The award-winning York Handmade Brick Company has played a pivotal role in restoring the dilapidated 18th century walled garden at
Burton Constable Hall, EastYorkshire, to its former glory.
York Handmade, based at Alne, near Easingwold, provided 100,000 bricks to help to transform the run-down garden, which was being used as a pheasant-rearing pen, into a tranquil paradise for the 21st century.
The garden, which also features a new statue of Mr John Chichester-Constable of Burton Constable Hall, is open to the public
by appointment. The £300,000 transformation of the walled garden, which was built in 1768, also featured the restoration of the ageing
Bothy and Gardener’s Cottage, as well as three “earth toilets”.
Mr Chichester-Constable has personally overseen the restoration of the walled garden – two centuries after legendary Capability Brown
designed the gardens and lake at the Hall, the family home since the mid-16th century.
David Armitage, the chairman of the York Handmade Brick Company, commented: “This has been the most wonderful project with a true
sense of history. We provided 100,000 bricks from our Lindum and Thirkleby ranges and they have fitted in seamlessly with the remaining
parts of the old wall which had survived the ravages of the weather and time.
“The old wall was very precarious. Indeed part of it fell down in the wind when Robert Hobson, of our builders’ merchants Robinsons from Brandesburton, was shooting there,” he added.
“As luck would have it, Robinsons are a stockist of York Handmade products, and Robert asked us if we could produce a brick to match the original. Indeed we could.”
Mr John Chichester-Constable said: “The role played by the York Handmade Brick Company in the restoration of the Burton Constable Walled Garden has been extremely important.
The standard of their work has been exceptional and the overall effect is a perfect blend of old and new. They have done a tremendous job.”