The Orangery at Markeaton Park, Early Morning

This tranquil summer scene in a local public park was taken first thing in the morning, before the general public arrive. Markeaton Park is one of Derby's most popular public parks, often staging large events for the public such as the annual firework display. In November 2005 this event attracted more than 35,000 people to the park from across the county.

To see lots of photographs of both the Orangery and other areas of Markeaton Park, please visit the Markeaton Park section of my website, link below http://www.derbyphotos.co.uk/areas_i_o/markeaton.htm

Descriptions for this 360 view (clockwise)
The ornamental fountain.
The path ahead of the fountain leads to the lower terrace.
The Orangery building was designed by Joseph Pickford (famous Derby architect) during the 1770s. Now a grade II listed building, Today this is a cafe for visitors to the park.
Entrance to former stables : The small arch leads through to a courtyard which was originally the stables for the hall. since 1987 this has been Markeaton Craft Village, where visitors are able to watch skilled craftspeople at work, making furniture, pottery, ironwork etc.
Iron gates : This area was the site of the former Markeaton Hall which was demolished in 1964.
Flower beds.
archway in hedge : This leads through to to main grassed area of the park.

Extra Details and History
Markeaton Park was created in the 1770s by William Emes of Bowbridge Fields, it was part of a large private estate for the Mundys (a well known Derby family). The Mundys bought the estate in 1516 from Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester.

Sixteen acres of the park were given to the council in 1929 when the owner died. The land was donated on the understanding that it must be put to some use for the benefit of the citizens of Derby. The council purchased an additional 211 acres of land from the Clark-Maxells (another local family). The now 'public park' was officially opened by the Duke of Kent in June 1931. The lake was expanded in 1933-34, and was opened in July 1934. Today this is a very popular area for visitors, boating, fishing and feeding the many swans and ducks.

Markeaton Hall was demolished in 1964, only the Orangery and stable yards remained. If you would like to see a fading then and now photograph featuring Markeaton hall as it would have appeared in 1950 compared with 2005 then take a look at my then and now photograph by clicking the link below. This requires a screen resolution of at least 1024x768 and Macromedia flash.
Then and now photo of Markeaton Hall 1950-2005

The view is taken from the lower garden terrace, looking towards Markeaton Hall, You should be able to make out the Orangery to the left of the photo. This should help you work out where the view was taken.

Why the Hall was demolished
The hall was used by the Army during World War II and allowed to fall into disrepair after the war. The Council had continually neglected the building, which eventually was declared to be unsafe. The council decided to demolish it in 1964.

A 360 Wintertime view of this same location Whilst prepairing this photograph (December 2005) it snowed in Derby, It does not really snow much here so I decided to go out and repeat the 360 photograph taken from about the same place as the summer photo. It was -6C when I took this winter version and the flowerbeds were all covered in snow. As you can see the fountain was just about managing to work. To see my Winter version of this 360 view please visit the link below and click the WWP1205 thumbnail:
Markeaton Park Orangery winter 2005 This is a fullscreen version (1.15Mb).

Hope you enjoy the summer and winter views of this local park!

Europe / UK-England

Lat: 52° 56' 10" N
Long: 2° 31' 24" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Olympus 5050 mounted on a Home made nodal point adaptor on a standard tripod. Made from 25 photos taken in portrait mode.