Blenheim Palace: the Gardens

The architectural genius, Vanbrugh, designed and built Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, and began the design project in the early 18th century (Nicolson, 214). The immense and grandiose palace, set on 2,100 acres of parkland, is called by some as “one of the most extraordinary feats of architecture” (Nicolson, 216). In 1704 the first Duke of Marlborough defeated King Louis XIV’s army at the village of Blindheim. As a reward for his national service, Queen Anne awarded him with a house, or palace, on the royal manor of Woodstock (Nicolson, 214). The duke had the choice as to whom he wanted to design his future home, and chose Vanbrugh to undertake such a task (Nicolson, 214).

Vanbrugh evidently paid a lot of attention to the exterior of the baroque-style palace, nicely juxtaposing the baroque-style architecture with the natural beauty of its English setting (Nicolson, 216). He transformed the royal hunting forest into a park and installed a large bridge which, he determined, would be the finest bridge in Europe.

Although the palace at Blenheim is an architectural masterpiece, the extensive grounds and beautifully landscaped gardens are what really caught my eye. On the Blenheim estate there is the second largest hedge maze in the world, a butterfly house, Rose Garden, lake, life-size chess game, putting green, railroad tracks with an operating train, and smaller enclosed gardens with beautiful topiaries and trimmed hedges in the shape of birds.

Henry Wise was gardener to Queen Anne in the 18th century, and is primarily responsible for the French-style, ornamental garden designs closely surrounding the palace – much like those at Versailles (91). Elaborate hedges, brightly-colored gravel, and perfectly manicured lawns was Wise’s original style for the gardens (Aird, 91). Cones of yew, flowers and fountains created the design of the gardens (Aird, 92).

The gardens, as I saw them, were not created in their current style until well after the time of the first Duke of Marlborough. After Wise finished his French-style, garden masterpiece, his designs were very outdated, and the trend became a much more natural-look (91). At the time of the fourth Duke of Marlborough’s residence at Blenheim Palace, a landscape architect – Capability Brown – was commissioned to add more to Blenheim’s extensive grounds (Aird, 91). Capability Brown was hired by the fourth duke to beautify even more the surroundings of the palace and to form the lakes on either side which gave the bridge installed by Vanbrugh a clear purpose (Nicolson, 223). Brown dammed the Glyme River, thus creating a lake beneath Duchene’s garden (Aird, 91). Brown focused more on trees, woods and grass to serve as the landscape (Aird, 91).

Brown designed Victorian-style gardens with formal beds as a mass of color (Leapman, 27).
In the beginning of the 20th century, the ninth Duke of Marlborough commissioned French architect Achille Duchene to plan out the formal gardens, including the fantastic fountains and patterned beds (Leapman, 246). Duchene planned the gardens immediately on either side of the palace in the tradition of Andre Le Notre (Nicolson, 221). Duchene’s vision for the Blenheim palace gardens echoes back to Wise’s original French-style masterpiece (Aird, 91). Today, closely surrounding the palace are the French-style gardens, and as the estate spans outward, the more natural, designs of Brown are seen (Aird, 92).

Works Cited

Aird, Malcolm, et. al. "Blenheim."Treasures of Britain. Drive Publications Limited, London:1968.

Leapman, Michael. Portrait of Britain. New York City: DK Publishing Inc., 1999.

Nicolson, Nigel. “Great Houses of Britain.” The National Trust & Weidenfeld and Nicolson: 1978.