Lyme Park is a large estate located south of Disley, Cheshire, England ( ). It consists of a mansion house surrounded by formal gardens, in a deer park in the Peak District National Park. The house is the largest in Cheshire, and a Grade I listed building.

The estate was granted to Sir Thomas Danyers in 1346 and passed to the Leghs of Lyme by marriage in 1388. It remained in the possession of the Legh family until 1946 when it was given to the National Trust. The house dates from the latter part of the 16th century. Modifications were made to it in the 1720s by Giacomo Leoni, who retained some of the Elizabethan features and added others, particularly the courtyard and the south range. It is difficult to classify Leoni's work at Lyme, as it contains elements of both Palladian and Baroque styles. Further modifications were made by Lewis Wyatt in the 19th century, especially to the interior. Formal gardens were created and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The house, gardens and park have been used as locations for filming and they are open to the public.

History

The land now occupied by Lyme Park was granted to Sir Thomas Danyers in 1346 by Edward III, for his service to the Black Prince in the Battle of Crécy. On Sir Thomas's death the estate passed to his daughter, Margaret, who in 1388 married the first Piers Legh (Piers Legh I). Richard II favoured Piers and granted his family a coat of arms in 1397. However, Piers was executed two years later by Richard's rival for the throne, Henry Bolingbroke. The first record of a house on the site is in a manuscript folio dated 1465, but that house was demolished when construction of the present building began during the life of Piers Legh VII, in the middle of the 16th century. This house, by an unknown designer, was L-shaped in plan with east and north ranges; piecemeal additions were made to it during the 17th century. In the 1720s Giacomo Leoni, an architect from Venice, added a south range to the house creating a courtyard plan, and made other changes. While he retained some of its Elizabethan features, many of his changes were in a mixture of Palladian and Baroque styles. During the latter part of the 18th century Piers Legh XIII bought most of the furniture which is in the house today. However, the family fortunes declined and the house began to deteriorate. In the early 19th century the estate was owned by Thomas Legh, who commissioned Lewis Wyatt to restore the house between 1816 and 1822. Wyatt's alterations were mainly to the interior, where he remodelled every room. Leoni had intended to add a cupola to the south range but this never materialised. Instead, Wyatt added a tower-like structure (a hamper) to provide bedrooms for the servants. He also added a one-storey block to the east range, containing a dining-room. Later in the century William Legh, 1st Baron Newton, added stables and other buildings to the estate, and created the Dutch Garden. Further alterations were made to the gardens by Thomas Legh, 2nd Baron Newton and his wife during the early 20th century. The estate was inherited in 1942 by Richard Legh, 3rd Baron Newton. In 1946 he gave Lyme Park to the National Trust.

House

Exterior

The house is the largest in Cheshire, measuring overall by . The older part is built in coursed, squared buff sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings; the later work is in ashlar sandstone. The whole house has a Welsh slate roof and its plan is that of a courtyard. The north face is symmetrical in 15 bays and three storeys; its central bay consists of a slightly protruding gateway. The arched doorway in this bay has Doric columns with a niche on each side. Above the doorway are three more Doric columns with a pediment, and above this are three further columns. Over all this are four further columns with an open pediment bearing an image of Minerva. Pevsner refers to this gateway as "the craziest Elizabethan frontispiece". The lateral three bays on each side project slightly forwards. The ground floors of the three outer bays on each side are rusticated, and their upper storeys are divided by large Corinthian pilasters. The west front is also in three storeys, with nine bays, the outer two bays on each side projecting forward. The ground floor is rusticated and the upper floors are smooth.

The symmetrical 15-bay three-storey south front overlooking the pond is the work of Leoni. Although Leoni had been influenced by the works and principles of Palladio, both Pevsner and Images of England agree that the design of this front is more Baroque than Palladian. The bottom storey is rusticated with arched windows, and the other storeys are smooth with rectangular windows. The middle three bays consist of a portico of which the lowest storey has three arches. Above this arise four giant fluted Ionic columns supporting a triangular pediment. Standing on the pediment are three lead statues which depict Neptune, Venus and Pan. The pediment partly hides Wyatt's square hamper. The other bays are separated by plain Ionic pilasters and the end three bays on each side protrude slightly. The nine-bay three-storey east front is mostly Elizabethan in style and has Wyatt's single storey extension protruding from its centre. The courtyard was remodelled by Leoni who gave it a rusticated cloister on all sides. Above the cloister the architecture differs on the four sides although all the windows on the first (piano nobile) floor have pediments. On the west side is a one-bay centrepiece with a window between two Doric pilasters; on the south and north are three windows with four similar pilasters; and on the east front is the grand entrance with a portal in a Tuscan aedicule. This entrance is between the first and second storeys and is approached by symmetrical pairs of stairs with iron balusters, which were made by John Gardom from Derbyshire in 1734. In the centre of the courtyard is an Italian Renaissance well-head, surrounded by chequered pink and white stone, simulating marble.

Interior

The Entrance Hall, which is in the east range, was remodelled by Leoni. It is asymmetrical and contains giant pilasters and a screen of three fluted Ionic columns. The doorway to the courtyard has an open pediment. Portraits of Edward III and the Black Prince decorate the hall. The Black Prince's portrait can be swung out from the wall to reveal a squint into the former Elizabethan Great Chamber, which is now the Drawing Room. Also in the Entrance Hall are tapestries which were woven at Mortlake between 1623 and 1636. They were originally in the Legh's London home in Belgrave Square and were moved to Lyme in 1903. In order to accommodate them, the interior decorator, Amadée Joubert, had to make alterations, including the removal of a tabernacle and cutting out four of the pilasters. To the south of the entrance hall is the Library. The centrepiece of its ceiling depicts the Legh's heraldic device which consists of a mailed arm holding a banner against a background of stars. In the Library is a collection of ancient sculpture which was brought to Lyme by Thomas Legh. To the east of the Entrance Hall is Wyatt's Dining Room, which has a stucco ceiling and a carved overmantel both in a late 17th-century style, as well as a frieze. The decoration of this room is considered to be a rare early example of the Wrenaissance style.

To the north of the Entrance Hall are the two principal Elizabethan rooms, the Drawing Room and the Stag Parlour. The Drawing Room is panelled with intersecting arches above which is a marquetry frieze. The ceiling has studded bands, strapwork cartouches and a broad frieze. Over the fireplace is a large stone overmantel which is decorated with pairs of atlantes and caryatids framing the arms of Elizabeth I. The stained glass in this room includes medieval glass which was moved from the original Lyme Hall to Disley Church and returned to Lyme in 1835. The Stag Parlour has a chimneypiece depicting an Elizabethan house and hunting scenes, and it includes the arms of James I. The other Elizabethan rooms in the house are the Stone Parlour on the ground floor, and the Long Gallery, which is on the top floor of the east range. The Long Gallery also has a chimneypiece with the arms of Elizabeth I. The Grand Staircase dates from the remodelling by Leoni and it has a Baroque ceiling. The Saloon is on the first floor of the south range, behind the portico. Its ceiling is decorated in Rococo style, and the room contains wooden carvings which have been attributed to Grinling Gibbons. The Chapel, in the northeast corner of the ground floor, also contains detailed carvings.

Grounds

The house is surrounded by formal gardens of in a deer park of about which are listed at Grade II* in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In the gardens and deer park are a number of structures.

Gardens

To the west of the house is the former mill pond. From the south side a lawn slopes down to another pond beyond which is a small ravine with a stone bridge, this area being known as Killtime. To the west of the lawn is the sunken Dutch Garden, which was created by William Legh. It consists of formal flower beds with a central fountain. To the west, south and east of the orangery are further formal flower gardens, including rose gardens.

Deer park

The park was enclosed in the 14th century by Piers Legh I. In the 17th century Richard Legh planted avenues of sycamore and lime trees. Richard's son, Peter Legh XII carried out more extensive tree-planting in the park, giving it its current appearance. Red deer descended from the original deer present when the park was enclosed graze in the grounds, as do Highland cattle. Formerly an unusual breed of wild white cattle with red ears grazed in the park but they became extinct in 1884. Fallow deer and sheep also graze in the park.

Structures

The most obvious structure in the park, other than the house, is a tower called the Cage which stands on a hill to the east of the approach road to the house ( ). It was originally a hunting lodge and was later used as a park-keeper's cottage and as a lock-up for prisoners. The first structure on the site was built about 1580; this was taken down and rebuilt in 1737, possibly to a design by Leoni for Peter Legh X. The tower is built in buff sandstone rubble with ashlar sandstone dressings. It is square in plan, in three storeys, with attached small square towers surmounted by cupolas at the corners. The Cage is a Grade II* listed building. Also in the park is the Paddock Cottage which was erected by Peter Legh IX and restored in the early 21st century. To the east of this are the remains of the Stag House ( ). To the left of the house in Lantern Wood is a belvedere known as the Lantern ( ). It is built in sandstone and has three storeys and a spire; the lowest storey is square in plan while the other storeys and the spire are octagonal. The top storey and spire date from about 1580 and originally formed a bellcote on the north gatehouse. This was removed during the restoration of the house by Wyatt and rebuilt on the present site. It is a Grade II* listed building. Immediately to the northeast of the house is the Orangery which was designed in 1862 by Alfred Darbyshire. The Orangery is joined to the house by a covered passage known as the Dark Passage. This was designed by Wyatt for Sir Thomas Legh in 1815 and is a Grade II listed building. Further from the house, to the northeast of the orangery, are the stables ( ). These are dated 1863 and were also designed by Darbyshire. They are built in sandstone on a courtyard plan and are listed Grade II. Other structures in the grounds listed Grade II are the Pheasant House dating from about 1870, an Italian white marble wellhead in the centre of the courtyard of the house dating from the 18th century and probably brought to the house from Venice in about 1900, sandstone kennels in an H-plan dating from around 1870, a pair of gardener's cottages dated 1871, terrace revetment walls to the west of the house containing some 17th-century masonry with later repairs, the lodge, gate piers and gates on Lyme Park Drive, the forward gatepiers to Lyme Park Drive, dating from the late 17th century and moved to their present position about 1860, the gate piers in Red Lane, and the gate piers, gates and railings to the north of the north front of the house.

Present day

Lyme Park is owned and administered by the National Trust with financial support from Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. The house, garden and park are open to the public at advertised hours. An entrance fee to the house and garden is payable by non-members of the National Trust. An additional fee is charged for parking. In the grounds are shops, a refreshment kiosk, a coffee shop and a licensed restaurant. Events are held in the park and guided tours are arranged.

Lyme Park and its hall have been used in several films and television programmes. The hall was used as Pemberley, the seat of Mr. Darcy, in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, and as a location for the Red Dwarf episode "Timeslides". The Bowmen of Lyme use the park for archery. In 2000 the Mastiff Association organised an event in the park to commemorate the long connection between the owners of the hall and the English Mastiff breed.

During the 2008–09 winter the Library is undergoing restoration. When this is complete, the Lyme Sarum Missal will be displayed prominently in the Library. This missal is the only remaining Sarum Missal. It had been owned by the Legh family for centuries and was recently bought from them by the National Trust for £465,000. It was printed in two colours (black and red) in Paris in 1487 for William Caxton. The missal was the first book to be printed in two colours in Paris, and the first book to bear Caxton's device (or trademark). It contains the Sarum version of the mass, and two full-page hand-coloured woodcuts. Additions and alterations have been made to it by hand. These include an English version of the marriage service alongside the Latin text; and the crossing-out of the name of Thomas Becket and prayers for the Pope. Also on display will be a digital copy with a page-turning facility, which can be browsed by the public.

References

Notes

1. The Peak District: Dark Peak area. Outdoor Leisure map 1, Ordnance Survey
2. It has been the largest house in Cheshire since Eaton Hall was demolished in 1961 (Pevsner and Hubbard).
3. The house is frequently described as being Palladian in style, but not all experts agree that it is truly Palladian. Referring to the south front, Images of England says "For a garden front it is magnificent but more Baroque than Palladian" and makes no other reference to Palladian style. Pevsner says "But his [Leoni's] great south front is not a Palladian front" (p.260) and "Leoni was more original at Lyme Park than one might have at first sight have realized" (p. 261). Waterson says "The dramatic use of giant pilasters on the South Front was far too close to the English Baroque tradition..." and "...he [Leoni] never subscribed to Lord Burlington's highly selective and academic Palladianism". (p. 9.)
4. Waterson, p. 5.
5. Waterson, p. 9.
6. Waterson, p. 11.
7. T. P. Connor, "Leoni, Giacomo (c.1686–1746)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004, online edn, October 2007 [1]. Retrieved on 1 November 2008.
8. Waterson, p. 10.
9. Waterson, pp. 12–13.
10. Waterson, p. 4.
11. Waterson, p. 17.
12. The family tradition that the carvings are by Gibbons, the evidence for this, and their possible re-arrangement are discussed by Waterson, p. 17.

Bibliography

Further reading

• Rothwell, James (1998), Lyme Park. National Trust.

See also

• Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire

External links

• Lyme Park — a Gardens Guide review
• 360° view of the south front of the hall
• Photographs by digicam69
• More pictures at Wikimedia Commons