Monument record 7042 - Courteenhall Park

Landscape park to Courteenhall House, landscaped after circa 1770 by William Wake. Humphy Repton was consulted in 1791 for park improvements. Most of his ideas were executed except for a formal parterre layout, a pond scheme and several garden builings. A parterre was laid out during the Victorian period but was replaced by the current formal gardens in the 1930s. A formal garden was also laid out during the 1990s.

{1} Sir William Wake BT. 2nd edition of 1791 shows only house and no enclosed park.

{2} Red Book dated March 1793 - at Courteenhall House. Literature - sketches 1795, observations 1803.

{3} "Courteenhall Rectory & bridge at Chester House"; no.27; sketch not found in vol.17;

{4} Parkland of 150ha according to a scheme by Humprey Repton in 1791. The old manor was demolished and a new house built between 1791-3 by Samuel Saxon.

{5} Courteenhall built 1791-3. Repton consulted as to site; client was Sir William Wake BT.

{6} Repton's report circa 1791-3. Repton built new house. Parkland of 150ha according to a scheme by Humprey Repton in 1791. The old manor was demolished and a new house built between 1791-3 by Samuel Saxon.

{7} Landscape park in private ownership.

{12} Grounds laid out by Repton before 1794.

{13} Later C18 landscape park with some improvements in the 1790s by Humphry Repton associated with a country house. In the Middle Ages Courteenhall was owned by Lenton Priory (Nottinghamshire). In 1571 it was leased by the Crown to Richard Ouseley, a Clark of the Privy Seal, who later purchased the freehold and in 1580 built a new house on the site. Courteenhall was sold by his grandson in 1647, and soon after was acquired by Sir Samuel Jones, the son of a London merchant who was investing in lands in Shropshire and Northamptonshire. On his death, childless, in 1672 Courteenhall was inherited by his sister’s grandson Samuel Wake. It became the Wakes’ principal seat in the late C18th. William Wake, eighth Baronet (1768 1846), probably used Courteenhall for hunting. He was responsible for rebuilding the stables c 1770, and began the present park. He was succeeded by his son William (d 1846), who built the present hall after coming of age. Courteenhall remains (1998) in private hands.
Courteenhall village lies 8km south of Northampton, less than a kilometre from the M1 which runs past to the north-east. The park, with the hall at its centre, lies immediately west of the village. To the west the park is bounded by the A508 from Northampton to Milton Keynes, to the north by a minor road east off the A508 to Quinton and to the east by the road branching off the Quinton road to Courteenhall village. Its south boundary largely follows the park-edge plantations. The area here registered is c 150ha.
Courteenhall stands on high ground towards the centre of a roughly circular park c 1km in diameter. The northern third of the park is arable; a few parkland trees survive in the fields sloping down to Washbrook Lane east of Watermill Spinney. The arable land is largely separated from the rest of the park by a broad belt of ornamental planting of the mid to late C20. Other plantation belts lie along the west and south boundaries of the park. The central and southern parts of the park are grassland, almost all of it permanent pasture, with parkland and specimen trees. There is much ridge and furrow, especially north, east and south of the hall.
The 1766 estate map shows that the greater part of the village of Courteenhall then lay north-west of the manor house, immediately west and north of the present hall and 600m west of the parish church. It seems that the Wakes were already thinking about imparking their house, as that map includes a note of a ‘new road’, whose construction would apparently involve the removal of the south end of the village. Within about five years the new stables had been built on the edge of the village site, and it would seem likely that the removal of this part of the village and imparkment took place at about the same time. Certainly by 1791, when the ninth Baronet consulted Humphry Repton about rebuilding the house and improving the park, the manor house stood alone but for the new stables and the grammar school, the only village building spared clearance. Repton’s overall design concept was adopted (the Red Book is dated March 1793), for a new house set on high ground and linked to the stables by a shrubbery and trees. To its front, to the south and east, was ‘dressed lawn’. Other, more specific, suggestions by Repton may not however have been realised. Those included a partly formal layout with a ‘parterre for flowers in small beds’, a ‘corbeille’ and ‘reposoirs’, all screened by shrubbery. Similarly unexecuted was Repton’s scheme for ponds in the lower part of the park, a rustic temple and a pair of lodges at the beginning of his winding approach.

{19} The park was landscaped after circa 1770 by William Wake. Humphy Repton was consulted in 1791 to improve the park. Most of his ideas were executed except for a formal parterre layout, a pond scheme and several garden builings. A parterre was laid out during the Victorian period but was replaced by the current formal gardens in the 1930s. A formal garden was also laid out during the 1990s.

<1> Eyre T. (Revised by Jefferys T.), 1779, Map of the County of Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Map). SNN1852.

<2> REPTON H., 1793, The Red Book (Courteenhall), (unchecked) (Book). SNN45772.

<3> CLARKE G., 1850, Pencil Sketches, (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN42685.

<4> GOTCH J.A., 1940, Manor Houses of Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Book). SNN58776.

<5> Stroud D., 1962, Humphry Repton, p.47 (unchecked) (Book). SNN19111.

<6> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.35-38 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77382.

<8> 1860, The Cottage Gardener (25), p.49-51 (unchecked) (Series). SNN55453.

<9> 1939, Country Life (1939), p.144 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN59198.

<10> CASTER G., 1982, Humphrey Repton, p.159-60 (unchecked) (Book). SNN54870.

<11> 1983, Garden (1983), p.361 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN59200.

<12> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<13> English Heritage, 1991, Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (1991, Northamptonshire), (unchecked) (Report). SNN1167.

<14> Mowl T.; Hickman C., 2008, The Historic Gardens of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN106082.

<15> 1878, The Architect, p.105 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107157.

<16> 1986, Country Life (1986), (unchecked) (Journal). SNN71386.

<17> Bashford, D, 2020, A Rapid Walkover and Condition and Management Survey of Courteenhall Park, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN112364.

<18> DE Landscape & Heritage, 2021, Parkland Management Plan, Courteenhall, Northamptonshire, February 2021 (Report). SNN112388.

<19> English Heritage, Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (2004, Northamptonshire), Part 30. Revised 28/05/2004 (Report). SNN116093.

Record last edited

Feb 5 2025 6:20PM