Event details
Spotlight Gallery
Included with all house tickets
The Spotlight Gallery, located off the Vestibule in the house, offers us the opportunity to showcase new or interesting items preserved in the Devonshire Collections that are not usually on display, or to tell new stories about our past.
Endurance: The Afterlife of the Cascade
17 July - 11 October
One of the most remarkable things about the Chatsworth Cascade is that it has remained, by and large, unchanged by subsequent generations. It is an outlier in this regard – the Cascade at Marly, for example, was filled in during the 1720s, and other English Cascades, such as at Dyrham, have been swept away.
The 1730s and 40s was a precarious time for these water features, as English Garden Design became more naturalistic, first under William Kent and then under Capability Brown.
Visitors will have the opportunity to see how the Chatsworth Landscape evolved in paintings in the Green Satin Room. In the Spotlight Gallery, we present a series of designs for a more naturalistic cascade, produced by Kent in the 1730s.
The Cascade has historically generated joy, something it continues to do today. On display is a series of 18th-century letters putting the Cascade in its social context and showing its role as one of the central features of how people have used and understood the garden.
The great phase of alteration to the Cascade took place in the 1820s and 1830s, when it was partly re-laid to accommodate the changes made by Joseph Paxton and the 6th Duke in the wider gardens. View postcards showing the relationship of the Cascade to the Aqueduct, and a portrait of Joseph Paxton.
Celebrating the Cascade
The Cascade at Chatsworth has been the centrepiece of the garden for over 300 years. Built in the 1690s to great wonder and amazement, the Cascade was an engineering feat of its time. It is now cared for by Chatsworth House Trust and remains one of the best-loved features of the garden.
Unfortunately, centuries of use have weakened the Cascade and serious water leakage through the stones has put it at significant structural risk. To prevent further deterioration, the Cascade has been turned off, and the water will not flow until restoration has been undertaken.
A fundraising campaign, Celebrating the Cascade, has been launched to restore this much-loved water feature, and awarded a grant of £4.6 million by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The total cost of the restoration project is estimated to be £7.5 million, and the Trust needs to raise the remaining funds required through a public fundraising campaign.
Learn more about the project and how you can help by sponsoring a step in the Cascade on our dedicated website.
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The 17th century's most prolific female writer is brought to life in this illustrated talk by Dr Charlotte Newcombe.
Talk: Working Lives at Chatsworth 1850-1920
31 July 2026
Discover the stories of staff working for the Devonshire family between 1850 and 1920 as told through textiles and archival material preserved in the Devonshire Collections.
Talk: Caroline Norton's Papers at Chatsworth
14 August 2026
Learn more about the life of author, editor and campaigner for the rights of married women, Caroline Norton, in this talk with Fran Baker, head of Archive and Library.
Textile Tours
18 August & 13 October
Join our expert Textiles team for an overview of ongoing remedial and preventative conservation of the collection, both on route and behind the scenes (18 August), and to explore our contemporary textile archive, including more recent commissions (13 October).
Chatsworth's Botanical Treasures - Archives Session
11 September 2026
Delve into our archives and read the letters between the 6th Duke and Joseph Paxton, revealing the background to the transformation of the Chatsworth Garden.
An Introduction to Chatsworth in Seven Objects
14 October 2026
Devonshire Collection Curator Katherine Hardwick-Kulpa, selects seven significant objects from the Devonshire Collections that provide fascinating insight into Chatsworth's 500 year history.
