architecture, belvedere, Cheshire, eyecatcher, Folly, garden history, landscape garden, Tower

The Tower, Tabley House, Cheshire. Part I: Early Days.

J.M.W. Turner's view of the lake and tower at Tabley House. Full reference below.

Sir Peter Byrne Leicester inherited the Tabley estate in 1742. At that date the mansion and adjacent chapel were picturesquely situated on an island in a lake, but Sir Peter had new ideas. In around 1760 he called in John Carr of York to build a new mansion, in the Palladian style, on higher ground about half a mile from the old. With the new hall complete Sir Peter did not demolish the old hall and chapel on the island, but instead left them standing to be admired as ‘ornamental features in the landscape’ (although he had little choice as the terms of his inheritance compelled him to keep the old mansion in repair). Sir Peter’s son would later add a tower as an eye-catcher and picnic pavilion.

Anthony Devis (1729-1816); Tabley: The Old Hall across the Mere; Tabley House Collection. CC BY-NC http://www.artuk.org/artworks/tabley-the-old-hall-across-the-mere-103828

Sir Peter died in 1770 when his son and heir was only 7 years old, and his widow managed the estate until Sir John Fleming Leicester 5th Bart (1762-1827) came of age. Sir John studied at Cambridge before setting off on the Grand Tour, returning in 1786 to his Cheshire estate.

Work to remodel the lake and build the tower was started soon after Sir John’s return and continued until around the end of the eighteenth century. In 1826 William Carey, Sir John’s biographer and art adviser, published some anecdotes of his patron’s life. He wrote that Sir John always had ‘some plans going forward for the embellishment of his domain’ and that he had erected the tower and remodelled the lake to create a ‘fine piece of water’. Sadly he is vague on dates, simply noting that this took place ‘some years ago’.

The lake and tower (it is always simply ‘the tower’) were used for ‘aquatic parties’, with Sir John having a small fleet of ‘ten or twelve pleasure vessels’, all built to his own specifications. He was described as a skilled sailor, making excursions on the lake ‘safe and agreeable’.

Henry Thomson (1773-1843); Tabley Tower at Night; Tabley House Collection. CC BY-NC. http://www.artuk.org/artworks/tabley-tower-at-night-103912

Sir John’s great passion was contemporary British art, and in the first decades of the nineteenth century he commissioned many artworks, including a number of views of his new lake and tower.

James Ward (1769-1859); View in Tabley Park, 1813-18; Tate; CC BY-NC. http://www.artuk.org/artworks/view-in-tabley-park-202695

Perhaps most famous of the views of the tower at Tabley are two works of 1808 by J.M.W. Turner showing the lake and tower on a calm morning and in a ‘brisk gale’. They became separated in 1827 when works from the late Lord de Tabley’s London house (Sir John was created a Baron in 1826) were sold at auction to pay his debts. Lord Egremont purchased the ‘calm morning’ view, and it can be seen today at Petworth House in West Sussex.

Turner’s view of the tower and lake on a calm morning on display in the wonderful North Gallery at Petworth House. This painting in particular shows the tiny little island on which the tower stands.

Happily, its partner, showing the tower on a windy day, was sent to Tabley House where it remains today.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851); Tabley, Cheshire, the Seat of Sir J. F. Leicester, Bt: Windy Day; Tabley House Collection; CC BY-NC http://www.artuk.org/artworks/tabley-cheshire-the-seat-of-sir-j-f-leicester-bt-windy-day-103915

In 1874 the Old Hall was described as an ‘ivy-clad ruin’, although it was still furnished and could be visited by tourists, and some rooms housed estate staff. At the same date the chapel was recorded as being in ‘excellent preservation’ as it was still in regular use. Around fifty years later the situation changed dramatically when the island on which the buildings stood succumbed to brine subsidence (briefly – the pumping out of liquid brine causes the land above to become unstable). The mansion on the island was damaged and the contents and many of the internal fittings were salvaged before the inevitable total collapse – only a small section still stands today.

To save the chapel Cuthbert Leicester Warren (1877-1954) had it taken down and rebuilt close to the eighteenth century mansion in 1927. Material salvaged from the Old Hall was used to create the Old Hall Room which links the chapel to the mansion. Cuthbert’s son John, who died in 1975, was the last private owner of the Tabley estate (there’s more on him next week).

The ancient chapel moved from the island in the lake to a site near the 18th century mansion in 1927.

Tabley House and its collection are now owned by the University of Manchester. The house is leased to a care home, but the state rooms on the middle floor are home to the Tabley House Collection of paintings, furniture and decorative arts. The collection is open regularly between March and October.

The grade II listed tower, once an eye-catcher from the piano nobile, can today only just be made out in the distance as the overgrown trees on the tiny island hide the tower and cast shadows. The University sold the parkland to the Crown Estate in 2007 and sadly there is no public access. Happily we have Sir John’s pictorial record, and there’s the rather more modern medium of a YouTube film here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGU2dnGl_9M

For more on Tabley House http://www.tableyhouse.co.uk

Thank you to the Tabley House Collection and ArtUK for making these wonderful images freely available.

Watch out for part II next week which features a charming period in the tower’s existence. Thank you for reading and do get in touch via the comments section below if you’d like to share any thoughts.

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5 thoughts on “The Tower, Tabley House, Cheshire. Part I: Early Days.”

  1. TOM GARDNER says:

    TOM (NYC)
    ONCE AGAIN, YOUR OFFERING IS, AS USUAL, AN ENRICHING USE OF ONES TIME.
    (WE) – BEING SUCH A ‘NEW’ COUNTRY, VS. YOURS … HAVE VERY FEW EXAMPLES OF TRUE ‘FOLLIES’.
    HOWEVER, THAT IN NO WAY HINDERS OUR FASCINATION OF YOUR OFFERINGS.

    MERCY BUCETS! KEEP THEM COMING.

    TOM

    1. Editor says:

      Hello Tom. Tune in next week for a wonderful nostalgic story of the same folly.

  2. Andy Hooper says:

    I didn’t know about brine subsidence and initially thought ‘ham?’
    Following a brief Google, I now know something I didn’t know yesterday, and that makes today a good day.
    Thank you.

    Andy.

    1. Editor says:

      You are a man after my own heart Andy. Learning something new feels good!

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