230 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



proprieties." What a contrast may we conceive 

 between the finished sweetness of the Bramham 

 gardens to-day, and the untamed wild ness of the 

 region in the early times of our rough island story. 

 All was wild moorland then, and for a long time 

 thereafter, and here on Bramham Moor, in 1408, 

 did Sir Thomas Rokeby with the Royal forces 

 defeat the Earl of Northumberland and other 

 nobles who had revolted against Henry IV. 



Bramham Park was the first enclosure from the 

 moorland, coming by Royal grant in the time of 

 William and Mary to the family of Benson. It has 

 been said that the park was planted by Robert Benson 

 of Wrenthorp, father of the first Lord Bingley ; but 

 whether the work was his or his son's, it was a labour 

 of love judiciously exe- 

 cuted with a view to the 

 future, and resulting in 

 the magnificence of 

 sylvan splendour which 

 we may now enjoy. 

 The country about 

 Bramham is finely diver- 

 sified with hill and 

 hollow, and, among all 

 the beautiful regions of 

 Yorkshire, this land 

 between the Wharfe and 

 the Aire may certainly 

 claim a notable place. 

 The foliage is magni- 

 ficent, and the huge 

 beeches and great oaks 

 and other trees have 

 attained splendid propor- 

 tions, some of them 

 being patrician monarchs 

 indeed. The builder of 

 the house was Robert 

 Benson, who long repre- 

 sented York in Parlia- 

 ment, and was a 

 Commissioner of the 

 Treasury, and who finally 

 became Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer in the famous 

 Tory Administration of 

 Harley, which included 

 Bolingbroke as Secretary 

 of State- -the Ministry 

 which was so bitterly 

 inimical to Marlborough 

 and concluded that land- 

 mark of history, the treaty of Utrecht, March 

 1713. Benson was raised to the peerage in the 

 following July as Baron Bingley, and afterwards 

 resigned his appointment, to become, a little later, 

 Ambassador to Madrid, and, subsequently, Treasurer 

 of the Household to George II. He was a statesman 

 and administrator of sober qualities, and a man of 

 taste and knowledge in matters of art and architecture, 

 whose judgment had been ripened by travel, and the 

 house he raised at Bramham was the greatest in that 

 part of the shire ; for Harewood, its neighbour now, 

 was not built until many years later, and Castle 

 Howard, its still grander contemporary, lies in 

 another Riding. 



The house at Bramham was conceived entirely 

 in the Italian taste, an Italian architect being 



TERMINAL OF STO.VE. 



employed in the design ; and the building is distin- 

 guished by much grandeur in its style. It had 

 noble apartments in the imposing centre block, which 

 corridors of the Doric order connected to the office 

 and stable wings. The buildings are of great 

 solidity, their features of much excellence, and their 

 proportions noble and impressive, the whole gaining 

 dignity and attractiveness from the beautiful stone 

 that has been used. The structure forms three 

 sides of a forecourt, the stables being on the left, with 

 central portico, bellcote and gabled wings, grouped 

 most happily, and forming an admirable example 

 of the style of the time. It will be noticed that the 

 arched niches and variations of the wall surfaces add 

 a good deal to the character of the buildings, which 



might otherwise have 



been monotonous. At 

 the outer margin of the 

 forecourt is a low stone 

 wall, with a simple gate- 

 way leading to the park, 

 the gate hanging between 

 the substantial stone 

 bases, upon which two 

 sphinxes are seated ; 

 while flanking the way 

 are two magnificent 

 rusticated piers, each 

 with several columns, 

 supporting aloft two 

 grand bears -- true 

 grotesques they are, each 

 of them holding the 

 shield of the noble 

 founder's arms. The 

 admirable effect of this 

 architectural composition 

 is disclosed mo^t success- 

 fully in one of the 

 pictures, and the group- 

 ing of the buildings is 

 singular and unusual in 

 f o r m and manner. 

 Neale, in his " Views of 

 Seates," waxes eloquent 

 in his admiration of the 

 mansion, and speaks of 

 the elegant apartments 

 within, adorned, some of 

 them, he avers, with 

 carvings by Grinling 

 Gibbons, others with rich 

 tapestry, and all of them 

 with notable portraits, including one of Queen Anne, 

 which she sent as a memento of her visit shortly after 

 the house was built. The park being great and 

 richly wooded, and the neighbourhood full of attrac- 

 tion for the hunter, Bramham Park became a centre 

 of society in the country, and it is recorded that 

 George IV. spent two days at Bramham to enjoy the 

 pleasures of the chase. 



Before describing the grounds and pleasure 

 gardens, it will be well to say something of the 

 descent of the property. Lord Bingley, the founder, 

 who had married a daughter of Heneage Finch, first 

 Earl of Aylsford, died in April, 1731, and was buried 

 in Westminster Abbey. He left no son to inherit 

 his honours, and his title became extinct ; but his 

 daughter and heiress married Mr. George Lane-Fox, 



