Essex Parks - The Eulogy
the usually unnamed craftsmen who built them. Their contents - furniture, paintings, statuary and
libraries (as at Audley End, Ingatestone Hall and Langleys) are also of some note.
The remaining built environment of parks is also significant - the stable blocks, home farms, dairies,
gate lodges, gate houses, kitchen gardens and other utility buildings, right down to ice-houses and
dove-cotes and even their brick perimeter walls make a substantial contribution to the register of
listed buildings in Essex.
Essex should make much more of its park landscapes. They do not come much more famous than
Lancelot Brown or Humphry Repton and Repton, although born in Bury St Edmunds, lived-out his
working life as a landscape gardener from Hare Street near Romford. Their influence on Essex
parks in the 18th and early 19th century is still the topic of much heated debate today. The contribution
of designers and architects, including Robert Adam, to landscapes such as the grade 1 listed Audley
End is also important.
Public parks from the huge Hylands at 577 acres to tiny Lexden at 18.5 acres are important for the
informal recreational facilities they offer. The large parks of Weald and Thorndon (combined acreage
860 acres) collectively hosted a million+ (non-paying!) visitors over the last year.
Essex parks arc an astonishing legacy from the often distant past. They can, as at Hylands, be a
supremely beautiful tree'd landscape, as well as an important wildlife site. They are a much-loved
and enduring landscape feature - it still amuses me to see the names Crondon Park, Littley Park,
Absol Park and Havering Park on modern Ordnance Survey Maps - all these parks disappeared
prior to or during the 18th century - Havering went in 1652. but 350 years later it still features on a
map!
Essex parks arc an enduring legacy and their owners, both public and private, should be thanked
for the substantial contribution their parks make to the historic and nature conservation fabric of
Essex. Parks are expensive to run and maintain - I note no-one seemed to complain when the
LondonBorough of Redbridge spent some £22,500 doing remedial work to the grade II listed gate
piers of the former Wanstead House in 2003!
Essex Parks: Section 2 - Hylands Park
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