Redlynch Park, Somerset, England

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

Formal gardens of 18th-century origin, with early 20th-century elements designed by Edwin Lutyens, set in a park which was first enclosed in the 17th century and landscaped in the mid-18th century.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Redlynch Park is situated about 3 kilometres south-east of Bruton, to the west of the B3081 road. The roughly 319 hectare site comprises about 10 hectares of gardens, pleasure grounds, and walled gardens, together with some 309 hectares of parkland. The site is enclosed by a stone wall about 3 metres high, completed for the first Earl of Ilchester in 1748-50 as part of his scheme of improvements (Victoria County History 1999). The site is bounded to the east by the B3081 road, and to the south-east and south by a minor lane which leads west from Stoney Stoke to Shepton Montague. To the south-west the site adjoins agricultural land, while to the west and north-west it is bounded by a further minor road which leads south-west from Redlynch to Ilchester. The site slopes from north to south towards a stream which flows from east to west roughly parallel to the southern boundary of the park. Beyond the southern boundary of the site the ground rises, affording extensive northerly views across the park towards Redlynch House.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

J Collinson, The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset I, (1791), pp 225-6

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset (1958), pp 281-2

Victoria History of the County of Somerset VII, (1999), pp 18-28

M Laird, The Flowering of the Landscape Garden English Pleasure Grounds 1720-1800 (1999), pp 233-7

Maps

Part of the Manor of Redlynch Belonging to the Honble Stephen Fox Esqr, around 1700 (D/FSI, box 191), (Dorset Record Office)

E Grant, plan of Redlynch, 1738 (Gough Maps, 29 f 21), (Bodleian Library)

B Donne, Map and Survey, 1762 (Dorset Record Office)

R Richardson, A Map of the West Part of Redlynch Estate in the County of Somerset,
1800 (D/FSI A/11 D124), (Dorset Record Office)

Tithe map for Shepton Montague parish, 1839 (Somerset Record Office)

Plan of the Redlynch Estate, Bruton, Somerset, sale particulars, 1912 (Dorset Record Office)

OS Surveyor’s Drawing, 1809 (British Library Maps)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1885-6, published 1889

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition revised 1888, published 1903

Illustrations

W Wheatley, Redlynch, House now used as Farmhouse, 1851 (Dorset Record Office)

Archival items

The Ilchester estate records, including accounts and plans, are held at the Dorset Record Office (D/FSI)

Estate accounts, 1740s (D/FSI box 188), (Dorset Record Office)

The Particulars &c Redlynch Mansion House, 1794 (Dorset Record Office)

J Riley, Gardens and Park at Redlynch, Somerset, (manuscript notes) [copy on EH file]

Sale particulars, 1912 (Dorset Record Office) 

Description written: December 2003

Amended: April 2004

Edited: September 2004