Monument record MLI43408 - Gunby Hall Park

Summary

Historic parkland at Gunby Hall.

Type and Period (8)

  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1540 AD to 2050 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1540 AD to 2050 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 2050 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1900 AD? to 2050 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1700 AD? to 2050 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 2050 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1860 AD? to 2050 AD)
  • (Post Medieval - 1813 AD? to 1900 AD?)

Protected Status/Designation

Full Description

A park surrounding formal gardens. Gunby Hall was built about 1700 for Sir William Massingberd. The lawn and walled kitchen gardens to the east of the house may date from this time. The lawns, paved path and terrace to the west of the house are about 1900. The park is registered as being of special historic interest. {1} The formal garden and wider parkland were assessed in 1986 as part of the National Trust's Archaeological Survey of the Gunby Hall estate. The Icehouse Pond, located in the south-west of the park, is reputed to be the result of clay extraction for making the bricks used in the Hall's construction. It is not marked on the 1780 enclosure map of Candlesby, however, casting some doubt on this interpretation. {2} Remains of part of the post-medieval water management system associated with Gunby Hall were recorded during an earthwork survey, conducted in July 2013. The survey was designed to be a training exercise for local volunteers, and focussed on the area of the park to the south-east of Gunby Hall and the Church of St Peter. A number of features were recorded, including a reservoir, spring, wind pump and hydraulic ram, all located in the vicinity of what was thought to be an old watercourse. {3}{4} A more detailed survey of the former private water supply system was conducted in August 2013, as part of the wider community investigation of the historic environment of the Gunby estate. The water system was thought to have been installed sometime between 1860 and 1880, utilising a natural spring emanating from the Spilsby Sandstone. Water was piped from the spring to a brick arched cistern, and then piped onwards to a much larger covered reservoir, where suspended particles in the water were allowed to settle. The water then passed onto a circular underground chamber, 15m to the south, where a hydraulic ram pump was housed and used to provide sufficient pressure to move the water to the Hall. Subsequent alterations in the 1900s and 1930s added first a wind pump and then a petrol driven pump to increase the supply and reliability of water to the Hall, before mains water supply made the system redundant in the late 1930s. {5}{6} It is speculated that the Icehouse Pond was dug around 1700, to provide clay for the bricks to build the Hall. The pond was enlarged in 1807, to create the form that is largely still apparent today. Traces of the original crushed chalk path around the enlarged pond were revealed in July 2013 and December 2013, during test pitting and archaeological monitoring of the path's restoration. The fragmentary remains of brick steps leading to a brick wall were also recorded towards the immediate south-east of the pond. It is possible that these represent the remains of a former icehouse structure, thought to have been built in this location between 1813 and 1820. The remains of a brick surface was also identified to the north of the woods in which the pond is located, suggesting a change in the material used to create the paths in this area. {7}{8}{9}{10}

Sources/Archives (10)

  •  Index: ENGLISH HERITAGE. 1987. REGISTER OF PARKS AND GARDENS OF SPECIAL HISTORIC INTEREST IN ENGLAND. PART 27: LINCOLNSHIRE. GD1977.
  •  Report: National Trust. 1986. Archaeological Survey, Gunby Hall. pp.18, 22-6.
  •  Report: Heritage Lincolnshire. 2013. Parkland at Gunby Hall. HL site code: GDMV13.
  •  Archive: Heritage Lincolnshire. 2013. Parkland at Gunby Hall. -.
  •  Report: Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology. 2013. Gunby Hall Water Supply. -.
  •  Article in Serial: Newton, Eric D.. 2012. 'Gunby Hall Water Supply' in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology. vol.47, pp.50-4.
  •  Report: Wessex Archaeology. 2013. Gunby Hall Icehouse Pond Restoration. -.
  •  Archive: Wessex Archaeology. 2013. Gunby Hall Icehouse Pond Restoration. -.
  •  Report: ECUS Ltd. 2014. Gunby Hall Icehouse Pond, Gunby. -.
  •  Archive: ECUS Ltd. 2014. Gunby Hall Icehouse Pond, Gunby. -.

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Location

Grid reference Centred TF 4675 6679 (952m by 1098m) Estimated from sources
Civil Parish GUNBY, EAST LINDSEY, LINCOLNSHIRE
Civil Parish CANDLESBY, EAST LINDSEY, LINCOLNSHIRE

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Events/Activities (5)

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Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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