Knebworth, Stevenage, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

A park has existed at Knebworth since at least the 14th century (Preston 1982). In 1490 Sir Robert Lytton (died 1504) bought Knebworth from Sir Thomas Bourchier for £800. Around 1500 Sir Robert built a new, four-sided courtyard house attached to the existing 15th-century gatehouse. The estate was described in 1700 as 'a large pile of brick with a fair quadrangle in the middle of it, seated upon a dry hill, in a fair large park, stocked with the best deer in the country, excellent timber and well wooded and from thence you may behold a most lovely prospect east' (Chauncy 1700).

The estate remained largely unaltered until the early 19th century, when in 1810 Mrs Elizabeth Bulwer-Lytton (1773-1843), finding the building 'old-fashioned and too large' demolished three sides of the quadrangle, including the medieval gatehouse, part of which she re-erected as Tower Lodge in the park (guidebook). She gothicised the remaining south-west wing, adding eight towers, battlements and a porch. The House at that time sat in a landscape park, with lawns sweeping up to the south-west and north-west fronts (1819 painting, reproduced in guidebook).

In 1843 Mrs Bulwer-Lytton was succeeded by her son, the novelist Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-73), first Baron Lytton (created 1866), who added further embellishments to the exterior of the House, as well as elaborate formal gardens with ornate flower beds, fountains, statues and shrubbery walks. The gardens were widely featured in the horticultural press of the mid- to late 19th century. In 1908 Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) carried out work in the House and simplified the garden design for Victor, second Earl of Lytton, whose sister Lutyens had married shortly before. Lutyens continued to advise on alterations in the House and garden until his death in 1944. A herb garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll in the early 20th century for Knebworth but not established at the time was laid out in the late 20th century. The park and estate remain (1999) in private ownership, the House and gardens being the property of a charitable trust.