Owston Park, Owston Historic Park & Garden
Location/Address
None recorded
Type
Description
There was seemingly a deer park in the environs of Owston in 1334, owned by the Crown (Cantor 1983). There was also a manor house on the site, possibly from the C11 onwards, but certainly the Adams family had a house on the site during the 16th century (Miller 1804). An ‘Owston Hall’ can be seen on John Flintoff’s map of 1768 and William Whitelock’s survey of 1780. This building had a landscape consisting of a small garden, a court and a number of paddocks and closes, that had park-like functions, which existed from the 16th until late 18th century. By the 18th century, the area which had formerly been a deer park had reverted to arable. The landscape was changed by the 1760s with the enclosure of Owston’s three large common fields, enabling a change to the parkland in the later 18th century.
Owston Hall was built in the early 18th century and extended 1794-5 by William Lindley for Brian Cooke as a country house. Cooke, also commissioned Humphrey Repton to refashion the grounds in the late eighteenth century. The scale of Repton's scheme was beyond Cooke's financial means; thus was only implemented to a limited extent. The public road to the east was moved further eastwards to allow an extension of the parklands which made room for Low or East Park. The net result of these changes was a new house, surrounded by pleasure grounds, a remote kitchen garden (which is Grade II listed), and a parkland in a ‘Picturesque’ style.
Several buildings and features were designed to adorn the landscape including a ‘Grecian’ lodge (Doncaster Lodge; 1827 and which is Grade II listed) and four other lodges (1811-1842), to ‘guard’ the entrances to the estate, a plethora of plantations, and a number of formal avenues. Nearer the house, the shrubberies of the pleasures grounds were transformed into an Arboretum (1827), and the grounds as a whole became more intensively planted with exotic species. The parkland was separated from the pleasure grounds and gardens by a ha-ha.
More information about Owston Park can be found on the Doncaster Council website: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/planning/local-parks-and-gardens
Statement of Significance
None recorded
Date Listed
n/a
Last Updated
13 May 2022
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