View source for Capability Brown

{{short description|English landscape architect}}
{{redirect|Lancelot Brown|the English politician|Lancelot Brown (MP)|the English physician|Lancelot Browne}}
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{{more citations needed|date=September 2024}}
{{original research|date=September 2024}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}

{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix  = 
| name              = Lancelot "Capability" Brown
| honorific_suffix  = 
| nickname          = 
| image             = File:Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1735-1811) - Capability Brown - NPG 6049 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg
| caption           =''[[Portrait of Capability Brown]]'' by [[Nathaniel Dance-Holland|Nathaniel Dance]], 1769
| awards            = 
| birth_name        = Lancelot Brown 
| baptised           = 30 August 1716
| birth_place       = [[Kirkharle]], Northumberland, England
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1783|2|6|1715}}
| death_place       = [[London]], England
| death_cause       = 
| burial_place      = 
| height            = 
| nationality       = 
| parents           = 
| spouse            = {{marriage |Bridget Wayet |22 November 1744}}
| children          = 8
| occupation        = {{ublist|[[Gardener]]|[[Landscape architect]]}}
| alma_mater        = 
| signature         = 
}}

'''Lancelot''' "'''Capability'''" '''Brown''' (born c. 1715&ndash;16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783)<ref name="Lancelot">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/81572/Lancelot-Brown?anchor=ref45555 |title=Lancelot Brown |year=2007 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]], Encyclopædia Britannica Online|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc |access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> was an English gardener and [[landscape architect]], a notable figure in the history of the [[English landscape garden]] style.

Unlike other architects including [[William Kent]], he was a hands-on gardener and provided his clients with a full [[turnkey]] service, designing the gardens and park, and then managing their landscaping and planting.  He is most famous for the landscaped parks of [[English country house]]s, many of which have survived reasonably intact. However, he also included in his plans "pleasure gardens" with flower gardens and the new [[shrubberies]], usually placed where they would not obstruct the views across the park of and from the main facades of the house. Few of his plantings of "pleasure gardens" have survived later changes.  He also submitted plans for much smaller urban projects, for example the college gardens along [[The Backs]] at [[Cambridge]].

Criticism of his style, both in his own day and subsequently, mostly centres on the claim that "he created 'identikit' landscapes with the main house in a sea of turf, some water, albeit often an impressive feature, and trees in clumps and shelterbelts", giving "a uniformity equating to authoritarianism" and showing a lack of imagination and even taste on the part of his patrons.<ref>Wickham, 2</ref>

He designed more than 170 parks, many of which survive. He was nicknamed "Capability" because he would tell his clients that their property had "capability" for improvement.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.traveller.com.au/highclere-castle-the-reallife-downton-abbey-go1ore|title=Highclere Castle: The real-life Downton Abbey|last=McKenna|first=Steve|date=17 April 2016|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=18 April 2016}}</ref> His influence was so great that the contributions to the [[English garden]] made by his predecessors [[Charles Bridgeman]] and [[William Kent]] are often overlooked; even Kent's champion [[Horace Walpole]] allowed that Kent "was succeeded by a very able master".<ref>{{cite book |first1=Horace |last1=Walpole |author-link=Horace Walpole |location=Canton, Pa. |publisher=Kirgate Press |page=87 |url=https://archive.org/details/essayonmodernga00walpgoog |title=On Modern Gardening |orig-year=1780 |year=1905}} at [[Internet Archive]]</ref>

==Early life and Stowe==
Lancelot Brown was the fifth child of a [[land agent]] and a [[chambermaid]], born in the village of [[Kirkharle]], [[Northumberland]], and educated at a school in [[Cambo, Northumberland|Cambo]] until he was 16. Brown's father, William Brown, had been Sir William [[Loraine baronets|Loraine]]’s land agent and his mother, Ursula (née Hall<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/about-capability-brown|title=About Capability Brown {{!}} Capability Brown|website=www.capabilitybrown.org|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215024011/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/about-capability-brown|archive-date=15 February 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref>), had been in service at [[Kirkharle Hall]]. His eldest brother, John, became the estate surveyor and later married Sir William's daughter. His older brother George became a mason-architect.

After school Lancelot worked as the head gardener's apprentice at Sir William [[Loraine baronets|Loraine]]'s kitchen garden at [[Kirkharle Hall]] until he was 23. In 1739 he journeyed south to the port of [[Boston, Lincolnshire|Boston]], [[Lincolnshire]].<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|2011}}</ref> Then he moved further inland, where his first landscape commission was for a new lake in the park at [[Kiddington Hall]], [[Oxfordshire]].<ref name="Colvin1995">{{harvnb|Colvin|1995}}.</ref> He moved to [[Wotton Underwood|Wotton Underwood House]], [[Buckinghamshire]], seat of Sir Richard Grenville.<ref name="Twickenham">{{cite web |url=http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=295 |title=Lancelot 'Capability' Brown Date: 1716 – 1783 Landscape Gardener |publisher=The Twickenham Museum |access-date=14 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214090042/http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=295 |archive-date=14 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Berrington Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1263571.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|[[Ha-ha]] and house at [[Berrington Hall]] in [[Herefordshire]], Brown's last big project, a new-build designed by [[Henry Holland (architect)|his son-in-law]], placed to exploit views in two directions.]]

In 1741<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas|last=Hinde|title=Capability Brown: the Story of a Master Gardener|location=London|publisher=Hutchinson|year=1986|isbn=0-09-163740-6|page=19}}</ref> Brown joined [[Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham|Lord Cobham]]'s gardening staff as undergardener at [[Stowe Gardens]], [[Buckinghamshire]],<ref name="Lancelot" /> where he worked under [[William Kent]], one of the founders of the new English style of [[landscape gardening|landscape garden]]. In 1742, at the age of 26, he was officially appointed Head Gardener, earning £25 ({{inflation|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£|UK|25|1742}}) a year and residing in the western Boycott Pavilion.

Brown remained at Stowe until 1750. He made the Grecian Valley at Stowe under William Kent's supervision. It is an abstract composition of landform and woodland. Lord Cobham let Brown take freelance work from his aristocratic friends, thus making him well known as a landscape gardener. As a proponent of the new English style, Brown became immensely sought after by the [[landed class|landed families]]. By 1751, when Brown was beginning to be widely known, [[Horace Walpole]] wrote somewhat slightingly of Brown's work at [[Warwick Castle]]:

<blockquote>The castle is enchanting; the view pleased me more than I can express, the River Avon tumbles down a cascade at the foot of it. It is well laid out by one Brown who has set up on a few ideas of Kent and [[Philip Southcote|Mr. Southcote]].</blockquote>
By the 1760s he was earning on average £6,000 ({{inflation|UK|6000|1765|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}) a year, usually £500 ({{inflation|UK|500|1765|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-2}}) for one commission. As an accomplished rider he was able to work fast, taking only an hour or so on horseback to survey an estate and rough out an entire design. In 1764, Brown was appointed [[George III]]'s Master Gardener at [[Hampton Court Palace]], succeeding John Greening and residing at the Wilderness House.<ref name="Twickenham" /> In 1767 he bought an estate for himself at [[Fenstanton]] in Huntingdonshire from [[Spencer Compton, 8th Earl of Northampton]] and was appointed [[High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire]] for 1770, although his son Lance carried out most of the duties.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cambsgardens.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CGT_News36_May2014_lores.pdf|title=HOW THE MANOR OF FENSTANTON WAS EXCHANGED FOR TASTE|publisher=Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust|access-date=18 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328154009/http://cambsgardens.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CGT_News36_May2014_lores.pdf|archive-date=28 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Landscape gardens==
It is estimated that Brown was responsible for more than 170 gardens surrounding the finest country houses and estates in Britain. His work endures at [[Belvoir Castle]], [[Croome Court]] (where he also designed the house), [[Blenheim Palace]], [[Warwick Castle]], [[Harewood House]], [[Chatsworth House|Chatsworth]], [[Highclere Castle]], [[Appuldurcombe House]], [[Milton Abbey]] (and nearby [[Milton Abbas]] village), Marden Park (now Woldingham School) and in traces at [[Kew Gardens]] and many other locations.<ref name="kew">{{cite web|url=http://www.kew.org/heritage/people/brown.html |title=Lancelot 'Capability' Brown (1716–1783) |work=Kew History & Heritage |publisher=Kew Gardens |access-date=16 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008111550/http://www.kew.org/heritage/people/brown.html |archive-date=8 October 2012  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Lancelot Brown |url=https://www.chatsworth.org/visit-chatsworth/chatsworth-estate/park/about-the-park/lancelot-brown/ |access-date=22 November 2024 |website=www.chatsworth.org}}</ref> 
[[Image:BadmintonMorris edited.jpg|thumb|left|280px|[[Badminton House]] in [[Gloucestershire]]: features of the Brownian landscape at full maturity in the 19th century]]
His style of smooth undulating grass, which would run straight to the house, clumps, belts and scatterings of trees and his serpentine lakes formed by invisibly damming small rivers were a new style within the English landscape, a 'gardenless' form of landscape gardening, which swept away almost all the remnants of previous formally patterned styles.
[[File:Brown's Pond at Sandleford, Berkshire. Designed by and named after Lancelot Brown.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Brown's Pond at [[Sandleford]], [[Berkshire]]. One of a string of former priory fish ponds adapted by Brown who was at Sandleford on behalf of [[Elizabeth Montagu]] from 1781.]]
His landscapes were at the forefront of fashion. They were fundamentally different from what they replaced, the well-known formal gardens of England which were criticised by [[Alexander Pope]] and others from the 1710s. Starting in 1719, William Kent replaced these with more naturalistic compositions, which reached their greatest refinement in Brown's landscapes.

At [[Hampton Court]] Brown encountered [[Hannah More]] in 1782 and she described his "grammatical" manner in her literary terms: {{"'}}Now <em>there</em>' said he, pointing his finger, 'I make a comma, and there' pointing to another spot, 'where a more decided turn is proper, I make a colon; at another part, where an interruption is desirable to break the view, a parenthesis; now a full stop, and then I begin another subject.{{'"}}<ref>Quoted in Peter Willis, "Capability Brown in Northumberland" ''Garden History'' '''9'''.2 (Autumn, 1981, pp. 157–183) p. 158.</ref> Brown's patrons saw the idealised landscapes he was creating for them in terms of the Italian landscape painters they admired and collected, as Kenneth Woodbridge first observed in the landscape at [[Stourhead]], a "Brownian" landscape (with an un-Brownian circuit walk) in which Brown himself was not involved.[[Image:Blenheim Palace Grand Bridge.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|At [[Blenheim Palace]] in [[Oxfordshire]], Brown dammed the paltry stream flowing under [[Vanbrugh]]'s Grand Bridge, drowning half the structure with improved results]]

===Criticism===
Perhaps Brown's sternest critic was his contemporary [[Uvedale Price]], who likened Brown's clumps of trees to "so many puddings turned out of one common mould."<ref name=Price>[[Uvedale Price]]. [https://archive.org/details/essayonpicturesq02pric ''An Essay on the Picturesque'']. J. Robson, London, 1796. Page 268. (In the [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125010885552/page/n16 <!-- pg=191 --> 1794 edition] this is on page 191.)</ref> [[Russell Page]], who began his career in the Brownian landscape of [[Longleat]] but whose own designs have formal structure, accused Brown of "encouraging his wealthy clients to tear out their splendid formal gardens and replace them with his facile compositions of grass, tree clumps and rather shapeless pools and lakes."<ref>{{cite book |first1=Russell |last1=Page |author-link=Russell Page |title=Education of a Gardener |type=Paperback |pages=384 |publisher=The Harvill Press |orig-year=1962 |date=3 May 1994 |isbn=0-00-271374-8}} {{ISBN|978-0-00-271374-0}}</ref>

[[Richard Owen Cambridge]], the English poet and [[satire|satirical]] author, declared that he hoped to die before Brown so that he could "see heaven before it was 'improved'." This was a typical statement reflecting the controversy about Brown's work, which has continued over the last 200 years. By contrast, a recent historian and author, Richard Bisgrove, described Brown's process as perfecting nature by "judicious manipulation of its components, adding a tree here or a concealed head of water there. His art attended to the formal potential of ground, water, trees and so gave to English landscape its ideal forms. The difficulty was that less capable imitators and less sophisticated spectators did not see nature perfected... they saw simply what they took to be nature."{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}

This deftness of touch was recognised in his own day; one anonymous [[obituary]] writer opined: "Such, however, was the effect of his genius that when he was the happiest man, he will be least remembered; so closely did he copy nature that his works will be mistaken."{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} In 1772, Sir [[William Chambers (architect)|William Chambers]] (though he did not mention Brown by name) complained that the "new manner" of gardens "differ very little from common fields, so closely is vulgar nature copied in most of them."<ref>{{cite book |first1=William |last1=Chambers |author-link=William Chambers (architect) |title=A Dissertation on Oriental Gardening |publisher=W. Griffin |year=1772 |page=v |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_dissertation00cham}}</ref>

==Architecture==
Capability Brown produced more than 100 architectural drawings,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16397&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&rn=64&ry=2019&ns=1|title=Capability Brown's Drawings: A Reference Catalogue of Drawings by Brown or his Office (c.1740s–83) Including Architectural Drawings and Landscape Scenes|last1=Rutherford|first1=Sarah|last2=Evans|first2=Ceryl|date=2019|website=Historic England|access-date=30 August 2019}}</ref> and his work in the field of architecture was a natural outgrowth of his unified picture of the [[English country house]] in its setting:
<blockquote>"In Brown's hands the house, which before had dominated the estate, became an integral part of a carefully composed landscape intended to be seen through the eye of a painter, and its design could not be divorced from that of the garden"<ref name="Colvin1995"/></blockquote>
[[Humphry Repton]] observed that Brown "fancied himself an architect",<ref>{{cite book |first1=Humphry (1752–1818)|last1=Repton |author-link=Humphry Repton |title=Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening |year=1803 |url=https://archive.org/details/observationsonth00rept |first2=John Adey (1775–1860)|last2=Repton |author-link2=John Adey Repton|publisher=T. Bensley |location=London}} at Internet Archive.</ref> but Brown's work as an architect is overshadowed by his great reputation as a designer of landscapes. Repton was bound to add: "he was inferior to none in what related to the comfort, convenience, taste and propriety of design, in the several mansions and other buildings which he planned". Brown's first country house project was the remodelling of [[Croome Court]], [[Worcestershire]], (1751–52) for the [[George William Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry|6th Earl of Coventry]], in which instance he was likely following sketches by the gentleman amateur [[Sanderson Miller]].<ref name="Colvin1995" />

Fisherwick, Staffordshire, Redgrave Hall, Suffolk, and [[Claremont (country house)|Claremont]], Surrey, were classical, while at Corsham his outbuildings are in a [[Gothic Revival|Gothic]] vein, including the [[Bath House at Corsham Court|bathhouse]]. Gothic stable blocks and decorative outbuildings, arches and garden features constituted many of his designs. From 1771 he was assisted in the technical aspects by the master builder Henry Holland, and by Henry's son [[Henry Holland (architect)|Henry Holland the architect]], whose initial career Brown supported; the younger Holland was increasingly Brown's full collaborator and became Brown's son-in-law in 1773.

==Subsequent reputation==
[[File:Memorial to Capability Brown in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Memorial to Capability Brown in the church of St Peter and St Paul, [[Fenstanton]], Cambridgeshire]]
Brown's reputation declined rapidly after his death, because the English landscape style did not convey the dramatic conflict and awesome power of wild nature. A reaction against the harmony and calmness of Brown's landscapes was inevitable; the landscapes lacked the [[sublime (philosophy)|sublime]] thrill which members of the [[Romanticism|Romantic generation]] (such as [[Richard Payne Knight]] and [[Uvedale Price]]) looked for in their ideal landscape, where the painterly inspiration would come from [[Salvator Rosa]] rather than [[Claude Lorrain]].

During the 19th century he was widely criticised,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/475793/Sir-Uvedale-Price-1st-Baronet?anchor=ref59941 |title=Sir Uvedale Price, 1st Baronet |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year=2012 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> but during the twentieth century his reputation rose again. [[Tom Turner]] has suggested that the latter resulted from a favourable account of his talent in [[Marie-Luise Gothein]]'s ''History of Garden Art''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bWhRAAAAMAAJ|title=A History of Garden Art|first=Marie Luise Schroeter|last=Gothein|date=22 November 1966|publisher=Hacker Art Books|accessdate=22 November 2024|via=Google Books}}</ref> which predated [[Christopher Hussey (historian)|Christopher Hussey]]'s positive account of Brown in ''The Picturesque'' (1927). [[Dorothy Stroud]] wrote the first full monograph on Capability Brown, fleshing out the generic attributions with documentation from country house estate offices.

Later landscape architects like [[William Sawrey Gilpin]] would opine that Brown's 'natural curves' were as artificial as the straight lines that were common in French gardens.<ref name="Clifford">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225753/garden-and-landscape-design/26254/Renaissance-to-modern-15th-to-20th-centuries?anchor=ref393494 |title=Garden and landscape design |first1=Derek Plint |last1=Clifford |year=2012 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]], Encyclopædia Britannica Online |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc |access-date=14 March 2012}}</ref> Brown's portrait by [[Nathaniel Dance-Holland|Nathaniel Dance]], c. 1773, is conserved in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]], London. His work has often been favourably compared and contrasted ("the antithesis") to the œuvre of [[André Le Nôtre]], the French [[French formal garden|''jardin à la française'']] landscape architect.<ref name="Lancelot" /><ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |title=André Le Nôtre |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc |date=12 March 2012 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/333395/Andre-Le-Notre/Andre-Le-Notre |access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> He became both "rich and honoured and had 'improved' a greater acreage of ground than any landscape architect" who preceded him.<ref name="Lancelot" /><ref name="Clifford" />

A festival to celebrate the tercentenary of Brown's birth was held in 2016. The {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130920033055/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/ Capability Brown Festival 2016]}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920033055/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=20 September 2013|title=Home page {{!}} Capability Brown|website=www.capabilitybrown.org|access-date=7 June 2018}}</ref> published a large amount of new research on Brown's work<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/map|title=INTERACTIVE MAP {{!}} Capability Brown|website=www.capabilitybrown.org|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408051650/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/map|archive-date=8 April 2019|url-status=usurped}}</ref> and held over 500 events across Britain as part of the celebrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/sites/default/files/executive_summary_of_evaluation_report_on_the_capability_brown_festival_2016.pdf|title=Executive Summary of Evaluation Report on the Capability Brown Festival 2016|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140324/https://www.capabilitybrown.org/sites/default/files/executive_summary_of_evaluation_report_on_the_capability_brown_festival_2016.pdf|archivedate=12 June 2018}}</ref> Royal Mail issued a series of Landscape Stamps<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/news/royal-mail-marks-300th-anniversary-capability-browns-birth|title=Royal Mail Marks 300th Anniversary of Capability Brown's Birth - News {{!}} Capability Brown|website=www.capabilitybrown.org|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408051802/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/news/royal-mail-marks-300th-anniversary-capability-browns-birth|archive-date=8 April 2019|url-status=usurped}}</ref> in his honour in August 2016.

The Gardens Trust with support from [[Historic England]], published ''Vulnerability Brown: Capability Brown landscapes at risk''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/sites/default/files/vulnerability_brown_for_website_with_hyperlinks_smaller_file.pdf|title=Vulnerability Brown|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-date=20 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120195320/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/sites/default/files/vulnerability_brown_for_website_with_hyperlinks_smaller_file.pdf|url-status=usurped}}</ref> in October 2017 to review the issues facing the survival of these landscapes as well as suggested solutions.

A commemorative fountain in [[Westminster Abbey]]’s cloister garth was dedicated for Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown after Evensong on Tuesday 29 May 2018 by the [[Dean of Westminster]], Dr [[John Hall (priest)|John Hall]]. The fountain sits over an old monastic well in the garth. It was designed by [[Ptolemy Dean]], the Abbey's [[Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey|Surveyor of the Fabric]], and was developed with the assistance of gardener [[Alan Titchmarsh]]. The fountain was made in lead by sculptor Brian Turner.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/capability-brown-fountain-dedicated/#i25017|title='Capability' Brown fountain dedicated |work=Westminster Abbey|access-date=7 June 2018}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:The grave of Capability Brown in the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul, Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire.jpg|thumb|The grave of Capability Brown in the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul, [[Fenstanton]], Cambridgeshire]]
On 22 November 1744 he married Bridget Wayet (affectionately called Biddy) from [[Boston, Lincolnshire]], in [[Stowe, Buckinghamshire|Stowe]] parish church.<ref>Rutherford. Page 32.</ref> Her father was an [[alderman]] and landowner while her family had surveyors and engineers among its members. They had eight children: Bridget in 1746, [[Lancelot Brown (MP)|Lancelot]] (known as Lance), William (who died young), John in 1751, a son in 1754 who died shortly afterwards, Anne who was born and died in 1756, Margaret (known as Peggy) in 1758 and Thomas in 1761.<ref>Rutherford. Pages 33, 35, 36.</ref>

In 1768 he purchased the manor of Fenstanton in [[Huntingdonshire]] in East Anglia for £13,000 ({{inflation|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£|UK|13000|1768}}) from Lord Northampton. This came with two manor houses, two villages and 2,668 acres of land.<ref>Rutherford. Page 42.</ref> The property stayed in the family until it was sold in lots in 1870s and 1880s. Ownership of the property allowed him to stand for and serve as [[High sheriff]] of Huntingdonshire from 1770 to 1771.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/news/capable-sheriff|title=A Capable Sheriff|date=2016|website=Capability Brown Festival|access-date=12 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408051607/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/news/capable-sheriff|archive-date=8 April 2019|url-status=usurped}}</ref> He continued to work and travel until his sudden collapse and death on 6 February 1783, on the doorstep of his daughter Bridget Holland's house, at 6 [[Hertford Street]], London while returning after a night out at Lord Coventry's.<ref>Rutherford. Page 43.</ref>

[[Horace Walpole]] wrote to [[Lady Ossory]]: "Your dryads must go into black gloves, Madam, their father-in-law, Lady Nature’s second husband, is dead!".<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Horace |last1=Walpole |author-link=Horace Walpole |title=The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Ic1AAAAMAAJ&q=%22lady+ossory%22+capability&pg=RA2-PA331 |journal=Bohn's English Gentleman's Library |volume=8 |page=331 |year=1861 |location=Covent Garden; London |publisher=Bradbury and Evans; Henry G. Bohn |access-date=13 March 2012}}</ref> Brown was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter and St. Paul, the parish church of Brown's small estate at [[Fenstanton]] Manor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jX4WBAAAQBAJ&dq=capability+brown+buried&pg=PA133|title=I Never Knew That About England's Country Churches|first=Christopher|last=Winn|date=4 August 2014|publisher=Random House|accessdate=22 November 2024|via=Google Books}}</ref> He left an estate of approximately £40,000 ({{inflation|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£|UK|40000|1783}}), which included property in Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Lincolnshire.<ref>Rutherford. Page 44.</ref> His eldest daughter Bridget married the architect [[Henry Holland (architect)|Henry Holland]]. Brown sent two of his sons to [[Eton College|Eton]]. One of them, Lancelot Brown the younger, became the MP for [[Huntingdon (UK Parliament constituency)|Huntingdon]]. His son John joined the [[Royal Navy]] and rose to become an admiral.

==Gardens and parks==
{{see also|Category:Gardens by Capability Brown}}
Many of Capability Brown's parks and gardens may still be visited today. A partial list of the landscapes he designed or worked on includes:
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Adderbury|Adderbury House]], Oxfordshire (designs not thought to be implemented)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cherwell.gov.uk/media/pdf/6/1/Adderbury_Conservation_Area_Appraisal_%28September_1997%29.pdf |title=Adderbury Conservation Area Appraisal |publisher=Cherwell District Council |date=September 1997 |access-date=13 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510102209/http://www.cherwell.gov.uk/media/pdf/6/1/Adderbury_Conservation_Area_Appraisal_%28September_1997%29.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Addington Palace|Addington Place]], Croydon
* [[Alnwick Castle]], Northumberland
* [[Althorp]], Northamptonshire
* [[Ampthill Park]], [[Ampthill]], Bedfordshire
* Ancaster House, Richmond, Surrey
* [[Appuldurcombe House]], Isle of Wight
* [[Ashburnham Place]], East Sussex
* [[Ashridge Business School|Ashridge House]], Hertfordshire
* [[Aske Hall]], North Yorkshire
* [[King's Sutton#Astrop House|Astrop Park]], Northamptonshire
* [[Audley End]], Essex
* [[Aynhoe Park]], Northamptonshire
* [[The Backs]], Cambridge
* [[Badminton House]], Gloucestershire
* [[Ballyfin House]], Ireland
* [[Basildon Park]], Berkshire
* [[Battle Abbey]], East Sussex
* [[Beaudesert (House)|Beaudesert]], Staffordshire
* Beechwood, Bedfordshire
* [[Belhus, Essex|Belhus]], Essex
* [[Belvoir Castle]], Leicestershire
* [[Benham Park|Benham]], Berkshire
* [[The Mitre, Newcastle upon Tyne|Benwell Tower]], near Newcastle upon Tyne
* [[Berrington Hall]], Herefordshire
* [[Blenheim Palace]], Oxfordshire
* [[Boarstall]], Buckinghamshire (unknown if work carried out){{cn|date=November 2024}}
* [[Bowood House]], Wiltshire
* [[Cowlinge|Branches Park]], Cowlinge, Suffolk
* [[Brentford]], Ealing
* [[Brightling Park]], East Sussex
* [[Broadlands]], Hampshire
* [[Brocklesby Hall]], Lincolnshire<ref>{{NHLE|num=1000971|desc=Brocklesby Park|grade=I|access-date=23 September 2024}}</ref>
* [[Burghley House]], Lincolnshire
* [[Burton Constable Hall]], East Riding of Yorkshire
* [[Burton Park]], West Sussex
* [[Burton Pynsent House]], Somerset
* Byram, West Yorkshire
* Cadland, Hampshire
* [[Capheaton Hall]], Northumberland
* [[Chillingham Castle]], Northumberland
* [[Cardiff Castle]], Cardiff
* [[Castle Ashby House]], Northamptonshire<ref name="Turner">{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Roger |year=1999 |title=Capability Brown and the Eighteenth Century English Landscape |edition=2nd |location=Chichester |publisher=Phillimore |pages=112–114}}</ref>
* [[Caversham, Berkshire|Caversham]], Berkshire
* Chalfont House, Buckinghamshire
* [[Charlecote]], Warwickshire
* [[Charlton Park, Wiltshire|Charlton]], Wiltshire
* [[Chatsworth House#4th Duke's garden (1755–64)|Chatsworth]], Derbyshire
* [[Chilham Castle]], Kent
* [[Chillington Hall]], West Midlands
* Church Stretton Old Rectory, Shropshire
* [[Clandon Park]], Surrey
* [[Claremont (country house)|Claremont]], Surrey
* [[Clumber Park]], Nottinghamshire
* [[Compton Verney]], Warwickshire
* [[Coombe Abbey]], Coventry
* [[Corsham Court]], Wiltshire
* [[Croome Park]], Worcestershire 
* [[Dodington Park]], Gloucestershire
* [[Danson Park]], Bexley Borough of London
* [[Darley Abbey]] Park, [[Derby]]
* [[Ditchingham Hall]], [[Ditchingham]], Norfolk
* [[Euston Hall]], Suffolk
* [[Farnborough Hall]], Warwickshire
* [[Fawley Court]], Oxfordshire
* [[Gatton Park]], Surrey
* [[Grimsthorpe Castle]], Lincolnshire
* [[Hampton Court Palace]], Surrey<ref name="Twickenham"/>
* [[Harewood House]], Leeds
* [[Heveningham Hall]], Suffolk
* [[Highclere Castle]], Hampshire
* [[Highcliffe Castle]], Dorset
* [[Himley Hall]], Staffordshire
* [[Holkham Hall]], Norfolk
* [[Holland Park]], London
* The Hoo, Hertfordshire
* [[Hornby Castle, North Yorkshire|Hornby Castle]], North Yorkshire
* Howsham, near York
* [[Ickworth House|Ickworth]], Suffolk
* [[Ingestre]], Staffordshire
* [[Ingress Abbey]], Kent
* [[Kelston]], Somerset
* [[Kew Gardens]], South West London<ref name="kew"/>
* [[Kiddington Hall]], Oxfordshire
* [[Kimberley, Norfolk|Kimberley]], Norfolk
* [[Kimbolton Castle]], Cambridgeshire
* [[King's Weston House]], Bristol
* [[Kirkharle Hall]], Northumberland<ref name="CB2016">{{cite web |title=The Capability Brown Festival, 2016 - About Capability Brown |url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/about-capability-brown |website=capabilitybrown.org (archived) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215024011/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/about-capability-brown |access-date=27 September 2024|archive-date=15 February 2018 }}</ref>
* [[Kirtlington]], Oxfordshire
* [[Knowsley Hall]], near Liverpool
* [[Kyre]] Park, Herefordshire
* [[Lacock Abbey]], Wiltshire
* [[Laleham#Laleham Abbey|Laleham Abbey]], Surrey
* [[Langley, Berkshire|Langley]], Berkshire
* [[Langley Park, Buckinghamshire|Langley Park]], Buckinghamshire
* [[Langley Park, Norfolk|Langley Park]], Norfolk
* [[Latimer, Buckinghamshire|Latimer Park, Amersham]], Buckinghamshire<ref>{{cite web |title=Latimer Park |url=https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/latimer-park |website=Parks & Gardens (.org) |access-date=7 October 2024}}</ref>
* [[Leeds Abbey]], Kent
* Littlegrove, Barnet, London
* [[Lleweni Hall]], Clwyd
* [[Longford Castle]], Wiltshire
* [[Longleat]], Wiltshire
* [[Lowther Castle|Lowther]], Cumbria
* [[Luton Hoo]], Bedfordshire
* [[Madingley Hall]], Cambridgeshire
* Maiden Earley, Berkshire
* [[Mamhead House]], Devon
* [[Melton Constable Hall]], Norfolk
* [[Milton Abbey]], Dorset
* [[Moccas Court]], Herefordshire
* [[Moor Park (house)|Moor Park]], Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire
* [[Mount Clare (Roehampton)|Mount Clare]], Roehampton, South West London
* [[Navestock|Navestock Hall]], Essex<ref>{{cite web |title=Navestock |url=https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/navestock |website=Parks & Gardens (.org) |access-date=7 October 2024}}</ref>
* Newnham Paddox, Warwickshire
* [[Newton Park]], Newton St Loe, Somerset
* [[New Wardour Castle]], Wiltshire
* North Cray Place, near Sidcup, Bexley, London
* [[North Stoneham Park]], Eastleigh, Hampshire
* [[Nuneham House]], Nuneham Courtney, Oxfordshire
* Oakley, Shropshire
* [[Great Packington|Packington Park]], Warwickshire
* [[Ravenscourt Park|Paddenswick Manor]], West London
* [[Patshull Hall]], Staffordshire
* [[Paultons Park]], Hampshire
* [[Peper Harow#Peper Harow House|Peper Harow House]], Surrey
* Peterborough House, Hammersmith, London
* [[Petworth House]], West Sussex
* [[Pishobury|Pishiobury]], Hertfordshire
* Porter's Park, Hertfordshire
* [[Prior Park Landscape Garden|Prior Park]], Somerset
* [[Ragley Hall]], Warwickshire
* Redgrave Park, Suffolk
* [[Roche Abbey]], South Yorkshire
* [[Sandleford]], Berkshire
* [[Savernake Forest]], Wiltshire
* [[Schloss Richmond]] (Richmond Palace) in [[Braunschweig]], Germany
* [[Scampston Hall]], North Yorkshire
* [[Sheffield Park and Garden|Sheffield Park]], East Sussex
* [[Sherborne Castle]], Dorset
* [[Sledmere House]], East Riding of Yorkshire
* [[Southill Park]], Bedfordshire
* [[South Stoneham House]], Southampton, Hampshire
* [[Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire|Stoke Park]], Buckinghamshire
* [[Stowe Landscape Garden]]
* [[Syon House]], West London
* [[Temple Newsam]], Leeds
* [[Thorndon Hall]], Essex
* [[Trentham Gardens]], Staffordshire
* [[Ugbrooke|Ugbrooke Park]], Devon
* [[Wallington, Northumberland|Wallington]], Northumberland<ref>Pevsner, N., et al. 1992, The Buildings of England: Northumberland</ref>
* [[Warwick Castle]], Warwick
* [[Wentworth Castle]], South Yorkshire
* [[West Hill, Wandsworth|West Hill]], Putney, South London
* [[Weston Park]], Staffordshire
* [[Whitehall]], London
* [[Whitley Beaumont]], West Yorkshire
* Widdicombe Park, near Slapton, Devon 
* Wimbledon House, South West London
* [[Wimbledon Park]], South West London
* [[Wimpole Hall]], Cambridgeshire
* [[Woburn Abbey]], Bedfordshire
* [[Wolterton Hall]], Norfolk
* [[Woodchester Mansion|Woodchester]], Gloucestershire
* [[Woodside, Old Windsor|Woodside]], Berkshire
* Wootton Place Rectory, Oxfordshire
* [[Wotton House|Wotton]], Buckinghamshire
* [[Wrest Park]], Bedfordshire
* [[Wrotham Park]], Hertfordshire 
* [[Wycombe Abbey]], Buckinghamshire
* [[Wynnstay]], Clwyd, Wales
* [[Youngsbury]], Hertfordshire
{{div col end}}

More than 30 of the gardens are open to the public.<ref name="Ross">{{cite web |url=http://www.britainexpress.com/History/bio/brown.htm |title=Capability Brown biography |first1=David |last1=Ross |work=Britain Express |access-date=14 March 2012}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ha-ha]]
* [[Landscape architecture]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
* {{Citation |first1=Jane |last1=Brown |title=The Omnipotent Magician: Lancelot "Capability" Brown, 1716–1783 |location=London |publisher=Chatto & Windus |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7011-8212-0}} {{ISBN|978-0-7011-8212-0}}.
* {{Citation |first=Howard |last=Colvin |author-link=Howard Colvin |title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840 |orig-year=1954 |edition=3rd |year=1995 |location=New Haven |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=1264 |isbn=978-0-300-06091-1}}
* {{Citation |first=Howard |last=Colvin |author-link=Howard Colvin |title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 |year=2008 |orig-year=1954 |edition=4th |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0-300-12508-5}}
* {{Citation |first1=Thomas |last1=Hinde |title=Capability Brown: The Story of a Master Gardener |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=1987 |isbn=0-393-02421-0}} {{ISBN|0-09-163740-6}}.
* {{Citation |first1=Dorothy |last1=Stroud |title=Capability Brown |location=London |publisher=Faber and Faber |edition=2nd revised |year=1975 |orig-year=1950 |isbn=0-571-10267-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/capabilitybrown0000stro }} {{ISBN|0-571-13405-X}}.
*{{cite book | last = Rutherford  | first = Sarah | title = Capability Brown and His Landscape Gardens | publisher = National Trust Books | location= London | date=2016 | type = Hardback | isbn=978-1-909-88154-9}}
* {{Citation |first1=Roger |last1=Turner |author-link=Roger Turner (garden designer) |title=Capability Brown and the Eighteenth Century English Landscape |location=New York |publisher=Rizzoli |year=1985 |isbn=0-8478-0643-X}} 2nd edition, Phillimore, Chichester (1999) {{ISBN|0-297-78734-9}}, {{ISBN|1-86077-114-9}}.
*Wickham, Louise, ''Gardens in History: A Political Perspective'', 2012, Windgather Press, ISBN 1905119437, [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardens-History-Perspective-Louise-Wickham/dp/1905119437/ref=sr_1_130?keywords=gardening+history&qid=1637677298&s=books&sr=1-130&asin=1905119437&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1 Amazon preview]

==Further reading==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*{{Citation |first1=Alicia |last1=Amherst |title=A History of Gardening in England |edition=3rd |year=2006 |orig-year=1910 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fk4KTrvZ8nMC |location=Whitefish, Montana |publisher=[[Kessinger Publishing]] |isbn=9781428636804}}
*{{Citation |first1=Sir F. Reginald |last1=Blomfield |first2=Inigo, Illustrator |last2=Thomas |title=The Formal Garden in England, 3rd ed. |year=1972 |orig-year=1901 |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan and Co |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/845951?q&l-decade=190}}
*{{Citation |first1=Derek |last1=Clifford |title=A History of Garden Design |edition=2nd |year=1967 |location=New York |publisher=Praeger}}
*{{Citation |first1=Marie-Luise Schröeter (1863–1931) |last1=Gothein |author-link1=Marie-Luise Gothein |title=History of Garden Art |volume=2 |year=1928 |orig-year=1910 |url=http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/library_online_ebooks/ml_gothein_history_garden_art_design |last2=Wright |first2=Walter P. (1864–1940) |last3=Archer-Hind |first3=Laura |author4=Alden Hopkins Collection |location=London & Toronto, New York |publisher=J. M. Dent; 1928 Dutton |pages=945 |isbn=978-3-424-00935-4}} Publisher: Hacker Art Books; Facsimile edition (June 1972) {{ISBN|0-87817-008-1}}; {{ISBN|978-0-87817-008-1}}.
*Gothein, Marie. ''Geschichte der Gartenkunst''. München: Diederichs, 1988 {{ISBN|978-3-424-00935-4}}.
*{{Citation |first1=Miles |last1=Hadfield |title=Gardening in Britain |year=1960 |location=Newton, Mass |publisher=C. T. Branford}}
*{{Citation |first1=Gerald |last1=Heath |title=Hampton Court: The Story of a Village |first2=Kathy, Editor |last2=White |first3=Joan. Editor |last3=Heath |publisher=The Hampton Court Association |location=Middlesex, England |type=Print |year=2000 |isbn=0-9538700-0-6}}
*{{Citation |first1=Christopher |last1=Hussey |title=English Gardens and Landscapes, 1700–1750 |year=1967 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5mVRAAAAMAAJ |publisher=[[Country Life (books)|Country Life]]}}
*{{Citation |first1=Edward S. |last1=Hyams |first2=Edwin, photos |last2=Smith |title=The English Garden |year=1964 |location=New York |publisher=H.N. Abrams}}
*{{Citation |first1=Simon |last1=Thurley |title=Hampton Court, A Social and Architectural History |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] Published for the [[Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art]] |location=New Haven |type=print |year=2003 |isbn=0300102232}} {{ISBN|978-0300102239}}
{{div col end}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category-inline|Capability Brown}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/81572/Lancelot-Brown?anchor=ref45555 |title=Lancelot Brown |year=2007 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]], Encyclopædia Britannica Online|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc |access-date=12 March 2012}}
*{{cite web |url=http://capabilitybrown.org.uk/ |title=Capability Brown — 300 years |publisher=capabilitybrown.org.uk |access-date=27 November 2014}}
*{{cite news |first1=Nick |last1=Britten |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/4697835/Capability-Browns-first-garden-plan-to-be-brought-to-life-after-250-years.html |title=Capability Brown's first garden plan to be brought to life after 250 years |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=19 February 2009 |access-date=13 March 2012}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* {{NPG name}}
* [https://collections.rhs.org.uk/view/4167 ‘The Account Book of Lancelot Brown ‘Capability’ Brown’. Digitised copy on the RHS Digital Collections website]
* [https://www.ft.com/content/4261629a-c369-11e0-b163-00144feabdc0 FT review of Compton Verney 2011 exhibition]
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07xt6t9 Capability Brown's unfinished garden]
*{{Google maps|url=https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Lancelot+Capability+Brown/@51.462273,-0.2521981,12z/data=!4m8!1m2!2m1!1scapability+brown!3m4!1s0x48760fb13faf5531:0xadc88b3ef4d6d5a!8m2!3d51.4872899!4d-0.2275084 | title=Capability Brown Statue by Laury Dizengremel, 2017}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Capability}}
[[Category:Architects from Northumberland]]
[[Category:English landscape architects]]
[[Category:English Landscape Garden designers]]
[[Category:English gardeners]]
[[Category:1710s births]]
[[Category:1783 deaths]]
[[Category:High sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire]]
[[Category:People from Fenstanton]]