Gunton Park, Roughton, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The Gunton estate has been owned by the Harbord family since 1676. John Harbord was succeeded by his nephew Harbord Harbord and in 1742 it passed to his nephew William Morden, who took the name of Harbord after his uncle (Country Life 1997). Sir William commissioned Matthew Brettingham the Elder to build a new Palladian mansion on, or close to the site of the earlier house (Williamson 1998). An undated plan of around 1730, attributed by the Bodleian Library (where it is held) to Charles Bridgeman (died 1738), shows an area of ornamental woodland north of the house known as The Grove, whilst a further estate map of 1754 (Norfolk Records Office) gives an indication of the layout of the park at this time, extending to more than 150 hectares and including the two lakes. In 1769 Robert Adam (1728-92) was commissioned to replace the medieval church of Gunton beside the Hall with a chapel, designed to resemble a garden temple. Sir William Harbord died in 1770 and was succeeded by Sir Harbord Harbord Suffield. From about 1774 onwards he employed Samuel Wyatt to make alterations and additions to the Hall and to add the main Hanworth Lodge. Following a Road Order of 1776 the park to the west of the lakes was extended, although Faden's county map of 1797 shows few other changes to the landscape since 1754. Around 1800 a saw mill, intended as a picturesque embellishment to the park as well as a practical building, was constructed below the retaining dam on the southernmost lake, and a new bridge was added over the watercourse linking the two lakes in 1812. Between 1797 and 1835 when the next estate survey was made the park was extended to south and west and a continuous belt of perimeter trees planted, encompassing an extensive area of farmland to the north called North Park. Sir Harbord's eldest son William Assheton Harbord succeeded as second Lord Suffield in 1810, using Gunton only as a shooting box, although he did consult Humphry Repton (1752-1818) in 1810 who, by his own admission, only supplied suggestions for 'trifling improvements' at Gunton including a design for an ornamental greenhouse and a proposal for a large circular clump in the west park (Williamson 1998). William's younger brother Edward succeeded him in 1821 as third Lord Suffield and took more interest in the estate, completing the building of Gunton Tower in 1830 and commissioning William Sawrey Gilpin (1762-1843) to design the east park in the late 1820s and early 1830s, as well as adding several new lodges. The estate fortunes declined under Edward Vernon Harbord, fourth Baron (1835-53) but recovered under Charles, fifth Baron who held the title from 1853 to 1912. During this time the gardens were developed to national acclaim under the head gardener William Allen within a balustraded design drawn up by William Teulon in 1870. At its peak in the mid-19th century the estate covered about 17,000 acres (about 7083 hectares) and ranked with the greatest estates in the county. In 1882 much of the Hall was gutted by fire and in 1895 a substantial amount of park and plantation timber was destroyed in a storm. The estate deteriorated in the course of the 20th century and much of the park was put under the plough. In 1979, on the death of Doris Harbord, the estate was broken up and sold into divided ownership. The Hall and immediate grounds were purchased by Kit Martin and an ambitious restoration scheme for residential use undertaken: in the course of the 1990s the majority of the park has been returned to pasture and a tree-planting programme instigated. The site remains (2000) in divided private ownership.