Boughton House
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The house and Grand Etang
Boughton House, near Kettering in Northamptonshire is a fine example of an historic garden which has been enhanced by a 21st century addition. Ralph Montagu (1638-1709), from 1705 1st Duke of Montagu, had a distinguished career at the courts of Charles II, James II and William and Mary. This took him on diplomatic missions to both Versailles and the Low Countries where he was impressed by the grand gardens. Having inherited Boughton House and become Baron Montagu of Boughton in 1684, Ralph appointed a Dutch engineer, Leonard van der Meulen, as his Head Gardener. A contemporary account describes a garden of parterres, Basins, Jet d’Eaus (sic), trees and a Canal. The Grand Etang, a water expanse of over an acre, is a survivor from this time and was restored in 2014 (left).
John the 2nd Duke (1690-1749) during his tenure of four decades, seems to have simplified the garden in at least 3 phases according to plans by Colen Campbell, Delahaye and (possibly but disputed), Charles Bridgeman. This led to the eventual grassing of the parterres, extension of the Broadwater and the construction of a trapezoid mount with the resulting spoil. All these features have been restored so there is a grand view from the west side of the house into the surrounding countryside flanked by noble avenues. These are very much in Duke John’s style since it was his ambition to plant an avenue from Boughton to London.
The reflecting pool and trapezoid mount
Although Boughton remained in the family it passed through the female line and was not a main residence until the 20th century when Sir David Scott, a cousin of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury, retired there in 1947 with his first wife Dorothy and later with his second wife Valerie Finnis, a keen plantswoman.
From the 1970s, after the hunting accident which paralysed him, the 9th Duke of Buccleuch started the restoration programme on the waterways. His son not only carried on this restoration but also commissioned the landscape artist Kim Wilkie to create one of the most important and innovative garden design features of the 21st century - ‘Orpheus’. This inverted grass pyramid complements the form of the mount with a grass path that descends some 7m to a reflecting pool fed by springs (right).
View down to the trapezoid mount
On the terrace is an artwork based on the Golden Section- a single large rectangle formed by a square and another rectangle. This pattern can be repeated perfectly within each section. The whole is united by a Golden Spiral or Fibonacci curve in the form of a rill. The whole feature is placed to align on the axis from the Lily Pond in the upper garden, thus uniting several very different ages of garden designs (left).
All images author’s own.
