Capability Brown on the Door-Step

CROOME COURT (Croome D’Abitot) is a National Trust property in Worcestershire.  Paul and I visited in mid-April  - not the most cheerful of days weatherwise, but the mansion and grounds are stunning.  We probably did justice to only about a half of it and intend to return  - especially to explore the walled garden which although privately owned and therefore demands a separate entrance fee, is a key part of Croome’s landscape designed by ‘Capability’ Brown. 

Embarrassingly, as I was brought up in Worcestershire, my knowledge of local history is rather scant so it was a surprise to learn that Croome had such an important and distinctive impact
 
Earls are third highest rank within the UK’s  (convoluted) peerage system– after Duke and Marquess. However, Earl is the oldest title and was the highest until the dukedom was first created in 1337, with Scandinavian origins and first appearing in England during the reign of Canute (1016–35).

A brief background is that the current earldom of Coventry was created in 1697, in favour of Thomas Coventry, 5th Baron Coventry.  The Coventry family descends from John Coventry who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1426. His descendant Sir Thomas Coventry (born 1547)  was a noted early 17th-century lawyer and politician. He purchased Croome D'Abitôt in 1592. 
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He served as Solicitor General, as Attorney General and as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. In 1628 he was raised to the Peerage of England as Baron Coventry, of Aylesborough in the County of Worcester. He was succeeded by his son from his first marriage, the second Baron. He represented Droitwich and Worcester in the House of Commons.

Check out the history of Croome and particularly that of the 6th Earl of Coventry; he was a flamboyant and forward-thinking character - "an 18th century trend setter and big spender” - for example,  the equivalent of £35 million was spent transforming Croome! 

SEE:  Overview of Croome | Worcestershire | National Trust

So, in 1751, George William Coventry, the 6th Earl of Coventry, inherited the Croome estate and commissioned Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, to redesign the house and its parkland. Croome was ‘Capability’ Brown’s first large-scale commission and is often described as his 'first and favourite child'. 

Brown remodelled Croome Court into the fashionable Palladian style, and the formal gardens were dug up and, in their place, the creation of a natural looking parkland.  “Brown created elaborate illusions in his new landscape – the river was designed to appear as if it drifted off into the distance around a corner, but in fact abruptly came to an end behind some cleverly planted trees and shrubs”.

Capability Brown and the Earl became firm friends and there is a memorial to Brown after his death in 1793 which reads: “To the Memory of Lancelot Brown - Who by the powers of his inimitable and creative genius formed this garden scene out of a morass”.