Record Details

NHER Number:30507
Type of record:Monument
Name:Heacham Park

Summary

A late 18th century landscape park that was expanded in the 19th century. There were three separate gardens in the late 18th century, including the kitchen garden. An artificial lake was dug in the 19th century.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 679 381
Map Sheet:TF63NE
Parish:HEACHAM, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

The first map of the site is from 1625 (S1), before it was developed into a park. A few relatively wealthy farmers owned and farmed the land, and their cottages were on the west side of the road leading north from the church (NHER 1486) to the site of the old Heacham Hall (NHER 12481). The old hall was sited north of the present park and sat in grounds bounded north and south by common land, suggesting that it was carved out of common land. It is likely that the grounds were a farm and not a park.
Edmund Rolfe purchased the land in 1694 and built a house, the park started to be developed in 1764. By then the estate had enlarged by 164 acres. A road was diverted, which had ran west of the house, to allow for the park’s expansion. In 1770 a kitchen garden was built. Accounts show that at the time, the fish pond was extended, gravel paths were laid and tree planting took place. The house had three small gardens, noted in 1773 at a combined measurement of just over one acre.
A new Hall started to be built in 1775, after the park had been developed. The new park and Hall are seen on a late 18th century map (S4), with patches of fairly young woodland. The Hall was built east of the patch of common land, which, due to the changes in the road system, was difficult to reach from the village and by the time of the 1839 Tithe Award map (S5), had been incorporated into the park, probably in the Heacham Enclosure Act of 1781, where the Heacham lands increased by 94 acres. The 1839 map shows a new road stretching east from the house, bounded on the north by a new plantation. Further planting had taken place north and east of the house, so that the northern half of the park was completely enclosed by trees.
The 1906 Ordnance Survey map (S1) shows a new fish pond to the south. A 1921 advertisement for the estate mentions there being a rose garden, kitchen gardens and glasshouses. The Hall was demolished after World War II, the park was broken up and now has a small housing development to the north.
Now, many of the trees that once grew in the park are gone.
See (S1), (S4) and (S5).
E. Rose (NLA) 17 March 1994.
Updated by C. Hurst (UEA) 14 November 2011.

(S3) in file.

Monument Types

  • FISHPOND (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GARDEN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GLASSHOUSE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • KITCHEN GARDEN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • LANDSCAPE PARK (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • PARK (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • PLANTATION (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • ROSE GARDEN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: TF6738 S; TF6838 D.
---Monograph: Williamson, T.. 1998. Archaeology of the Landscape Park: Garden Design in Norfolk, England, c. 1680-1840.. BAR (British Series). Vol 268. pp 131-132.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Unpublished Document: Norfolk County Council. [unknown]. Inventory of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Norfolk..
<S2>Designation: English Heritage. Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England..
<S3>Newspaper Article: Lynn News. 1999. Heacham's hidden haven for anglers. 21 May.
<S4>Map: NRO. Late 18thC. Map of Heacham from the Church to the Hall and Manor Yards.
<S5>Map: Utting. J. Lynn Regis. 1839. Heacham Tithe Map.

Related records

43164Parent of: Archway Cottage and 42 to 46 (even) Hunstanton Road (Building)
12481Part of: Heacham Hall (Building)

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