A stroll around Chatsworth Square, built for the city’s elite
Last updated 13:36, Thursday, 17 April 2008
Signing himself simply ‘JW’ a citizen of Carlisle made a perambulation of the Warwick Road area in 1881. This was a period of rapid development in the city and in his letter to the Carlisle Journal JW expressed his surprise at what he found.
“Before leaving the rapidly increasing streets and squares of this quarter,” he said, “we turned aside at Hartington Place to enjoy the view of the fine tract of country commanded by Chatsworth Square.”
There he found the houses “not perhaps very imposing,” but “with the pleasure grounds in front of them pretty enough.”
All had been newly laid out and JW said: “Verily the inhabitants of the square have good reason to consider themselves fortunate in their location.”
Chatsworth Square was formed by CJ Ferguson, acting as the local agent for the Duke of Devonshire, as private gardens and surrounded by railings in the spring of 1876.
Between this and Strand Road was another open area which was vacant and grassed, known as Binning’s Field.
In an obituary notice in May 1894 the Journal explained that Samuel Jackson Binning was a native of Northumberland, born near Newcastle.
As a young man he worked on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway and married the youngest daughter of James Thompson of Kirkhouse, the agent for the Earl of Carlisle’s collieries at Brampton.
Binning entered the colliery office and became their coal agent in the city.
From 1859 he was an enthusiastic member of the Carlisle Rifle Volunteers and was Mayor of Carlisle in 1878.
Binning’s Field was used for various purposes. In 1880 it was referred to as the East Cumberland Showfield, the site of the Cumberland Agricultural Show.
It also served as a cycle track which was first used in 1879, and in July 1880, the Journal stated: “A magnificent boarded track has now been laid down by the Royal Bicycling Association, lit at night by electric light and to which admission is 6d.”
This was used by the newly formed Border City Bicycle Club who advertised in 1881 that “six laps of the track were equal to a mile.”
The summer season on “Mr Binning’s Field” was brought to an end in September 1886 with various sports, Mr Binning being president of the cycling club.
The Cumberland Show was held there in 1892 but it moved to Warwick Road after Mr Binning’s death, at the Euston Hotel in London, aged 68, in 1894.
All of the street names reflected the ownership by the Duke of Devonshire. Chatsworth House was the family seat in Derbyshire; the Marquis of Hartington was the courtesy title given to the eldest son of the Duke and Compton Place was another seat on the outskirts of Eastbourne.
It would seem the name Strand Road came from the Duke owning property in The Strand, London.
Between the wars newspaper photographs show Binning’s Field being used for field-gun practice for the TA at the nearby Drill Hall, until in November 1939, the area was ploughed for conversion to wartime allotments.
After the war the field became the site for Carlisle Technical College.
Following JW’s visit, imposing houses were constructed on Chatsworth Square. Red Gables was built to the designs of George Dale Oliver in 1884 for William Hudson Scott.
On the corner of Hartington Street and Victoria Place was Woodview designed by CJ Ferguson for S Redmayne in 1883. This had extensive gardens with a gardener’s and coachman’s house, now all built upon.
Next to this was Eildon Lodge, built in 1891. This was purchased by the city to provide a health centre in 1940.
While Woodview was described as being on Chatsworth Square, Eildon Lodge was on Northumberland Road, a name abandoned in favour of Victoria Place in more recent times.
Facing the eastern side of Chatsworth Square the parsonage for St Paul’s Church, on Lonsdale Street, was built in 1870 to the designs of Habershon and Brock of London.
This part of the street was completed with a pair of semi-detached residences by T Taylor Scott in 1890. The design was considered of such high quality that it justified an illustration in The Builder.
When one of these properties was advertised for sale in The Cumberland News in 1996, the advantageous position was given: “Immediately opposite is Chatsworth Square, a private garden offering an oasis in the city for the private use of the adjacent properties.”
