Summary
Country estate developed by the Gascoigne family mainly in the C18, and early C19, with further later additions and alterations
Reasons for Designation
Parlington Estate is registered at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: it is a good example of a designed landscape laid out largely in the late C18 with distinct areas and features that directly reflect the ideas, philosophies and interests of its owner and also that of a notable estate gardener;
* Designers: it is largely the work of Sir Thomas Gascoigne, a significant figure in C18 agricultural reform, and his estate gardener John Kennedy, a key figure in the development of horticulture, cultivation and agriculture in the C18 who brought the estate and Gascoigne international recognition through his pioneering planting methods;
* Design interest: it is a landscape designed equally for pleasure, agriculture and industry that incorporated fashionable C18 features, but also enabled agrarian and horticultural experimentation, facilitated the exploitation of the estate's mineral resources, and indulged the Gascoigne passion for racehorse breeding;
* Survival: despite some later alteration the landscape's late-C18 and early-C19 development, layout and views remain clearly readable and legible in the surviving landscape, which includes notable survivals, such as a hidden former wagonway with associated bridge and tunnel used to transport the family's coal through the estate, and rare impressively-scaled early-C19 stallion pens;
* Group value: it has strong group value with listed features on the estate, including the Triumphal Arch (Grade II*), Light Arch and Dark Arch (both Grade II), Gardens House and attached walls (Grade II), shelter in the north-east parkland (Grade II), Hookmoor Lodges, Wakefield Lodge and Barwick Lodge (all Grade II), The Cottage (Grade II), and Park House Farmhouse (Grade II), Stallion Pens (Grade II), icehouse (Grade II), and Home Farm (Grade II).
History
The history of the Parlington estate is intertwined with that of the Gascoignes, a family of Catholic landed gentry based in Yorkshire. Land at Parlington, including the medieval village of Parlington and probably also a manorial complex, was bought by John Gascoigne (1520-1602) from Thomas Lord Wentworth in March 1545. The remains of the village are believed to have been removed in the C18 when the landscape was gentrified and mineral extraction was also exploited. Parlington became the seat of the Gascoignes in the early 1720s when they moved from nearby Barnbow Hall (now demolished).
Parlington Hall (now - 2018 - largely demolished) is believed to have been remodelled in the 1730s for Sir Edward Gascoigne (1697-1750), and again in around 1800 for his son Sir Thomas when an east wing was added. Sir Edward's accounts reveal that a deer park was created in the late 1730s, and a deer herd remained at the estate up until the Second World War; the former deer park survives in the southern section of the estate. Also in the 1730s, stone from the estate quarries was used to build the Assembly Rooms in York and Sir Edward provided stone for restoration work at York Minster gratis.
Sir Thomas Gascoigne (1745-1810), who was born and raised in Cambrai, northern France and was the youngest son of Sir Edward and Mary Gascoigne, inherited the Parlington estate in 1762 after his elder brother's sudden death. He settled in England in 1765, interspersing his residence with two Grand Tours where he mixed in court society, including with Marie Antoinette and Charles III, King of Spain. In 1780 Gascoigne abjured his Catholic faith to become an Anglican and a Member of Parliament, becoming a close ally of the Marquis of Rockingham. However, in 1784 Sir Thomas married Lady Mary Turner, a widow with two young children, and he resigned from politics to concentrate on his family and improving the Parlington estate, although he returned to politics several years later following Mary's early death from childbirth complications. Sir Thomas was an advocate of agricultural reform like his father Sir Edward, and a coal mine and quarry owner interested in developing technologies and innovation. He also had a keen interest in horse racing and breeding, developing a stud at Parlington. His horse Tuberose won the Doncaster Cup in 1776, Hollandaise won the St Leger in 1778, followed later by Symmetry who won in 1798, and Theophania won the Epsom Oaks in 1803. The Gascoigne Stakes were also run at Doncaster in the early C19. Gascoigne was elected Honorary Member of the Board of Agriculture in 1796 and his expertise and opinions on agricultural reform were sought by the board and his contemporaries.
New parkland was created in the early 1760s (presumably altering the earlier deer park) whilst Sir Thomas was away on his first Grand Tour and was overseen by one of his guardians Stephen Tempest, as recorded in letters between Tempest and Gascoigne. In 1771 Sir Thomas employed the gardener John Kennedy (1719-1790) who had been employed and recommended by Gascoigne's brother-in-law William Salvin of Croxdale Hall, County Durham. Kennedy was from a notable family of C18 gardeners and horticulturalists and in 1776 he published an account of the aboricultural methods he employed at Parlington in a book entitled 'A Treatise Upon Planting, Gardening, and the Management of the Hot-House' where he pioneered new techniques, such as the use of artificial fertilisers. The book sold to subscribers including members of the peerage and earned the estate an international reputation for pioneering techniques in cultivation and agriculture. Some of the methods pioneered by Kennedy were employed by Thomas Blaikie, the gardener to the Comte d'Artois at the Chateau de Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne, northern France, and the methods employed at Parlington were discussed in the North American 'The Farmer's Almanac' of 1794. One of Kennedy's specialisms was trees and woodland, and he planted and developed a considerable amount of woodland at Parlington, which was not only a valuable resource, but also a symbol of patriotism for Gascoigne, with some of the wood specifically grown for the Royal Navy. Letters sent by Jarrard Strickland to Sir Thomas reveal that the estate was visited by 'garden seers' (garden tourists) in the late C18 who came to view the landscape.
Sir Thomas Gascoigne died in 1810 shortly after his only son and heir, Thomas Charles (1786-1809) had died in a hunting accident. The estate subsequently passed to his step-daughter Mary (c1783-1819) who had married Captain Richard Oliver (1762-1842); her husband taking the name Gascoigne as stipulated by Sir Thomas' will. Richard Oliver Gascoigne maintained the estate's agricultural and horse racing interests developed by Sir Thomas at Parlington: Richard's horse Soothsayer won the St Leger in 1811 and his horse Jerry won in 1824. Gascoigne also built new stables in 1813 to the designs of Watson & Pritchett of York (now demolished) and four stallion pens for the Parlington Stud in the same year. He also maintained and further developed mineral assets on the estate, constructing the Dark Arch (Grade II) in 1813 on the coal wagonway of Parlington Lane that cut through the estate just to the south of the hall.
Two different designs for a mansion house were produced by W Pilkington for Richard Oliver Gascoigne in 1810, suggesting that Gascoigne was clearly thinking about constructing a new house at this time. However, the plans were not carried out and the existing house was instead altered and extended at some point in the mid-1810s by Watson & Pritchett of York. Watson & Pritchett also produced a number of designs for other buildings on the estate from 1813 to 1815 for Gascoigne, including stables (now demolished), dog kennels (now demolished) and a gamekeeper's house.
Richard Oliver's two sons Thomas and Richard pre-deceased him and thus upon his death his two daughters Mary Isabella (1810-1891) and Elizabeth (1812-1893) inherited. Mary Isabella and her husband lived at Parlington, and Elizabeth and her husband lived at the family's other estate, Castle Oliver in County Limerick, Ireland. The sisters created an ornamental lake (now drained) in the woodland of Parlington Hollins in the mid-C19, and were also involved with philanthropic projects in the local area, constructing almshouses on Bunkers Hill in Aberford (1843-1845, Grade II*).
After the death of his parents Parlington passed to Isabella's son Colonel Frederick Richard Thomas Trench-Gascoigne in 1905. Frederick, who had already inherited nearby Lotherton Hall from his aunt Elizabeth and had made that his family residence, focused on a military career, leaving the running of the Parlington estate to employees. Frederick removed many of the contents from the hall, along with a number of architectural features, including the hall's porte cochère, which became a garden feature at Lotherton. Parlington Hall was subsequently abandoned and in 1919 the estate's mines were sold.
During the Second World War the Parlington estate was occupied by the Royal Army Ordnance Corps No 3 Vehicle Reserve Depot and a number of temporary buildings were constructed, all of which have since been demolished, but tank inspection ramps survive. During the war German and Russian prisoners of war were also hired from the West Riding War Agricultural Executive Committee to work in the woods of the estate.
The majority of the hall was demolished in 1952, leaving only part of the service wing surviving, which is now a private house. The entire estate was sold in the 1960s and is now owned by an institutional property investment fund.
Details
Country estate developed by the Gascoigne family mainly in the C18, and early C19, with further later additions and alterations
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING
The Parlington Estate is situated approximately 10.5 km north-east of Leeds city centre, between the villages of Barwick-in-Elmet and Aberford. The approximately 528 ha comprising the registered landscape is on rolling land that slopes gently downwards from the north to south to roughly the mid-point of the estate, and then rises again to the south. The landscape is set in rural surroundings and is bounded by Cock Beck to the west, Cattle Lane to the north, buildings of Aberford village and arable land to the east, Aberford Road (B1217) to the south east, and arable land to the south, beyond which is the M1 motorway. The landscape boundaries are largely formed by a mixture of stone walls, wrought iron and timber fencing, and hedging.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES
There is one principal entrance to the north-east corner of the estate and a number of secondary entrances. Beyond the north-east corner of the estate Pikes Head Lodge on Cattle Lane (constructed in around 1800, attributed to John Carr of York, listed at Grade II) lies opposite the estate's late-C18 principal entrance, which is depicted on a plan of the estate dating to 1773. The entrance, which no longer forms part of the estate land and consists of wide curved, sandstone screen walls with gate piers, leads to a drive, the north-east end of which is now tarmaced. Set just inside the entrance on the west side is Aberford Lodge (late C19) and flanking the north-east end of the drive are two small late-C20 housing developments known as Beech View and Parlington Villas. The main entrance to the estate, and the north-east boundary of the registered area, is now approximately 78 metres south of the original main entrance and is marked by modern timber fencing and gates. It leads to an avenue that runs through grazing parkland and is lined mainly with beech trees. The avenue heads south-west and offers views south-east across the parkland to paddocks (also known as The Terraces) originally used by the Gascoignes' racehorses, and to a classical-styled eyecatcher lodge on Parlington Lane known as The Cottage (probably late C18, listed at Grade II). Views south-west are across the parkland to a wooded area known as the Wilderness (a fenced section of parkland immediately adjacent to the Wilderness is now in arable use), and views north beyond a hedge boundary are to the estate's arable land and the former site of estate dog kennels (now demolished) annotated on the 1st edition 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey (OS) map published in 1849. At the south-west end of the avenue just before its turn to the south is a Triumphal Arch erected by Sir Thomas Gascoigne in 1781-3 (designed by Thomas Leverton, listed at Grade II*) in support of the Whig cause of American Independence and as a show of opposition against Lord North, the Prime Minister at that time. Originally the drive continued beyond the arch for approximately 30 metres where it provided guests with still-extant views north-west to the estate's central areas of arable land and stallion pens (listed Grade II), before turning south and meandering through the wooded area known as the Wilderness. However, the avenue no longer passes underneath the arch and this section of the drive is now grassed. Instead the drive now turns and heads south just before the arch on a short C20 extension before re-joining the original route. The drive then forks, with one section continuing south on a Yew-lined route along the east side of a walled garden to the north of the former hall site and then to a former wagonway known as Parlington Lane. The other section of the drive heads south-west through the Wilderness and then north to Home Farm (listed Grade II).
To the south-east corner of the estate is what was probably the principal early-C18 entrance to the estate, at the site now occupied by a pair of late-C18 lodges known as Hookmoor Lodges (attributed to John Carr of York, listed at Grade II). The entrance is located off Bunkers Hill, part of the Great North Road from London to Edinburgh, and leads to a late-C18 drive/former coach road (now private) heading north-west through former parkland (now arable and meadowland) to Hangings Plantation and a bridge known as the Light Arch (listed Grade II) that carries the drive over Parlington Lane. The drive carries on north-west for a short distance through the Wilderness before swinging around to the south-west back to the site of the former hall. A plan of c1802 depicts another earlier drive/avenue (now removed) branching off from the late-C18 drive and then heading west and then north to the front of the hall. The drive is depicted as a dashed line and faint pencil line, suggesting that it was no longer in primary use at that time. Probable early-mid C18 platoons (clusters/groups of trees usually arranged in circle or square shapes and used to line avenues or form features within parkland) originally lined the south-east end of the drives, but have since been removed. The south-east drive provides views north-eastwards across the former parkland and neighbouring farmland towards Aberford Almshouses (erected by Mary Isabella and Elizabeth Gascoigne in 1843-5, listed at Grade II*), although later planting around the building now partly obscures it. Mid-C19 plans of the estate show that trees along the central section of the north-east side of the parkland, which had previously formed part of a shelter belt in the early C19, were removed, possibly to enable views to the almshouses; their elaborate Gothic architecture possibly intended to be an eyecatcher seen by visitors.
To the south of the estate off Aberford Road is a probable early-mid C19 lodge known as Wakefield Lodge (listed Grade II) that led to a drive (now removed) that joined with the early-C18 south-east drive.
To the north of the estate is a drive leading south off Cattle Lane to the estate's Home Farm and stallion pens. At the entrance to the drive is Barwick Lodge (early C19, listed Grade II). The northern end of the drive passing through Barwick Lodge Plantation is lined with copper beech trees.
To the north-west corner of the estate is Ass Bridge Lodge (late C19), which provides access to a track leading into Barwick Bank plantation and old quarries.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING
Parlington Hall (now demolished) was located roughly to the centre of the estate in an area of lower ground that afforded views to higher parkland to the south, a walled garden to the north-west, farmland to the west, and the Wilderness to the north-east. A house is believed to have probably existed on the site when the estate was acquired by John Gascoigne in 1545. Parlington Hall was remodelled in the 1730s for Sir Edward Gascoigne and again in 1800 for his son, Sir Thomas. Further alteration and extension took place in the 1810s for Richard Oliver Gascoigne, with further alteration taking place later. Colonel Frederick Richard Thomas Trench-Gascoigne inherited the hall in 1905, but had already inherited nearby Lotherton Hall and made that estate his family home. Parlington Hall was thus abandoned and left to decay. The majority of the hall was demolished in 1952, along with the attached stables, leaving only part of the service wing remaining, which is now a private residence. An early-C19 former entrance to the hall off Parlington Lane depicted on the 1817 plan survives to the south-west with a ha-ha, low ramped coursed-limestone walls with rounded copings, and gate piers.
The surviving section of the hall is believed to have been part of the west service wing and a probable early-C19 addition by Watson & Pritchett of York that is depicted on an 1885 plan of the house with rooms including Colonel Gascoigne's room, housekeeper's room, steward's room, bake house, dairy, saddlery, and still room. The two-storey L-shaped building has multi-paned sash windows and a classical porch that was possibly re-used from demolished sections of the hall. The main part of the hall was located to the east of the building and the stables (added by Watson & Pritchett in around 1813) to the west. The site of the hall has been encroached upon by the Wilderness woodland to the north-east and south-west sides, obscuring the view west to farmland. However, the views to the south, north-west and north-east largely remain, albeit with increased vegetation.
WALLED GARDEN
Located approximately 40 metres to the north-west of the hall site is a large late-C18 walled garden and an associated classically styled late-C18/early-C19 house known as The Gardens House; both are constructed of mellow brick. The walled garden, which could be viewed from the hall and also the branch of the north-east drive leading to Home Farm, is depicted on a plan of the estate dating to 1773 and also a c1802 plan where it is depicted on both as being divided into two rectangular sections. The Gardens House (probably originally the home of the estate gardener) and its flanking attached hot walls (hot walls incorporated small furnaces that were kept running to protect fruits from frost and to help them mature) form the north-west side of the walled garden. The house, its attached hot walls, and a bow-shaped wall enclosing a large semi-circular garden on the north-west side of the house are all listed in a single List entry at Grade II. The hot walls retain evidence of flues and furnaces, but the hot houses behind have been removed. The north-east and south-west walls of the garden survive, albeit with the south-east end of the south-west wall now truncated. The garden's south-east wall has been removed, along with a central dividing wall depicted on early maps.
WILDERNESS
Surrounding the walled garden and site of Parlington Hall to the north-east, north-west and south-west sides is an area of mixed woodland known as the Wilderness containing walks and Yew-lined rides. Historic map and plan evidence suggests that the Wilderness was extended eastwards in the mid-late C19 to its present boundary through the incorporation of a large field flanking the south-east drive/coach road just to the north and west of the Light Arch. Set within the Wilderness approximately 130 metres to the south-west of the Light Arch is a probable late-C18 ice house (listed Grade II).
GARDENS
Historic maps and photographs reveal that the immediate south-east side of the hall leading down to Parlington Lane was originally lawned with a few specimen trees, a fountain, and a sinuous-shaped pond in the south-west corner. Since the demolition of the majority of the hall the site has now been encroached upon by woodland of the Wilderness to the north-east and south-west sides, but an open area (now apparently used as a paddock) survives by the surviving section of the service wing with a large Cedar of Lebanon tree, which is depicted in a historic photograph of around 1880. The sinuous-shaped pond also survives, but is hidden from view within the expanded Wilderness.
NORTH-EAST PARKLAND
To the north-east of the site of the hall is an area of grazing parkland that incorporates the main-entrance avenue/drive off Cattle Lane. The north-western half of the land is relatively flat and then slopes down to the south-east.
Set within the parkland and located approximately 450 metres north-east of the Triumphal Arch is what is variously thought to be a deer shelter or a viewing position for the hall's guests to watch the estate's horses in the paddocks below. The circular Gothick limestone structure (listed at Grade II) was constructed in 1802 to the designs of William Lindley of Doncaster. An estimate by Joshua (?) Naylor for the construction work details it as a 'temple' whereas a competing quote from Thomas Tilney & Son simple refers to it as a circular building. It is marked on a plan of the estate dating to 1817 as a 'cattle shed'. The structure, which has Gothick pointed arches, has lost its roof and is now ruinous. It is surrounded by a ring of trees depicted on early plans.
The Terraces, located approximately 145 metres to the south-east of the main-entrance avenue and set alongside the north-west side of Parlington Lane, is a set of three late-C18 paddocks. The paddocks retain limestone boundary walls (fragmentary in places) along their north-west, north-east and south-west sides, but have lost their interior dividing walls and shelters. The south-east side of the paddocks is formed by a high stone-revetted bank with substantial slab copings alongside Parlington Lane. Behind the north-west side of the paddocks is a line of beech and lime trees.
Most of the buildings from the estate's occupation by the Royal Army Ordnance Corps No 3 Vehicle Reserve Depot in the Second World War have been removed, although some concrete footings alongside the main avenue remain. Two tank inspection ramps/pits survive flanking the main avenue.
SOUTH PARKLAND/FORMER DEER PARK
To the south and south-east of the former site of the hall is an area of former parkland known as Parlington Park that incorporates the late-C18 south-east drive from Hookmoor Lodges and is now arable land and meadowland, but remains clearly readable as former parkland and is an important component of the landscape. The land was a deer park from the 1730s and remnants of a ha-ha along the north-east and north-west edges survive. The land rises up to the south and sat atop the brow of the hill is the late-C18 classically-styled Park House (listed at Grade II, now a private residence) with flanking pavilions. The house has clearly been carefully placed with its tall symmetrical north elevation facing towards the hall and it most probably acted as an eyecatcher from the hall and/or the parkland; the view to the former site of the hall is now obscured by the expanded wilderness and tree growth. An 1817 plan of the estate shows that the parkland was planted with clumps of trees in circular and rectangular patterns, some of which survive but are overgrown. References to clumps planted in patterns also appear in the accounts of Sir Edward Gascoigne in 1737 that records the establishment of the deer park. Along the southern boundary alongside Aberford Road is the former parkland's historic shelter belt of woodland.
HOME FARM & STALLION PENS
Approximately 440 metres north-west of the site of the hall is the estate's Home Farm (listed Grade II), which was constructed around 1813-1815. It has been suggested that the farm and farmhouse were possibly designed by John Carr, but it is probable that the farm was constructed to the designs of Watson & Pritchett of York. The farm is constructed of mellow brick and has a quadrangular courtyard plan, with the farmhouse located to the south-east end with curved screen walls to the front.
Located approximately 113 metres to the north-east of Home Farm is a series of four stallion pens dating to 1813 (listed Grade II). The pens are aligned north-south and are enclosed by coursed-limestone walls approximately eight feet high with rounded corners on the west side to each individual pen. Wide corner entrances with tall cylindrical, limestone gate piers exist to the north and south pens, with narrower west pedestrian entrances to the two middle pens with square gate piers and modern boarded doors. All of the piers have domed caps. The internal dividing walls also survive, along with gateways with cylindrical gate piers linking each pen. Historic plans suggest that each pen originally had a corner shelter, but these have since been lost, although their footprints are visible on satellite imagery.
WAGONWAY
Parlington Lane runs across the estate from a junction with Long Lane in the south-west to a junction with Bunkers Hill (part of the former Great North Road) in Aberford at the north-east end, a distance of over two miles. The lane, which was possibly originally the main central axis of the medieval village of Parlington, was used as a horse-drawn wagonway in the C18 and early C19 to transport coal from the Gascoigne family's collieries in Garforth to a coal staith in Aberford on the Great North Road where it could be transported away. In 1837 the wagonway became part of the Aberford-Garforth Railway, which remained in use until 1924. The lane cuts straight through the hall's grounds less than 200m south of the site of the hall and separated the more formal garden from the parkland to the south. The central section of the lane is sunk out of view of the hall in a cutting several metres deep with high coursed limestone walls that enabled the movement of coal without interrupting views or disturbing the family. The cutting incorporates a tunnel approximately 75 metres long known as the Dark Arch (listed Grade II), which was constructed in 1813 by Richard Oliver Gascoigne to further conceal coal traffic on the wagonway. A section of approach wall to the south-west of the Dark Arch on the north side incorporates a memorial headstone (perhaps to one of the wagonway's horses) inscribed with the words 'DOWNEY/ FAITHFUL HONEST/ MERRY TRUE/ WE LOVED YOU AND/ WE MOURNED YOU TOO/ 1856'. Approximately 327 metres to the north-east of the Dark Arch along the cutting is a late-C18 limestone bridge known as the Light Arch (listed Grade II) that carries the south drive over Parlington Lane. Following the lane's conversion to the Aberford-Garforth Railway, the arch was raised to allow trains to pass underneath. The lane's north-eastern section has views north and north-west to the north-east parkland, paddocks (also known as The Terraces), and the main avenue and Triumphal Arch. Due to the topography of the land the north-eastern section of Parlington Lane is raised above the neighbouring parkland and paddocks and has a high stone-revetted bank on the north-west side with substantial slab copings. Towards the north-east end of Parlington Lane on the south-east side is a classical styled lodge known as The Cottage (probably late-C18, listed at Grade II), which acts as an eyecatcher viewed from the main north-east avenue.
QUARRYING
Off to the south-east side of Parlington Lane are two limestone quarries, the largest one of which is approximately 165 metres north-east of the Light Arch with limestone entrance gate piers with domed caps in the same style as those to the stallion pens. Both are believed to have been operational in the late C18 and early C19, at the same time as the wagonway. Some of the stone abandoned in the quarry is believed to have come from the demolished hall. Further quarries are annotated on mid-C19 and early-C20 OS maps in some of the estate's plantations, including Hungerhills Plantation and Green Seats in the northern section, which have their own access paths off Cattle Lane, and also Barwick Bank plantation.
PLANTATIONS & ARABLE LAND
Parlington Hollins is the largest plantation on the estate and is located to the south-west corner of the registered landscape, covering approximately 86 ha. Historic maps and plans of the estate show that Parlington Hollins was originally slightly smaller, but was extended northwards to meet Parlington Lane in the mid-C19. The plantation contains a network of historic tracks and rides, including a main east-west ride and north-south route, as well as some minor later additions. Parlington Hollins also contains evidence of the Gascoignes' coal extraction, with a number of circular depressions of former shafts or bell pits visible, and the line of the Aberford-Garforth Railway also survives as a pathway through the plantation running south-north from Garforth before heading north-east to join with Parlington Lane and on to Aberford.
A large ornamental lake was created in the south-west corner of Parlington Hollins in the mid-C19 by Mary Isabella and Elizabeth Gascoigne, but was drained in the late C20, although its original outline remains clearly visible on satellite imagery. An associated Lake Cottage to the east of the lake's south-west corner is believed to survive, but was not inspected.
A short spur to the north-east of Parlington Hollins is known as Bathingwell Plantation and contains a large pond. A small pond on the north side of Parlington Lane across from Bathingwell Plantation is now silted up, with ferns denoting its location. To the immediate north-east of the large pond is an altered and extended single-storey building known as Gamekeeper's Cottage, which was originally constructed in around 1815 to the designs of Watson & Pritchett of York. The architects also designed a large cross-shaped range of dog kennels to the rear, which have since been demolished.
Other smaller plantations are located in the northern section of the landscape and include Old Wood, Barwick Bank, Barwick Lodge Plantation, Cherry Strip, The Belt, Willowgarth Plantation, Hungerhills Plantation, Green Seats and Chantryhill Plantation.
The remaining areas of the landscape to the west and north of the former hall site are arable land. The arable land is integral to the understanding and appreciation of the designed landscape as a whole, its context and historical significance. The placing of the arable field system so close to the site of the main house and alongside the main-entrance avenue reflects the importance placed on agricultural interests by the Gascoignes and would have been a means of displaying social status as well as showcasing Sir Thomas Gascoigne’s and John Kennedy’s agrarian methods. Although some of the internal field boundaries have been removed, the extent of the late-C18/early-C19 field system survives and its general layout remains as it was originally created, enclosed and separated by plantations.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 21/06/2018
