The Menagerie
THE MENAGERIE, CASTLE ASHBY PARK
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1189885
- Date first listed:
- 03-May-1968
- List Entry Name:
- The Menagerie
- Statutory Address:
- THE MENAGERIE, CASTLE ASHBY PARK
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1189885
- Date first listed:
- 03-May-1968
- List Entry Name:
- The Menagerie
- Statutory Address 1:
- THE MENAGERIE, CASTLE ASHBY PARK
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- THE MENAGERIE, CASTLE ASHBY PARK
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- West Northamptonshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Castle Ashby
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 86830 59378
Details
CASTLE ASHBY CASTLE ASHBY PARK SP8659 13/41 The Menagerie 03/05/68
- II*
Garden building. Begun 1761 (contract signed October 1761), certainly no later than 1774, with alterations of c.1840 to rear. Limestone ashlar, lead and slate roofs. Tripartite plan. Single storey; 7 bays. Central 5-bay segmental portico with 4 Tuscan columns and pilasters either end approached by 3 moulded stone steps. Triple-stepped bases to columns which bear plain frieze with paterae above columns and to centre of lintels, deep moulded cornice with elements of Roman Doric cornice, blocking cornice, and cast-iron ogee-section gutter to base of lead-covered dome. Dome has slight ogee profile and is crowned by dragon supporter bearing armorial shield, both of lead. Curved rear wall of portico, with different radius to that of portico, forms elliptical space and is divided into 5 bays by pilasters supporting frieze with paterae. Round-headed niches to upper level of 3 central bays containing bronzed plaster busts, casts after the antique, one of which is now missing. Stone-paved floor to portico, fitted wood bench within and low cast-iron railings between columns with gate to central bay. Single-bay wings either side, slightly set back with round-arched sash windows set in shallow round-arched recesses. Portico cornice is continued over wings, with blocking cornices with recumbant lions looking out either end. Brick cottage to rear extensively altered or rebuilt c.1840. Design of Menagerie is attributed to Lancelot "Capability" Brown for 8th Earl of Northampton. Brown's plan for the landscaping of the park, begun 1764, in Castle Ashby archives, shows no building on site of Menagerie. Robert Adam's plan for improvements to the park of 1760 does however show a garden temple near the site, although the building shown on the plan has no particular resemblance to the Menagerie. As executed it is notably more advanced in its neo-classical design than Brown's Kentian-style Dairy (q.v.). (Castle Ashby park and gardens are included with HBMC Register of Parks and Gardens for Northamptonshire at Grade I; Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: 1973, p144; Castle Ashby Archives; Lucinda Lambton "Beastly Buildings": the National Trust book of Architecture for Animals: 1985, p142)
Listing NGR: SP8683059378
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 235441
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Architecture for Animals, (1985), 142
Lambton, L, Beastly Buildings, (1985)
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (1973), 144
Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 30 Northamptonshire,
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 27-Jun-2026 at 10:58:23.
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