Crafting Clumber: the Dukes of Newcastle and the Nottinghamshire landscape

Clumber Park in north Nottinghamshire, England, was the principal family home of the Dukes of Newcastle-under-Lyne [sic] between 1768 and 1928. This article considers the contribution of the second, fourth and seventh Dukes of Newcastle to the landscape management and development of the parkland. The article concentrates upon the period between c. 1760 (when the property began to be developed seriously by the second duke) and c. 1851 when the fourth duke died. Particular attention is paid to the work and influence exerted over Clumber's landscape development by William Sawrey Gilpin, the noted follower of Uvedale Price and the proponent of picturesque principles. Gilpin's work at Clumber was noted contemporaneously but the extent of his influence has become more apparent with the publication of the fourth duke of Newcastle's diaries. The concluding section of the article considers the (now iconic) chapel developed in the park by the Anglo-Catholic seventh duke. Whilst most of Clumber's standing structures were subsequently dismantled before passing into the care of the National Trust in 1946, the modern parkland continues to exhibit the features of picturesque landscaping developed during the formative period of the Newcastle family's possession of the estate.