Battlesden Park, Leighton Buzzard, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

In 1334 Thomas Fermbaud was licensed to impark 100 hectares of land and wood in Battlesden and Potsgrove, seemingly on the site of the current park (Victoria County History). A house existed during the 18th century, probably of earlier origin, and is shown on Jefferys' map (1765) without an adjacent park. Humphry Repton (1752-1818) was employed before 1808 by Sir Gregory Page-Turner to alter the house and survey the park, describing his visit to the derelict mansion in his Memoir (Carter et al 1982). Joseph Paxton (1803-65), born in the adjacent village of Milton Bryant in 1803, is said to have created the southernmost of the two lakes in 1821 (Victoria County History), although he would have been remarkably young if this is indeed the case. The house was rebuilt for Sir Edward Page-Turner in the early 1860s by G H Stokes, advised by Stokes' father-in-law, Paxton, and demolished shortly after 1885, when the estate was bought by the Duke of Bedford. The principal building is now the stable block, probably dating from the 1860s, now converted to residential use.