Brocklesby Park, Grimsby, England

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The first recorded mention of a manor house at Brocklesby comes in 1585, following purchases of land made in the area by Sir William Pelham (died 1587) in 1564-5 and 1571 (Ambler, quoted in Popham 1995). Sir William's son, also Sir William (died 1629), built a new house at Brocklesby on a new site in around 1603 and surrounded it with 'fine gardens, groves and pleasure houses' (de la Pryme, quoted in Surtees Society 1870). In around 1710, Sir William's descendant, Sir Charles Pelham, who inherited the Brocklesby estate in 1692, substantially remodelled the old Jacobean house in the Georgian style. His great nephew, Charles Anderson, inherited the estate from his uncle whilst still a minor, and following a visit to Europe on the Grand Tour, he returned to Brocklesby with his new wife, Sophia Aufrere and assumed the name Anderson Pelham. He commissioned Lancelot Brown (1716-83) in 1771 to make alterations to the house and to lay out new grounds and James Wyatt (1747-1813) to design complementary buildings, including a fine Mausoleum erected in 1786 following the sudden death of Sophia. During the 1780s Thomas White (1736-1811) produced further plans to extend the park and at the end of the 18th century Humphry Repton (1752-1818) prepared a Red Book (now lost) for Charles Anderson Pelham, who was created Baron Yarborough in 1794. Just before his death in 1823, Baron Yarborough, together with Jeffry Wyatville (1766-1840), conceived plans for a grand new mansion on a new site, but these were never implemented. Baron Yarborough was succeeded by his son, who was created Earl of Yarborough and Baron Worsley in 1837 and who carried on the woodland planting work started by his father. In 1845 the first Earl began alterations to the house which were completed by his son, Charles Anderson-Worsley who succeeded the following year. Both the second Earl and his son, also Charles, who succeeded in 1862, made several changes to the gardens around the house and in the late 1860s the house was again enlarged. The third Earl died in 1875 and his son Charles succeeded to the title when he came of age in 1880. Following a fire at the house in 1898, the fourth Earl, Charles commissioned Reginald Blomfield to restore it and to lay out new gardens. When the fourth Earl died in 1936 his second son, Sackville George Pelham, the fifth Earl inherited Brocklesby. Twelve years later, in 1948, the fifth Earl was succeeded by his brother, Marcus Herbert Pelham. The sixth Earl commissioned Claud Phillimore to reduce the size of the house which was returned to its early 18th-century size. John Edward Pelham, the son of Marcus, succeeded to Brocklesby in 1966 and continued to work on the famous estate woodlands. His son, Charles John became the eighth Earl on his father's death in 1991 and together with his wife laid out a new formal garden. The site remains (2000) in private ownership.