A4 Milton Park Report

Milton Park

An Appraisal of the Historic Landscape Part One - Historic Character

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Milton Park An Appraisal of the Historic Landscape Part One - Historic Character Contents To be added

Provided as separate documents: Part Two - Tree Survey and Archaeological Survey Part Three - Archival Research

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Introduction The beauty of Milton Park derives from its tremendous historical provenance and the overall coherence of its planting tradition. The purpose of this short report is to bring together sufficient of the field and documentary evidence for the landscape to provide not only a record of its character today, but also of this provenance. To that end we have carried out a rapid tree survey, plotting each parkland tree from aerial photographs and identifying it in the field; and we have looked at the most accessible records of the estate.

The topography of the parkland is very gentle and over the centuries has offered a challenge to the family and to the designers who have worked in it. Their success depends on a series of variations in texture as well as on the various incidents within the park, and the result is a landscape of great simplicity, in which oak and grass predominate, which has nonetheless the integrity to resist intrusions. The city of Peterborough beats at the gate, but is barely heard, and the contrast between park and town is startling. At its best, as with the North Lawn, the design is near perfect.

Elsewhere however it has become dispersed as trees have died, leaving either empty spaces or a thin, even spread in which relatively small-scale 20th century replants, with an unduly wide range of species, sit uneasily.

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Planting Styles We have divided the Park into seven character areas for the purposes of this report, and we have described the current character and condition of each. These areas all draw their character from a relatively small number of planting styles. These styles, in chronological order, are as follows:

Pseudo-Medieval. The late 18th century estate plans show that the parkland had incorporated an earlier field system of hedges bounded with pollard oaks and (presumably) elms. These would generally have been grazed grass fields. When the parkland was made, the hedges were taken out, but many of the old hedgerow trees were left. Oliver Rackham has called this kind of parkland, somewhat inelegantly, ‘pseudo-mediaeval’. The green stars on the [Tree plan add proper reference] show surviving oak pollards and ancient timber trees.

Characteristic planting: pollard oaks Character Areas: Middle Park, North Park

Ancient Parkland. Directly north of the hall the field system seems to have addressed the building, with thicker screens and greater concentrations of pollards. There are also concentrations of pollards north-east and south of the pleasure ground. These are more likely to survive from parkland paddocks, and hence to signify in-hand estate management. It is possible that these once covered a greater area - that there were many more pollards north of the hall and that these were thinned down into bands of trees (hedgerows) at a time, perhaps Tudor, when the Park was returned to arable.

Characteristic planting: single trees, predominantly oaks, some pollards, Character Areas: North Park, between Greenchair Lodge and Chauffeur’s Lodge

Brownian. This planting style is best represented by the ground around the Thorpe Waterings. This has few pollards and consists of open water and broad open areas of grass. Repton made only one brief and critical reference to this area: ‘small pieces of water are incongruous with Park scenery’ etc. The general character of this area and of the larger pond, is Brownian, and on that account one might suppose that it took its present form under Samuel Lapidge, who was paid off by the estate in 1789. Capability Brown (d.1783) had willed that any uncompleted contracts were to be carried out by Samuel Lapidge `who knows my accounts’.

Characteristic planting: clumps of mixed species and single trees Character Areas: South Park, West Park - the latter is included with this type; although this is a 20th

century planting it has a broadly similar character.

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Plan 1 - Planting Styles and Archaelogy

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Transitional. The fourth type is the most difficult to define. If the present ha-ha around the pleasure ground was Repton’s idea (as appears to be the case on his plan), then it is perfectly possible that at some earlier stage a pleasure ground ran all the way from the Hall to the Kennels, taking in the Mount en route. Certainly Kennels Hill has more, and more elaborate structures than other parts of the park. However we know little of its mid-18th century lay-out.

Characteristic planting: single trees and clumps, including garden species such as yew.

Character Area : Kennels Hill

Reptonian. This character type is largely contained by Crickety Park and is characterised by ‘ring’ trees (that is to say clumps of trees, probably of one species, surrounded by a ring of oak). This planting is not mentioned in his red book, but if it is not Repton’s, it was still very much influenced by him. It was clearly designed to have a different character from the rest of the Park – to make a sunny, bright and varied view from the south front of the Hall.

Repton’s comments about the ‘great west screen’ (i.e. Long Walk) are revealing. He regarded it as ‘the most objectionable feature in Milton Park’. While he praised Thistlemoor Wood (‘We have here a very pleasing and varied line formed by the tops of the trees’), he commented on the west screen that it was: ‘certainly not a pleasing feature, from its presenting not only a strait line at the bottom but the trees being all of the same age the Top outline is also strait. … The trees of this screen are of such a height that we can hardly expect in the life of man to break the top outline by any young trees … it is therefore not in our power to vary the upper line, and if the plantation be open the browsing line will make a disagreeable parallel with the flat surface of the ground: this can only be remedied by preventing cattle from browsing the underwood, which should always be encouraged in such situations,’ I would also suspect, from his criticism, that a good proportion of the trees were conifers.

The impression here is of a screen largely made up of a single species (‘the Top outline is also strait’), and ‘of such a height’, suggests that they were at least 20 years old. Our conclusion is that the screen was first planted in the early 1770s, and was probably designed by Chambers, to whom the temple (at the end of the Long Walk) is attributed.

However many of the trees growing in the Long Walk now look younger, and are of constantly changing species. They seem to be contemporary with the ‘ring’ type clumps in the parkland. This suggests a large-scale replanting from 1791 onwards to remedy the defects on which Repton commented.

This area spreads to the east of the Greenchair Drive, and we assume that this was done so as to set off views into the Park from the bridge over the Nene, and (more importantly) out of the Park to the south.

We also believe that the so-called 1789 plan, which hangs at the estate office, may have been drawn at some time in the 1790s after Repton’s red book had been delivered.

Characteristic Planting: Ring clumps, planting designed to hide and reveal views, cedar planting.

Character Areas: Crickety Park, Greenchair Drive

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Woodland belts. Milton Park is surrounded by woodland belts that enclose the landscape and generally prevent views into or out of the Park. The view over Nene Valley from Greenchair is the one significant exception. Even in previous centuries when there was no urban edge or trunk road to screen, the level topography discouraged the search for views out. As Repton put it ‘where the ground naturally presents very little inequality of surface, a great appearance of extent is rather disgusting than pleasing, and little advantage is gained by attempts to let in distant objects.’ Instead the role of the Long Walk was to lead one down to Chambers’ Temple, from which most worthwhile distant views were to be had.

These woods today have various characters. Thistlemoor was replanted with oak and sweet chestnuts as dominants in Repton’s day or shortly after, as was much of the Long Walk. Here the planting is very much more varied, with drifts of one species varied with promiscuous mixtures, to give what Repton would call a ‘cheerful’ effect.

The 20th century additions may, ironically, have something of the character that Repton so despised, dominated by quick-growing conifers to give an immediate short-term screen, and indeed, the 20th century character of the Park is of a virtually enclosed, secret landscape. This sense of seclusion is, if anything, heightened by an awareness of the urban edge of Peterborough brushing up against the woodland. At their best the woodlands blend imperceptibly into the parkland, as the edge of Thistlemoor Wood does. Where the edge of the woodland is clearly defined the effect is uncomfortably close to a barricade.

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Thistlemoor Wood

Little Thistlemoor Deer Leap Wood

Sta mf or d

The Old Kennels

e dg Lo

ve Dri

Temple Milton Hall

The Game Larder Piccadilly Circus The Mount

The Pleasure Ground

The Kennels The Ice House (Site of)

Crickety Park (Golf Course)

h Sout e Driv Park

Green Chair Plantation

Thorpe Watering

Ferry House

Fe rry D

rive

Heronry Plantation Gothic Lodge

Ferry Hill Plantation Temple Hill

Plan 2 - Significant Buildings and Woodlands in the Park

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Buildings. Some emphasis has been given to very minor buildings and structures in the park – the Game Larder (which is surprisingly prominent in views from the east, the Old Kennels in the North Park (at present tumble down), the Ice House (a hole in the ground), the Mount (which is very likely to have had a summer house on it at some time, though there is little trace of it now).

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Character areas This section provides detailed descriptions of the seven character areas identified in the Park. It begins with the North Park as this is the most important area of the Park.

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North Park West Park

Middle Park

Kennels Hill

Crickety Park (Golf Course)

South Park

Greenchair

Plan 3 - Character Areas

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The North Park The view north from the Hall - the North Lawn - currently has the bones of a perfect landscape. Above all it has an iconic quality – that is to say, one immediately grasps the simplicity of the sheer front of the Hall, the extent of level lawn, broadly symmetrical about the front of the Hall, and its loose boundary of trees, predominantly oak. It seems that there is nothing clever about it and its grandeur lies in its simplicity.

The effect is forest-like: the trees close to the Hall can be seen as single specimens, whilst those further away appear to be part of Thistlemoor Wood. The profile of this wood has unfortunately become homogenized in the places where poplar is now dominant, and this is at odds with the more varied and dramatic horizon admired by Repton ‘We have here a very pleasing and varied line formed by the tops of the trees.’ Since one cannot see the edge of the wood from the Hall the view should be one of infinite grandeur and indefinite extent. One should note that the ride through Thistlemoor Wood was not designed to let in a view to the north (it is too narrow), and the trees that surround the North Lawn are intended to set off the space, rather than to frame a distant view.

To achieve a forest-like effect the fringes of the oak planting were bolstered with smaller trees (crab apple and field maple survive). The most useful tree for this role is thorn, it was a great favourite of Repton’s, and it is odd that there are so few in the Park. It would be reasonable to suppose that it was planted but rooted out at a later date. The oak planting itself we would classify as wood pasture with oak pollards .

From this point of view the variety of different species introduced in the 20th century may have been something of a mistake. It appears that this has been recognized and many of the new species have come and gone again. What we are left with now is a tendency for greater variety to be found closer to the Hall and this is absolutely appropriate.

The western side of the North Lawn currently has a more linear profile than the eastern, where the edge is more sculptured to encourage a sense of the indefinite that is essential to a forest-like effect. On the other hand, the Percy Cane planting, which extends a spur of oaks from Thistlemoor Wood toward the Hall, may appear awkward on plan (and close-to the fencing gives it an emphasis which is downright unsympathetic). However when viewed from a distance, from the Hall or the approach, the shape of the planting is not apparent and it is already effective in giving emphasis to the ride through the wood. It might be noted that this difference between the appearance on plan and on the ground can be particularly marked in flatter landscapes: where there are few natural landforms to direct the eye, geometric forms are often used, and these read much more easily on plan than on the ground. Certainly Cane’s spur at Milton reads more as a textural extension to Thistlemoor Wood than as the imposition of a rectilinear block of planting on an open space.

The field immediately east of the North Lawn has a similar character to the North Lawn; ancient parkland. Although it does not perform the same function as the North Lawn, which provides the setting for and view from the Hall, the trees along its eastern edge provide the setting for the Old Kennels, which is surprisingly conspicuous in views from a number of places in the Park. One would expect this building to have dominated a smaller and secondary landscape, similar, but sub-ordinate, to the North Lawn. It is a trick that Repton played elsewhere, for example at Luscombe the Dawlish Approach runs past several beautifully planted side valleys before presenting the castle itself, which is its climax.

Certainly there is a marked difference in character between this area and the nearby Kennels Hill area.

The view to the north is closed by a relatively dense grouping of mature trees along the northern edge and the field beyond looks as though it was cleared out of a collection of mediaeval pollards (some of which do survive in the trees around it).

More than anything else single trees enrich the texture of a flat landscape. The existing planting of wood pasture with oak pollards forms the most distinctive characteristic of Milton’s parkland. One alternative way of extending the cycle is to plant young trees adjacent to the old ones. This has been done at Milton (south of the Pleasure Ground for example), but we are not certain that this is good practice. Such young trees are usually planted too close to each other and too close to the veteran oaks. The result can be a planting that adversely affects the health of the veteran trees and dilutes their visual impact, as well as growing young trees whose habits are distorted by shading from the canopies of the veterans.

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The West Park (Stamford Lodge Field) We have described the section of the Park that lies to the west of the North Lawn as the West Park. Although the Stamford Lodge Drive, the shortest approach to the Hall, runs through this section it has a feeling of being quite distinct from the remainder of the Park, being separated from the North Lawn by a linear belt consisting of a reasonably dense scattering of individual trees. In the winter there are filtered views of the Hall through this belt from the approach, however in summer views of the Hall are delayed until arriving at the North Lawn.

This area has similar proportions to the Park as a whole, with its long north-south axis. It seems fitting that it does not compete with the adjacent North Lawn, instead the species used are by and large not oak, but a variety of species, dominated by lime. It is also fitting that it should not be over-ornamented and that much of the planting should be in clumps. It combines the roles of buffer between the Park and the surrounding countryside, and introduction to the Park. The new Lime Avenue will in time become a significant 20th century contribution to the field.

Little Thistlemoor now bounds this part of the park along a line reasonably continuous with the southern boundary of Thistlemoor Wood. However the two woods are not continuous and the resulting gap is visually significant. Little Thistlemoor is not shown on the 1st Edition OS which indicates continuous open fields stretching along the western edge of Thistlemoor Wood. In previous centuries there would have been a greater number of views out from the park to the wider landscape, however its 20th century character is of an enclosed, almost a secret landscape, located as it is so close to the urban development of Peterborough. The woodland to the north of the West Park completes the sense of enclosure and seclusion and the gap, which allows views of sky but of nothing significant, disturbs this illusion.

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Middle Park Historically the north-east part of the Park has long consisted of a series of fields with hedges or fences planted with single trees (some of which survive). This part of the park seems never to have been ornamented, either with planting or structures of any kind. One might imagine that its fields were often put into arable rotation. Currently it is blank and bleak, Peterborough begins to press on its east side, arable farming has removed a significant proportion of its trees and the woodland around it gives it a hard edge. There is a striking contrast between the look of Middle Park and the North Park.

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Kennels Hill This piece runs between the Kennels and the Pleasure Ground and includes the Ice House and the Mount. It is now most to be valued for the views that run to it from elsewhere in the Park.

The rising ground on which it stands, above the valley, gives it great prominence in views from the South Park Drive, and these are very successful (the hill looks bigger than it actually is). Its three structures also make it the most elaborate part of the parkland, but given the money that has been invested here over the centuries, the outcome is currently disappointing: the Ice House has gone, the Mount is buried in trees, only the Kennels hold their own, and even there the adjacent yards for the dogs threaten to be visually dominant. It is worth noting that although his map covers this area Repton himself did not comment on it, but only proposed planting further to conceal the Ice House.

The planting here is distinguished by the use of single trees of various species, which Repton would have described as ‘cheerful’ planting. Subsequent planting however has lost any sense of purpose beyond keeping the numbers up; scrub and small trees have been allowed to develop along the deer bank and ditch which marks the southern boundary of this area. This has created a linear visual screen that detracts from views south, particularly from the Kennels Drive and from the small pond. From these locations the rising ground south of Canal Piece is somewhat obscured.

We have included a more detailed field survey of the Mount which suggests that the yews might have been planted in a spiral (at its most apparent in tree no.s 1471-1475). If this is the case, then one would expect them to have been planted on the outer side of a spiral path – such ascents were a common treatment for Mounts for more than 200 years. Although it has been eroded, and there is a good deal of slippage on its north side, the top of the mount is a flat surface, approximately circular with a diameter of 60’. A single yew stands at its centre (1494), and five others stand in something like a circle on the edge of the platform. The best explanation that we can give for this layout is that when planted there were 12 trees around the circle, and that this was a bower (i.e. a planting of yews cut to look like a building, with a central ‘post’ to hold the roof, with a door and with windows clipped out of each face. There is one such, with the same number of yews, save for the central one, at Wotton, Bucks.

The entry to the mount was from the west, and the yew hedges of the spiral would have been tall enough to prevent any view over the Mount garden (on the north and east sides of the Mount and survived by the mounds in the grassland) until the top was reached.

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The South Park (including Canal Piece) Although an outlying part of the parkland, this area is much more used than the north-east, and consequently it has more significance. It also potentially has more interest – the Gothic Lodge, the valley and the Thorpe Waterings, as well as views to other areas (Kennels Hill, and Greenchair). However it has a slightly uneasy character: the Waterings are hardly in the Park, and would not be visible from the south Park Drive, even if they were not surrounded with poplars; North Heronry Plantation (called Wild Wood on the 1st Edition OS), which was once on the Park boundary, is so no longer, and in consequence, the Gothic Lodge is neither in the middle of the Park, nor on the edge of it, but looks half in and half out.

Repton would have lavished the greatest care on the view from his approach on entering the Park (north of the Gothic Lodge). He would have wanted a ‘burst’ , a sudden and overwhelming panorama over the house and parkland. This view is now poor, because many trees were lost when the Park was ploughed, and there is little sense of definition to give a greater sense of arrival. It does seem appropriate however that this part of the parkland should not be dominated by oak, and indeed there is a definite increase in the number of oaks as one approaches the pleasure ground (a characteristic of the landscape at Milton).

The fence that runs north from the corner of Ferry Hill Plantation marks quite sharply what would once have been a much more gradual change from single trees in the east to more distinct clumps and groups further west. Whilst many of the clumps and groups remain, most of the single trees have been lost under the arable regime.

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Greenchair and Ferry Drive The Ferry Drive (once known as the London Approach) passes though a number of different character types and is the most immediately attractive part of the Park today, with views to the south over the Nene Valley and north into the parkland. On both this drive and the South Park Drive, the best feature of the Park is the slightly rising ground on the north side of the canal, or the valley as Repton called it.

East of this drive the landscaping is very much influenced by Repton and shows what can be done in the way of making a series of views to the Park structures come and go, by carefully positioning clumps and single trees. In this area in particular, the planting includes Ring Planting - clumps in which trees of one species are surrounded by a ring of Oak. Examples of this are given in our tree schedule.

The sequence of views as one travels north ran as follows: Ferry House, settled into a crook of the slope and dominating its surroundings; from which one climbed to a view of Greenchair Lodge, having the character of a woodman’s cottage, sunk into the edge of an evergreen glade. Then, diving into the trees at Greenchair Plantation, one emerged to a more rapid series of open sunny views over the parkland itself: to the east a distinct group of oaks, with Heronry Plantation and the proposed planting along South Park Drive beyond and a still longer view down towards the south eastern corner of the parkland; to the Orangery; and then in the distance to the loosely scattered trees on rising ground, with the Kennels visible beyond them. These views are still broken up by groves of veteran oaks.

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Crickety Park.

It is ironic that Crickety Park, which was the most private and elaborate part of the parkland at Milton, with the Long Walk, the Temple, no lodges or farms, but a wide variety of views to the house, should now be the least private.

The golf course that currently occupies Crickety Park has at least the merit of still being different from the rest of the Park. However and it is instructive to work out exactly what is unsatisfactory about the contemporary difference.

We would list the following: 1 The planting does not respect the Hall or any other topographical feature 2 The planting is relatively equally spread across the whole course, so that there is little spatial diversity.

3 The planting is very varied, but the variation itself is consistent over the course: one does not move between, for example, evergreens, exotic broad-leaves, natives, coppice woodland.

4 The planting has no direction: it does not define a space (like the North Lawn), nor does it lead the eye on with the suggestion of further reaches of parkland, nor does it do anything to promote the illusion that the ground itself is more hilly than it actually is.

In fact these are the four leading aesthetic uses of parkland planting, and it may be said to fail in each respect.

The Long Walk that bounds the west side of the course was intended to provide a series of designed views across the park. These are identified in the historic analysis, but they are now lost to the golf course.

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Plan 4 - Tree Survey - Age Distribution

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Tree Survey Information The tree survey information and the analysis of the historical development of the parkland underpin our understanding of the existing character of the parkland. The trees have been mapped rapidly with a range of field techniques and recorded on GIS software. We expect the tree positions to be accurate to within 10m. In the accompanying schedule we have identified each tree, made occasional notes of form and condition, and ascribed it to one of seven age-based classes, as follows: 1

2

3

4

5 6 7

Pollard. These trees all have the characteristic short-bole from which many laterals break. We regard these trees as 17th century, many may be much older.

Standard. These may be as old as the pollards, but are timber trees. Since tenants, traditionally, were allowed to use pollards. The presence of a significant number of standards strongly implies planting by and for the big estate (rather than for tenants). A planting date in the 16th century or later is likely and we would expect the majority of these trees to be 17th century.

1740-1790. The majority of these trees are likely to have been planted in the second half of the 18th century, contemporary with the work of Sir William Chambers and Samuel Lapidge. It is quite possible that some of these trees were in fact planted in the 1790s, and hence we regard each of the following periods to have a measure of overlap.

1790-1830. This is the Repton-period planting. It does include trees in the Long Walk which we know to have had its first planting earlier (probably in the 1780s). The assumption is that there was a replant in Repton’s time.

1830-1890. To judge from ring-counts, the great majority of these trees were planted at the end of this period.

1900 – 1940. Much of this is inter-war planting, when the estate was trying to recapture its 19th century past.

1960-2008. More recent plantings, many of which were proposed by Percy Cane and Christopher Pound.

Where there is map or other evidence to support these datings, we have given it in the schedule.

The tree survey is provided separately both digitally and in Part Two of this report.

The results of the archival research are presented as Part Three of this report.

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Plan 5 - Geometry deriving from the house

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Geometry deriving from the house A certain geometry underlies the views from Milton Hall itself. It seems unlikely to be significant, but a line dropped at right angles from the house to the south (the dark blue line) bisects the angle between the site of the Temple and the burst by the clump on the old road that crosses the golf course (green dashed lines). More interestingly, the same line, extended to the north, bisects the angle formed by the bands of trees that run towards the house. Percy Cane and Christopher Pound both sought to penetrate these bands of trees so as to extend the view further to the north.

However Repton on the other hand argued that ‘where the ground naturally presents very little inequality of surface, a great appearance of extent is rather disgusting than pleasing, and little advantage is gained by attempts to let in distant objects.’ The point that might be acknowledged is that there is a certain optimum area for a lawn on level ground, and the North Lawn at Milton has reached it. While the ride through Thistlemoor Wood could give a sense of grandeur, it was not designed to let in a longer view, and the screens of planting around the lawn (which were planted before Repton’s arrival) though they limit rather than extend the view, do establish the space.

If one looks at the surviving trees of Repton date and earlier, it is clear that the greatest concentrations of pollards are here, that the planting is dominated by oak, and the surviving trees indicate that the browsing line, discussed by Repton, was to be broken by using thorn, field maple and crab apple.

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Plan 6 - Designed Views from the long walk

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Designed Views from the long walk There are 6 points in the Long Walk and Ferry Hill Plantations which seemed to have been planned as view-points.

These are as follows (each has been given a name, to make them easier to discuss):

1 (Repton). In his red book Repton discussed extending the plantation to the west side of the hall and making a view from it ‘I should rather advise that no other fence than a common rough hurdle be used for three or four years, or till the plants are so large as to hide such part of the fence or railing as may be set above ground, and the eye will then direct how far it may be necessary to sink or conceal the boundary in certain places, to remove that appearance of confinement which is always unpleasant.’ The three elements in this view are the site of the Temple, the Drive view (5), and a long view between the clumps north of Greenchair Plantation (615 and 629) and out of the park to the south-east.

2 (Clearing). Here the drive runs out of the belt, as shown on the 1886 Ordnance Survey plan. This seems to have been a panoramic view, taking in the whole sweep of the park from the Hall to the Lime Kiln view-point (4). However from the position of a group of trees (590-593) shown on the 1886 Ordnance Survey it seems that the Hall at any rate may have been concealed by planting.

3 (Ha-ha). Here there is a ha-ha or sunk fence in the belt. Again it is shown on the 1886 Ordnance Survey, and again this was a wide view, taking in the Temple, the Ice-house (between Greenchair Plantation and the clump, 629), and with a view past the south end of the Greenchair Plantation to the old turnpike at view-point 6.

4 (Lime Kiln). Here the Belt bulges out with a group of fine oaks. The 1886 Ordnance Survey shows a choice of two routes here, with the implication that the longer, looping road, which runs to the east side, was ornamental and hence had a view that might have taken in the Hall, the Ice-house and the Gothic Lodge.

5 (Drive). Here again a drive runs out of the belt.

6 (Turnpike). Here the old turn-pike road emerges from the belt.

The first four of these, all of them west of Greenchair Plantation, which may be thought as bounding Crickety Park and the views south from the house, all exhibit the same kind of geometry as the Kennels, discussed with Plan 13. The last two, both outside Crickety Park, do not exhibit it, and this may be because the design here was unfinished and Repton took over here, with his new approach.

In addition to the evidence of the size of the trees, and of Repton’s red book, there are stylistic reasons for attributing the design to Lapidge and perhaps Chambers. Capability Brown, Lapidge’s master, used geometry of this kind as a way of establishing a framework about which to compose the views that he then formed with planting. The view-points, together with the Temple, made a series of incidents or ‘diversions’ on the Long Walk 1, and this too was very much what Brown and his contemporaries were doing. Thus Robert Adam set outdoor rooms, buildings and structures at approximately 100 yard intervals along the three mile circuit walk at Kedleston.

1 See Mary Rose Blacker Flora Domestica A history of flower arranging 1500-1930 (London: National Trust, 2000) p.70. Adam also worked at Osterley where there is a similar sequence of small buildings and diversions along the walk.

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Plan 7 - The Geometry of Kennels Hill

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The Geometry of Kennels Hill It seems possible that the Mount in the park was designed to give a view to the cathedral and was positioned so as to be as close to the house as possible, understanding that the closer it came the higher it might have to be. The mount at Helmingham, Suffolk, might be compared with this mount. Standing as it does in the 17th century park’s extreme west corner, the mount at Helmingham is likely to have been built before the 18th century extension was made. It might be argued for the Mount at Milton that it also was built at the edge of the 17th century parkland.

Both appear to have had gardens around them: the Helmingham mount survives today as a still complex structure with curving, graded, walks up from the west and terracing on its north and south sides. Presumably it was created with spoil from the pond on its east side. It was also walled (presumably the mount at Milton was at least fenced).

This plan also gives an explanation for the location of the Ice-house and Kennels. There are practical reasons for both – the Kennels are in a position that was considered good for dogs, east facing, and prominent, ‘upon some little eminence erect’, 2 and Milton was not the only estate to have kennels of some architectural pretension. 3 The position of the Ice-house also makes sense, midway between the source of water and the house, on sloping ground to give better drainage for the melted water, and taking advantage of the kink in the deer bank (presumably this kink was made as a deer leap – Deer Leap Wood, despite its name, did not abut the deer park). However the old avenue (the brown line on this plan), shown on the 18th century plans, seems to have been oriented towards the deer leap. In addition the orientation of the Kennels is such that the Mount and Ice-house are symmetrically arranged around it (at 26o to the perpendicular). The sight-lines are the red lines on this plan.

Geometry of this kind dominates one phase of the development of Milton, and I associate it with the work of Sir William Chambers and Samuel Lapidge.

2 William Somervile The Chace a Poem (London: W. Bowyer, 6th ed. 1773) Book I ll.124 ff. See also ‘On the erection of a kennel’, The Sporting Magazine, Vol. I (Oct 1792- March 1793) p.291 ff..

3 Combe Abbey, Goodwood and Woburn Abbey all have or had good examples.

Milton Park : An Appraisal of the Historic Landscape Page No. 22