Inspiration
Ye New Building upon the Hill
From where did Tyrconnel's vision for this eyecatcher arise?
Inspiration
Viscount Tyrconnel had constructed the cascades in the Wilderness on the River Witham in 1742. He visualised his next project in a letter c1745 to his nephew Sir John Cust,
A mount railed by five or six slopes and terraces and covered with evergreens growing wild all the way up to ye top which is to be crowned with a pavilion of lattice work from whence both ye Canal and Great Pond in ye Park are seen on each side in full view.
This site is the small pavilion with three terraces at the east end of the mirror pond, seen left and in the full engraving below. On an earlier plan there was merely a rill feeding that canal. An ice house replaced the pavilion c1780s. The Great Pond ran east from the house, but was replaced with the avenue and obelisk after flooding in the 1740s.
The pavilion differs from the prospect mounts seen in C17 gardens such as Lyvedon New Bield. Tyrconnel’s idea relates more to C18 belvederes, a raised structure or tower erected on a vantage-point in a landscape from which scenery may be viewed. The word derives from Italian, meanings beautiful view. Tyrconnel's hankering after beautiful views is reflected in his collection that included PLANS, élévations et vues du château de Versailles, [Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1664-1684] and paintings by il Canaletto and Marieschi of Venice.
But his pavilion was not a tower. An event in 1746 gave the perfect excuse for a tower to satisfy his desire for beautiful vistas over Belton.
Engraving of Belton House, foreground, bird's-eye-view from the west. Bellmount Tower image top. The latter dates this print to circa 1750. The description is misleading as Tyrconnel was no longer an MP after 1741. He was elected to the Royal Society 17th April 1735 for the sum of £25 (£4,000 RPI).
Tyrconnel eulogised over the Duke of Cumberland's bloody English victory over the Jacobite Rising at Culloden (1745 to 1746). In a letter to his nephew, Cust, he wrote that he hoped that Parliament,
who so liberally rewarded the great Duke of Marlborough, will not fall short in their gratitude to the Duke but restore palaces at the public expense and a princely revenue to our glorious William, the second of the name, deliverer of this nation from popery, slavery and arbitrary power, and who I believe, if the government takes right measures, has forever quell’d that Jacobite, rebellious and turbulent people whom none but Oliver in any degree vanquished.
Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland was the youngest son of George II. Tyrconnel's jubilation was not without substance. The Jacobite army reached Derby in 1745, 2 days march from Belton. The occupants of Belton had fled to Sleaford in the belief that Bonnie Prince Charlie would march down the nearby Great North Road, the main highway between England and Scotland, to reach London and lay waste on route.
This fear is reflected in Tyrconnel paying the largest sum £300 (£53,000 RPI), for a voluntary subscription for the security of his Majesty's person and Government and for the payment of such forces as shall be raised within the county of Lincolne began at the Castle of Lincolne, October the first, 1745.
Tyrconnel commissioned Sir Henry Cheere to cast a lead bust of Cumberland to admire in his study, still at Belton (left). The defeat preserved the Protestant Ascendancy upon which depended Tyrconnel’s Irish peerage.
See, the Conqu'ring Hero Comes
One public act of rejoicing was Handel’s See, the Conqu'ring Hero Comes aired in 1747. It honours Prince William, for his extermination of Jacobites. Tyrconnel, a patron of Handel, would have heard this.
Another act of the people was the erection of triumphal arches, like the brick-built, three arched, Cumberland Gate. Marble Arch now stands on that site. Norwich likewise commissioned a triumphal arch to honour Cumberland, This was temporary and probably made of canvas and wood, located beside the Guildhall and market place.
View of Cumberland Gate, from within Hyde Park, looking out towards the buildings and Tyburn Turnpike beyond c.1820 (British Museum). Demolished in 1822.
Triumphal Arch erected in Norwich in honour of the Duke of Cumberland, engraved by Paul Fourdrinier, 1746 (British Museum).
Tyrconnel was not alone in wanting to memorialise Cumberland's victory. The Whig aristocrat Thomas Watson-Wentworth, Earl of Malton (later the 1st Marquess of Rockingham) erected the 30 m high Hoober Tower close to his palatial seat at Wentworth Woodhouse. Above the doorway is inscribed,
This Pyramidal Building was Erected by his Majestys most Dutyfull Subject THOMAS Marquess of Rockingham Etc. In Grateful Respect to the Preserver of our Religion Laws and Libertys KING GEORGE The Second Who by the blessing of God having Subdued a most Unnatural Rebellion In Britain Anno 1746 Maintains the Ballance of Power and Settles A just and Honourable peace in Europe 1748
