Kingston Lacy, Dorset, England

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

Parkland developed in the 17th, late 18th and 19th centuries, together with late 19th century formal gardens and informal pleasure grounds.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Kingston Lacy is situated about 2 kilometres north-west of Wimborne Minster, to the south-west of the B3082, Blandford Road. The site occupies about 164 hectares and comprises some 5 hectares of gardens and pleasure grounds and about 159 hectares of park and other ornamented land, and is bounded to the north-east and east by Blandford Road from which it is separated by a variety of fences and hedges, and, to the east, by a low stone wall forming a ha-ha allowing easterly views from the park to a clump of cedars to the east of the road. To the south-east the boundary is formed by a minor road, Abbott Street, while to the south-west and west the site is bounded by a track which connects Abbott Street to Blandford Road. The site slopes gently from north-east to south-west, while the land rises to the north-west to a summit at Badbury Rings. There are southerly views across the valley of the River Stour.

REFERENCES used by English Heritage

J P Neale, Views of the seats - I, (1818)

J Hutchins, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset III, (2nd edn 1868), p 236

Country Life, 7 (21 April 1900), pp 496-501; 179 (17 April 1986), pp 1016-1019

C Holme, Gardens of England in Southern and Western Counties (1907), pl 87

A Oswald, Country Houses of Dorset (2nd edn 1959), pp 144-147

N Pevsner and J Newman, The Buildings of England: Dorset (1972), pp 244-246

G Jackson-Stops, An English Arcadia 1600-1990 (1992), pp 134-137

Kingston Lacy, guidebook, (National Trust 1994)

Kingston Lacy Garden and Park, guidebook, (National Trust 2001)

Maps

Kingston Manor, 1742 (DI/BKL), (Dorset Record Office)

W Woodward, Plan of the manor of Kingston, 1774-5 (DI/BKL), (Dorset Record Office)

A Plan of the Allotments within the parish of Wimborne Minster in the County of Dorset, 1786 (Incl 1.I.1), (Dorset Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1885, published 1890

    2nd edition published 1902

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition revised 1900, published 1901

Archival items

The Bankes family archive, including estate accounts, plans, and personal papers, is held at the Dorset Record Office (DI/BKL).

Description written: January 2004

Amended: April 2004

Edited: January 2005