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Summary

Part of Registered Park GD1504 - site and garden remains of 17th century house burnt down in 1718

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Registered Park or Garden (II) 1000525: Hamstead Marshall Park

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 04145.00.000
  
• Old Listed Building Ref (pre 1984) (I): ø Map No 25 3/78 Gate Piers at Hamstead Marshall (Included in Interim Statutory List as Pair of Gate piers in curved wall and six other pairs of Gate piers in area of old garden at Hamstead Marshall Park)
  Two great brick walled enclosures the smaller with elaborate East wall with arched niches and central semicircular recess on East side the larger with raised terrace on West end. In both these enclosures are gateways with elaborately carved urns and decorations on the piers. Similar gate piers each of varying detail, to north and east of these gardens mark former approaches. There are eight pairs of gate piers in all. The house and part of the former gardens have been destroyed. A range of cottages and outbuildings of C.17 and C.18 date line the old approach north of the gardens. Illustrated in Country Life, Vol. XXXIII, 454, and in The English House, J.A. Gotch.

Monument Type(s):

• BOWLING GREEN (17th century to 18th century - 1663 AD? to 1800 AD)
• FORMAL GARDEN (17th century to 18th century - 1663 AD? to 1800 AD)

Full Description

This is one element of the Grade II Registered Park of Hamstead Marshall, GD1504, the other two main elements being the medieval deer park and the 19th century gardens of Hamstead Lodge <1>.

The formal designed landscape of Hamstead Marshall Mansion was depicted in an engraving of c1709 by Kip (or Kyp) <2> before William Craven's late 17th century mansion burnt down in 1718. Elements of the garden (the rectilinear boundary walls, the 8 pairs of gate piers, the separate internal compartments including two joined walled gardens and the formal paths) could still be picked out at the end of the 19th century<3>, and are also seen schematically on Rocque's map <4>. Many survive in the 21st century, although four of the pairs of gate piers have been isolated features without any attached walls probably since the house was demolished. It is suggested by the listing description <5> that the built structures were completed over several decades, if not centuries; certainly the gate piers are not uniform in their design, although none is probably earlier than the 1660s.

Apart from gate piers, the eastern formal gardens shown in Kip's engraving no longer exist above ground, but the layout of paths and beds has been observed in aerial photographs <7><8> and also detected in geophysical survey <9><10>.

The layout of the western formal gardens remains intact in the 21st century, but where Kip showed a probable bowling green, 'wilderness garden' and grove of trees with adjacent terrace, there is now residential development with private gardens. The largest walled compartment, probably used for fruit trees in the 18th century, was a kitchen garden for Hamstead Lodge in the 19th century, and was run as a market garden in the 1960s to 1980s <12>. In 1984, the Craven family's link to the estate was broken, and the site of the 17th century gardens was sold to developers. Some new homes were built within the walled compartments, the largest being the neo-Georgian Craven House, and the farm buildings to the north were converted to residential use. No archaeological work appears to have been carried out in connection with this re-development. However the NMR collected a buildings file with the name 'Craven Hill' in 1985 <19>; the photographs taken may be of the buildings along the track entering the park from Park Lane at SU 4171 6662, as these have an alternative address of Craven Hill in the early 21st century.

A heritage statement with more information about this area <17> was prepared in relation to a planning application to extend East Gate Cottage. East Gate Cottage lies in the northwest edge of Hamstead Marshall Park, a Grade II Registered Park, and is also close to several Listed Buildings including the parish church and several Grade II* gate piers as well as Scheduled Monuments within the park.

The GIS polygon covers the area of the formal compartmentalised gardens and the house, but does not include the avenues of trees to the west and south that are depicted in Kip's engraving.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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