Charlecote Park, Stratford-on-Avon, England

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

A 16th-century deer park and 17th-century formal gardens landscaped in the mid-18th century by Lancelot Brown, with 19th-century formal gardens and pleasure grounds around a 16th-century house which was remodelled in the early and mid-19th century.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Charlecote is situated about 0.5km south-east of the village of Charlecote and about 8km south of Warwick, to the west of the B4088 road which runs north from Loxley to Warwick. The roughly 105-hectare site comprises some two hectares of formal gardens and pleasure grounds around the house, and about 103 hectares of parkland. The site is enclosed on three sides by public roads: to the north the boundary is formed by Charlecote Road, which runs north-west from Charlecote to Hampton Lucy, while to the east the B4088 road forms the boundary; to the south the boundary is the B4086 Stratford Road. The park boundaries adjoining public roads are fenced with traditional split-timber deer pales. To the west the site adjoins agricultural land. The site is generally level and forms the flood plain of the River Avon, which sweeps through the park to the west of the house. Two tributary streams join the Avon within the park: the River Dene to the south of the house, and a small stream, which is dammed to form a lake, to the north-west. There are extensive views westwards from the house and terraces across the park towards the Welcombe Hills north of Stratford-upon-Avon, while the 19th-century tower of Hampton Lucy parish church about 600 metres north-west of the house and Charlecote parish church about 400 metres north-east act as eyecatchers. From the northern bastion of the wilderness north of the house there are extensive views across the park towards Charlecote village and to agricultural land beyond Charlecote Road.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

W Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire, (2nd edition 1730), p 507

S Ireland, Picturesque Views on the Upper or Warwickshire Avon (1795), pp 159-60

[W Irving (editor)], The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent vii, (1820), pp 75-86

J P Neale, Views of the Seats ... IV, (1821)

J Nash, The Mansions of England in the Olden Time II, (1841)

N Hawthorne, Our Old Home (1863), pp 188-93

J Horticulture and Cottage Gardener 50, (1873), pp 355-7

Country Life, 1 (8 January 1897), pp 46-7; (23 January 1897), pp 78-9; 35 (24 January 1914), pp 126-34; 111 (11 April 1952), pp 1080-3; (18 April 1952), pp 1164-7; (2 May 1952), pp 1328-31; 177 (21 February 1985), pp 446-50; (28 February 1985), pp 506-10

Lady A Fairfax-Lucy, Charlecote and the Lucys (1958)

N Pevsner and A Wedgewood, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire (1966), pp 227-9

W E K Anderson (editor), The Journal of Sir Walter Scott (1972), pp 454-5

D Stroud, Capability Brown (1975), pp 56-7

M Binney and A Hills, Elysian Gardens (1976), p 36

J Harris, The Artist and the Country House (1979), p 144

G S Thomas, Gardens of the National Trust (1979), pp 113-14

G Tyack, Warwickshire Country Houses in the Age of Classicism (1980)

G Tyack, The Making of the Warwickshire Country House 1500-1650 (1982), pp 33-5

Lady A Fairfax-Lucy (editor), Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy (1983)

G Tyack, The Country Houses of Warwickshire 1800-1939 (1989), pp 10-16, 27-9, 45

G Tyack, Warwickshire Country Houses (1994), pp 42-7

Lancelot (Capability) Brown: Warwickshire Commissions (Warwickshire Gardens Trust 1994), pp 27-30

Charlecote Park, guidebook, (National Trust 1996)

Maps

C Saxton, Map of Warwickshire, 1576

J Speed, The Countie of Warwick, 1610

J Fish, The Survey of ye Manour of Charlecot and Hunscot ... all being ye lands of ye worship Tho Lucy Esq, 1736 (L6/1035), (Warwickshire County Record Office)

H Beighton, A Mapp of Warwickshire, 1" to 1 mile, surveyed 1722-5, published 1729

H Beighton, A Map of Kington Hundred, 1729 (in Dugdale 1730)

W Yates and Sons, Map of Warwickshire, surveyed 1787-9, published 1793

J Clarke, A Map of the manors of Charlecote, Hampton-Lucy, Fulbrook; and an Estate in the Parish of Wellesbourne in the County of Warwick: the Property of The Revd John Lucy, 1791 (Z628L), (Warwickshire County Record Office)

W Kendall, Tithe map for Charlecote parish, no date (around 1849), (CR569/61), (Warwickshire County Record Office)

OS Old Series 1" to 1 mile, published 1831

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1886; 2nd edition published 1906

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1886; 2nd edition published 1905

Illustrations

Oil painting, perspective view of Charlecote Park from the west, around 1700 (National Trust Collection)

H Beighton, The East Prospect of Charlecote in Warwickshire, the Seat of the Reverend Willm Lucy Esqr, 1722 (in Dugdale 1730)

E Rudge (?), Charlecote House, around 1800 (Aylesford Collection, Birmingham Reference Library Archive)

Aerial photographs, 1950; 1963 (Cambridge University Collection) [in Binney and Hills 1976]

Archival items [all held in the Warwickshire County Record Office]

Lucy family papers including 18th-century estate accounts and other items (L6)

J Fish, Survey of Charlecote Lordship, around 1685 (L6/1033)

Receipt from Samuel Driver for payment for fruit trees, 1717 (L6/1098)

J Standbridge, Plan, estimate and receipt for new bridge across the River Avon, 1768 (L6/1109, 1110)

L Brown, Letter regarding new trees and assurance that 'everything shall be put right', 1762 (L6/1326)

Correspondence regarding trees and new bridge, 1755 (L6/1374, 1375)

Household book with memorandum relating to Brown's work in the grounds, 1755-71 (L6/1476)
 

Description written: December 1999

Amended: May 2000; September 2000

Edited: December 2000