Thoresby Park, Mansfield, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

In 1589, William Lodge, an alderman of London, lived in a mansion in Thoresby Park which in 1633 was acquired by Robert Pierrepont, first Earl of Kingston (died 1643) (Country Life 1979). Robert Pierrepont's eldest son, Henry Pierrepont, became the second Earl and his nephews, Robert Pierrepont (died 1682) and William Pierrepont (died 1690), succeeded as third and fourth Earls. An estate map was produced in 1680 showing the mansion with a terrace and pleasure grounds, and shortly afterwards William Pierrepont rebuilt the mansion. When William died in 1690 his younger brother Evelyn (died 1725) became the fifth Earl and was later created first Duke of Kingston. In 1715, Evelyn was responsible for creating a lake in the park. His grandson, Evelyn Pierrepont, the second Duke of Kingston, inherited in 1725 and in 1768 he commissioned John Carr of York (1723-1807) to rebuild the Hall (Stroud 1962) after a fire in 1745, while his gardener Francis Richardson, and possibly Lancelot Brown (1716-83), began work on the landscape. When the second Duke died in 1773 his nephew, Charles Meadows, inherited the estate. He adopted the name of Pierrepont, became Viscount Newark in 1796 and was created first Earl Manvers in 1806. Charles made several improvements to the mansion and called in Humphry Repton (1752-1818) who produced a Red Book for the park in 1791 which included plans for remodelling the southern pleasure grounds and cascade, parts of which were carried out (Daniels 1999). When the first Earl Manvers died in 1832 his third son, Charles Pierrepont inherited as second Earl Manvers. The second Earl Manvers' second son, Sydney Pierrepont became the third Earl Manvers in 1860 and in 1864 he commissioned Anthony Salvin (1799-1881) to build a new hall at Thoresby on a site to the north of the old one. William Andrews Nesfield (1793-1881) was called in in the early 1860s but it is not clear if any of his advice was followed and in the last quarter of the 19th century Edward Milner (1819-84) was commissioned to lay out a pleasure ground north-west of the Hall. The earldom died out with the death of the sixth Earl Manvers in the mid-20th century. During the Second World War the army occupied the south-east part of the park and a camp remains in use here. The Hall, sold to British Coal in 1979, changed hands again in 1988 when it was purchased by a property developer. It stood unoccupied and derelict until 1999 but has since been restored and opened as a hotel in October 2000. The park remains in private ownership and a new house, to be known as Thoresby Park, is currently (2001) under construction.