History
Public ownership - the 20th century
In 1922 Leeds City Council bought the house and 917 acres of parkland, 238 of which were set aside for public
recreation.
In 1923 and 1924 respectively 'The Lord Irwin' and 'The Lady Dorothy' golf courses were opened, the first public
courses in the country. Their designs appeared to be very sympathetic to the then mature Brown landscape.
Unfortunately open cast coal mining during WW11 and subsequent restoration has led to substantial loss of that
landscape.
The walled garden was opened as a small animal zoo but had closed by 1923 and the current ground plan was in
place by 1934. The layout of the ornamental gardens was similar to the kitchen garden with a new path running
east to west the main new construction. A rustic pergola running north to south down the centre of the gardens
was removed in 1975. The original glasshouse was demolished as it became unsafe, but the new structure abuts the
original firewall.
Throughout the 1970s there were extensive schemes of modernisation utilising various training and labour
schemes. Work on the house gardens began in 1976 in the west garden with the creation of formal herb garden, part
parterre, and part knot garden leading to a series of square lily ponds. This garden was removed in 2001 during
restoration works to the house and replaced with a simple lawn reflecting earlier phases of design.
At this time the south garden was re-modelled to its existing design to reflect the enclosed formal gardens of
the 17th century.
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