Stradsett Hall, Downham Market, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Thomas Bagge inherited the Stradsett estate from his father-in-law Philip Case in 1791, at which time the Elizabethan manor house was accompanied by several ponds and the remains of a medieval moat, and was sheltered to the south by a rectilinear woodland belt, the whole being surrounded by a flat agricultural landscape of enclosed fields and woodlands. Thomas Bagge died in 1807 having imparked land to the south of the manor and planted an avenue through it. He was succeeded by his son, T P Bagge, who prepared to remodel the hall and create a 'picturesque' landscape around it. In 1808 he commissioned Humphry Repton (1752-1818) to supply a design but it was J C Loudon (1783-1843) whom Bagge chose for the commission in 1810, having already paid to enclose around 80 hectares of arable land around the Hall with a fence in preparation for the creation of the park. It was an important early commission for the young Loudon who had only arrived in London five years before to set up in practice. Loudon completed his work on the park, lake, pleasure ground, and kitchen garden, which together cost over £7000, in 1813 at which time a rift with the family, caused by the excessive bill for the project, caused them to terminate Loudon's contract before plans for a new house were completed. Instead, substantial alterations to the old hall were carried out and finished in 1819. Through successive generations of the Bagge family the main elements of the Loudon landscape have survived. The site remains (1999) in private ownership.