Chatsworth.details

CHATSWORTH.

near Bakewell, Derbyshire.—Duke of Devonshire.

The situation of Chatsworth is exceedingly beautiful, in the romantic part of Derbyshire which Sir Walter Scott has celebrated in “Peveril of the Peak.”

The house stands in a park upwards of eleven miles in circumference, stocked with immense herds of deer, and diversified with every variety of scenery—the heather-covered hill and sheltered valley, wooded height and gentle slope, the whole studded with majestic trees, the growth of centuries.

Chetelsworthe would seem to have been the original name of the place; derived from a Saxon owner named Chetel, the other part of the word meaning "Court."

In Domesday Book the word is written Chetesworth, and at the time of the Norman survey the manor belonged to the Crown, and was in the keeping of William Peveril.

It afterward, for many years, was held by a family named Leech.

It was sold by them to the Agards.

It was purchased from them by Sir William Cavendish, ancestor of the Dukes of Devonshire, the owners since.

The old manor house was pulled down by him; but he only lived to begin the new mansion, dying in 1557. His widow, however, Elizabeth, the famous “Bess of Hardwick,” continued and completed the work.

During the civil wars Chatsworth was occupied at times by both parties. In 1643 it was garrisoned by Sir John Gell for the Parliament, but was recovered for the King the same year by the Earl of Newcastle, who placed a garrison in it under Colonel Eyre. In 1645 it was again held for the King by Colonel Shallcross, of Shallcross Hall, and was besieged by four hundred Parliamentarians under Colonel Gell, but he was forced to return after fourteen days attack.

Mary Queen of Scots was confined here during part of the years 1570, 1573, 1577, 1578, and 1581, and a small raised tower near the bridge still preserves the name of the Bower.

It is approached by a bridge over the river between Chatsworth and the village of Edensor, a veritable model village. The bridge was built by Paine, supposed to be from a design by Michael Angelo, and ornamented with fine marble figures by Cibber.

The house is ornamented inside with paintings, chiefly by Verrio, Laguerre, Ricard, Huyd, Highmore, and Sir James Thornhill, and wood carving by Gibbons, Watson, Young, Lobb, and Davis; and on the outside with stone carving by Gibber, Geeraerslius, Watson, Harris, Nost, Nedauld, Davis, Landscroom, and Auriol.

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