Ashtead Park
Ashtead Park is a park and local nature reserve of sixty acres in Ashtead in Surrey. It is owned by Mole Valley District Council and managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust.[1][2] The park was formerly part of the park of Ashtead House.
The park contains several important listed buildings, the chief of which is Ashtead Park House, which now houses the City of London Freemans School. Within the park also are remains of a Roman building, four lakes/ponds and the school's playing fields.
The park is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[3]
History
Ashtead Park House
- Main article: Ashtead Park House
Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk sold Ashtead Manor to Sir Robert Howard (son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire) in 1680,[4] in whose family it remained until it passed through marriage to Richard Bagot in 1783, who commissioned Sir Thomas Wyatt to develop its grand façade. Sir Thomas Lucas in 1880 enlarged and altered at major expense. He sold it to Pantia Ralli in 1889,[4] whose estate sold it to the Corporation of London in 1924.
Conservation
The nature reserve is mainly woodland on heavy London clay and it has two ponds. Fauna include the broad-bodied chaser and emperor dragonfly and the common blue damselfly.[5]
Location
- Location map: 51°18’47"N, 0°17’28"W
References
- ↑ "Ashtead Park". Natural England. https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteLNRDetail.aspx?SiteCode=L1009299&SiteName=&countyCode=41&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea=. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ↑ "Map of Ashtead Park". Natural England. https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=lnrIndex&query=Ref_CODE%3D%271009299%27. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1001490: Ashtead Park
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Parishes: Ashtead, in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3, ed. H E Malden". London. 1911. pp. 247–252. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp247-252. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
- ↑ "Ashtead Park". Surrey Wildlife Trust. https://www.surreywildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves/ashtead-park. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
