NHER 40234 (Monument record) - Didlington Park

Park, not included in the National Heritage List (S1), nor on (S2), but seems to be only because previous owners would not allow access. Now being restored by new owners.
Notes in file for NHER 4821 (the Hall) by [1] note that 17th century hall had a park in which lime trees were planted in 1688. Road diverted away from hall in 1783 and again in 1819. Tithe map shows layout in 1840 with additional ponds now gone and large lakes to a different shape. By 1883 the present South Lake had been dug (separated from the North Lake by a dam restored in 2003) and Birdcage Island formed by linking two ponds to form North Lake. South Lake contains several islands, one of which, according to the present owners, was known as Cyprus. The park contains a Watteau Walk which that artist is said to have painted.
[1] notes vineries, peach houses and a herbaceous border one and a half miles long and twenty feet wide. There is a bathing pool with colonnade east of the hall site, probably from about 1900 and traces of army huts from World War Two occupation.
As well as NHER 4821, other park related structures are the icehouse (NHER 34562), the underground engine house (NHER 4834), the folly tower (NHER 4835) and the boathouse (NHER 40235).
E. Rose (NLA), 29 January 2004.

Area extended to show full extent of park as shown by First Edition Ordnance Survey map (S3) including the drive to the lodge at Ickburgh.
E. Rose (NLA), 22 February 2005.

November 2018. Breckland National Mapping Programme.
Features associated with Didlington hall and park dating from the post-medieval, Second World War and modern period can be seen on aerial photographs and lidar visualisations (S4-S6). These features include: the folly tower (NHER 4835), the ice house (NHER 34562) a formal walled garden (NHER 63035), a large former earthwork bank (NHER 62607) which may have related to a possible deer park or boundary bank and possible medieval settlement remains (NHER 11758 and NHER 63055) to the north of the park. Further to this there is a large amount of Second World War military activity within and close to the boundary of the park including areas of huts and their platforms (NHER 62498, NHER 62499, and NHER 62614), possible support structures (NHER 62613) and mounds which may have related to possible spigot mortars or gun emplacements (NHER 62603, NHER 62604, and NHER 62610). The air photos and lidar visualisations also show a large amount of earthwork drainage some of which may be archaeological in origin; however the drainage has not been mapped due to difficulties in differentiating between archaeological drainage and modern water management. Furthermore the land cover seen on air photos especially in the 1940s may suggest that the mapped boundary of the park could be extended further than currently mapped, however this would need to be checked against other sources such as historic maps. Further work is required to understand the park landscape and the features within it.
J. Powell (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 15 November 2018.