Record Details
| NHER Number: | 32152 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | The Grove, Gunton Park |
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Summary
An important survival of an early 18th century formal garden designed by Charles Bridgeman. The Grove is an area of ornamental planting, with geometric paths and an early 18th century prospect mound, NHER 6818. An evaluation carried out by the NAU in 1996 revealed a possible prehistoric enclosure. A bank with ditches on both sides and a line of post holes was discovered during the evaluation. Prehistoric pot boilers, late prehistoric and Bronze Age pottery have been found on the site.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 22639 34380 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG23SW |
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| Parish: | HANWORTH, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Full description
9 to 15 December 1996. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation carried out by NAU to test survival of park features revealed a curving bank and postholes, apparently prehistoric.
Evaluation trenching for The Grove, Gunton Park Association in the 18th century garden revealed the existence of an earthwork, a curving bank with a ditch on both inner and outer sides, and a line of post holes to the west. Rather than having origins as a post-medieval landscape feature, limited excavation raised the possibility of a prehistoric date for the earthwork, although this must remain uncertain.
Finds recovered included potboilers and Bronze Age and undated pottery.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
D. Gurney (NLA) 1997. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 8 April 2015.
March 1997. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of importance produced after completion of archaeological evaluation.
The Grove, to the north of Gunton Hall, is an area of ornamental woodland cut with geometric paths focused on a circular clearing. The Grove is planted with oak and sweet chestnut, and some of the planting may date back to the late 17th century. The Grove was designed by Charles Bridgeman, and a plan of the Grove dated 1730 is reproduced in (S3). The plan shows three terraces running along the approach to the Mount (NHER 6818), and although earthwork terraces have been surveyed in this area of the Grove, they appear to be natural rather than artificial. The Grove was extended in the mid 18th century, and is shown on an estate map of 1754, also reproduced in (S3).
See report (S3) for further details, including information on earthwork features identified within The Grove.
S. Spooner (NLA) 2 February 2006. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 8 April 2015.
Monument Types
- BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
- DITCH (Unknown date)
- BANK (EARTHWORK) (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
- DITCH (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
- EARTHWORK (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
- POST HOLE (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
- BANK (EARTHWORK) (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- DITCH (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- GARDEN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Associated Finds
- POT BOILER (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
- POT (Late Prehistoric - 4000 BC to 42 AD)
- POT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| --- | Secondary File: Secondary File. |
| <S1> | Unpublished Contractor Report: Emery, P. and Ashwin, T. 1997. Archaeological Evaluation at The Grove, Gunton Park, Hanworth, Norfolk. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. |
| <S2> | Article in Serial: Gurney, D. and Penn, K. (eds). 1997. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk 1996. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLII Pt IV pp 547-564. p 553. |
| <S3> | Unpublished Contractor Report: [Unknown]. 1997. The Grove, Gunton Park, Norfolk. Assessment of importance. Debois Landscape Survey Group. |
Related records
| 6818 | Parent of: The Mount, Gunton Park (Monument) |
| 30438 | Part of: Gunton Park (Monument) |
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