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Description: | THE EARTHWORKS IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF KNAITH HALL AND CHURCH WERE PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED AS THE SITE OF HEYNINGS PRIORY BUT APPEAR RATHER TO BE THE FRAGMENTARY REMAINS OF A GARDEN AND ASSOCIATED PARK WHOSE FORM WOULD SUGGEST A LATE C16 OR EARLY C17 DATE FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION. THEIR PARTIAL DESTRUCTION IS LIKELY TO HAVE BEEN THE RESULT OF C18 LANDSCAPING. THE DOCUMENTARY RECORD AS WELL AS THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND HALL SUGGEST A LONG PERIOD OF LANSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS. IN 1553 THE KNAITH ESTATE PASSED TO WILLIAM, 1ST LORD WILLOUGHBY OF PARHAM, AND THE HOUSE BECAME THE FAMILY'S PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE. THEY ALSO CREATED A NEW PARK EXTENDING SOUTH FROM THE HALL WHICH IS SHOWN ON SAXTON'S MAP OF ABOUT 1576 AS REPRODUCED A CENTURY LATER BY JOHN SPEED. WHETHER IT WAS LORD WILLOUGHBY OR HIS SUCCESSORS WHO CREATED THE GARDEN SOUTH OF THE HALL IS NOT KNOWN. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE REMODELLED CHURCH AND GARDENS IMPIES THAT THE LATTER WERE ALSO LAID OUT IN THE EARLY C17 AND THIS, TOGETHER WITH THE ALTERATIONS TO THE HOUSE, SUGGESTS THAT A MAJOR ESTATE REORGANISATION TOOK PLACE AT THIS TIME. AT THE END OF THE C17 KNAITH PASSED BY MARRIAGE TO THE BERTIES, WHO SOLD IT TO RICHARD DALTON IN 1761. HE AND HIS SON HENRY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LATE C18 ALTERATIONS TO THE HALL. IT WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE DALTONS WHO DESTROYED THE FORMAL GARDENS AND OPENED OUT THE VIEW TO THE LANDSCAPED PARKLAND AND TO THE RIVER TRENT. IN 1826 KNAITH WAS SOLD TO THE HUTTONS AND BECAME PART OF THEIR GATE BURTON ESTATE. AT LEAST PART OF THE EXTENT OF THE EARLY POST-MEDIEVAL PARK IS MARKED ON THE GROUND BY MASSIVE NORTH-SOUTH BANKS LYING ON EITHER SIDE OF THE PRESENT PARKLAND. BROAD RIDGE-AND-FURROW WITHIN THIS PALE DEMONSTRATES THAT THE EMPARKED AREA HAD FORMERLY LAIN IN OPEN-FIELD ARABLE. IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF THE CHURCH RECTANGULAR DEPRESSIONS, TERRACES, LOW BANKS AND BROAD SCARPED ENCLOSURES, APPARENTLY IN PART OVERLYING RIDGE-AND-FURROW, ARE THE REMAINS OF LATE C16 OR EARLY C17 FORMAL GARDENS. THESE EARTHWORKS ARE NOW MUCH DEGRADED AND INCOMPLETE AS A RESULT OF LATER LANDSCAPING, BUT LARGE QUANTITIES OF BROKEN BRICK AND MORTAR, VISIBLE IN MOLE UPCASTS, INDICATE THAT THESE GARDENS WERE AT LEAST IN PART WALLED WHILE THE TERRACES MAY HAVE HAD BRICK REVETMENTS. TO THE SOUTHWEST AN IRREGULARLY ARRANGED GROUP OF HOLLOWS AND PLATFORMS, SOME WITH MASONRY IN SITU, MARKS THE POSITIONS OF FORMER BUILDINGS. IN SOME INSTANCES THEY MAY HAVE BEEN RELATED TO THE GARDENS. {1}~ A PARK PALE AND AN EARTHWORK PLATFORM HAVE BEEN INDENTIFIED BY NMP, AND INTERPRETED AS MEDIEVAL. {4} | Subjects: | General Archaeology | Temporal: | 1540 - 1900 | Source: | Lincolnshire County Council | Identifier: | http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/Re... | Go to resource |
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