Parks with particular reference to Essex
Brown had earlier landscaped Audley End in 1762 under the watchful eye of Sir John Griffin
Griffin (later Lord Howard de Walden). Under Brown much of the formal Jacobean plantings were
swept away (or disguised) and a more open, naturalistic park was created. Brown also contrived a
park within a park as a private area for the family, forming this from the old deer park. He also
dammed the River Cam to create a sizeable lake and created a great ha-ha with a walk (to keep out
the deer). The architect Robert Adam designed a number of buildings in the park, including temples
in the Ionic and Corinthian orders, a Palladian bridge, an obelisk and a gateway, all constructed
between 1763 and 1791.
Mock temples and statuary appeared in many parks in the 18th century, as well as romantic ruins -
attempts by owners to emulate the classical buildings and ruins seen in great paintings and on their
Grand Tours to the continent - although Capability Brown typically was not a great user of such
props in his schemes. An 18* century temple (rotunda) and obelisk can still be seen at Warlies Park
and a grotto and 'temple' at Wanstead still survive.
The late 18th and early 19th century saw many parks in Essex landscaped by Humphry Repton. He
is thought to have worked on. or been associated in some way with, over 30 properties in Essex.
His more noteworthy commissions, included Claybury Hall (Chigwell), Hill Hall (Theydon Mount),
Hylands (Chelmsford), Rivenhall Place (Rivenhall), Stansted Hall (Stansted Mountfitchet) and
Wanstead House (Wanstead). There was a movement away from the formal to a more naturalistic
appearance of parks, even some gardens disappeared from around the house - the park being
brought right up to the walls of the house in some of Brown's schemes.
It is against this background that Hylands makes its late and rather unobtrusive debut in about
1730, the house being constructed in red brick in the Queen Anne style between 1728 and 1730.
The house was built on an eminence - hence Hylands (but strangely not the highest point) - by John
Comyns. a prominent lawyer, Member of Parliament and later, Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
The Victorian period seems to have had little impact on Essex parks (although some, like Hylands,
were greatly enlarged at this time), with the exception of the cultivated environment - Kitchen
Gardens and the gardens around the house appear to have been the focus of Victorian horticultural
endeavour. There seems to be no Victorian equivalent of Capability Brown or Humphry Repton
who worked extensively in Essex. One characteristic tree of this period though, is the Wellingtonia
(introduced 1853). A 'must have' fashion tree, it occurs in parks all over Essex as singletons, in
small groups, avenues (Havering Park) and bulk-planted at Stansted Hall. Other (largely) Victorian
plantings include Deodar (introduced 1831) and Californian Redwood (introduced 1843). It remains
to be seen what impact the Wellingtonia will have on the visual quality of earlier landscapes.
Havering Park, with at least 63 Wellingtonias in and around the Avenue, is said to have one of the
largest concentrations of this species in England. Some parks appear to have acquired plantations
of conifers during this period.
The 20th century was not good for our parks. Our cavalier (or should I say roundhead) attitude to
our parkland heritage at these times, although no worse than that of previous generations, is probably-
best summed-up by the destruction of the Anglo-Saxon Ongar Great Park in the 1950s. Many of
our parks have been obliterated by modern farming and a number of the old mansions burnt or
demolished, although a surprising number still survive. A number of parks have had railways and
roads driven through them. Others have had gravel extracted or become golf courses. Those near
London have been particularly prone to urban development. The long history of Copped Hall near
Epping, summarised below, neatly illustrates the broad history of parks in Essex.
6
Essex Parks: Section 1 - Parks in Essex