Our Celebrating the Cascade Project is about much more than restoring a Grade I listed water feature. By using the Cascade as the starting point, we can engage with new and diverse audiences and share stories of water, sustainability, landscape and great historical feats of engineering in exciting and innovative ways.

An example of this is a pilot project carried out by our Learning and Engagement team with year 9 pupils at Netherthorpe School in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. 

Learning through Rap

To support the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) curriculum in secondary schools, the team collaborated with teachers and young people at Netherthorpe School, using the medium of rap to illustrate the Cascade’s role in the water cycle, the gravity fed water artery, and hydroelectricity. 

Working with Jon Chase, a science communicator and rapper, we produced a new show, ‘Chatsworth Got Flow!’. The rap, combined with the water demonstration experiments, enabled pupils to engage with themes from across the curriculum.

Feedback from pupils was overwhelmingly positive, one pupil said, ‘It helped me learn about physics and how to calculate work done and how gravity works’ and another said, ‘The water experiments were fun and cool, and the rap was cool and the guy was funny’. 

The show features in a new film, to be released at a later date, which we hope will inspire learning and engagement with the water artery.

The year 9 pupils also visited Chatsworth to explore the garden and learn about the ‘water artery’, of which the Cascade is a vital part. 

The water artery begins on the moors above the eastern side of the Chatsworth Garden, where rain water flows through a system of streams and sluices to specially constructed lakes.

From here, both the water and the force of gravity are harnessed to feed into the water features you see in the garden, such as the Cascade and the Emperor Fountain (shown below).

This water artery provides an original and engaging focus for those learning about this sustainable water system, but feedback also made it clear that the pupils found other benefits from spending time in the Chatsworth Garden, ‘The garden made me more relaxed and forget about school and the stress of it.’

Inspired by these pilot sessions, the Learning & Engagement Team have designed activities to engage with the stories of the Cascade, as well as supporting mental health and wellbeing by connecting young people with nature through the Chatsworth landscape. 

This year will see Chatsworth House Trust sharing the Cascade’s stories with more schools and having the opportunity to make a tangible positive impact on the lives of many more young people. 

Main image: Jon Chase performing the Cascade Learning Show, with new ‘Chatsworth Got Flow!’ rap, at Netherthorpe School, November 2024. Credit Photography by Paradigm Arts.