Harleyford, Marlow, England

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

A mid- to late-18th century landscape park and pleasure ground, possibly laid out by Lancelot Brown, surrounding a 1755 Thames-side villa.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Harleyford lies in the Chiltern Hills, 2.5 kilometres south-west of Marlow. The 85 hectare site is bounded to the north by the A4155 Marlow to Henley road, to the west by the Wittington estate, to the south by the River Thames and to the east by agricultural land. The site is divided into three distinct topographical areas: the south-eastern corner and river frontage along the whole site, containing the house, east park and kitchen gardens, situated on flat flood plain; the valley side, bisecting the site south-west to north-east, which rises for 30 metres very steeply northwards; and the northern plateau, which slopes up from the valley edge for 0.5 kilometres to the Henley Road. The setting to the north is largely agricultural and woodland, with Marlow to the north-east beyond a golf course immediately east of the site; immediately to the south, the river and its islands are dominant from the low-lying land; from the valley side and top the wider setting is prominent, encompassing the flat Thames Valley to the south and south-east, as far as the hills rising up to the Pinkneys Green plateau.

REFERENCES

The Gardener's Magazine, (30 January 1904), pp 87-90

Country Life, 27 (4 June 1910), pp 810-19; 142 (27 June 1967), pp 17-18

D Stroud, Capability Brown (1975), p 228

J Harris, The Artist and the Country House (1979), p 281

N Pevsner and E Williamson, The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (1994), pp 372-373

Harleyford Estate Landscape Restoration and Management Plan (Bell Fisher Landscape Architects 1994)

Maps

John Rocque, Map of Berkshire, 1761

Diversion of footpath on Harleyford estate, 1806 (Buckinghamshire Record Office)

Tithe map for Great Marlow parish, 1843 (Buckinghamshire Record Office)

Inclosure map for Great Marlow parish, 1855 (Buckinghamshire Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 2nd edition revised 1913

    3rd edition published 1926

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1876

Archival items

Harleyford Deeds (D/CE) of 1717 (M70) and 1728 at Buckinghamshire Record Office.

Description written: 1997

Amended: April 1999

Edited: June 1999