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Summary

Grade II* Registered Garden created in the late 17th or early 18th century as pleasure grounds for walking, around a former rectory

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Registered Park or Garden (II*) 1000328: Inkpen House
• Conservation Area: Inkpen

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• National Monuments Record No.: SU 36 SE 28
  SU 3582 6369

Monument Type(s):

• ORNAMENTAL GARDEN (17th century to 18th century - 1695 AD to 1800 AD)

Full Description

The grounds around Inkpen House are a Grade II* Registered Park and Garden, described in the National Heritage List for England as a late 17th to early 18th century formal garden, probably replanted in the 19th century and with restoration work in the late 20th century <1>. The garden surrounds a former rectory, dated to about 1695. On the south side of the house is a grass terrace, and a concave grass slope leads up to a 'goose-foot' arrangement of three avenues or allées. A further avenue crosses the garden transversely, dividing up the space into hedged compartments.

Betjeman in the Berkshire Murray's guide <4> described the creation of "radiating avenues of beech and yew with a sidewalk of lime, leading to a point where a fine vista of the downs is disclosed - a miniature, rustic and undulated Versailles." The garden was also described in Country Life at this period <5><6>. Though some elements of the garden are believed to have been partially remodelled in the late 20th century, the Revised Pevsner guide considers the formal garden with its French influences to be remarkably well-preserved <8>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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