Alan Lester and Sunny Colclough Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716-1783) is the most famous ‘place-maker’ in British history. He has been called an ‘omnipotent magician’ who ‘swept away’ country houses’ walled gardens and geometrical planting between the 1750s and 1770s, replacing them with ‘open expanses of turf irregularly scattered with individual trees and clumps’, serpentine lakes, temples and other ornamental buildings.[1] ‘No gardener in history’ says one specialist, has ‘been the object of so much varied attention’ with ‘so many places throughout England involved’.[2] Brown’s stated aim was to supply ‘all the elegance and all the comforts which Mankind wants in […]

Supplementary document to Sunny Colclough’s JRA Project: Colonial Influences on the English Countryside: Capability Brown’s Commissions and their Imperial Connections. Spreadsheet of properties and links here Key to the Spreadsheet: Nature of Colonial connection Direct link to property owner This is given if the property owner: Direct political link to property owner This is given if the property owner: Direct military link to property owner This is given if the property owner: Indirect link to property owner This is given if the property owner: Direct family link This is given if the property owner: Indirect family link This is given […]