chatsworth house

Chatsworth House is a large stately home eight miles north of Matlock in Derbyshire, England, originally built by Bess of Hardwick. Chatsworth is the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, whose family name is Cavendish, from Cavendish, Suffolk, and the name of Bess of Hardwick's second husband, (William Cavendish). Chatsworth stands on the left bank of the River Derwent and looks across the river to the sunset and the low hills that divide the valleys of the Derwent and the Wye. The Park lies for miles open to the sky, and behind the house, hills fall backwards. Up and above and beyond are rocks and bracken and heather. Chatsworth was originally built in the late Sixteenth Century as a courtyard house on the site of the present main block. Rebuilding of the present honey-coloured house in Baroque style was begun in 1687 by the 1st Duke of Devonshire. The south and east fronts were built under the direction of William Talman until 1696. The west and north fronts may have been the work of William Archer. A richly-appointed Baroque suite of state rooms open one from another in an enfilade across the south front. Other interiors from this period include the chapel and the painted hall. From 1818 to 1827 Sir Jeffry Wyatville added an Italianate North Wing to the original quadrangle. The principal rooms in this wing are the dining room; the sculpture gallery, with a large collection of neo-classical works by Canova and others, as well as some earlier pieces; the orangery and the theatre. Wyatville also converted the original long gallery into a library. The house contains a unique collection of priceless paintings, furniture, European Old Master drawings, Neoclassical sculpture and other artefacts. The 1st Duke commissioned a large formal garden, including a canal,a cascade and several parterres. Much of this formality was swept away in the mid Eighteenth Century to reflect the prevaling taste for informal landscape gardens. Sir Joseph Paxton took over as Head Gardener in the early Nineteenth Century and was responsible for many innovations. In 1837, he began the Great Conservatory (with architect Decimus Burton), where the giant Amazon water-lily, Victoria amazonica flowered in captivity for the first time. The tubular veins that support its great pads, six feet across, are said to have provided the inspiration and model for Paxton's Crystal Palace of the Great Exhibition of 1851, for which he was knighted. Paxton's other works included the two-hundred and ninety foot Emperor fountain in the canal, and extensive rockeries. In October 1832, Princess Victoria (later Queen Victoria) and her mother, the Duchess of Kent, visited Chatsworth. The 6th Duke had another opportunity to welcome Victoria in 1843 when the Queen and Prince Albert returned to be entertained by a large array of illuminated fountains. In 1944 Kathleen Kennedy, sister of John F. Kennedy, married William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, the elder son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. However, he was killed in action in Belgium later in 1944, and she died in a plane crash in 1948. His younger brother Andrew became the 11th Duke, and he married Deborah Mitford, one of the "Mitford girls" and thus sister to Diana Mitford, Nancy Mitford and Unity Mitford. After the war, the family was burdened with 7,000,000 of death duties. The 11th Duke sold a large number of paintings and other valuables, and he established a charitable trust which made the house secure for future generations of Cavendishes. The Chatsworth Estate is now managed by the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement. The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire (Deborah Mitford) is very active in promoting the estate and increasing its visitor income. She has been responsible for many additions to the gardens, including the maze, the kitchen and cottage gardens, and several commissions of modern sculpture. She has authored five books about different aspects of Chatsworth and its estate.

Chatsworth is one of the ten members of the Treasure Houses of England heritage consortium.

Chatsworth House

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