Monument record 1156/2/14 - Early C18th Formal Gardens East & South of Ecton Hall

NB. Earthwork survival recorded by G.Foard. 09/05/2013

{2} According to Cole, Ralph Freeman “having considerably improved his estate and seat here, sold them in 1712 to Thomas Isted for £12,000. He was a lawyer of The Middle Temple, London. He (d.1727) and his son Ambrose (1718-81), and his descendants Samuel (1750-1827) and Ambrose (d.1881), rebuilt the house, developed the gardens and created a landscape park at Ecton.
A detailed prospect of the house and gardens was drawn between 1727 and 1745, however it is not possible to determine which aspects of the changes from 1703 had been instituted by Freeman and which were the work of the Isteds. The broad framework of the earlier garden had been followed, apparently with no significant increase in the overall extent, but the new gardens were far more elaborate.
The old stables were removed to enable the laying out of terraced lawns embellished with statuary and a long bowling alley, the latter providing a prospect from the house between the lawns and groves. The earthwork scarps and terraces of part of the lawns and the bowling alley still survive in the present grounds immediately east of the Hall.

<1> Fuller J., 1740 (circa), Bird's Eye View of Ecton Hall and Gardens (NRO Map 2162), (unchecked) (Plan). SNN46086.

<2> Foard G., 1993, Ecton: Its Lost Village and Landscape Park, p.340-42+Pl.3+Fig.2b (checked) (Article). SNN54811.

Record last edited

Oct 18 2019 11:33AM