NHER 30497 (Monument record) - Buckenham Tofts Park

Buckenham Tofts hall (NHER 5151) was demolished in 1955 as it lay within the Battle Training Area. However the park is still visible in the landscape. A remarkable map of 1700 (See (S1)) survives which details the gardens and to some extent the wider park features. The main features of which included a walled forecourt, a parterre, a formal canal and possibly a kitchen garden. In the wider landscape a walnut ground, areas of meadow, screening belts and a formal avenue are illustrated.
By (S6) the park had been vastly extended and covered an area of just under 2.5 square kilometres. There were belts along the southern and north-eastern sides and a scatter of clumps, plantations and a small river running through the centre of the park. There were five principal entrances, of which one in the north-east had a lodge. Unfortunately no other comprehensive maps of the eighteenth century park survive. Although it is known that Repton worked at the park in 1789, little is known of his activities. It is possible that the design of the park also incorporates ideas by Samuel Lapidge.
By (S7), the park had expanded slightly in the west and now extended over an area of 2.5 square kilometres. According to (S8) and (S9) there was again further expansion of the park to the west.
Few traces remain of the extensive 17th century formal gardens (see NHER 5151 and NHER 5146). The existing earthworks relate to a late nineteenth century Italianate garden with terraces and fountains. Some of the steps and fountain bases still survive, and there are various exotic trees still visible.
E. Rose (NLA) 16 March 1994, 30 August 1996.
See (S1) for more information. Also see (S2), (S3), (S4), (S5), (S6), (S7), (S8) and (S9) for more details.
Updated by E.Nicholl (UEA), 8 November 2011

See Norfolk Industrial Archaeology Society Survey on (S5) for a brick structure like a lock in the stream at about TL 8500 9485, just below the spring. This stream fed into the main stream that became the lake. The park did not extend this far until the 18th century. Was this some sort of fish breeding pond, or else simply to control the flow?
E. Rose (NLA) 7 August 1998.