Campsey Ashe Park, (also known as Campsea Ashe), Ipswich, England

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

The remains of 17th-century formal gardens, with early 20th-century additions, standing in a park of possibly mid-17th-century origins, extended during the late 19th century.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Campsea Ashe Park lies to the east of the village of Campsey Ashe on the edge of the Suffolk Sandlings, about 8km north-east of Woodbridge. Its north and east boundaries are formed by Station Road and the B1078 Campsey Ashe to Tunstall Road. The west boundary is marked by a minor country road and the south by farmland. Woodland belts enclose the park to the east and partly to the north. The south boundary is composed of the ornamental Rackham's Grove which extends about 200 metres east from the garden before joining The Jungle, a broadleaf shelterbelt which forms the rest of the boundary. A high brick wall and garden trees enclose the southern end of the western boundary whilst at the northern end the park is partly screened by a block of woodland known as Allen's Covert. The park is set in a rural, agricultural landscape with a mainly flat topography in the south and gently undulating ground in the north. Views from the house platform, which sits on the edge of the flat land, run north along a double lime avenue and east across the park and adjoining farmland along a vista known as The Lights.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

Country Life, 18 (15 July 1905), p 54

East Suffolk Illustrated (1908)

The Garden, (5 September 1914), p 443

The Garden 53 (part 1), (1928)

Deben Valley Place Names Project (DVPN), (Local History Group report, 1980s)

Tom Williamson, The park and garden at Campsey Ashe, (UEA report, 1990s)

Maps

E Bowen, A Map of the County of Suffolk, 1750

J Hodskinson, The County of Suffolk, 1783

Tithe map for Blaxall, 1839 (P46/30), (East Suffolk Record Office)

Estate map, no date (mid-19th century) (HA H/C9/8), (East Suffolk Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1884; 2nd edition published 1905

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1883; 2nd edition published 1905

Archival items

Peter Tillemans, Painting of the view from the house looking east along The Lights, late 17th/early 18th century (Ullswater private collection)

Sale Particulars, 1883 (East Suffolk Record Office)
 

Description written: December 1998

Amended: June 1999