Introduction
Features of Hinchingbrooke House include a gatehouse, lawn, clipped yews, a cottage ornee, a garden terrace and a terraced path through the woodland.
The entrance to the house is from a re-located 16th-century gatehouse through a courtyard with a circular lawn and clipped yew bushes. Extensive lawns to the east lead to a terrace with fine views across the landscape. To the west is open woodland with forest and exotic trees. In the forest is situated a 19th-century cottage ornee with a small, box-edged garden with a pool, terraced path and fine oak tree, with a wrought iron seat.
A newly planted rose garden with a lattice wall on the site of an earlier rose garden is now protected by a conifer hedge. The Japanese garden beyond the former kitchen garden has now been lost. Alconbury Brook has been made into a canal along the south-west boundary, and nearby is an allee, 630 yards long, planted with chestnuts and recorded on the 1757 estate map.
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
Access contact details
http://www.hhpac.co.uk/default.htm
Other Websites
- History
In 1538 the land (the site of an Augustinian nunnery) was given to Sir Richard Williams (alias Cromwell). The property was extended in the late-16th century and early-17th century. In 1627 it was sold by Sir Oliver Cromwell (uncle to the Lord Protector) to Sir Sidney Montague.
By 1660, the owner was Edward the second Earl of Manchester, who had carried out elaborate work to the grounds which Samuel Pepys recorded in his diaries. Hinchingbrooke House is now a school.
Period
Tudor (1485-1603)
- Features & Designations
Features
- Kitchen Garden
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- Lawn
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- Rose Garden
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- Garden Wall
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- Garden Terrace
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- Gateway
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- Path
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- Allee
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- Manor House (featured building)
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- Key Information
Type
Garden
Purpose
Ornamental
Principal Building
Domestic / Residential
Period
Tudor (1485-1603)
Survival
Extant
Open to the public
Yes
Civil Parish
Huntingdon
- References
Contributors
Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust