Painshill (also referred to as "Pains Hill" in some 19th-century texts), near Cobham,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, is one of the finest remaining examples of an 18th-century English landscape park. It was designed and created between 1738 and 1773 by Charles Hamilton. The original house built in the park by Hamilton has since been demolished. Painshill is owned by

Elmbridge Borough Council Elmbridge may refer to these places in England: ;Current uses *Borough of Elmbridge, a district in northwest Surrey * Elmbridge, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, a suburb and electoral ward * Elmbridge, Worcestershire, a small village and civil parish ...

and managed by the Painshill Trust. Painshill, which is open to the public (with entry charge), has been Grade I listed 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 ...

. In 1998 Painshill was awarded the Europa Nostra Medal for the "Exemplary restoration from a state of extreme neglect, of a most important 18th century landscape park and its extraordinary buildings."Painshill Park Trust brochure, ''Welcome to Painshill '' In May 2006, Painshill was awarded full collection status for its John Bartram Heritage Collection, by the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG).

History

Charles Hamilton was born in 1704 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, the 9th son and 14th child of the 6th

Earl of Abercorn Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particula ...

. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and went on two Grand Tours, one in 1725 and a further one in 1732. In 1738 Hamilton began to acquire land at Painshill and, over the years, built up a holding of more than . His creation was among the earliest to reflect the changing fashion in garden design prompted by the Landscape Movement, which started in England in about 1730. It represented the move away from geometric formality in garden design to a new naturalistic formula. Many of the trees and shrubs planted by Hamilton were sent to him from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

by the naturalist John Bartram. The garden was open to respectable visitors, who were shown round by the head gardener for a tip, and was visited by many well-known figures including two visits by William Gilpin, pioneer of the

Picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

with

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

, and Prince Franz of Anhalt-Dessau separately, on special tours of gardens, and the important landscape garden author

Thomas Whately Thomas Whately (1726 – 26 May 1772), an English politician and writer, was a Member of Parliament (1761–1768), who served as Commissioner on the Board of Trade, as Secretary to the Treasury under George Grenville, Lord Grenville, and as Under- ...

. Then as now there was a particular route round the park recommended, designed to bring the visitor upon the successive views with best effect. Views from Painshill were painted on some pieces of the

Frog Service The Frog Service or Green Frog Service is a large Tableware, dinner and dessert service made by the English pottery company Wedgwood for Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, and completed in 1774. The service had fifty settings, and 944 piece ...

commissioned by

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

of Russia from

Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...

. Hamilton eventually ran out of money and sold the estate in 1773 to Benjamin Bond Hopkins, who held the estate until his death in 1794. In 1778 Hopkins commissioned architect

Richard Jupp Richard Jupp (1728 – 17 April 1799) was an 18th-century English architect, particularly associated with buildings in and around London. He served for many years (c. 1755 – 1799) as surveyor to the British East India Company. Works His wor ...

to rebuild Painshill House in a different place within the park. The house was later extended in the 19th century by architect

Decimus Burton Decimus Burton (30 September 1800 – 14 December 1881) was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and Reg ...

and is now a grade II* listed building.

Henry Lawes Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton General Henry Lawes Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton PC (7 August 1743 – 25 April 1821) was an Anglo-Irish politician and soldier. He was the son of Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton and brother-in-law of Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland ...

(7 August 1743 – 25 April 1821) bought Painshill in 1807 from William Moffat. Luttrell lived at Painshill having fled from the ancestral

Luttrellstown Castle Luttrellstown Castle Luttrellstown Castle, dating from the early 15th century (c. 1420), is located in Clonsilla on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland. It has been owned variously by the eponymous and notorious Luttrell family, by the bookseller ...

near

Clonsilla Clonsilla () is an outer suburb of Dublin in Fingal, Ireland. Clonsilla is also a civil parish in the barony of Castleknock in the historic County Dublin. Location and access Clonsilla used to be a small village in the inner western part o ...

outside

, where his role in crushing the Irish Rebellion in 1798 made it unsafe to stay. (His ancestor Colonel Henry Luttrell had been assassinated in Dublin in 1717 for betraying the Irish to King

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

.) After his death in 1821, Luttrell's wife Jane lived at Painshill until her death in 1831 when it was sold it to Sir William Cooper, High Sheriff of

. Sir William Cooper and his wife, later his widow, lived there until 1863, and installed

Joseph Bramah Joseph Bramah (13 April 1748 – 9 December 1814), born Stainborough Lane Farm, Stainborough, in Barnsley, Yorkshire, was an English inventor and locksmith. He is best known for having improved the flush toilet and inventing the hydraulic pr ...

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

and

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

, and planted an

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

John Claudius Loudon John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of ...

. In 1873, the English poet, literary and social critic,

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lite ...

, rented Pains Hill Cottage from Mr. Charles J. Leaf and lived there until his death in 1888. In 1904 Charles Combe of

Cobham Park Cobham Park is a set of about 22 apartments in and around a converted country mansion and associated lawn, gardens, fields and woodlands in the mainly rural south of the parish of Cobham, Surrey in England. Its old extent takes in the majority o ...

purchased and lived in Painshill Park, his son having moved into

. Until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Painshill Park was held by a succession of private owners. In 1948 the estate was split up and sold in separate lots for commercial uses. The Park's features fell into decay. By 1980 the local authority, Elmbridge Borough Council, had bought of Hamilton's original estate and the work of restoring the landscape garden and its many features could start. In the following year the Painshill Park Trust was founded as a registered charity with the remit "to restore Painshill as nearly as possible to Charles Hamilton's Original Concept of a Landscaped Garden for the benefit of the public." There is a wealth of 18th-century images of the main features of Painshill to help the process. The restoration of this Grade I continued, in 2013 work was completed on the restoration of the Crystal Grotto, further restoration work in the park is dependent on the availability of funding. The landscape garden has been a location for film and television production, such as for the grounds of "Bridgeford University" in the 2009 ITV2 series ''

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

'' and the exteriors in the movie adaptation of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's The Picture of

Dorian Gray (2009 film) ''Dorian Gray'' is a 2009 British dark fantasy horror film based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel '' The Picture of Dorian Gray'', directed by Oliver Parker, and written by Toby Finlay (his first screenplay). The film stars Ben Barnes, Colin Firth ...

. In 2017, Painshill Park was featured in the science fiction television series ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fictio ...

'', episode "Hang the DJ". The park now borders the

A3 road The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road or London Road in sections, is a major road connecting the City of London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classified ...

, which allows easy access.

Description

Today Painshill comprises of the original more than owned by Charles Hamilton in the 18th century. The landscape garden stretches along the banks of the winding

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey district ...

on land that has a number of natural hills and valleys. The central feature is a serpentine lake of Gardens Guide, Painshill Park, Surrey
/ref> with several islands and spanned by bridges and a causeway. The water for the lake and the plantings is pumped from the River Mole by a 19th-century

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newco ...

powered by a water wheel. Hamilton enhanced the views of hills and lake by careful plantings of woods, avenues and specimen trees to create vistas and separate environments including an

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

, a

water meadow A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-m ...

and an

alpine valley Alpine Valley Music Theatre is a 37,000-capacity amphitheater located on County Highway D in East Troy, Wisconsin. The seasonal venue was built in 1977 and it features a characteristic wooden roof, covering the 7,500-seat pavilion and a sprawlin ...

. As focal points in the vistas and as sympathetic elements to be discovered in the landscape, Hamilton placed a number of

follies ''Follies'' is a Musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on t ...

, small decorative buildings, which include a

grotto A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high ti ...

, Gothic "temple", "ruins" of a Gothic abbey, a Roman

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

, and a Gothic tower with a view of the countryside. All these still exist and have been restored, and the hermitage (for which a "hermit" was hired on a seven-year contract, but soon dismissed for absenteeism) and Turkish tent have been recreated. The crystal grotto was restored in 2013, and re-opened by Lady

Lucinda Lambton Lady Lucinda Lambton, also known as Lady Lucinda Worsthorne (born 10 May 1943) is an English writer, photographer, and broadcaster on architectural subjects. Life Lucinda Lambton was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, the eldest child of the Conservati ...

. The Roman "Temple of Bacchus" has been reconstructed (2018), though there is now a cast of the Roman statue of

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

which it housed, among other antiquities bought on Hamilton's Italian tours. It was sketched in 1770 by the Swedish artist

Elias Martin Elias Martin (8 March 1739 – 25 January 1818) was a Swedish genre, history, and landscape painter and engraver from Stockholm. He is known for his watercolour paintings of Stockholm, and his landscape oil paintings that feature romantic ligh ...

; he went on to illustrate the 1783 book ''

Bacchi Tempel ''Bacchi tempel öppnat vid en hjältes död'' ("The Temple of Bacchus opened at a Hero's Death"), commonly known as ''Bacchi Tempel'' is a song play, a long poem in two thousand alexandrines, written by Carl Michael Bellman and published by Swe ...

'' ("The Temple of Bacchus") by Sweden's national bard,

Carl Michael Bellman Carl Michael Bellman (; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as well ...

. Among the original plantings are a number of important specimens including fine examples of

Cork Oak ''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the cores ...

, Yew,

Beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

Silver Birch ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found ...

and three Cedars of which one, known as the ''Great Cedar'' is high and over in width, and is thought to be the largest

Cedar of Lebanon ''Cedrus libani'', the cedar of Lebanon or Lebanese cedar (), is a species of tree in the genus cedrus, a part of the pine family, native to the mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. It is a large evergreen conifer that has great religi ...

in Europe. In 2010, a conference at Painshill brought together elements of the restoration of this eighteenth-century Landscape Garden.Eyres, Patrick: The Proceedings of 'Painshill Park and Beyond' Conference: Painshill Park - The Pioneering Restoration of an Eighteenth Century Landscape Garden (2010)New Arcadian Journal.

Kate Felus Kate Felus (born 1971) is a designed-landscape historian. She studied at the University of Warwick and the University of Bristol. Her specialist subject area is the social history of 18th-century gardens and their buildings. From 1996 to 2001 Felu ...

- Charles Hamilton's Buildings: Speculation on the Social Use of Painshill Park pp. 41–50

Gallery of features and follies

File:Painshill-Sabine.jpg, A cast of

Giambologna Giambologna (1529 – 13 August 1608), also known as Jean de Boulogne (French), Jehan Boulongne (Flemish) and Giovanni da Bologna (Italian), was the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, with a large workshop producing large and small ...

's ''Rape of the Sabines'' File:Painshill-GothicTemple.jpg, The ''Gothic Temple'' File:Painshill-TurkishTent.jpg, The rebuilt ''Turkish Tent'' File:Painshill Park 012 Chinese Bridge.JPG, The ''Chinese Bridge'' File:Painshill Park 013 Grotto.JPG, The ''Crystal Grotto'' File:Painshill-Waterwheel.jpg, The waterwheel File:Painshill-5My7-1893.jpg, The cascade File:Temple of Bacchus Painshill by Elias Martin 1770.jpg, ''View from the Temple of Bacchus, Gothic Temple in middle distance''.

, c. 1770 File:Temple of Bacchus, Painshill Park, Cobham (2018).jpg, View of the re-created Temple of Bacchus, 2018 File:Painshill-GothicTower.jpg, The ''Gothic Tower'' File:Painshill Park 003 vineyard.JPG, The vineyard in winter File:Painshill_Park_hermits_hut.jpg, The reconstructed hermitage File:Painshill Park 009.JPG, The ''Alpine Valley'' contrasts with other areas of the park, and leads up to the Gothic Tower. File:Painshill Park 011 Great Cedar.JPG, The ''Great Cedar'' is thought to be the largest in Europe. File:Painshill Park 002 Cork Oak and Cedars.JPG, The "amphitheatre": an ancient Cork Oak and two Cedars form the setting for a shrubbery and a cast of a Renaissance statue after

File:Painshill Park 006 vista from Gothic Temple.JPG, The Gothic Temple is at the end of an avenue of pines and hedges.

References

External links

*
Imag(in)e the Garden - History of Painshill
{{Hydrology of Surrey Borough of Elmbridge Grade II listed garden and park buildings Grade II* listed garden and park buildings Grade I listed parks and gardens in Surrey Grade II listed buildings in Surrey Grade II* listed buildings in Surrey Lakes of Surrey NCCPG collections in England Parks and open spaces in Surrey

History

Description

Gallery of features and follies

See also

References

External links