May 1878)

Detailed history contributed by Yorkshire Gardens Trust 02/11/2014

Type

Park

Purpose

Ornamental

Principal Building

Commercial

Period

18th Century (1701 to 1800)

Survival

Extant

Hectares

20

Open to the public

Yes

Civil Parish

South Cave