By Ujas Patel

Capability Brown was one of the greatest landscape gardeners in England. He began introducing his style in the 1750’s and a later became known as serpentine gardens. We will be looking at his beginnings in a small village, to becoming an apprentice and then moving onto creating his own style which went on to influence designs for years to come.

He was born in a small village in kirkharle, Northumberland. His father William Browne was a farm labourer. Lancelot had two older sisters, two older brothers and a younger sister. Not much is known about his early life but we know that when his father passed away the family broke apart. Lancelot did not attend the local village school in the latter part of his education but rather he walked to a school which was located 2 miles away. Cambo, the school which he attended to finish his education was of good reputation. He remained at Cambo until the age of 16.

In 1732 he left school and began his apprenticeship at Kirkharle Tower. Kirkharle Tower was the home of Sir William and Lady Anne Loraine. During his apprenticeship at Kirkharle Tower he learnt the basic requirements that all plants require by working in the vegetable garden. Sir William allowed Mr Shafto to borrow Lancelot to work in Benwell near Newcastle. It was very unusual to hire a vegetable garden assistant so we can only assume that his talents had not gone unnoticed.

In 1739, he left Kirkharle Tower and moved to Walton to work on the property of Sir Richard Grenville. While working in Walton his talents were noticed by Lord Cobham, owner of a great estate in Buckinghamshire. Within a year he became the new under-gardener at Stowe in Buckinghamshire. This is where he learnt about growing exotic fruits and vegetables as well as pleasure gardens. Due to Lord Cobham being both politically and socially active, he tried to follow the latest trends in estate grounds. For this reason other great names such as Vanbrugh and Bridgeman had worked on the estate grounds. Nine years before Lancelot began working at Stowe Park, William Kent had worked on the estate grounds where he created the classical landscape with a natural look. It is fair to say that Lancelot was influenced by these trends and ideas. His inspiration led him to think on a larger scale where he considered the entire estate as one theme instead of dividing it up into areas with different themes. He brought the feel of the country side to the doorstep of his client by using the ha-ha. This new style was a revolution in the gardening world. All other garden designs were in the opposite direction to Lancelot’s gardening style. Lancelot went on to become Head Gardener at Stowe Park where he would join the famous and influential visitors on the tours of the grounds. From this he was giving the chance to work on the estate of the Duke of Grafton, the Wakefield Estate. This is where he finally got to implement his own style that would make him famous. His reputation grew very quickly as visitors to the estate spread the word of his design. As his experience grew as well he began to take on more complex sites such as Warwick castle.

In 1744, he courted and married Bridget Ways in Stowe. While they lived in Stowe they have four children. Lord Cobham died in 1749 which meant that Capability Brown could now spend all his time on private landscaping.

Capability moved to the village of Hammersmith on the outskirts of London in the 1750s. He moved towards creating overall themes in his designs that included buildings as well. Henry Holland, a master mason, became business associates with Brown. Brown put Holland in charge of building works and would only negotiate with Holland. In 1751, Lord Coventry became Browns first client as a private landscaper. His designs became extremely popular among the rich and famous and he became very sought after. He acquired the nickname of Capability because he would tell his clients that their gardens had great capabilities.

In 1761, Brown was appointed head gardener at Hampton Court Palace. Even though he was appointed head gardener he continued with his private landscaping as well. Brown passed away in 1783 in London. During the 42 yrs that he practiced his landscaping abilities he had an enormous impact on the world of gardening and landscape design. His work has been criticized though because his works required a complete reworking of the land which meant that previous generations of gardeners work was destroyed. It is safe to say though that his work had a huge impact and that considering his background he managed to make full use of his abilities to create huge visions that others could enjoy.

References:

Britannica Online. “Brown, Lancelot.” http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9016690 01/19/2005.

“Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.” http://www.capability-brown.org.uk/ 01/19/2005.

Britain Express. “Capability Brown.” http://www.britainexpress.com/History/bio/brown.htm 01/19/2005.

Gardens Guide. “Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown – biographical information.” http://www.gardenvisit.com/b/brown1.htm 01/19/2005.

“Capability Brown and Humphry Repton.” http://johnmadjackfuller.homestead.com/reptonbrown.html 01/19/2005.

Holmes, Caroline. “Brown, ‘Capability’ (1716-1783).” http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=598 01/19/2005.