NHER 30470 (Designed Landscape record) - Lynford Hall Park

Lynford Hall (NHER 5138 and 30470), built in 1717, was surrounded by extensive parkland; Blomefield notes that James Nelthorpe built ‘a very agreeable seat, with pleasant gardens, plantations, canals &c.’ There is, however, little direct evidence and Faden’s map (S5), surveyed in 1794, is very vague. It suggests that pleasure grounds lay east and west of the Hall, but the east was fairly densely planted with trees. This map shows a park of c.35 hectares.
The Sale Map of 1856 (S6) shows a park of c.88 hectares with wide tree belts along the east and western borders of the park. By this date the park has expanded south and east. There is also a narrow lake north of the Hall running across the length of the estate. There is a north drive running south to the Hall from the Mundford-Tofts road, and there is one running south from the Hall. To the east of the south driveway are a series of small buildings. The sale catalogue notes that the Hall was surrounded by ornamental flower gardens.
The 1904 6 inch Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (S7) shows the new Hall (NHER 5150), built in the late 1850s, situated north of the lake with a formal garden to the south. This park is now c.105 hectares. There is a long Wellingtonia avenue running slightly south-west from the Hall, lined to the north by a Wellington Plantation. The south-west of the park has filled out south of the lake creating a squared corner filled in with woodland. There is woodland north, west and east of the Hall. The park directly south of the Hall contains some standing trees. The drive running south from the site of the old Hall has been tree-lined. A chapel (NHER 5153), built in 1879, is east of this drive and south of the park. The south drive has been extended north so it stretches the entire length of the park. A short drive to the house extends east off this drive, directly in line with the avenue. There is a kitchen garden west of the Hall. Possible fragments of formal gardens associated with former Hall remain (see NHER 5145) but around present Hall is an important Italianate garden by W. Nesfield.
Today, much of the parkland is owned by the Forestry Commission, and there is an Arboretum east of the Hall, which contains a brick former water town which supplied the fountains (S4).
See unpublished reports (S2) and (S3), newspaper article (S4), and historic maps (S5), (S6) and (S7).
E. Rose (NLA), 7 March 1994; 30 August 1996, 2002, 5 December 2006.
Updated by C. Hurst (UEA), 14 November 2011.

March 2019. Breckland National Mapping Programme.
Multiple earthworks dating to the post-medieval and possibly medieval period are seen on aerial photographs (S8) and visualised lidar data (S9). The earthworks relate to multiple features including boundaries, extraction pits, garden features, drainage, parkland features, trackways and possibly modern forestry features. There is a large group of bank and ditches centred at TL 8198 9361 which most likely relate to former garden features (NHER 61072, NHER 61073, NHER 61074, NHER 61076, NHER 61075, and NHER 61080) and may have been associated with either the current hall (NHER 5150) or the “old hall” (NHER 5138) in close proximity. To the west of these features at TL8181 9356 there is a large mounded area with a large curved ditch, possible quarry and two large curved banks forming a roughly oval shape, with a central pit (NHER 61001, NHER 61035, NHER 61036, NHER 61038, and NHER 61039). Previous surveys have suggested that these features may relate to further former garden features. The earthworks centred at TL 8198 9361 & TL8181 9356 may also relate to Lynford deserted medieval village and church remains (NHER 5145) documented to have be in the surrounding area. It is most likely the majority of the features presently survive as earthworks due to the recent date of the BNG lidar visualisations (2015) and recent field visits (2014) undertaken by a previous survey.There are further earthworks to the east of the mapping, however these have not been mapped as they fall outside of the survey area. Some of the mapped features can be seen on the historic mapping (S10 and S11) and further work is needed to synthesise the earthwork remains, documentary evidence and records to further enhance the interpretation for Lynford park and gardens.
The mapped extent of this record has been slightly amended [1].
J.Powell (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 20 March 2019.