Carlton Towers

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Carlton Towers park and garden is adjacent to the village of Carlton, 5.5 miles south-east of Selby and 5.5 miles west of Goole. The area of the historic parkland, kitchen and pleasure grounds is 153 hectares (379 acres).

The boundaries of the historic parkland are the same as those of the late 19th century when the last expansion of the park was undertaken. To the north, it is bounded by Mill Lane, to the west by the A1041 until the southern entrance, when it moves farther west to the Weigh Bridge Drain to include the western section of the lake. The southern extent is marked by Marsh Lane (off A1041) until the eastern end of the lake, with the boundaries further east marked by the Baffin Hill plantations. The eastern boundary is the ‘New Bank' together with the Kennel and Drain [now ‘Three Pigeon Wood' and ‘Long Wood'] plantations.

Carlton Towers park and garden lie in the flat valley landscape of the River Aire, although the main house is slightly elevated at 8m AOD. The underlying geology is sandstone (Sherwood Sandstone Group) overlain with glacial tills and drift (Lake Humber deposits). The majority of the park is overlain with clays and silts, giving rise to slowly permeable, seasonally wet, loamy and clayey soils. The northern parkland has bands of sand and gravel forming freely draining, acid and sandy. Some areas around the lake are wet, very acid, sandy and loamy soils. Current land use is mainly pasture.

The main house on slightly raised ground affords views across the landscape. It is characterised by significant plantations in an area of largely open farmland, which is crossed by many watercourses from rivers such as the Aire to man-made drainage systems.

The site lies in the Selby District Local Landscape Character Area: River Aire Corridor.

Entrances and Approaches

Southern Entrance: this principal entrance is off the main road into Carlton village, just to the north of the bridge over the lake. The entrance is flanked by two gate piers (Grade II) that date from c1770 and have been attributed to Thomas Atkinson (HE listing) for Thomas Stapleton. The route was altered in the 1840s when the main entrance was moved to the southern aspect from original western aspect.

Northern Entrance: this is a secondary entrance, again off the main road of Carlton village and opposite the Church. It now runs to the north of the area marked ‘Toft' on 18th century and early 19th century maps but in the 1808 enclosure map, there is a road labelled ‘Stocks Lane' to the south of the Toft area. It then continues to the east of the walled garden and onto the stable area.

Principal Building

Carlton Towers [Grade I] was started in 1614, probably to a design by John Smythson (Girouard 1967a, 178). To the north of the Jacobean house was added a wing before 1765. About 1777 a large range was built to the east by Thomas Atkinson that had a chapel and stables (Girouard 1967a, 179). This was remodelled in 1844-5 and again in 1873-5 in the Gothic style by Edward Welby Pugin as part of a much grander scheme. The design was only partially completed when Pugin died and no further external work was undertaken. The interior was completed between 1875 and 1890 by J F Bentley for Lord Beaumont.

The ‘Pumping House or Shed' [Grade II] is a folly c1770 by Thomas Atkinson for Nicholas Stapleton, this is probably the building referred to in 1773 as ‘water house' (29/15). The Ice house was built before 1772, the remains of the circular ice house measure 4.30 m in diameter, formed by a brick wall at ground level 800 mm thick with what appear to be buttresses on the north and south.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

The area around the house has had a series of ornamental gardens dating from the construction of the house in the early 17th century. The west front was the original main entrance and it is likely that the knot garden referred to in 1659 was on this side of the house, as the best views would have been from there. The ‘four square' garden with the raised walkway was constructed to the south of the house in 1672 and sometime before 1698, the ‘west hill garden' was put in to possibly replace the now old-fashioned knot garden.

These early gardens remained until the landscaping undertaken in the 1760s and 1770s when the formal gardens were removed to allow the parkland to come right to the house. In the 1840s with the change in garden fashion, more formal elements were reinstated to the south and east with the new courtyard and entrance. To the north, shrubberies were added alongside the tree planting of the previous century. The final changes were undertaken in the 1870s and 1880s when the parterre and ‘Italian' garden were added.

Kitchen Garden

Prior to late 18C, the first kitchen garden was probably in the walled area to the east of the stable block (see Figure 1). Within this area (and near to the stables to provide the dung for heat) were a series of glass-covered frames for melons and cucumbers as recorded on 1st April 1702 at a cost of £2 11s 8d (2/48/16).

Cowell's (2005, 219) analysis and household accounts supports the view that the walled kitchen garden was constructed according to Woods' 1765 plan. White's later plan shows the walled garden as identical to Woods'. Woods' original plan shows a square walled garden with rounded corners on the north end. There is a central wall running east-west within the garden, with paths around 4 quadrant beds and the central wall. The internal wall was perhaps was intended as a hot wall. It was certainly used for supporting greenhouses later, as the 1893 sale plan and photographs (Snaith History Society, 69-70) show.

Woods' plan shows three entrances to the walled garden: one in the mid-south wall, near the stables (still extant); one in the south-east corner (now gone), with a path around the outside to a (main?) entrance in the middle of the west wall (now gone). There is also a semi-circular area of beds shown north of the walled garden. The current walled garden is 272 ft x 272 ft, occupying 1.70 acres. There is no reason to believe that the size has changed since originally constructed. The sale plan of 1893 shows the walled garden as very similar to that in the Woods' plan, with the addition of glasshouses along the south side of the internal wall and to the north of the walled garden.

The construction of the walled garden coincided with the building of at least two greenhouses/hot houses before 1771. The one shown outside the new kitchen garden may be the ‘greenhouse' and the one inside the walled garden is more likely to be a ‘hot house'. A second [smaller] building, referred to in 1773 as a ‘new hot house' was added outside to the east of the first and is shown on the 1808 map. These two buildings would seem to be the ‘vineries' described in bills. The reference to a ‘peach-house' in 1813 (29/29) is probably in the structure inside the walled garden.

Work by glaziers and a hailstone insurance policy in 1844 (2/11/44) may indicate that the existing structures were updated to include glass roofs and possibly extended. The structures listed were a large hothouse, a succession house and a peach house and to the north of the walled garden, two vineries. In the melon ground, there was a Calcutta pit and portable lights [cold frames]. Further glasshouses were added after 1849 along the middle internal wall, as well as another on the northern wall. The vineries outside may have been rebuilt as the one to the east has disappeared and replaced by one to the north.

The sale plan of 1893 (ERA DDCL3299) gives the following. Within the walled garden, along the south side of the internal wall, were two peach houses 103 ft long by 10' 9" wide, a greenhouse and storehouse 62 ft long, all heated by hot water pipes. These occupied the width of the garden (c.270'), with the greenhouse in the middle. Along the north wall was a vinery 59 ft long by 16' 6" wide and a cucumber house 41 ft long. Two vineries of each 66 foot long by 16' 6" wide, heated by hot water pipes, were to the north of the walled garden, along with potting sheds, office and tool house (Figure 2).

Park

The survey of c1600 mentions a ‘High Parke', which was still there in 1753 when the valuation of timber was undertaken (36/8). The map of the same date shows a t-avenue of trees to south-east of house (see Figure 3), so this perhaps is the High Parke. There is also an avenue shown to the east of the main road into Carlton village, so this could be the site of the ‘Old Park' referred to in the field survey of 1725.

By 1771, these areas had been opened up to form a larger parkland area, implementing the start of the landscaping plan by Woods. The survey of 1789 says that Carlton Park has 102 acres (4/36/12) [again in 1793] and this would appear to cover the area marked on the Enclosure map of 1808 as ‘Hall Garth' (NYRCO WRRD B 26 [MIC 601]). This also replicates the area shown on White's plan as parkland with a shelterbelt to the north and east and planting around the new lake. In the 1839 survey, the ‘Woods, Plantations & Ponds' came to 152 acres, 3 roods and 10 perches (36/31), as the area to the south of the western end of the lake had been included. The park was extended eastwards in the 1840s and again in the 1870s. By the time the estate had come up for sale in the 1893, the park was 279 acres (ERA DDCL3299). The current size of the park is about 300 acres. The changes in the extent of the parkland can be seen in Figure 3.

• Butt Hole Plantation is to the north of the house and kitchen garden. The name ‘Butt Hole' first appears on the 1771 map and would appear to be part of the landscaping as suggested by Woods' plan. There is a significant depression in the area and would suggest that this was made as an artificial pond to provide ice for the newly built ice house nearby.
• Green Gates Plantation is to the north-east of the house and kitchen garden, extant by 1893 and probably created in the 1870s. Name dates from the early 17th century as listed on the survey of the time.
• Sand Hole Plantation is South of Mill Lane and probably created in the 1870s.
• Kennel Plantation is south of Mill Lane, east of Sand Hole and created in the 1870s.
• Drain Plantation is to the eastern boundary of the park extant by 1893 and probably created in the 1870s.
• Baffin Hill Plantation is by the southern boundary of park extant by 1893 and probably created in the 1870s.
• Ell Pond Plantation adjoins the eastern end of Fishpond extant by 1893 and probably created in the 1870s.
• The Rookery & Wilderness surround the western end of Fishpond and created in the 1780s, following White's plan.
• Half Moon Wood is in the centre of the park extant by 1893 and probably created in the 1870s and Duck Pond Wood is in the in centre of the park surrounding duck pond, extant by 1950

Detailed description contributed by Yorkshire Gardens Trust 07/06/2016