The Birdcage Arbour in Melbourne Hall Gardens is a Grade I listed building in the South Derbyshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 10 November 1967. Garden pavilion.
The Birdcage Arbour in Melbourne Hall Gardens
- WRENN ID
- wild-forge-blackthorn
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- South Derbyshire
- Constituency
- South Derbyshire MP: Samantha Niblett (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 10 November 1967
- Type
- Garden pavilion
- Address
- The Birdcage Arbour in Melbourne Hall Gardens, Church Close
- OS grid reference
- SK 392 249
- Coordinates
- 52.82099, -1.41945
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Birdcage Arbour in Melbourne Hall Gardens is a garden pavilion built around 1705-1710 by Robert Bakewell. It was created as the centerpiece of a French-style garden designed by the Royal Gardeners to Queen Anne, London and Wise, for Thomas Coke of Melbourne Hall, with construction work carried out by William Cooke of Walcot. The structure is made of stuccoed brick and wrought iron, featuring a unique cage-like design with elaborate craftsmanship, an open domed roof, and an open cupola above.
Access to the arbour is via a flight of five stone steps that lead up to an advanced doorcase, which is flanked by decorative ironwork panels adorned with scrolls and foliage. Similar decorative panels are found on the sides of the Birdcage, and the domed roof is embellished with iron oak leaves intertwined with scrolled panels. The cupola also features this decorative treatment and is topped with a tall finial. Behind the Birdcage, there is a small room with a large segmental arch leading into the main structure, which has a moulded keystone. Inside, the arbour includes a fitted bench with turned legs. The Birdcage Arbour is listed in the Derbyshire Historic Gardens Register at Grade I.
Local climate
The Birdcage Arbour in Melbourne Hall Gardens sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 77% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 72% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 37 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 18 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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