CANNON HALL AND ITS 1760 KITCHEN GARDEN
By Jane Furse
Yorkshire Gardens Trust - Summer, 1999

Cannon Hall has a fascinating history, which is documented from at least the seventeenth century onwards. The Spencers married into the estate in the mid 17th century, and the earliest map found is 'A Survey of Cannon Hall Park and Gardens' made c.1760 by F Richardson. This shows a long canal and sloping bank (reminiscent of the shape of Wentworth Castle's early water feature) to the south of the house where the ha ha is today. A large kitchen garden to the south east of the house was later moved, but its two stone doorways are still there, giving access to the later, subrectangular kitchen garden, designed by Richard Woods in 1760.

Richard Woods was also responsible for the South Park (with its two lakes, the stone bridges and the cascades), the Shrubbery, the extensive cages set amongst the trees and shrubs for 'a Menagerie' to the west and the curious and enormous 'Drying or Bowling green'. Current thought about this last item -which 'shows thirty one posts and lines- is that it might have been for the drying of new linen, which Barnsley was known for producing as this time. The north or 'Little Park' seems to have been laid out to the designs of F. Richardson, having recently undergone one of a series of alterations to move the public road away from the house.

When John Spencer- who commissioned these designers inherited in 1756, the ownership of much of the land on this side of the house (and in particular Deffer Wood) was being contested and so emparkment was gradual. He lost no time improving all possible aspects of his estate however, starting with the 'finery' for the immediate cultivation of this fashionable fruit (see below), going on to the Kitchen garden proper with its hot walls, and then the lakes andparkland. For the house he called in the young architect John Carr, who remodelled the old house, remnants of which can still be seen inside.

The Spencers were early Ironmasters, and there are references to visits to Ironbridge and Derbyshire as well as to local matters. John was the fourth generation of Spencer to live at Cannon Hall and was what we would now call a 'bon-viveur', he was passionate about his field sports, home grown fruit, i.e. pineapples, peaches cherries and grapes, and his landscape. He never married, but kept up years of detailed diaries which are all in the archives at Sheffield, (the Spencer Stanhope descendants, the Frasers, still own the estate, and one has come to live close by). These diaries, which run from 1754 - 1771 (John Spencer died in 1775), provide us with a wealth of material about contemporary life, providing names of friends and acquaintances as well as his enthusiasm for his estate and details about Richard Woods' contribution.

Further building work was undertaken by John's nephew and heir Walter Spencer Stanhope towards the end of the 18th century and into the 19th, such as the raising of the wings on the house, and a new stable block. A deer shade, the eyecatcher called tower cottages, a summer house at the side of Deffer wood and a further kitchen garden due west of the house are thought to have built during his ownership. Several realignments to the public road to the north west of the property were also carried out, at least one of them in John Spencer's time. A ruined ice-house situated inside the gardens is likely to have been built during the 18th or early 19th centuries but is not yet conclusively dated.

The Productive gardens

The Pinery, a 1760's greenhouse made for growing pineapples, (which were grown on the heat caused by fermenting tanner's bark), still exists at the entrance to the Richard Woods kitchen garden. Research work on the building suggests that it originally had glasshouses either side of the present structure, which actually grew the 'pines' or pineapples as we know them and that the central part was used for 'exoticks' in the winter and as a banqueting house in the summer. A 'Catalogue of Stove Plants', and a 'Catalogue of Fruit in the Garden at Cannon Hall' both dated 1761 survive in the family archives.

This Pinery was a great indication of the aspirations and wealth of John Spencer, and the fact that it was the first building to be created by him once he inherited, shows just how important the cultivation of 'pines' were to the nobility and gentry during the 18th century.

The nature of its roof is a mystery, since 1760 is thought to be too early for it to have had a glass roof and there are no obvious signs of how the original structure worked. Bretton Hall, a neighbouring property (now the Yorkshire Sculpture Park) has a magnificent camellia house built in 1822 and its glass roof is supported on iron brackets, so this one may have been adapted at a later date.

The subrectangular brick kitchen garden wall dates from 1760 (by Richard Woods) while the central glasshouse range (a rebuild of c.1820-50) houses the original and unique "Cannon Hall Muscat" grapevine. This variety has a wonderful history attached and is reputed to have been grown from a pip brought back from Athens. The then heir, John Spencer Stanhope was very interested in Ancient Greek battlefields, and he managed to visit Greece without being incarcerated indefinitely by Napoleon. Family legend has it that he was betrayed by a sea captain when attempting to leave Valencia then a neutral port, and although he eventually charmed his way to a note of safe passage from the great man himself, was told never to return to French soil again. The second incident had the potential for a much more serious outcome, since he arrived in Paris from the Mediterranean in 1814, leaving just 12 hours before Napoleon returned from Elba. The "Cannon Hall Muscat" is an enormous white table grape much grown in Western Australia during the first half of the 20th century, which caused a heated debate across the viticultural world. Australian and Californian academics argued about its origins extensively during the 1950's and 60's and so its documentary history and route to the Antipodes is known in some detail.

The family continued to make great improvements to the estate and the productive gardens throughout the 19th century and into the 20th but the two world wars and the advent of open cast mining within the park itself during the 1950's materially affected the family's attitude to the property. The House, Gardens and South Park with its lakes were sold to Barnsley Council, the later kitchen garden and its gardener's house were sold off, and the Home Farm and North or Little Park to another purchaser. Any forward planning for the Estate as a whole is inevitably more complicated as a result.Following the acquisition of Cannon Hall and its immediate gardens by Barnsley Council after the 2nd World War, much work was carried out in the grounds. Areas which had not been used for the war effort, were reclaimed, and buildings whose functions had changed dramatically over the years such as the main house and the greenhouses were repaired (with the advent of market gardening some new glasshouses were added). The proximity of the early kitchen garden to the main house and the wealth of glass have resulted in some important relics, so that even with rationalisation of the greenhouses in the 1970's and 80's early and fascinating evidence remains.

The Northern Glasshouse is essentially a much earlier structure than the Muscat House, with wonderful stone mushroom beds and the remains of a Robin Hood Senior boiler in the back. The walls above this, show signs of hot air and water flues. The external structure has many bricked up vine arches (standard practice for growing vines at the turn of the 18th century) and the central section has been much reduced. The parlous state of this range is a serious worry for the council and public access has had to be prohibited. The weaknesses in the pathways running along this three quarters span type has brought more clues however, allowing the hollow flues (which would have transported heat around the original structure) to become visible beneath.

Ranged around the garden walls is an extensive collection of trained Pear trees, forty different varieties in all, which the Museums Service (which runs Cannon Hall as a museum and country park) are understandably proud to promote. They hold a Pear Day in September each year, with national and local fruit experts present in the Walled Garden to answer questions, while the Victorian Kitchens provide cookery demonstrations- by a visiting chef- of pear recipes using the old iron range.

Funding for restoration of early kitchen gardens is not easy to achieve, and Barnsley Council has reluctantly focused its slim resources on the Muscat Vine house, and has recently managed to re-roof the western end with glass. This range and the high one nearby are still heated by a coke boiler deep in the ground below the Muscat House and must be one of the few working stoves remaining.

Cannon Hall is run by the Museums Service and the grounds are open to the public free of charge all year round except on special occasions such as the Pear Day. The Hall is open from Easter to the end of October entry £1

September 9, 1999