LEICESTERSHIRE COLEORTON

NORTH WEST LEICESTERSHIRE GD1957

SUMMARY OF HISTORIC INTEREST

Parkland and a range of pleasure grounds around a country house developed in the early C19 by
Sir George Beaumont and various of his artistic friends including the Wordsworths and Uvedale
Price. Possible involvement by William Sawrey Gilpin.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

The Beaumonts acquired the manor of Coleorton by marriage in 1426. Thomas, Viscount
Beaumont died in 1702; he was the last of his family to reside at Coleorton for a century until, in
1800, Sir George Howland Beaumont decided to move from Essex to the dilapidated C17 manor
house at Coleorton which he replaced with a new house designed by George Dance. Beaumont
was an important patron of the arts, and a skilled amateur painter. Wordsworth, Coleridge,
Southey, Scott, Reynolds, Constable, Wilkie, Lawrence, Mrs Siddons, Byron, Farington and Price
were among his friends and visitors to Coleorton. Scott began Ivanhoe here, and Constable drew
in the grounds. One or two, notably Uvedale Price, helped with laying out the grounds around it.
Wordsworth, who in 1806 stayed at Hall Farm 600m to the west with his sister Dorothy and
Coleridge, wrote a number of poems here and with her created the Winter Garden. On his death in
1827 Coleorton passed to Beaumonts cousin Sir G H Willoughby (d 1845), thereafter passing from
father to son until sold to the National Coal Board (NCB) in 1948. In 1997 the Hall and surrounding
land were sold by British Coal to a development consortium.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Coleorton Hall and St. Mary’s Church stand 1km west of the extensive but scattered settlement of
Coleorton, separated from it by the B5324 Rempstone Road. The Hall stands on high ground, with
extensive views east to Charnwood Forest. To the south the boundary of the park follows Ashby
Road, while to the north it follows a section of Rempstone Road and to the east a short length of
Main Street, Coleorton. Otherwise the boundary follows field edges and, to the north, the southern
limit of Rough Park. The area here registered is 100ha.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The modern approach to the Hall is from the south-west, via a curving drive off Ashby Road. This
is to the west of the C19 approach, which still survives, albeit in derelict state. On Ashby Road is
Top Lodge (listed grade II), a single-storey, Tudor-gothic building. This was built c. 1812, and
enlarged in the mid and late C19. From this the drive runs north through a shrubbery for c. 150m
before turning east, towards the Hall and its porte cochere. At about this point, 120m west-south-
west of the Hall, it crosses an early C19, single-span, ashlar bridge (listed grade II), which in the
early C19 carried the drive over Church Pool. Canterbury Lodge, larger and c. 1849, stands 700m
north-east of the Hall, at the end of former tree-lined drive which approached its north side across
grassland called Canterbury Park.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

Coleorton Hall (listed grade II*) was built 1804-8 for Sir George Beaumont. George Dance the
Younger (d. 1825), who had known Beaumont for twenty years, was invited to design a new house.
At first (1802) it was intended to incorporate the old house. In the event, in a long correspondence
Uvedale Price advised on the design of a new one, employing stripped gothic, Greek and ‘Hindoo’
styles in what was a modestly-sized house, adequate for Beaumont’s occasional residences there
and sufficient to house part of his art collection. This house was greatly enlarged in 1862 by F P
Cockerell (d. 1878), whose alterations and enlargements, including a second storey, produced the
present tooled ashlar Hall. On the five-bay, west, entrance front there is a porte cochere. The
garden front is to the south. At the north end of the Hall are area service buildings, extended in
1862.

North of the Hall is the C18 Brewery building converted c. 1806 into a cottage for the coachman.
Also there are brick stables and coach houses of c. 1832, built onto the older C18 stable block.
North of these, c. 100m north of the Hall, are office buildings constructed by the NCB in the 1950s
and 1960s.

The Hall which Dance’s replaced was built in the late C17. That incorporated an older stone turret.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

To the west of the Hall the approach drives run through lawns with specimen trees, some early
C19 but mostly later C20. Just visible from the Hall is the bridge to the west-south-west, which
when first constructed in the early C19 carried the approach drive over Church Pool, now a grassy
hollow. To the south of the lawns (outside the registered area), and partly framing the view across
them from the Hall, is St. Mary’s Church (listed grade II*), a medieval structure with west tower and
spire, In 1802, before landscaping began, there was a large service and farm courtyard west of
the Hall including the kitchen garden.

Running along the south and east sides of the Hall is a broad terrace (listed grade II). This was
built c. 1830, and has Coade-type stone urns (marked Croggan, Lambeth, 1827) on the east,
garden front, wall. From this a short flight of steps leads down to the upper lawn, 100m from east
to west. On the north edge of the lawn is a rustic summerhouse, later C20 but perhaps based on a
C19 predecessor. To its west, 25 north-east of the Hall, is a large boulder, Wilson’s Stone,
dedicated to the landscape painter Richard Wilson (d. 1782); carved on it is ‘BROUGHT HERE
1818’. This was drawn by Constable in 1823. A smaller boulder inscribed ‘Red Wilson 1812’ lies
on the western rim of the Winter Garden. A terrace walk along the east side of the lawns gives
views east across the Rose Garden, to the park beyond and the further landscape. A stone
terrace wall (listed grade II), designed by Dance and described in 1806 as new-built, runs along the
terrace walk; at its north and south ends are bastions, the latter 6m high and traditionally called
The Pulpit. Here the wall turns west, to define what in the C19 was viewing terrace over the Winter
Garden; now it overlooks the gardens of The Cedars (see below). In 1802 the area of the upper
lawn was a Strawberry Garden.

A flight of fifteen steps leads down from the centre of the terrace walk along the bottom of the
upper lawn to the Rose Garden (originally Flower Garden), which is 50m from east to west by 80m
from north to south. An axial path runs east from the bottom of the steps terminating at a fountain.
The two halves of the Rose Garden are lawn with geometric flower beds and regularly spaced
conifers. Along the bottom (east) of the garden is a yew hedge and ha-ha; beyond is the park.
Along the north and south sides of the Rose Garden are banks of rhododendrons, with shrubberies
and specimen trees behind. Later C19 illustrations show highly intricate bedding schemes within
this garden, of which the present scheme is a simplification.

Leading north off the north-east corner of the upper lawn is a flight of six steps, on piers either side
of which are Coade stone busts (listed grade II) of 1817 of Milton and Shakespeare. From the
steps a straight walk, with low yew hedges to either side, leads to Beaumont’s Memorial (listed
grade II), a 2m high block of stone with side pilasters and cornice in which is inscribed a verse by
Wordsworth composed in 1811 (replaced 1976; original plaque set in Hall entrance).

Running from east to west in the woodland north of the upper lawn, behind the summerhouse, is
an avenue of mature limes (planted by 1811), c. 50m long. At the west end is a memorial to Sir
Joshua Reynolds (listed grade II), comprising a square funeral urn on a plinth which carries an
inscription by Wordsworth. This was drawn by Constable in 1823 as ‘The Cenotaph’. Extending
east from this, beneath the lime canopy, is a pebble- and tile-decorated walk, which expands at the
east end of the walk to a pebbled circle c. 10m in diameter, set around the edge of which are
herms surmounted by Coade-stone busts of Michelangelo and Raphael.

North of Reynold’s and Beaumont’s memorials The Grove, ornamental woodland with stone-edged
paths, continues north for 350m, extending to the north-east into a lobe-shaped projection whose
outer edge is retained by a rubble-stone terrace wall. Towards the northern end of the lobe is a
large hollow, possibly once a quarry garden and originally a mine or quarry. On the north-west
side of the lobe is a shed. This marks the site of the Hall’s Home Farm, built in the mid C19.
From the north-east corner of the lobe, perhaps the site of a seat, there are extensive views east
and north. It is known that Uvedale Price advised on the ‘picturesque’ treatment of the Hall and its
grounds, and correspondence of 1802 and later (Pierpont Morgan Library) indicates that Price may
actually have overseen works here. It seems possible that these woodland walks, and perhaps the
similarly stone-edged ones through the woodland around the Winter Garden south lawns, were
Price’s main contribution.

East of the East Terrace around the Hall lawns slope gently away. These are planted with large
numbers of specimen trees and shrubs. Several trees have slate plaques recording the date and
circumstance of their planting. These centre on the 1830s.

Beaumont invited William and Dorothy Wordsworth to stay at Hall Farmhouse in 1806 because of
their overcrowded conditions at Dove Cottage. Coleridge joined them there soon afterwards. In a
letter to Lady Beaumont William Wordsworth set out his ideas for a Winter Garden to be planted in
an old quarry which had recently been used as builder’s dump. The Wordsworths subsequently
oversaw the development of the garden (in 1875 apparently called ‘Wordsworth’s Garden’), which
lies south of the upper lawn. In 1959 a house (The Cedars) was built in the southern part of this
garden, and there has been much planting since that date. Nevertheless, many features and trees
of early C19 survive. At the north end of the Winter Garden is the 4m tall, prominently buttressed,
stone wall with viewing terrace which retains the south-east corner of the upper lawn. Part of the
wall was designed by George Dance. A pheasantry was built against this wall c. 1833, and its
flagged floor still survives. South of this is a linear pool of 1933-4, south of which lawns with late
C20 planting run down to The Cedars. West of that house in the early C19 quarry garden which
forms the core of the Winter Garden. Features include steps and rockwork on the north side; a
grotto with shellwork by Dorothy Wordsworth and a pebble floor with Star of David pattern on the
west side; and an urn on a squat pillar, supposedly from Pompeii. In front of the grotto is a circular
pool 5m across with central fountain; this a C20 reworking of an earlier C19 pool. Several features
lie around the edge of the Winter Garden. On the south-east side is Scott’s Seat, a stone-cut
alcove. South of this are ruins of an old cottage. Elements of a second ruined building, Ivy
Cottage, stand south-west of the garden. This, adjoining the main entry to the garden, was
allegedly the setting of Sir David Wilkie’s painting ‘An Old Woman Knitting’. Above the west edge
of the quarry garden is an early C19 pedimented ashlar monument (listed grade II), c. 2m high and
incorporating a verse by Wordsworth composed in 1808. Beyond the Winter Garden, below the
church, are the remains of a C19 icehouse.

In 1800 there were large numbers of coal mines around the Hall, and as well as natural desire to
lay out new grounds around his new Hall, Beaumont intended that the landscaping would conceal
the noxious local industry. The landscape gardener in charge of the work was James Cranston (d.
1835) of King’s Acre (Hertfordshire), recommended to the Beaumonts in May 1803 by Uvedale
Price. Later, in 1806, the Wordsworths had a rather uneasy relationship with Mr Crain, apparently
the gardener. In 1820 Price recommended William Sawrey Gilpin (d. 1843), who he said was
planning to take up the profession of landscape architect, to Lady Beaumont, and probably brought
him to Coleorton in the autumn.
PARK

Extending c. 1km east of the Hall, and sloping away from it, is the park-like grassland known as the
Paddock; this retains some mature parkland trees. Cutting across it from south-west to north-east
is Rempstone Road. This is slightly sunken, set in a cutting retained by a 2-3m high stone
retaining wall, and traffic is largely invisible from the Hall. The road was probably moved to this
line c. 1812; earlier it probably crossed the upper lawn area east of the Hall.

There was a park at Coleorton by 1303, which lay between the Hall and Newbold Hurst. A larger
park was created in 1606. This, which lay in the area of Rough Park, immediately north-west of
the registered area, was later lost to coal mining and was long gone by the time Nichols wrote in
1804. The Paddock was presumably laid out by Sir George Beaumont in the early C19.

KITCHEN GARDEN

A walled kitchen garden formerly stood on level ground 250m north-west of the Hall. Its walls were
built by 1835, and in the mid C19 its vineries were celebrated. The garden walls were damaged by
mining subsidence and demolished in 1952. The area is now grass, having been used by the
NCB as a sports pitch.

In 1802 the kitchen garden lay along the north side of the service courtyard to the west of the Hall.
A new garden was then made west of the stables. It was this which was replaced by the garden of
1835.

REFERENCES

J Nichols, History and Antiquities of Leicester 3, pt ii (1804), pp733-44 (4 vols, in 8 parts, 1795-
1811, reprinted 1971)
J Horticulture and Cottage Gardener, (18 November 1875), pp446-7; (23 December 1875), pp558-
60
M Greaves, Regency Patron; Sir George Beaumont (1966)
M Allentuck, ‘Sir Uvedale Price and the Picturesque Garden’ in N Pevsner (ed), The Picturesque
Garden (1974), pp59-76
History Today, (April 1974), pp1-7
F Owen and B Brown, A Collector of Genius. A Life of Sir George Beaumont (1988)
D Whitehead, ‘Cranston Nursery, King’s Acre Road’ (draft article for Herefs and Worcs Gardens
Trust Newsletter 1996)
Information from John Crocker

Maps

Plan of Hall and surrounds, 1802 (D1/9/3), (Soane Museum, London)

OS 6” to 1 mile : Leicestershire sheet 16 SW, 1925 edition

Archival items

Coleorton Papers, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

Description written : July 1998