Editing Blenheim Palace (section)

== Park and gardens ==
[[File:Blenheim3.jpg|thumb|left|Blenheim Palace, looking across the east facade's Italian garden to the orangery, which both adorns and disguises the walls of the domestic east court. The East gate is seen rising above.]]
[[File:A new and accurate plan of Blenheim Palace - L'Art de Créer les Jardins (1835), pl. 1 - BL.jpg|thumb|Blenheim Palace Park and gardens in 1835]]

Blenheim sits in the centre of a large undulating park, a classic example of the [[English garden|English landscape garden]] movement and style. When Vanbrugh first cast his eyes over it in 1704 he immediately conceived a typically grandiose plan: through the park trickled the small [[River Glyme]], and Vanbrugh envisaged this [[marsh]]y brook traversed by the "finest bridge in Europe". Thus, ignoring the second opinion offered by Sir Christopher Wren, the marsh was channelled into three small [[canal]]-like streams and across it rose a bridge of huge proportions, so huge it was reported to contain some 30-odd rooms. While the bridge was indeed an amazing wonder, in this setting it appeared incongruous, causing [[Alexander Pope]] to comment: "the minnows, as under this vast arch they pass, murmur, 'how like whales we look, thanks to your Grace.'"<ref>Bingham, p. 201</ref>

[[Horace Walpole]] saw it in 1760, shortly before [[Capability Brown]]'s improvements: "the bridge, like the beggars at the old duchess's gate, begs for a drop of water and is refused."<ref>Walpole to George Montagu, 19 July 1760. Walpole was not pleased with "Vanbrugh's quarries", with the inscriptions glorifying Marlborough "and all the old flock chairs, wainscot tables, and gowns and petticoats of queen Anne, that old Sarah could crowd among blocks of marble. It looks like the palace of an auctioneer, that has been chosen king of Poland."</ref> Another of Vanbrugh's schemes was the great [[parterre]], nearly half a mile long and as wide as the south front. Also in the park, completed after the 1st Duke's death, is the ''Column of Victory''. It is {{convert|134|ft|m|abbr=on}} high and terminates a great [[avenue (landscape)|avenue]] of elms leading to the palace, which were planted in the positions of Marlborough's [[troops]] at the Battle of Blenheim. Vanbrugh had wanted an [[obelisk]] to mark the site of the former royal manor, and the trysts of Henry II which had taken place there, causing the 1st Duchess to remark, "If there were obelisks to bee made of all what our Kings have done of that sort, the countrey would bee stuffed with very odd things" (''sic''). The obelisk was never realised.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://baffledspirit.blogspot.com/2015/05/blenheim-part-ii-vision-and-egos.html?m=0|title=Blenheim Part II Vision and egos|date=7 May 2015|publisher=Record of a Baffled Spirit|access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Blenheim Column of Victory.JPG|thumb|upright|The Column of Victory in the Palace grounds, 1727–1730 designed by [[Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke]]]]
[[File:Blenheim Palace Park & Lake (6093445394).jpg|thumb|left|The Great Lake c. 1764–1774 by Capability Brown]]
[[File:Blenheim cascade.jpg|thumb|left|The cascade where the water flows out of the Great Lake]]

Following the 1st Duke's death, the Duchess concentrated most of her considerable energies on the completion of the palace itself, and the park remained relatively unchanged until the arrival of Capability Brown in 1764. The 4th Duke employed Brown who immediately began an [[English garden|English landscape garden scheme]] to naturalise and enhance the landscape, with tree planting and man-made undulations. However, the feature with which he is forever associated is the lake, a huge stretch of water created by damming the River Glyme and ornamented by a series of [[Fan waterfalls|cascades]] where the river flows in and out. The lake was narrowed at the point of Vanbrugh's grand bridge, but the three small canal-like streams trickling underneath it were completely absorbed by one river-like stretch. Brown's great achievement at this point was to actually flood and submerge beneath the water level the lower stories and rooms of the bridge itself, thus reducing its incongruous height and achieving what is regarded by many as the epitome of an English landscape. Brown also grassed over the great parterre and the Great Court. The latter was re-paved by [[Achille Duchêne|Duchêne]] in the early 20th century. The 5th Duke was responsible for several other [[Folly#Follies in 18th-century French and English gardens|garden follies]] and novelties.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fabulousfollies.net/oxfordshire.html|title=Oxfordshire|publisher=Fabulous Follies|access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref>

[[Sir William Chambers]], assisted by [[John Yenn]], was responsible for the small summerhouse known as "The Temple of Diana" down by the lake, where in 1908 Winston Churchill proposed to his future wife.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/articles/Winston-Churchill-anniversary-a-preview-of-the-ChurchillExhibition-at-Blenheim-Palace/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/articles/Winston-Churchill-anniversary-a-preview-of-the-ChurchillExhibition-at-Blenheim-Palace/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=On the trail of Winston Churchill at Blenheim and beyond|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=23 January 2015|access-date=29 July 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The extensive landscaped park, woodlands and formal gardens of Blenheim are Grades I listed on the [[Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England|Register of Historic Parks and Gardens]].<ref name=NHLEGarden>{{NHLE|num=1000434|desc=Blenheim Palace|access-date=16 October 2017|mode=cs2}}</ref> [[Blenheim Park]] is a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1001566&SiteName=&countyCode=34&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea= |title=Designated Sites View: Blenheim Park |series=Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|access-date=12 March 2020}}</ref>