Introduction
Features of Oulton Park include a lake, woodland, formal garden and kitchen garden.
- History
The park was first created during the 18th century.
George Ormerod's 'History of Cheshire' (1819) notes that the owner was Sir John Grey-Egerton. Ormerod states that 'The magnificent trees which now adorn the park and pleasure grounds were, with the exception of the oaks and a few others, planted about a hundred and twenty years ago, under the superintendence of the celebrated landscape gardener, William Emes, and his pupil Webb. The park is enclosed by a wall and contains 300 head of deer and other cattle: it adjoins to the southern side of the Forest of Delamere, and like that posesses some undulation of surface, gradually subsiding into the flat part of Cheshire in the south. The grounds were laid out by Eames and Webb as his pupil. (Thomas Helsby adds 'and subsequently by Gilpin').
In 1926 the house burned down. During World War 2 the site was used as an Army staging camp. After the War the site deteriorated. It was taken over in the 1950s by the Mid-Cheshire Car Club. The Club built a racing track and international racing soon followed. The site remains as a motor racing centre to the present day (2007).
Period
18th Century
- Associated People
- Features & Designations
Features
- Lake
- Earliest Date:
- Latest Date:
- Folly
- Earliest Date:
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- Kitchen Garden
- Earliest Date:
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- House (featured building)
- Earliest Date:
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- Key Information
Type
Park
Purpose
Recreational/sport
Principal Building
Commercial
Period
18th Century
Survival
Part: standing remains
Open to the public
Yes
Civil Parish
Little Budworth
- References
References
- Ormerod, G and Helsby, T {The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester} (London: Routledge, 1882) The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester
- Davies, J. {Landscape Gardening in Ormerod's 'History of Cheshire'} (Cheshire Gardens Trust, 2011) Landscape Gardening in Ormerod's 'History of Cheshire'
- Ormerod, G {The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester ... incorporated with a republication of King's Vale, Royal, and Leycester's Cheshire Antiquities. L.P} (London: Lackington, 1819) The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester ... incorporated with a republication of King's Vale, Royal, and Leycester's Cheshire Antiquities. L.P