History of Chance's Park
Morton House, also known as Morton Manor and Morton Head, was
built sometime after 1807 for the Forster family, founders of
Forster's Bank in Carlisle in 1792.
Forster's Bank on Castle Street became known as 'Carlisle
Old Bank' sometime after 1803 when a new bank was founded in
the City by the Graham Family. Coincidentally, the Grahams owned
Rickerby Park.
The Carlisle New Bank ran into financial difficulties in 1824,
and was wound up in 1827. Forsters Bank failed in November
1836.
An advertisement in the Cumberland Journal on 30th April 1853
for the sale of Morton Manor (Morton Head) states that the
'pleasure grounds' were laid out by Gilpin, and thereby
hangs a tale, but more of that later.
Morton Manor was purchased in 1853 by Joseph Ferguson of
Ferguson Brothers, who owned the once vast textile mills (Holme
Head Works) in Denton Holme. Joseph Ferguson was also Mayor of
Carlisle from 1836 to 1837. In later life, (1852-57) he represented
Carlisle in the House of Commons.
Robert Ferguson (son of Joseph), took over Morton Manor on the
death of his father, and like his father he was also Mayor and M.P.
for Carlisle. Indeed, the primary school in Denton Holme was built
by Robert Ferguson and bears his name. When Robert died in 1898,
the house was left to his nephew, Frederick Chance who was the
Managing Director of Ferguson Brothers. Frederick passed Morton
Manor to his son Robert Chance, who offered the house to the City
for 'community use' in 1944, although he continued to at
Morton Manor until his death in 1960.
The parkland associated with Morton Manor was once much larger
than it is today. Fringed with woodland and with meandering walks,
it extended northwards to Windermere Road. The original formal
entrance once had a lodge, this was demolished when part of the
parkland was sacrificed to accommodate the widening of the Wigton
Road.
Gilpin and Chance's Park.
Sawrey Gilpin (1733
- 1807) was born at Scaleby Castle, a few miles north east of
Carlisle, and educated at the Carlisle Grammar School. He went on
to become a famous animal painter of the time.
His son, William Sawrey Gilpin (1762 - 1843) made his living as
an artist like his father.
From 1806, William worked as a drawing master at Sandhurst
Military College teaching cadets how to make accurate
representations of landscape and enemy positions. His time at
Sandhurst came to an abrupt end in the post Napoleonic War cutbacks
of 1820.
William Sawrey Gilpin then turned his hand to landscape
gardening, helped and encouraged by Sir Uvedale Price (1794 - 1801)
best known for his 'Essays on the Picturesque' which
greatly influenced landscape design of the period.
In 1832, Gilpin published his 'Practical Hints upon
Landscape Gardening; with some remarks on architecture, as
concerned with scenery.' A second edition was published in
1835.
It seems that few of Gilpin's gardens have survived unaltered,
and there are very few plans, as he preferred to walk about the
garden using sticks and string to mark out his landscaping.
In spite of his apparent lack of appropriate training, Gilpin
appears to have been a remarkably successful landscape gardener,
with 'hundreds' of gardens being attributed to him.
He is known to have favoured amoeba shaped flower beds and
gently curving paths through irregularly shaped shrubberies and
raised terrace walks. Known Gilpin sites are Scotney Castle in
Kent, Hawarden Castle in Wales and Nuneham Courtney in Oxfordshire.
Here in Cumbria, Gilpin has been associated with Hutton in the
Forest and Lowther Castle, as well as Morton Manor (Chances
Park).