Ditchingham Hall, Lowestoft, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

An early 18th-century hall remodelled at the beginning of the 20th century, set within a mid-18th-century landscape park and late 20th-century gardens for which Percy Cane gave advice in the early 20th century.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Ditchingham Park stands on the north side of the B1332 Norwich to Bungay road, about 4 kilometres to the north of the town of Bungay. The park covers about 48 hectares and is set in a rural, agricultural landscape on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. The Norwich Road forms the southern boundary with mid-18th-century boundary trees, much replanted in the mid-20th century, along its length. To the east the boundary is formed by the dense Lake Covert. The boundaries are more open to north and west, to the north running into farmland and in the west merging with the adjacent Hedenham Park. The Hall stands above and to the west of the valley of the Broome Beck, a tributary of the River Waveney; the ground falls to the east towards this stream which in the 18th century was dammed to form the sinuous lake. There are fine views south-east from the Hall to the tower of Ditchingham church beyond the park boundary.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: North-west and South Norfolk (1962), p 135

R Webber, Percy Cane (1975), pp 91-3

J Kenworthy-Browne et al, Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses III, (1981), pp 104-6

Country Life, no 32 (10 August 1989), pp 66-9

Journal of Garden History 11, (1991), nos 1 and 2, pp 34-7

T Williamson, The archaeology of the landscape park, BAR Brit Ser 268 (1998), p 227

Maps

Ditchingham Hall Farm, no date (around 1713), (MC 166/203 632 X 5), (Norfolk Record Office)

J Rumball, A rough plan of Hall, gardens, lawn, avenues, meadows and plantations, Ditchingham Hall, 1764 (private collection)

W Faden, A new topographical map of the county of Norfolk, 1797 (Norfolk Record Office)

Ditchingham Park enclosure map, 1816 (PC 12/7 P153), (Norfolk Record Office)

A Bryant, Map of the county of Norfolk, 1826 (Norfolk Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1892; 2nd edition published 1903

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1903

Illustrations

James Butcher, engraving of Hall and park, 1778 (Norfolk Local Studies Library)

Archival items

The Carr family papers, including the Ditchingham archives, are held at the Norfolk Record Office.
 

Description written: October 1999

Amended: February 2000

Edited: February 2001