Page 16 - cn-The Art of Style Status STUDIO pres April 2024

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George William Coventry {later 6 Earl} inherited Croome Court and surrounding estate in 1751 when he was 30. The 6 Earl’s
intention was to transform the 1640’s house into a fashionable Neo-Classical mansion in the form of Palladian style built between
1752-62, including the surrounding land, much of which was water logged and a virtual mire, and creating a parkland and pleasure
garden, the first and most innovative of its time.

Two men key to the project’s success were commissioned, namely; Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, who came from Stowe Park in
1752 at the age of 32 and Robert Adam in 1760. Brown first remodelled the house, with some suggestions being made by the
Gentleman Architect Sanderson Miller who was a friend of the Earl. A considerable construction of drainage systems was carried
out in order to drain the surrounding raised land and direct the water into a man-made river course. The existing church of St Mary
Magdalen was demolished and rebuilt by Brown in the Gothic style to the north east on raised ground.

The composition captures the wider estate and aligns the church of St Mary Magdalen, the southern elevation of Croome Court and
the man- made river course including the Chinese Bridge built in 1750-51 designed by William Halfpenny. The scene celebrates
and stands as a statement to Brown’s initial vision and the resultant effect of some 300 years of maturity. The time of year is
October with the season’s autumn tints and deepening tones of late afternoon light; adding a sense of transience’- yet the scene of
distant cattle sets an arcadian scene becoming a reminder of the vision of the idyll so often depicted in Claude Lorrain’s paintings,
which was the inspiration for so many parkland settings at that time.

In a way this is borne out by the fact that Croome Court and Parkland survived especially through the Second World War, when
RAF Defford was created with runways and military buildings for the purpose of developing radar technology. Once again Croome
stands triumphant as an arcadian setting saved for the modern world.

The original tapestries for Croome Court now hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Croome, Worcestershire.NT