Gibside Estate is situated on the steep, southern slopes of the Derwent Valley. It is a Georgian ‘grand design’ on a spectacular scale. The gardens are the vision of coal baron and sportsman George Bowes and the garden designer Stephen Switzer. The southwest section of garden is marked by the Long Walk, a broad corridor of grass half-a mile in length. At each end of the Long Walk is a major monument. The Column to Liberty, a Doric column 140 feet high, proclaims Bowes’ liberal Whig Principles and was completed under the supervision of James Paine in 1757. At the opposite end is Paine’s Chapel, a Palladian masterpiece, complete with Ionic columns and a drum and domed roof.
The grand Palladian Chapel of the Gibside estate retains its original interior of cherrywood pews and rare three-tier mahogany pulpit, it also has a small collection of liturgical books, bound especially for the opening of the chapel in 1812.
