Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, England

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

A late 19th century country house, surrounded by contemporary formal and informal gardens, and an extensive park, laid out by Elie Lainé, incorporating the site of a 17th/18th century park and the remains of the formal garden of Winchendon House.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Waddesdon Manor park lies south-west of, and adjacent to, the village of Waddesdon, 9 kilometres north-west of Aylesbury, in the Vale of Aylesbury. The site, which covers about 480 hectares, is bounded to the west by agricultural land, to the east by Waddesdon Hill lane (leading from the A41 to Upper Winchendon) and the adjacent Eythrope estate, and to the north by Waddesdon village and the A41 Aylesbury to Bicester road. The east boundary along Waddesdon Hill lane is largely planted with a belt of trees, as is the north boundary where it runs adjacent to the A41. The house is sited on Lodge Hill above the surrounding parkland which covers undulating land, rising up to the south towards Waddesdon Hill. The setting is largely agricultural, with the ornamental parkland of Eythrope to the east, Waddesdon village with its many late 19th century estate buildings to the north, and Westcott military establishment to the west. Long views extend from various parts of Lodge Hill, including west towards Wotton Underwood and the Vale beyond, and east to Aylesbury and the distant Chiltern Hills. Within the wider setting, Waddesdon Manor is one of seven Rothschild country estates within a 10 kilometre radius of Aylesbury bought, and usually furnished with a new house and often new grounds, during the second half of the 19th century.

REFERENCES

Country Life, 4 (20 August 1898), pp 208-11; 12 (20 December 1902), p 808

J Harris, The Artist and the Country House (1979), p 140, col plates XII, XIII

J Garden History 8, (1988), pp 228-9, pl XIII

Waddesdon Parkland Restoration Plan, (Colson Stone Partnership 1992)

B Elliott, Waddesdon Manor, the Garden (1994)

N Pevsner and E Williamson, The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (1994), pp 708-712

Maps

Fellows, Survey, 1776 (private collection)

Tithe map for Waddesdon parish, 1859 (Buckinghamshire Record Office)

Auction sale map, 1874 (Buckinghamshire Record Office)

Lodge Hill estate, plan and section for drainage of carriage drives and slopes, late 19th century (Buckinghamshire Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1885

    2nd edition published 1900

    3rd edition published 1922

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1881-1882

    2nd edition published 1899

Description written: 1997

Amended: April 1999

Edited: September 2000