Greek Revival that gave birth to Belsay gem
Last updated 15:57, Thursday, 02 October 2008
GREECE was the word back in the 18th century – it was the time, it was the place, it had motion.
Well it was if you were a member of the Society of Dilettanti – a London-based gentleman’s club where most of the motion involved pouring large amounts of alcohol down one’s throat.
When members weren’t completely inebriated they also indulged their fascination with the ancient Greeks and the ruins they left behind.
And with money to spend, they decided to send two men – James Stuart and Nicholas Revett – to Greece for three years to record the monuments.
The result was the publication in 1762 of The Antiquities of Athens and the launch of the Greek revival in Britain.
Born into this mind-expanding world was Charles Middleton, the third son of Sir William Middleton of Belsay.
With the death of his older brothers, and then his father, he inherited the castle and estate in 1795, at the age of 16.
And a year later he shrewdly adopted the surname of the his wealthy grandfather, Lawrence Monck, ensuring he would inherit grandad’s estate in Lincolnshire as well.
With the Greek Revival bringing the ancient past to life, Sir Charles got hooked on the classics and all things Greek while still at school.
So when, in 1804, he got married, he naturally took his wife to Greece for their honeymoon.
On his return two years later – his mind whirling with Doric columns and Ionic capitals – he got to work on designing a Greek Revival mansion that would become his new home.
The builders moved in and by 1817 the family was moving out of its 14th century castle – with a more comfortable Jacobean manor house added in 1614 – into their new stately pile.
Today, visitors to Belsay – now under the care of English Heritage – not only come to visit the inspiring ruins and the grand hall, but also to tour the acres and acres or remarkable gardens.
Again, it was Sir Charles who was responsible for the design, although his grandson, Sir Arthur Middleton, added winter and yew gardens and a wider range of exotic plants at a later date.
The Grade I listed gardens contain a remarkable collection of rhododendrons, which hail from far-flung places such as China and India.
The quarry garden owes its design to the Picturesque Movement which inspired Sir Charles to eschew the ordered designs of Capability Brown and adopt more craggily naturalistic styles.
It was the Picturesque Movement that sparked an interest in Britain’s wilder places such as the Lake District.
Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens is just of the A696 north of Ponteland.
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