Aston Clinton Park (Green Park)
Location/Address
None recorded
Type
Description
Nineteenth century park and gardens of Aston Clinton House
The remains of a mid-late C19 garden and park for a lost country house, forming an early element of a unique cluster of seven flamboyant C19 Rothschild country house landscapes in Buckinghamshire/ Hertfordshire (the closest comparable of which are nearby Halton House and Tring Park). The design incorporates features from previous C18/C19 design phases and a canal, with mid-C19 buildings by Stokes and Devey (who both worked on nearby Rothschild sites) and extensive mature ornamental tree planting. The 75 ha. Site is contiguous with adjacent Halton House, also for the Rothschild family. Although many features and much woody planting survives including parkland, losses and change have been sustained in the C20, including during the 1960s adaptation to a training centre, included most notably the replacement of the lost mansion with a large recreational building, and residential development around the northern periphery.
Detailed description in Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust report.
Statement of Significance
Asset type
Nineteenth century park and gardens of Aston Clinton HouseArchitectural and Artistic Interest
Architectural interest: The partial survival of a notable mid‐C19 country house group with a 1960s training centre complex. Major C19 buildings by Stokes/Devey. Surviving ornamental elements of the C19 Rothschild landscape design include the main gateway, steps, balustrading and a bridge, with earlier structures (e.g. grotto and canal). Artistic interest: Characteristic complex Rothschild mid‐to‐late C19 landscape design, still clearly focused on the site of the lost principal building, retaining considerable design integrity despite later construction and adaptation for training centre use. Fine and extensive C19 exotic woody planting evident throughout the site, including conifers. Strong relationship with the contiguous Halton House via a former drive, and the largely undamaged Chilterns setting to south, although the village has encroached on the opposite side (to north).Group Value
Aston Clinton Park is part of a notable and intervisible cluster of contemporary Rothschild properties in the southern Vale, which includes Halton, Tring Park, Waddesdon, Eythrope, Ascott, and Mentmore Towers, all nationally designated as Registered Parks and Gardens.Historic Interest
Strong associations with the Rothschilds and their influential C19 social and political circle over a seventy‐year period, as well as physical/visual links to other Rothschild estates. A landscape to a lost country house, which went through a number of changes (including a school in which Evelyn Waugh taught), before its demolition in 1956, and subsequent conversion to its current (2014) institutional use in the 1960s.Archaeological Interest
Archaeological evidence of, and potential for, a multi‐phase C19 country house landscape overlaying and adapting an earlier designed landscape. Significant survivals of damaged features from various phases, including the principal building; also considerable evidence of pre‐designed landscape features (including ridge and furrow), and late C18 canal features.Landmark Status
Whilst Aston Clinton Park is well-screened from nearby roads by shelterbelts and modern panel fencing, the northern parkland is publically accessible and well-used as a community recreation and sports ground. The southern parkland is used as a residential activity centre for schools and as a conference centre. The park is highly visible in panoramic views across the Vale from the the Upper Icknield Way.Images and Documents
Date Listed
11 Jan 2023
Last Updated
09 Jun 2022