Introduction
Features of Farm Hall include avenues, a walk, a lawn, ha-ha, hedgerows, herbaceous borders, walled gardens and a canal.
The south lawn with ha-ha leads to a town park of 9.6 hectares with a central lime avenue laid out when the house was built. The park has a preimeter walk along the hedgerows. There are enclosed gardens to the west with roses, herbaceous borders and shrubs, laid out over an earlier walled kitchen garden.
Opposite the Hall, on the north side of West Street, is a landscaped garden with pairs of gates and a claire-voie which reveals a canal bordered by poplars with outlet to the River Ouse. The canal and south avenue are on the main axis of the house.
- History
This red brick house was built for Charles Clarke, Recorder of Huntingdon and a Baron of the Exchequer, in 1746. During the Second World War the house was used as a training centre for British secret agents, and after the war ten leading German nuclear physicists were interned in secrecy.
- Features & Designations
Features
- Avenue
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- Ha-ha
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- Lawn
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- Hedge
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- Herbaceous Border
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- Shrub Feature
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- Kitchen Garden
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- Garden Wall
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- Gateway
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- Canal
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- Clairvoie
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- Manor House (featured building)
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- Key Information
Type
Garden
Purpose
Ornamental
Principal Building
Domestic / Residential
Survival
Extant
Civil Parish
Godmanchester
- References
Contributors
Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust