| Identification and description | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | CUSWORTH HALL | ||||
| Location |
|
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| Localisation | Latitude: 53.526946 Longitude: -1.1792108 National Grid Reference: SE 54509 03678 |
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| Overview | Heritage Category: Park and Garden Grade: II List Entry Number: 1000412 Date first listed: 01-Apr-1990 |
A landscape park laid out 1761-5 by Richard Woods to provide the setting for a mid
C18 country house.
HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
William Wrightson built Cusworth Hall, 1740-5, employing James Paine to remodel it
several years later. Wrightson died in December 1760, when the estate passed to his
son-in-law John Battie. Battie employed Richard Woods (1716-93) during the early 1760s
to lay out a landscape park and lake to compliment the Hall.
Good documentation for Woods' work survives including three plans and accompanying
memoranda written in the course of the commission. Precise instructions are given
about every stage, including extensive earthmoving, detailed planting instructions,
the construction of carriage drives and gravel walks, and the construction of the
ponds (Garden Hist 1986). Much of Woods' work survives (1999) and can be related to
his plans and instructions of the 1760s.
The Hall was purchased by the local authority in 1961 and is run as a museum. The
grounds are open to the public as a country park.
DESCRIPTION
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Cusworth Hall stands to the west of
Cusworth village, at the north-west edge of Doncaster. The Hall stands on the southern
edge of a ridge, with the parkland falling steeply to the plain to the south. The
site is bounded largely by agricultural land, and partly to the north by Back Lane.
The setting is partly agricultural, with the suburbs of Doncaster close by to the
east and south-east, and the A1(M) Doncaster by-pass slicing through the west half
of the park. The 89ha site offers extensive views to the south and south-east over
Doncaster.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES The Hall is approached via a short, straight, raised drive
from the mid C19 gatehouse which stands between wing walls (listed grade II) on Back
Lane, 150m to the north-west. The drive runs through New Plantation, a small area
of woodland which post-dates Woods' planting plans for this area, to the turning circle
beneath the north-west facade. The approach across the park from the south-west, which
formerly entered the site c 1km west-south-west of the Hall (OS 1854), is no longer
in use.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING Cusworth Hall (listed grade I) was built 1740-5, in Classical style,
by George Platt for William Wrightson, and altered 1749-53 by James Paine. Immediately
to the north-east is the old stable block and bothy (listed grade II). A large, mid
to late C20 car park area lies west of the Hall.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The sloping ground to the south-east of the Hall was
carefully moulded under Woods' directions of the 1760s. A path through Shrubbery Walk,
a band of ornamental planting east of the Hall, leads along the west wall of the kitchen
gardens down to the Upper Fish Pond. At the northern tip of the water is an artificial
mound, below which stands the rusticated arched boathouse (Woods 1762(3, listed grade
II), built of limestone rubble and boulders. The small island in the lake is part
of Woods' design. The north-east finger of the lake is joined by a rocky cascade (Woods
1760s) to the long, narrow, Middle Fish Pond below. The bridge is a late C20 replacement.
The Middle Pond in turn links with the Lower Fish Pond which curves round into the
flat area of the park and ends in the Basin Pond.
PARK Woods' park was well wooded but few parkland plantings now remain, much of the
park having been ploughed. The southern perimeter belt, Long Plantation, is depleted
and scarcely screens the late C20 housing estate immediately beyond. The Doncaster
by-pass cuts through the west side of the park severing Temple Hill (marked as Castle
Mound on the OS 1854), which formed part of Woods' landscaping, from the rest of the
park.
KITCHEN GARDEN The part brick- and part stone-walled kitchen gardens lie 200m east
of the Hall. They have been partially infilled with housing.
REFERENCES
W Angus, Seats of the nobility and gentry in Great Britain and Wales ...(1787), pl
16 J P Neale, Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen ...5, (1822) Jones & Co,
Great Britain Illustrated. Views of the seats, mansions, castles ... I (England),
(1829), p 37 Trans Hunter Archaeol Soc 8, no 5 (1963), pp 297-307 J Goodchild, Cusworth
Hall Museum ( A History Trail in Cusworth Park (1969) Garden History 14, no 2 (1986),
pp 91(8, notes 45(51 on p 118; 15, no 2 (1987), pp 115-35
Maps OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1849(50, published 1854
Archival items Accounts and Woods' working plans (Leeds City Archives)
Description written: November 1999 Register Inspector: SR Edited: May 2000
This garden or other land is registered under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens by Historic England for its special historic interest.