Kimberley Hall, Wymondham, England

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

An early 18th-century house with formal garden attributed to W A Nesfield, set in a park laid out by Lancelot Brown between 1762 and 1778.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Kimberley Hall lies about 4 kilometres to the north-west of the town of Wymondham, on the north-east side of the B1135 Wymondham to East Dereham road. The registered site covers roughly 240 hectares of parkland, woodland, and farmland set in rural Norfolk countryside. It is bounded to the north-east by the Carleton Forehoe to Wymondham road, partly to the north by the B1108 Watton to Norwich road and partly to the south-west by the Kimberley to Wymondham road. Elsewhere boundaries join the surrounding farmland and much of the park is encircled by woodland blocks and perimeter belts. The ground at Kimberley lies on either side of the River Tiffey which flows approximately from south to north through the park. There is a gentle slope south-west from the Hall to the lake and more dramatic slopes to the north on either side of the river valley. Peripheral areas are generally flatter.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

John Chambers, Norfolk Tour (1829), p 348

J Grigor, The Eastern Arboretum (1841), pp 274-7

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: North-west and South Norfolk (1962), p 220

J A Andrews, The Wodehouse Family, (unpublished MS 1974) [copy on EH file]

D Stroud, Capability Brown (1975), pp 112, 230

J Kenworthy-Browne et al, Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses III, (1981), pp 147-9

The Field, (27 September 1986), pp 54-7

Journal of Garden History 11, (1991), nos 1 and 2, pp 69-70

Country Life, no 14 (8 April 1993), pp 64-6

Tom Williamson, The archaeology of the landscape park, BAR Brit Series 268 (1998), pp 256-8

Vanessa A C Buxton, Kimberley Hall, Norfolk: Some notes on the building of the park by a daughter of the house (no date MS, around 1990s) [copy on EH file]

Maps

Samuel Gilpen, Estate map, around 1700 (Mf/Ro 499/2), (Norfolk Record Office)

James Anderson, A map of Kimberley Hall and the grounds belonging to it ..., 1714 (Norfolk Record Office)

Undated early/mid-18th-century estate map, (private collection)

Lancelot Brown, Map of Kimberley Park, 1762 (Mf/Ro 499/2), (Norfolk Record Office)

Lancelot Brown, Map of Kimberley Park, 1778 (Mf/Ro 514/2), (Norfolk Record Office)

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

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

Estate survey of 1827 published by Daynes, Chittock and Back (3/12/76), (Norfolk Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1890; 2nd edition published 1907

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1906

Illustrations

Mid-18th-century watercolour of Hall and park (private collection)

Humphry Repton, watercolour of Kimberley, 1780 (Norfolk Museums Service Acc no 28)