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Monument Types

• LANDSCAPE PARK (C18?, Post Medieval to Late 20th Century - 1547 AD to 2000 AD)

Associated Events

• Historic Parks and Gardens Survey

Full description

The original manor house was one mile north of Langar Church on the side of the River Smite. It was not until the fourteenth century that the Scrope family succeeded the Tiptofts as Lords of the Manor and went on to build the first great mansion at Langar. According to Leland it was "embattled like a castle" and had "a fine park stocked with deer". The existing moats and fishponds are thought to have originated at this time. The Scrope heiress Arabella married John Howe,and they rebuilt the house after a fire had destroyed the original castle. They also enhanced the existing deer park - confirmation of enclosure is to be found in the Chancery Records of 1681. Throsby describing the park in 1790 says there are "no field embellishments of note; no attractions of beauty". His engraving shows no garden near the house, just pasture parkland and semi-mature trees. The two existing pairs of brick piers and walled enclosure to the south of the hall appear to date from the eighteenth century. After 1799 the hall was occupied by stewards from Home Farm. It was then sold, the estate broken up and the old hall dismantled. The park was divided into closes and much of the timber was felled. The present stuccoed house was built in 1837, incorporating the kitchen wing at the rear which was part of an earlier structure. The ownership passed in the 1860's to Annie Bayley, who is credited with planting the lime avenue from the Cropwell Road. The hall passed to her daughter Murial who married Percy Huskinson of Epperstone Manor. Their son, Geoffrey, who was a Nottinghamshire cricketer, laid out and replanted the gardens in the valley below the house. He built Lady Howe's bath in 1937. He also planted many cricket bat willows near the moats which no longer exist.
The hall is approached via a tree lined drive from the Cropwell Bishop Road. . A terrace to the north of the house is retained by a herringbone Barnstone shale wall which continues round the western edge of the formal lawn forming a ha-ha. There are the remains of a formal pond, fountain and waterfall known as Lady Howe's bath. Further north where the ground levels is a series of linear water features which once formed the medieval moats. These have been remodelled at various times to make a garden feature of them. The bridge over the moat was constructed from balustrades salvaged from Fineshades Abbey in Northamptonshire in 1955. To the east of the moats is a former kitchen garden with the remains of a small walled enclosure with two poly-tunnels at the far north end. This area has been part planted with a native woodland mix and is covered with coarse grass. The formal lawn to the west of the hall was the site of the previous house. On the far western edge is a slightly sunken square level area thought by the owner to be the site of an old bowling green. Beyond this are the remnants of the old deer park (see Fig. 10). The two stone balls and circular plinths were salvaged from the house demolished by John Wright. To the south of the house is a small modern flower garden and croquet lawn set amongst mature trees. Adjacent to this is a small kitchen garden enclosed by hedging. (2)
See M10246 for Langar Hall, M7713 for ha-ha, L1232 for garden earthworks.

<1> Notts Historic Gardens Trust, 1995-1997, Notts Historic Parks and Gardens Files (Unpublished document). SNT4553.

<2> Biggadyke J, 1995, Langar Hall - Register Review Report (Unpublished document). SNT4607.

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