Vanbrugh Castle (2)

I went back to Vanbrugh Castle again today. Apparently, which I had not known, there is an overgrown amphitheatre in the garden under the steep slope immediately to its north, vividly remembered by the children from the time, pre-1977, when the house was used by the RAF Benevolent Fund as a children’s home.

So, the question is whether it existed in Vanbrugh’s day. It seems a bit unlikely. There is no reference to amateur theatricals in his correspondence.

If anyone knows more, I would be interested:-

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4 thoughts on “Vanbrugh Castle (2)”

  1. orchidlymington's avatar orchidlymington says:

    I hope someone knows the answer about the amphitheatre. It would be wonderful to think this could be a landscaping legacy of Vanbrugh at Vanbrugh Castle. Hearing Vanbrugh and amphitheatre in the same the same sentence makes me think of Claremont. There is the famous Vanbrugh Belvedere (quite similar to Vanbrugh Castle) and Charles Bridgeman’s turf amphitheatre in the same garden. There is another small Charles Bridgeman turf amphitheatre at Cliveden. Could there have been a turf amphitheatre at Vanbrugh Castle? There wouldn’t necessarily have been any theatrical performance. Amphitheatre like spaces were in the vocabulary of Vanbrugh/Bridgeman garden/ landscaping interests. Your photo looks like it has become very overgrown. But, hoping someone can remember what was there.

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    • Thank you. Very good comment. I had forgotten about Claremont and didn’t know about Cliveden. The area is currently hopelessly overgrown, as shown in the photograph, in the garden which is jointly owned by those who live in Vanbrugh Castle and its later extensions. It would be a massive project ! Charles

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  2. Annette Rubery's avatar arubery says:

    According to Downes in his DNB entry, Vanbrugh’s son, Charles, played Scipio in a performance at Vanbrugh Castle of James Thomson’s Sophonisba, or, Hannibal’s Overthrow (this was in 1731 when Charles was 11). Nothing to prove it was played in the amphitheatre in the garden, of course, but I don’t think it’s beyond the bounds of possibility.

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