2012

TL0934 : The Long Canal at Wrest Park

taken 12 years ago, near to Silsoe, Central Bedfordshire, England

The Long Canal at Wrest Park
The Long Canal at Wrest Park
Looking from the pavilion to Wrest House, 830m to the north.
Wrest House and Park :: TL0935

A historic landscape and mansion, the home of the de Grey family from the early-13C until 1917, when it was sold after the death of Auberon Herbert, the 9th Baron Lucas. The French chateau-style mansion, built in the 1830s, replaced an earlier house on the site. The landscape was influenced by: Henry, Duke of Kent, who laid out the massive formal woodland gardens, with water features and abundant statues and buildings, in the early 18C; Jemima, Marchioness Grey, modified the garden in the second half of the 18C in line with the then fashionable English landscape style; and Thomas Earl de Grey, who created the Upper Gardens in the 1830s after demolishing the original family house and building the existing house.
It was used as a hospital during WWI, bought in 1939 by the Sun Insurance Company as its WWII HQ. In 1946 it was bought by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works and leased to the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering, which became the Silsoe Institute, until that was incorporated with and moved to Cranfield University in 2006. When the Institute closed the house was taken over by English Heritage and a 20-year plan to restore the gardens was initiated to reveal their development and history from 1680-1917, the first phase of which was revealed in 2011. There is now a visitor centre, the house has office space to rent, and some of the ground floor has been opened to visitors with an exhibition of the history of the house. LinkExternal link


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright M J Richardson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Lowlands Historic sites and artefacts Paths Park and Public Gardens Lakes, Wetland, Bog Country estates Place: Bedfordshire Wrest Park other tags: English Heritage Lake Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Long Canal [9] · Looking [7] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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TL0934, 76 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
M J Richardson   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 29 June, 2012   (more nearby)
Submitted
Tuesday, 3 July, 2012
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 091 349 [100m precision]
WGS84: 52:0.1522N 0:24.6742W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 091 347
View Direction
NORTH (about 0 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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