Introduction
Burley is a 19th-century landscape park, gardens and grounds forming a setting to the house of the same date, now much renovated.
Location and Site
Woolton House Stud (now returned to its 19th c name Burley) lies in the north east of the Basingstoke and Deane borough. Until the late 20th century it was part of the Woolton House estate, and lies to the north of Woolton House on the Woolton Hill to Ball Hill road.
During 2000 - 2007 major changes have been approved to reinstate the mansion and gardens to a standard appropriate to a ‘building of note' in this AONB landscape. Proposals included demolitions of miscellaneous buildings and rebuilding in line with the quality required features such as:. Sunken garden, Stone bridge and moat, Maze and children's garden & sculpture garden, formal garden, shrubbery walks, orchards and an extensive range of glass houses, garden buildings with potager and enclosed gardens, Open parkland with mature tree planting of some ornamental deciduous species.
New entrance gates are already installed, and a fine alleé of oaks has been planted aproximately 600m long running east north-east /west south-west from the south east corner of the parkland to the house as far as the junction with Hobley Lane. It does not align with any vistas from the house.
The Woolton House Stud has been very successful in breeding pedigree horses in the early 2000s.
Significance:
Burley Estate lies within the AONB in one of the valleys that form a link with other great houses - from East Woodhay House in the north-east of the parish through Burley Estate, Woolton House, Malverleys and Stargrove in East End. This landscape is typical of this North Wessex downland landscape of rolling parkland, ancient woodland and narrow hedged lanes.
Landscape Planning Context:
North Wessex Downs: Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Detailed description contributed by Hampshire Gardens Trust 08/04/2015
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
- History
At the time of the Domesday recording, the area around Woodhay and the Cleres was part of a vast royal hunting forest which probably accounts for the pattern of settlement, with small hamlets set in forest clearings. The Manor of East Woodhay was the property of the ‘See' of Winchester and confirmed by Edward I in 1284. In 1648 East Woodhay was included in the sale of the bishop's lands. On the restoration of Charles II the manor was restored to the bishopric. Eventually the whole estate was acquired by the Earl of Carnarvon. An ancient pond - part of the natural drainage system into the Enborne - is one of the important historical markers within the estate.
The graphics in Milne's map of 1791 map suggests the area was commons/moorland with no property indicated. By the early 1800s The OS old series 1" map shows a small collection of buildings on Burley Moor. The estate extends across the valley of one of the rivers that are fed from the chalk downs and eventually discharge into the river Enborne. The ‘Georgian' house built in the mid 19th C saw the development of the estate into a parkland landscape. The house faces south over a terrace onto wide parklands, with pleasure gardens, outbuildings and kitchen gardens befitting a large country mansion. The mansion was inspected in the 1990s by English Heritage but considered the standard insufficient for listing at that time.
Detailed history contributed by Hampshire Gardens Trust 08/04/2015
Period
Victorian (1837-1901)
- Features & Designations
Designations
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- Reference: North Wessex Downs
- Key Information
Type
Park
Principal Building
Domestic / Residential
Period
Victorian (1837-1901)
Survival
Extant
Hectares
60.7
Civil Parish
East Woodhay
- References
Contributors
Hampshire Gardens Trust
EM Consultants