Picture of the week: 22/01/24

andrew

Jan 22

OUR picture choice this week takes us to Oxfordshire and a series of shots celebrating the unusual architecture of Blenheim Palace.

The country house at Woodstock – one of the largest in Britain – is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and was home to the Churchill family for 300 years.

FAMILY SEAT: Blenheim Palace PICTURE: Jo Galloway

Designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1987, it's the only "palace" in England not home to the Royal family or a bishop.

It was built between 1705 and 1722, named after the 1704 Battle of Blenheim and originally intended as a reward for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, for his military triumphs in the War of the Spanish Succession.

NATIONAL MONUMENT: the baroque palace PICTURE: Jo Galloway

Designed in the relatively rare English Baroque style favoured by Sir Christopher Wren (St Paul's Cathedral) and William Talman (Chatsworth House), it was conceived by Sir John Vanbrugh as a national monument first and a comfortable family home second, prompting arguments with the Duchess which led to his resignation in 1716.

English Baroque style was less flamboyant and extravagant than continental preferences, with a more solid, understated appearance, though there's nothing low-key about the style of this Grade I listed building, with its gilded state rooms and priceless collections.

STATESMAN: Churchill was born at Blenheim PICTURE: Jo Galloway

It's where Winston Churchill was born in 1874 and spent much of his childhood, even proposing to Clementine during a party there in 1908 in a small summer house in the grounds known as the Temple of Diana.

But the dukedom was facing near bankruptcy when his close friend and first cousin the 9th Duke of Marlborough inherited the title in 1892, prompting him into a marriage of convenience with American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt, which helped to save Blenheim from ruin.

PASTORAL STYLE: the gardens at Blenheim PICTURE: Jo Galloway

Little remains of the original landscaping, because in the mid-18th century Lancelot 'Capability' Brown redesigned the entire 2,000 acres of gardens and parkland in his pastoral style of seemingly natural landscapes of woods, lawns, and waterways.

One of the most successful landscape architects of his time, Brown arrived in 1764 and faced a mammoth task.

NATURAL LOOK: Capability Brown took charge in 1764 PICTURE: Jo Galloway

The Grand Bridge had been the subject of more than a few critical remarks previously due to the rather underwhelming streams that ran underneath it. The famous poet Alexander Pope joked that minnows in the stream "took on the grandeur of whales as they swam underneath it".

Brown's solution was to widen the trickling river Glyme by digging out a valley, flooding it then damming it, creating a stunning lake with the lower storeys of the Grand Bridge, featuring 30 secret rooms, deliberately submerged under water.

GRAND CASCADE: Brown's man-made waterfall PICTURE: Jo Galloway

He also engineered a man-made waterwall, the Grand Cascade, as an overflow section to the dam across the valley.

It was all done by hand, dug and shaped by labourers with the soil lined with a watertight layer of clay – and on such a scale that when the lake was eventually flooded, it took over a year to fill it.

LABOUR OF LOVE: the lake at Blenheim PICTURE: Jo Galloway

Brown's transformation of the gardens and parklands took 11 years and the landscape has remained largely unchanged over the centuries since, perhaps a reflection of his talent for creating such a natural, idyllic style of English garden that it looks as if it has always been there.

King George III was so impressed by the timeless view of the Grand Bridge stretching out across the still and shimmering water of the lake when visiting in 1786 that he remarked: "We have nothing equal to this!"

RELAXED SURROUNDINGS: the Blenheim gardens PICTURE: Jo Galloway

The photo study is the work of amateur photographer Jo Galloway from the West Midlands, a regular visitor to Blenheim over the years.

"I took Mum there a few times and it was my first time back without her. Because I go out on my own I want to feel safe and it's only about an hour from home, a lovely place to photograph with different areas," she says.

DIFFERENT AREAS: the gardens offer plenty of variety PICTURE: Jo Galloway

Having taken up photography as a hobby some years ago, buying a Canon EOS600D, retirement has given here more time to enjoy it, she says.

"Retirement has allowed the time and space to start using it properly with upgraded lenses and a better understanding of how to get the best from the camera," she says – and she's enjoyed the process of learning about ways of moving from "taking snaps" to creating better quality photographs.

SMALL DETAILS: leaves in close up PICTURE: Jo Galloway

"Photography is very personal, however for me it brings great pleasure from the minute I pick my camera up, to roaming around new and old places through to creating the image and sharing it with others, hopefully for their enjoyment too."

Sir Winston Churchill would doubtless approve of the desire to capture Blenheim on camera. He wanted to be buried at nearby St Martin's Churchyard in Bladon, within sight of the palace, and his wishes were honoured when he died in 1965 at the age of 90.

After the state funeral service at St Paul's, his body was taken by train to Oxfordshire for a private burial where only relatives and close friends were present. His beloved wife Clementine was buried alongside him in 1977.