Landscape park of around 28 hectares, having evolved from the late C18.

The historic parkland and gardens of Grove Park are not registered for the following principal reasons:

Degree of historic interest:

* it is fairly modest in form and limited in scope, following what was, by this date, a well-established fashion rather than influencing it; * it is not associated with any named designer, or significant persons or historic events of national interest.

Degree of design interest:

* it is not distinguished by grand entrances, gate lodges, a lake, planned vistas or eye-catchers, all features that contribute to the creation of the most lauded landscape parks of the mid- and late C18. In comparison with these, Grove Park is not a carefully orchestrated vision but rather a simple laying out of parkland with interspersed trees and perimeter belts; * it has suffered a number of alterations in the C20 and early C21 which detract from its design interest, including the introduction of cricket and bowling grounds in the south-east corner of the parkland in the mid- and late C20, and introduction of a swimming pool south of the house around 2020.

Grove Park may have originated as the medieval manor of Stikeland, with a house known as ‘Burtons’ built around 1500 where the walled garden now stands. Burtons was considered one of the most important houses in the parish and stood adjacent a wood called ‘The Lady’s Grove’. The house is shown on John Kirby’s 1736 Map of Suffolk with the name ‘T. Clutterbuck’ beside it, for Thomas Clutterbuck, MP, PC, Treasurer of the Navy (d 1742). In 1770 the Hon. Mrs Henrietta Clutterbuck put the property up for sale, then described as a ‘Mansion-House, with about 60 Acres of Land adjoining, beautifully situated, with Gardens well planted, Fishponds, and every other Conveniency fit for a Gentleman's Family’ (Ipswich Journal 7 July 1770). It was purchased by Eleazar Davy (c 1724-1802) in 1772 and was greatly enlarged by him between around 1777 and 1778. Grove Park in its present form was remodelled for Davy and a substantial house built which became known as The Grove, and later as Grove House. James Wyatt was consulted and sought payment of £80 in 1782, ‘an appropriate sum to cover outline plans and drawings’. The brick walls of the house incorporate much fabric from a smaller but still substantial C16 or C17 predecessor. The kitchen wing on the north side, which has been much enlarged, is described by Pevsner as Elizabethan and timber framed.

In 1775 the footpath across the park was closed, suggesting the parkland’s formation was in progress at that time. The parkland is shown on Hodskinson’s Map of Suffolk (1783) with perimeter belts to the north, north-east and south. Around 1785 the park was extended to the south-east to meet the turnpike road (now the A12). The Tithe apportionment of 13 June 1839 and the accompanying Tithe map record the parkland as having two main entrances from the north and south-east, a path east to St Peter’s Church, perimeter belts to the north, east and west sides, lawn surrounding the mansion, stables north-west of the mansion, and a walled garden north of the mansion with a rectangular-plan structure along its north wall, surrounded by a plantation.

Grove House was acquired around 1865 by Thomas Lomax, a wealthy barrister, who was credited in White’s Suffolk Directory for 1874 with restoring and much improving the mansion and laying out new gardens. He demolished the original service sheds which formed a large rear yard to create a smaller courtyard garden defined by a new white brick range in the Italianate style. He was also responsible for changing the property’s name from Grove House to Grove Park, and for the extensive heated greenhouses that survive along the north wall of the walled garden.

The 25-inch Ordnance Survey (OS) map surveyed in 1883 and published in 1884 shows Grove Park in detail. In addition to the features already shown on the Tithe map, the 1884 OS map shows a fish pond west-southwest of the mansion, kennels north-west of the mansion, and an icehouse in the perimeter belt north of the walled garden. The walled garden is shown in detail with a long range of glasshouses along the interior of the north wall and a central projecting bay (corresponding with what survives today), paths through the 4 gate openings (which all survive), a potting shed attached to the exterior north end of the west wall, and a small, detached glasshouse near the northwest corner of the garden (demolished in the late C20). The 6-inch OS map revised in 1903 and published in 1905 shows the parkland of Grove Park stippled (denoting parkland).

In 1935 the estate (then 69 acres) was advertised for auction. The sale particulars described a small well-timbered park, specimen oaks, fishpond, and a small formal garden approached by steps, surrounded by a lavender hedge and containing a lily pond and sundial on a brick pedestal. The kitchen garden was described as being well stocked with wall espalier and standard apples, pears etc, numerous gooseberry and raspberry canes, two asparagus beds, a range of heated glasshouses containing vines, Muscat of Alexandria, peach and nectarines, Victoria, Duke of York and Elruge, and a small, detached forcing house. Within the parkland south-east of the house, a cricket ground was established around 1935 on land west of Old High Road and is shown on the 1977 OS map; a cricket pavilion was constructed in the late C20. A bowling green and pavilion were added north of the cricket ground around 2000. The north gateway of Grove Park was rebuilt in 2019. The main house was extensively refurbished around 2022, and a new orangery and swimming pool added to the south garden.

Landscape park of around 28 hectares, having evolved from the late C18.

LOCATION: Grove Park is located to the east side of Yoxford village and High Street. High Street runs north-west to south-east through the village, and east of High Street the River Yox flows in the same direction.

AREA: the area being assessed for registration measures nearly 28 hectares and is roughly triangular on plan, with the main house, Grove Park, slightly west of centre.

BOUNDARIES: the parkland is bounded to the north-east by High Street, to the east by houses fronting the west side of High Street, to the south-east by Old High Road, and to the south by a hedge-lined field boundary. Perimeter belts survive along the north-east, south-east and north-west boundaries. The parkland along the east and west sides is generally bounded by post and wire fencing, and along the south side by a ditch.

LANDFORM AND SETTING: the land is gently undulating, and slopes from around 15m AOD at the north and south-east entrances to around 20m AOD east of the house and around 25m AOD west of the house. From the house there are views to the south and west where the land slopes upwards to around 40m AOD around 1km distant.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES: Grove Park is accessed at the north end of the parkland through a gateway at the junction of High Street and Strickland Manor Hill; in 2019 the north entrance gates, brick gate piers and flanking walls were demolished and replaced by a wider entrance. From the north entrance, a compacted gravel drive gently winds south for around 430m to the north and east sides of the main house. A former south-east entrance from Old High Road, near the junction with Brook Street (now the A12), retains its south flanking wall, however its gate has been replaced. The former south-east drive, measuring 490m in length, is no longer extant. A former footpath across the estate leading to St Peter’s Church was closed by Eleazar Davy in 1777 and partially survives as a public right of way along the north side of the bowling green.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING: near the centre of the parkland stands Grove Park, a Grade II-listed mansion (National Heritage List for England (NHLE) entry 1200613), originally constructed in the late C16, rebuilt in the 1770s for Eleazar Davy, with C19 additions. The principal elevation faces east to the village of Yoxford and St Peter’s Church, and the garden elevation faces south overlooking parkland. A courtyard garden was created to the rear (west) of the house around 1870, ‘defined by a new white brick range in the Italianate style’ (White’s Suffolk Directory, 1874). A service courtyard to the rear (west) of the house is screened from view. An orangery was added to the south-west corner in 2022.

OTHER BUILDINGS: immediately west of the north entrance is Plantation Cottage (listed at Grade II), probably built in the C17 and timber framed. The cottage stands outside the area of this assessment but is mentioned here as may have functioned as a lodge or gardener’s accommodation at one time.

A walled garden stands around 120m north of the main house. The walled garden is roughly square on plan, aligned north-northwest to south-southeast, with a central gated opening along its south side facing the north side of the main house. It measures around 0.6 hectares in area, and its walls are constructed of red brick, with a variety of sloping and stepped buttresses along the south and west walls. The walled garden was probably built around 1780 and is clearly shown on the 1837 one-inch OS map and 1839 Tithe apportionment and map. Along the north wall of the garden is a range of glasshouses, the central one with a canted front; the glasshouses were added around 1880 during the ownership of Thomas Lomax, and the garden walls raised at that time.

A former coach house and attached former stable block, and detached former kennels (not listed) stand around 120m north-northwest of the main house and immediately south-west of the walled garden and are accessed via a wrought-iron gate. They were probably built around 1800, and the former stables was partially converted to residential use in 1977 (with planning permission).

A former water tower (not listed) stands in the western perimeter belt, around 30m west of the former kennels. It was constructed around 1914 and has a plain-tiled roof, braced metal frame, and timber-clad walls.

An icehouse (not listed) is located in the north-west perimeter belt, around 120m north of the walled garden. It is built of red brick, circular on plan, and probably dates from around 1800; it is now overgrown and was not visited as part of this assessment for safety reasons.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS: the gardens are laid mainly to the south and west of the house. South of the house a rectangular-plan swimming pool was constructed in 2022, and along the south boundary a small, C20 oval-plan pool has a flight of steps descending along its east side. West of the house the ground steps upwards to a raised lawn and fish pond, to the west of which a hard tennis court was constructed in the late C20. The gardens are separated from the parkland to the south by slender wrought-iron fencing, giving uninterrupted views from the house; trees and shrubs were planted along the wrought-iron fence in the C20, presumably to maximise privacy.

THE PARK: the main house stands roughly to the west of centre in the parkland, with open parkland to the north, east and south. The perimeter belts include beech, oak, sycamore, ash, Scots pine, lime and yew. The parkland south of the house is divided into two sections, north and south, by a wrought-iron fence, separating the private grounds of the house from a field through which runs a public right of way. Within the north section of parkland there are mature specimen trees, including a number of freestanding limes, dotted throughout the parkland. A Cedar of Lebanon (presented in the 1970s) grows east of the house, east of a late-C20 lake. Within the southern section of parkland there are mature specimen trees including sequoia, beech and lime as well as clumps. In the east part of this southern section of parkland, a cricket ground was established around 1935 on the west side of Old High Road and is shown on the 1977 OS map; a cricket pavilion was later added. A bowling green and pavilion were added north of the cricket ground around 2000, between the cricket ground and public right of way.