Clumber Park is a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised coun ...

The Dukeries The Dukeries is an area of the county of Nottinghamshire so called because it contained four ducal seats. It is south of Worksop, which has been called its "gateway". The area was included within the ancient Sherwood Forest. The ducal seats wer ...

near

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, England. The estate, which was the seat of the Pelham-Clintons, Dukes of Newcastle, was purchased by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in 1946. It is listed Grade I on the

Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

. The main house was demolished in 1938 after damage by several fires. The nearby Grade I listed

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style and a four-acre walled

kitchen garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

still survive. The gardens and the estate are managed by the National Trust and are open to the public all year round. In 2020/21 over 350,000 people visited Clumber Park, making it one of the National Trust's top ten most visited properties.

History

Clumber, mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086, was a monastic property in the Middle Ages but later came into the hands of the Holles family.Clumber Park
Bassetlaw District Council Planning Dept. (1999) In 1707 permission was granted to

John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle John Holles, Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, KG, PC (9 January 1662 – 15 July 1711) was an English peer. Early life Holles was born in Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, the son of the 3rd Earl of Clare and his wife Grace Pierrepont. Grace was a d ...

to enclose 3000 acres of Sherwood Forest, and re-purpose it as a deer park. Clumber House, close to the

River Poulter The River Poulter which rises near Scarcliffe in Derbyshire, England is a tributary river of the River Idle in Nottinghamshire. It supplied power to mills along its route, most of which are now gone, although their mill ponds remain. Cuckney mi ...

, was a pre-existing hunting lodge, which became the core of a new residence built on the site. At the 1st Duke's death in 1711, his nephew

Thomas Pelham-Holles Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, (21 July 169317 November 1768) was a British Whig statesman who served as the 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Great Britain, his official life extended ...

inherited the estate, but did little with it, other than spend the money he inherited. At his death in 1768, his nephew Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, inherited the title and the estate, and made Clumber Park his residence. From 1759, work on the house and park proceeded, under the supervision of a carpenter and builder named Fuller White (although he is likely to have been working to plans from the architect Stephen Wright). White was dismissed in 1767 and Wright took charge of the project, replacing some of the 1760s features in the 1770s. The project was still not complete when Wright died and some features in and around the park may have been designed by his successor, John Simpson, in the 1780s. In March 1879 a serious fire destroyed much of Clumber House. At the time of the fire the house contained around 500 pictures and around a fifth were destroyed in the fire. Fortunately twenty-four of the best of the collection were on loan to Nottingham Corporation, including ''The Beggar Boys'' by

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

. Serious losses included a portrait of William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke by

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

, portraits of an old man and old woman by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

, portrait of a lady by

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

and ''Virgin and Child'' by

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

Henry Pelham-Clinton, 7th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Archibald Douglas Pelham-Clinton, 7th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (28 September 1864 – 30 May 1928), was an English nobleman, styled Earl of Lincoln until 1879. Biography Henry was educated at Eton College and then Magdalen Colle ...

was a minor at the time of the fire and the trustees approved the new plans by

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respons ...

in 1880. Work was still going on in 1884 when it was reported that a temporary front had been built pending the erection of two large wings and an entrance hall. The other sides of the houses were completed, including the addition of a billiard room. By 1886 the building was mostly restored although it was reported that part of the west front was yet to be added. One significant improvement was a scheme whereby the sewage which used to go into the lake was diverted to Hardwick Meadows, over a mile away from the house. Another fire, in 1912, caused less damage, but the effects of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

forced the abandonment of the mansion, which, like many other houses during this period, was demolished in 1938 to avoid a tax bill. Prior to demolition, the 9th Duke sold the contents of the house to repay debts.

Sale and demolition

In 1938

Charles Boot Charles Boot JP (1 October 1874 – 14 June 1945) was an English businessman and film producer who was the driving force behind the growth of Henry Boot & Sons in the inter-war period. As well as creating one of the largest contracting and hous ...

of Henry Boot Construction, was contracted to demolish the house and he removed a vast array of statues, facades and fountains to his

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

home,

Thornbridge Hall Thornbridge Hall is a large English country house situated near the village of Great Longstone in the local government district of Derbyshire Dales in Derbyshire. It is a Grade II listed building. History From the 12th to the late 18th century ...

, although most were purchased by private buyers at auction. The Duke's study, designed by Barry, is all that survives of the main house and is presently home to the Clumber Café. It is Grade II on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

. Most of the ducal properties and land assets were sold to the London and Fort George Land Company (LFG) in 1927 by the Duke of Newcastle to pay off debts and acquired by the

in 1946.

Estate

Clumber Park is over in extent, including woods, open heath and rolling farmland. It contains the longest double avenue of

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

trees in Europe. The avenue was created by the 5th Duke of Newcastle in the 19th century and extends for more than .

Clumber Lake The River Poulter which rises near Scarcliffe in Derbyshire, England is a tributary river of the River Idle in Nottinghamshire. It supplied power to mills along its route, most of which are now gone, although their mill ponds remain. Cuckney mil ...

is a serpentine lake covering south of the site of Clumber House and extending to the east. The lake was partially rebuilt in the 1980s and again in 2004 after suffering from

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...

from coal mining.

Hardwick Village Hardwick Village is a rural settlement located in the Bassetlaw District, Bassetlaw administrative area of Nottinghamshire. It is within Clumber Park, part of a greater area known as The Dukeries. It consists of former labourers' cottages and a c ...

lies within the park, near the eastern end of the lake.

Church of St Mary

The Church of St Mary, a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

chapel was built by the 7th Duke of Newcastle.

Gardens

The walled

east of the cricket pitch has a glasshouse long and containing

Pelargoniums ''Pelargonium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that includes about 280 species of perennial plant, perennials, succulent plant, succulents, and shrubs, common name, commonly called geraniums, pelargoniums, or storksbills. ''Geranium'' is also ...

grapevines ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, ...

and a

Butia capitata ''Butia capitata'', also known as jelly palm, is a '' Butia'' palm native to the states of Minas Gerais and Goiás in Brazil. It is known locally as ''coquinho-azedo'' or ''butiá'' in (northern) Minas Gerais.Fruits of Butia capitata (Mart.) Becc ...

palm. It was once heated by an underfloor system, fired by local coal, allowing exotic plants to be grown all year round. The pipework is in place beneath the ornate metal floor grates. The garden is divided by pathways and contains vegetables, herbs, fruit, flowers and an ornate

rose garden A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses, and sometimes rose species. Most often it is a section of a larger garden. Designs vary tremendously and roses m ...

. The garden grows locally derived varieties such as the 'Clayworth Prize Pink' celery and more than 101 varieties of apple from the Nottinghamshire and East Midlands region including the 'Sisson's Worksop Newton' apple. The garden has large collection of rhubarb, numbering over 135 edible varieties. The lower end of the garden is reached by an iron gate to Cedar Avenue allowing colder air and moisture to move out of the garden avoiding the creation of

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

pockets which could damage tender plants or reduce the growing season.National Trust page for Clumber Park
/ref>

Clumber Park Bridge

In March 2018 the park's ornamental bridge suffered extensive damage after a car was deliberately driven into it. The car, thought to be stolen, was burnt out nearby. The National Trust said it appeared to be "an act of intentional damage". The Grade-I listed bridge over the River Poulter was believed to have been built in the 1760s. The bridge remains permanently closed to vehicular traffic. Police divers recovered hundreds of pieces of broken stone knocked into the river as a training exercise. A floating pontoon platform to support scaffolding was built and stonemasons started to rebuild the bridge using some original fragments in October 2019. The bridge was re-opened to foot-traffic only in July 2020 after extensive restorative stonework. Just over a week after the bridge damage, a waste-bin, a National Trust van and a barn known as The Bunk House were set alight in an

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

attack. Two months later in May, six engraved brass plaques containing the names of men who had died in wars were stolen from nearby

War Memorial. The memorial is a Grade-II listed structure and the plaques were 100 years old.

Brewhouse discovery centre

Starting from 2009, a grant of £797,000 from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

enabled renovation of the Grade II listed derelict old brewhouse, part of the old stable block, to create an exhibition and discovery centre.

Site of Special Scientific Interest

In 1981 an area of was designated an

SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

. A wide variety of species-rich habitats surround the former mansion, including the lake and wetlands, grassland, heath and mature deciduous woodland. The mature trees and dead and decaying ancient trees provide good habitats for beetles. There are breeding birds of woods and heath including

nightjar Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk ta ...

woodlark The woodlark or wood lark (''Lullula arborea'') is the only extant species in the lark genus ''Lullula''. It is found across most of Europe, the Middle East, western Asia and the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident (non- migratory) ...

redstart {{Hatnote, For the ship, see USS Redstart (AM-378) Redstart is a name used for a number of songbirds that are not closely related to each other: Old world flycatcher family (Muscicapidae) * '' Phoenicurus'', 14 species found in Africa, Asia and E ...

hawfinch The hawfinch (''Coccothraustes coccothraustes'') is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Coccothraustes''. Its closest living relatives are the Chinese grosbeak (''Eophona migratoria'') ...

water rail The water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the Rallidae, rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are bird migration, migratory, but this species is a perma ...

and gadwall ducks. Ancient breeds of

English Longhorn The Longhorn or British Longhorn is a British breed of beef cattle characterised by long curving horns. It originated in northern England, in the counties of Lancashire, Westmorland and Yorkshire, and later spread to the English Midlands and ...

cattle and

Jacob sheep The Jacob is a British breed of domestic sheep. It combines two characteristics unusual in sheep: it is piebald—dark-coloured with areas of white wool—and it is often polycerate or multi-horned. It most commonly has four horns. The origi ...

have been introduced to pastures surrounding the lake as part of the process for managing the grassland habitats while safeguarding rare livestock breeds. In January 2018 the National Trust sent a "heartfelt letter" to the environment manager at fracking company

Ineos INEOS Group Limited is a British multinational chemicals company headquartered and registered in London. , it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world. Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own b ...

, asking her to visit the park and to stop its survey there for

shale gas Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and some a ...

reserves.

Access and events

Close to the main parking area is a

cricket pitch In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets. It is long (1 chain) and wide. The surface is flat and is normally covered with extremely short grass, but can be completely d ...

with a thatched roof pavilion in the style of a cottage, clad in rustic split logs. Along the road side are large open areas to park and picnic. The park is used by walkers and has several miles of paths and cycle tracks surrounding the lake. The park has bicycles for hire. The visitor centre is in the old stable block, part of which houses a display on the history of the park, a shop and restaurant. Off the main lime tree avenue are camping facilities. Route 6 of the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

passes through the park, linking it to

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cor ...

and Sherwood Pines. In 2020/21 over 350,000 people visited Clumber Park, making it one of the National Trust's top ten most visited properties. As of 2022 a

parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

takes place in the grounds every Saturday.

Notes

References

External links

{{Commons category, Clumber Park
Clumber Park information at the National Trust

History of Clumber from Worksop Heritage Trail

* ttp://www.lostheritage.org.uk/houses/lh_nottinghamshire_clumberhouse.html Clumber House at Lost Heritage - a memorial to the lost houses of England
Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers Clumber Park
Bassetlaw District British country houses destroyed in the 20th century Buildings and structures demolished in 1938 Charles Barry Jr. buildings Clinton family (English aristocracy) The Dukeries Former country houses in England Gardens by Capability Brown Grade II listed buildings in Nottinghamshire Grade II listed houses Grade I listed parks and gardens in Nottinghamshire National Trust properties in Nottinghamshire Parks and open spaces in Nottinghamshire Robert Taylor buildings Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Nottinghamshire Worksop 1912 fires in the United Kingdom Gardens by Humphry Repton