Nostell Priory, Wakefield, England

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

Parkland which retains elements of an early 18th-century scheme by Stephen Switzer and later 18th-century additions including lodges by Robert Adam; pleasure grounds with late 18th-century structures.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING 

Nostell Priory is situated about 10km south-east of Wakefield between the villages of Wragby, to the east, and Foulby to the west. The roughly 120-hectare site is in a rural and agricultural setting on land which slopes down to the south and east. The A638 forms part of the south boundary and cuts through the site at its south-west corner. The oval-shaped core of the park has a mixture of brick and stone walls running along the north side of the A638, and the remainder, along Foulby Park and around Top Park Wood to the west, and along Engine Lane to the east, is walled in stone. The area around Upper Lake at the south-west end of the site is fenced, as is the easternmost section north of Wragby.
 

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

F O Morris, A Series of Picturesque Views 5, (1866-80), pl 63

Country Life, 111 (16 May 1952), pp 1492-5; (23 May 1952), pp 1572-5; (30 May 1952), pp 1652-5

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire The West Riding (1967), pp 380-2

K Lemmon, The Gardens of Britain 5, (1978), pp 183-6

P Leach, James Paine (1988), pp 20-1

Nostell Priory, guidebook, (National Trust 1990)

G Sheeran, Landscape Gardens in West Yorkshire 1680-1880 (1990), pp 34-7, 70-1, 91

Maps

S. Switzer, Improvements Made and to be Made at Nostell Park, c 1732 [reproduced in Sheeran 1990]

T Jefferys, County Map, 1771

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1849-51; 2nd edition published 1893

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1919; 1932 edition
 

Description written: January 1998

Amended: March 1999

Edited: November 1999