Barrington Hall, Hatfield Broad Oak
Top - the hall as it appeared in c.1770 in neo-classical form. Bottom - the hall as it appeared in 1863 alter
extensive remodelling in the Jacobean style (Gardeners' Chronicle, 1882).
The park of Barrington Hall probably started life as the park of the medieval Hatfield Broad Oak Priory,
founded in 1135 by Aubrey de Vere. The priory was dissolved in 1536 and subsequenlly bought by Sir Thomas
Barrington in 1564, becoming the family home. The priory wras apparently inadvertantly demolished in the
early 18th century and eventually the new hall pictured above, came to be built. The park, now in divided
ownership and some disparked and farmed, still has a fine treescape including what is the largest pollard oak
in Essex (girth just under 38 feet). Much of the southern part of the park still exists as a working wood-pasture
with cattle grazing beneath old trees (see front cover).
Essex Parks (2004)
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