It was said long ago of this great house of the Cavendish family, Dukes of Devonshire, that it was the noblest private house in England commanding influence with the Whigs who set William of Orange on the throne; and this is to be believed, for even today it is perfect still. Built in the late 17th century in the Palladian style, no house has a finer setting than this majestic pile on a rising slope above the River Derwent.
It stands in a deer park ten miles round, laid our by 'Capability' Brown in the 18th century, with hills and woods, and with gardens and lawns, far reaching vistas, cascades and terraces within its vast enclosure. The beautiful three-arched bridge across the river was built to give the house the best approach and seems a part of the creative scheme; the wild moorland behind the wooded hillside above the house in another. The picture is perfect, a worthy setting even for the Dukes of Devonshire.
The house was built originally for the fourth Earl of Devonshire, who became the first Duke for the part he played in making William III king. It was begun in 1687 by William Talman, the king's architect, who built the south and east wings, and completed in 1707 by Thomas Archer, another leading architect, who built the west wing (the grand main front) and the bowed north wing. It is a vast block of great dignity, with a decorated balustrade and finely spaced windows.
The Duke gave twenty years of his life to the development of this great house on the site of the large mansion built in 1552 by his grandmother, Bess of Hardwick, and her second husband, Sir William Cavendish, in which Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned five times with the Earl of Shrewsbury, Bess's fourth husband, as her guardian. The Duke of Devonshire called in the greatest artists of the day to decorate it, carvers in wood and stone, craftsmen in iron. The court artists, Louis Laguerre and Antonio Verrio, painted the walls and ceilings; in the ironwork will be seen the master hand of Tijou, and in the wreaths and festoons of flowers, the carvings of fishes and birds, and the delicate profusion of ornament everywhere, the inspiration of Grinling Gibbons, though the work was done by a Derbyshire carver named Samuel Watson from Heanor.
Where every room is fit for a king we may take it for granted that all is magnificent, but even amid this splendour some things of interest stand out. The chapel has a magnificent altarpiece of Derbyshire alabaster and marble, designed by Caius Gabriel Cibber, the Danish sculptor who worked on St Paul's Cathedral and who carved two figures here. The rest of the altarpiece, like the wood carving around the walls, is the work of Samuel Watson and his many helpers. Everybody has heard of the fiddle painted on the back of the door in the Music Room which so many people have taken to be real. It was brought from the Duke of Devonshire's house in Picadilly, London, when that was demolished. In the State Bedroom is the bed in which George II died in 1760; it was given to the fourth Duke, who was then the Lord Chamberlain, as one of his perquisites.
The long north wing at Chatsworth was added to the house from 1820 on by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, the court architect under George IV, for the sixth Duke of Devonshire, who also altered the great Painted Hall and other apartments. In the sculpture gallery of the north wing is Canova's marble of Napoleon's mother, and many other fine classical sculptures, and in the dining room and elsewhere are paintings by Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and many other masters.
The collection of original drawings of old masters at Chatsworth is unrivalled, and the library has a precious collection of manuscripts and rare books. There are beautiful collections of furniture and porcelain,and in the sculpture gallery are fine miniatures and Henry VII's illuminated Prayer Book along with many other treasures. One can imagine how beautiful everything has always been at Chatsworth from the accounts which exist showing the lavish spending on it, there is an item showing the purchase of over a mile of fringes and lace, together with work in silver and gold.
Its rather difficult to think of a word that will encompass the gardens. They were laid out for the Sixth Duke of Devonshire by Sir Joseph Paxton whose great conservatory (since demolished) served as model for his Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851. In the gardens is the Emperor Fountain, sending its water 290 feet high(the highest yet anywhere) and a wonderful cascade falling 60 feet and running down steps for 200 yards before the water sinks into the earth and disappears. The temple of the cascade has sculptured dolphins and symbolic figures, and in the gardens are stone sphinxes on the piers, statues and relief panels, and the Willow Tree Fountain, which was once a popular attraction. There are lovely iron gates, delightful walks, and stately avenues,and we do not wonder that this princely house in its kingly situation attracts a crowd of visitors numbering many thousands every year.
The house and park have always been open to the public since it was first built, but today there are added attractions...the farmyard...for children and young-at-heart parents: the Chatsworth farm shop at Pilsley...said to be the finest farm shop in England, and the Chatsworth Garden Centre. The farmyard, incidentally, was set up in 1973 to show ordinary commercial farm stock and to expplain how the land is used. It aims to be a non-sentimental educational exhibition explaining the life cycles and ultimate uses of dairy cows, beef cows and calves, sheep and lambs, pigs, horses, goats and poultry. There are even trout-rearing tanks where children can feed the fish.
