Gayhurst Court, Newport Pagnell, England

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

An 18th century landscape park and mid-19th century formal gardens surrounding a 16th century/early 17th century country house; the park was probably laid out by Lancelot Brown in about 1750/1760, with modifications by Humphry Repton about 1793. The site was visited frequently by the 18th century poet William Cowper.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Gayhurst Court lies in rural north Buckinghamshire, 3 kilometres north-west of Newport Pagnell and 1 kilometre south-west of the adjacent estate of Tyringham, in the low-lying, gently undulating valley of the River Great Ouse. The 100 hectare site is bounded to the east by the Gayhurst to Haversham Lane, to the north-east by the River Great Ouse, to the north-west by the B526 from Newport Pagnell and other adjoining lanes, to the west by Gayhurst and Bunsty Woods, and to the south-west by agricultural land. The small village of Gayhurst which lies along the B526 was removed from the vicinity of the house in the early 18th century. The B526 bisects the northern half of the site and the M1 motorway runs parallel to the south-west boundary 0.5 kilometres to the south-west, crossing Gayhurst estate land. The setting is largely agricultural, with the ornamental parkland of the Tyringham estate to the north-east.

 REFERENCES

Country Life, 13 (17 January 1903), pp 80-86

Records of Bucks 20, (1977), p 442

D Stroud, Humphry Repton (1962), p 81

G Carter et al, Humphry Repton (1988), p 148

Janet Jack, Gayhurst: a study of the park and gardens, and recommendations for conservation, (unpub dissertation, Architectural Association 1993)

N Pevsner and E Williamson, The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (1994), pp 335-338

Maps

Tithe map for Gayhurst parish, 1850 (Buckinghamshire Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1885

    2nd edition published 1900

    3rd edition published 1926

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1880

    2nd edition published 1900

Description written: 1997

Amended: April 1999

Edited: June 1999