Aldby Park, Buttercrambe, York, North Yorkshire, England

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

Gardens laid out by Thomas Knowlton in about 1746 incorporating the remains of a medieval motte, and a park probably laid out at the same time and enlarged in the late 18th or early 19th century.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Aldby Park lies immediately north of the village of Buttercrambe in a rural and agricultural area. The approximately 36 hectare park is on gently rolling land which slopes down to the River Derwent. The river and a mill-race running from it form the eastern boundary, the road between Buttercrambe and Bossall forms the western boundary, the main street through the village the southern boundary, and fencing divides the northern boundary from agricultural land.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

Samuel Buck's Yorkshire Sketchbook (1720), (Wakefield Historical Society facsimile reprint 1979), p 32

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire The North Riding (1966), pp 93-4

The Victoria History of the County of Yorkshire North Yorkshire 2, (1968), p 93

Country Life, 179 (20 February 1986), pp 442-5

J Ray, Report on Aldby Park (1993), (English Heritage file) [This includes references to the contents of the Darley papers in the North Yorkshire Record Office and a transcription of Knowlton's bill for laying out the garden.]

Maps [reproduced in Ray 1993]

Map of Buttercrambe, 1663

Undated 18th-century map showing a design for the landscape around the house at Aldby

Undated 18th-century map of the park, fields to the north and Buttercrambe Wood, with proposals for an avenue

Map of Buttercrambe and Aldby, 1746

R Bewdlay, A Plan of the Estate of Henry Darley Esq..., 1829

OS Maps

OS 6" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1913

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1891
 

Description written: September 1998

Edited: October 1999