Chatsworth Gardens

One of a large group of street names in this post-war part of Plymouth, Chatsworth Gardens is named after the large stately home in Derbyshire's Peak District, seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, which has impressive gardens of its own, with more than 130 miles of footpaths crossing the estate.

Largely landscaped by the famous Capability Brown in the early 18th century at the behes t of the fourth duke, the gardens were enriched by the sixth duke who employed Joseph Paxton (born in 1803) as his gardener between 1826 and 1858. Paxton, later architect of theCrystal palae, tried out his revolutionary ideas for building in iron and glass in Chatsorth's now-lost Conservatory.

The original house, fronted by the River Derwent, was built in the late 16th century, but little of that work remains in the massice, much-enlarged premises which now compirse 175 rooms, 17 staircases, 24 baths, 53 lavatories and a staggering 8,000 panes of glass.

The name itself appears as 'chetesuorde' in the Domesday Survey, becoming Chattesworth by 1276, its meaning 'the worp or worth' - that is, the soil, land or homestead - belonging to Ceatt.

EH 1 March 2003