About
Suffolk’s Historic Gardens & Parks Inventory is an ever-expanding record of the historic development of its wealth of gardens and parks.
About
The Inventory is not only concerned with the designed gardens and parks of the aristocracy and powerful elites but also those across a wide range of society including the gentry, professionals and businessmen and larger rectory gardens for the clergy. The aim is to tell the fullest possible story of each site, including the many families and individual people responsible for their development over time.
There is far less historic documentary evidence about gardens and landscapes than for historic houses and their owners, so by necessity often a site’s story can only be told from the early-nineteenth century when tithe and Ordnance Surveys maps began to be produced. The aim has been to bring together the myriad of sources of information scattered around various depositories and the internet and, where possible, site visits.
Every effort is made to maintain accuracy and wherever possible sources of material are cross-checked against other sources. A full list of sources appears at the end of site reports. However it is inevitable, particularly when dealing with internet secondary sources, that a few errors may occur and so the information in the site reports is constantly updated as additional reliable material comes forward. New information, images and corrections to existing site reports are always welcome.
All references to District Councils and Suffolk Record Office documents are as of the date the site reports were written. Local government reorganisation may mean the disappearance of District Councils to be replaced by larger Councils and a major reorganisation of Suffolk Record Offices means many documents have been transferred to The Hold in Ipswich with a subsequent slight alteration of their reference numbers. The Inventory will, over time, seek to make any necessary changes to the site reports.
There are so many interesting stories to tell of the historic development of Suffolk’s wealth of gardens and parks and the Inventory is seen as a collaborative effort that will encourage others to share information about new sites.
Please contact admin@suffolkhistoricgardensandparks.co.uk if you would like to share additional information.
IMAGES USED
Images used on the website are credited wherever possible, available under a Creative Commons licence or similar, out of copyright, rights to use cleared or report authors’ own photographs. Where it has not been possible to establish or contact a rights owner or if anyone can show their copyright has been infringed they should contact the Inventory so an appropriate credit can be added or the image taken down.
Please contact admin@suffolkhistoricgardensandparks.co.uk
SUBMITTING MATERIAL
Contributions to the Suffolk’s Historic Gardens & Parks Inventory are always welcome and can be supplied by contacting admin@suffolkhistoricgardensandparks.co.uk
If you submit information such as corrections, additional information, images or new sites to be added to the Inventory we will only use that material with your prior consent. If desired, you will be credited for your contribution. When submitting information to the Inventory you are agreeing to its use free of copyright, unless otherwise agreed.
No submitted material will be used on the website unless permission has been granted by relevant other sources such as copyright holders, owners of photographs of identifiable people and private spaces. When submitting material to the Inventory you are agreeing to have checked sources and obtained any relevant permissions. It is hoped that submitted material for new sites is provided to match the structure of the other site reports. Where this is not possible you would be agreeing to it being edited to follow that of the existing reports.
BACKGROUND
The reports in the Inventory were originally based on over two decades of research looking into the fascinating and often surprising historical development of Suffolk’s wealth of gardens, parks and designed landscapes. With a lifelong fascination in the landscape around me and armed with a Diploma in Landscape History and Archaeology from the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, I arrived in Suffolk and immediately joined Suffolk Gardens Trust and its walled gardens recording group. Thus started the hunt for more information about the development of various gardens, which seemed sadly lacking. I was surprised that so few of Suffolk’s gardens and parks were listed on Historic England’s Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, although recent new registrations have gone some way to address this for a few of the larger sites. And so I set about gathering all the information I could for individual sites and thus the idea for an inventory began.
Now, many years later, this website was set-up to record and share with others the stories of Suffolk’s gardens and parks. Whatever your reason for visiting the Inventory, it is hoped you will find the information interesting and useful. Enjoy your visit!
Tina Ranft
