Cascade Weir

Lord Gower, the owner of the estate in the 1700’s, ordered the diversion and damming of the River Trent – the 3rd largest river in England at the time! You can imagine how powerful and influential he was in the area.

The lake was created by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, gardener to royalty of the time, who was commissioned in the 1750s to expand the lake, including:

Creating a dam or weir at the south end of the lake to assist with flood management – this is the cascade you can see here! It was once further up the lake near to where the otter hide is now. It has a very important role in stopping the gardens from flooding when we have heavy rain and keeps our fish inside the lake.

Making the lake at least 4 feet deep ‘wherever it is not so naturally’ – remember there were no Mini Diggers in the 1750s – this was dug by hand and moved by carts or hand barrows!

Constructing an island in the middle of the lake – when you are walking around, see if you can count how many islands we have.

The final sum for the work he completed was £2,515 – today this would be worth over £520,000. Capability Brown then started additional works on the Hall’s driveway and landscaping.