Claydon, Aylesbury, England

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

A mid- to late- 18th century landscape park surrounding an 18th/19th century country house, with further garden development in the 19th century.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Claydon lies in the Vale of Aylesbury, on low clay hills, at the centre of the four Claydon villages, 15 kilometres north-west of Aylesbury and 9 kilometres south of Buckingham. The 100 hectare site is bounded to the south by the Botolph Claydon to Charndon lane, to the west by a lane linking this lane with the Middle Claydon to Steeple Claydon lane, which forms the north boundary together with the village of Middle Claydon, and to the east by a brook at the bottom of a shallow agricultural valley. The setting is largely agricultural, with the small village of Middle Claydon adjacent and the other Claydons all within 2 kilometres of the site. To the south several woodlands also form part of the setting, with rides cut through them aligned on the house and park, of which one in particular is centred on the south front of the house. Low hill ranges to the west and south form a distant rim,

REFERENCES

Country Life, 9 (18 May 1901), pp 617-20; 31 (9 March 1912), pp 356-364; (16 March 1912), pp 394-9; 112 (24 October 1952), pp 1278-81; (31 October 1952), pp 1398-1401

J Broad, Sir Ralph Verney and his estates 1630(1969, (unpub thesis Oxford University 1973)

Archaeological Survey, Claydon House, (National Trust 1990)

N Pevsner and E Williamson, The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (1994), pp 476-481

Claydon House, guidebook, (National Trust 1995)

Maps

Tithe map for Middle Claydon, 1841 (no 266), (Buckinghamshire Record Office)

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

    2nd edition published 1900

    3rd edition published 1923

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1880

    2nd edition published 1899

Archival items

The Verney Papers, held at Claydon (index at Buckinghamshire Record Office), include the following items:

Drawings by James Sanderson of Caversham, employed to landscape the park 1763-76, relating to proposed lake design (12/2/19(21)

Designs for garden arbours, c 1770 (12/2/69-70)

Lake and planting plan, c 1770, probably by Sanderson (12/2/71)

Description written: 1997

Edited: June 1999