Grendon Hall - Local Heritage List Platform

Location/Address

None recorded

Type

Park or garden

Coherent areas of land designed and/or managed for leisure purposes.

Description

Late nineteenth century gardens and parkland to Grendon Hall The pleasure ground and park for an 1880s country house on an elevated site, including terrace, informal lawns with mature trees and shrubberies, and parkland, since the mid-C20 in institutional use as a prison. The layout survives considerably intact, except for a 7ha. housing estate in the south park and prison buildings in the pleasure grounds around the Hall to the east and south. The elevated areas of the site enjoy extensive views south and west. A large prison compound lies adjacent in the setting to the east. Detailed description in Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust report.

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Statement of Significance

Asset type

Late nineteenth century gardens and parkland to Grendon Hall

Architectural and Artistic Interest

Architectural interest: This is a typical group of structures for a new country house of the 1880s. It is by an obscure but competent amateur architect, Rev. Randolphe Henry Piggot, who, as well as the Hall, seemingly designed the stable block, stable yard, lodge (gone), and associated structures. The structures were united in the design using fashionable Jacobean style in red brick with stone dressings. It is unclear whether Piggot designed buildings elsewhere. The origin of the red brick kitchen garden walls and back sheds attached to the north is unclear but they are apparently early C20. Artistic interest: The layout comprises a largely typical contemporary ensemble of garden, pleasure ground and park for a country house developed in the 1880s, with buildings in Jacobean style. The 1880s design incorporated hedgerow trees as specimens in the new park with some additional specimen trees, and a straight main drive framed by an avenue. Some of the early ornamental specimens survive enclosing the informal lawns within the garden, to the north, west and south. The apparently early-C20 kitchen garden has been used until recently for horticulture. Lost areas are localised, including in the south park a 7ha. housing estate adjacent to the main drive, and prison development east and south of the Hall in former pleasure grounds. The rural setting enjoys views over the Vale of Aylesbury to the south, south-east and west. Part of the setting to the east has been compromised by the large prison development adjacent on the downward slope away from the site.

Group Value

Grendon Hall is part of a group of comparable late 19th century small to medium-sized parks in the vicinity which includes Addington Manor, Akeley Wood, Lillingstone House, and Tingewick Rectory.

Historic Interest

The early history of the site has strong associations with the Forest of Bernwood. There is believed to be an archive of material in the prison which may be a source of additional information.

Archaeological Interest

Potential for evidence of Roman occupation is high, given the proximity to Akeman Street and archaeological evidence nearby along the route of HS2. The medieval Forest of Bernwood provides this area with a unique heritage, many of the features and place names being a direct legacy of the ancient royal forest. Potential for evidence associated with the Forest particularly relates to banks, routes, boundaries and buildings. The park is rich in ridge and furrow. Potential exists for former features related to the designed landscape since the 1880s, such as buildings, paths, beds, terraces, boundaries, and the lost north drive.