It's difficult to see how Hawkestone could have escaped our attention up to now. Trying to find things to do on my late sojourn in
Shropshire, I scanned the Ordnance Survey map, and noticed the 'castle' and 'follies' recorded at Weston. Wednesday 17th October came,
and off I went, traversing the lanes of Shropshire to reach my destination.
The owner of Hawkestone in the mid-18th century, Sir Rowland Hill, saw the potential of the local landscape south of his house, with its
valley between two towering red sandstone cliffs one of which was ringed by the remains of a real medieval castle: it had every capacity of
improvement from what was already an interesting reality to the most exciting fantasyland. Between 1748, when he laid out a walk around
the Red Castle, and his death in 1784, Rowland constructed a remarkable range of follies which became quite a tourist attraction. Dr
Johnson even named one item on the tour - the 'Awful Precipice', which appeared on the itinerary after he wrote about it. Rowland's son Sir
Richard carried on the work, including discovering and digging out 'The Cleft', a dramatic narrow gorge on the hilltop which could excite
the most interesting feelings. Like all good aristocrats, the Hills went bankrupt, the Hall's contents were auctioned and gradually the estate
was sold off and the follies were forgotten. The Hawkestone Park Hotel company acquired the parkland in 1990, and over the next three
years restored as much as possible of what they were pleased to refer to as 'England's first theme park'. The Red Castle is still inaccessible
at the moment, but the rest of the park (apart from an outlying tower to the east) is now open. It helped that on my visit it was a lovely
sunny day and not yet half-term, so I saw no more than a dozen visitors on my whole tour.
Shropshire, I scanned the Ordnance Survey map, and noticed the 'castle' and 'follies' recorded at Weston. Wednesday 17th October came,
and off I went, traversing the lanes of Shropshire to reach my destination.
The owner of Hawkestone in the mid-18th century, Sir Rowland Hill, saw the potential of the local landscape south of his house, with its
valley between two towering red sandstone cliffs one of which was ringed by the remains of a real medieval castle: it had every capacity of
improvement from what was already an interesting reality to the most exciting fantasyland. Between 1748, when he laid out a walk around
the Red Castle, and his death in 1784, Rowland constructed a remarkable range of follies which became quite a tourist attraction. Dr
Johnson even named one item on the tour - the 'Awful Precipice', which appeared on the itinerary after he wrote about it. Rowland's son Sir
Richard carried on the work, including discovering and digging out 'The Cleft', a dramatic narrow gorge on the hilltop which could excite
the most interesting feelings. Like all good aristocrats, the Hills went bankrupt, the Hall's contents were auctioned and gradually the estate
was sold off and the follies were forgotten. The Hawkestone Park Hotel company acquired the parkland in 1990, and over the next three
years restored as much as possible of what they were pleased to refer to as 'England's first theme park'. The Red Castle is still inaccessible
at the moment, but the rest of the park (apart from an outlying tower to the east) is now open. It helped that on my visit it was a lovely
sunny day and not yet half-term, so I saw no more than a dozen visitors on my whole tour.
Although modern visitors enter the Park at the
south end rather than sweeping along the old
carriage drive in from the north, the current
owners have arranged the route rather cleverly.
The visitor centre is in the 'Gothic Greenhouse',
from which you get not the slightest hint of what
lies in wait - apart from the glimpse of the White
Tower on the hilltop (yes, I know it isn't white!).
south end rather than sweeping along the old
carriage drive in from the north, the current
owners have arranged the route rather cleverly.
The visitor centre is in the 'Gothic Greenhouse',
from which you get not the slightest hint of what
lies in wait - apart from the glimpse of the White
Tower on the hilltop (yes, I know it isn't white!).
| But once around the corner you enter the central valley with the Red Castle on the left and the follies on the right. That in itself is quite a surprise! One of the delightful things about Hawkdstone is the gradual revelation of prospects and environments. |
The White Tower (with plastic residents), Obelisk and Swiss Bridge provide spectacular views and thrilling sensations of danger ...
The Cleft, the narrow gorge on Grotto Hill. 18th-century visitors imagined the 'violent convulsions of the earth' which had formed this
amazing feature, and fantasized about the rocks closing in on them ...
amazing feature, and fantasized about the rocks closing in on them ...
Grotto Hill
boasts the
largest
grotto in an
English
landscape
park,
topped by
the Gothic
Arch ...
boasts the
largest
grotto in an
English
landscape
park,
topped by
the Gothic
Arch ...
Views, up at the towering rocks and out from
the hilltops, are an important part of the
whole Hawkstone experience ...
the hilltops, are an important part of the
whole Hawkstone experience ...
I spent a couple of hours touring the park, delightedly moving from one landscape to another, enjoying my own enjoyment of ever-so-slight
feelings of danger that the odd people who tweaked this environment in a Gothic way clearly intended me to feel. The Hills (Sir Richard
was particularly crackers, and, wonderfully, was ordained deacon but was refused ordination as a priest by no fewer than six bishops,
which is pretty good going) didn't describe their work in writing, but the accounts of others continually compare Hawkestone to the works
of dramatic landscape painters - Claude, Poussin, and of course Salvator Rosa - and demonstrate a close relationship with that whole
Gothic visual imagination.
Compare Hawkestone with that other great manufactured landscape, Stourhead, which was created a couple of decades earlier. Stourhead
is dramatic, but gentle; the grass sweeps down to the lake, Grecian temples scatter the landscape (not even ruined ones) and sweet reason
reigns. Hawkestone comes (largely) after Edmund Burke's Enquiry into the Sublime and the Beautiful, and goes instead for the shudder
and the thrill.
Stourhead is Classical. Hawkestone is Gothic!
More information here.
feelings of danger that the odd people who tweaked this environment in a Gothic way clearly intended me to feel. The Hills (Sir Richard
was particularly crackers, and, wonderfully, was ordained deacon but was refused ordination as a priest by no fewer than six bishops,
which is pretty good going) didn't describe their work in writing, but the accounts of others continually compare Hawkestone to the works
of dramatic landscape painters - Claude, Poussin, and of course Salvator Rosa - and demonstrate a close relationship with that whole
Gothic visual imagination.
Compare Hawkestone with that other great manufactured landscape, Stourhead, which was created a couple of decades earlier. Stourhead
is dramatic, but gentle; the grass sweeps down to the lake, Grecian temples scatter the landscape (not even ruined ones) and sweet reason
reigns. Hawkestone comes (largely) after Edmund Burke's Enquiry into the Sublime and the Beautiful, and goes instead for the shudder
and the thrill.
Stourhead is Classical. Hawkestone is Gothic!
More information here.
