Extract from Parks in Hertfordshire since 1500

Taken from the end of Chapter 1, 'Parks and Landed Estates in Hertfordshire'

In the early seventeenth century, the number of parks decreased, some being reclaimed for agriculture, others falling into disrepair. At some places, herds of deer were replaced by cattle, sheep and horses. Other parks were transformed into ornamental grounds with large gardens and attractive layouts of trees and lakes. Magnificent renaissance gardens were created at Theobalds, Hatfield, Moor Park and Gorhambury. During the Civil War, many parks were plundered and estates confiscated, and, after the restoration of Charles II, owners struggled to regain their lands and rebuild their houses. A few had enough money to transform old parks into extensive formal gardens but, for most owners, recovery was slow. John Seller’s map of 1675 showed only twenty-one parks in Hertfordshire; John Oliver’s map of 1695 showed thirty-five and thirty-four appeared on John Warburton’s map of 1725.

Landowning families entered into strict settlements in order to secure estates for themselves and future heirs, so that a member of each generation in turn would hold the land as tenant-for-life. Brides brought dowries, while younger children and widows were given portions. The system was widely adopted after 1660. Settlements favoured families that produced a succession of male heirs and settled estates were enlarged by acquiring lands offered for sale on the open market.⁷ Throughout the eighteenth century, great estates were able to consolidate their gains and spend fortunes on building and laying out spacious landscape gardens: Dury and Andrews’ map of 1766 shows forty-five empaled parks and thirty-four large gardens. While old established families created large landscapes, many newcomers laid out smaller pleasure grounds, the size and appearance of parks corresponding with the social hierarchy among landowners.

Drawings prepared during the Napoleonic wars by the Ordnance Survey for the first edition one-inch map showed 153 places tinted or stippled as parkland; and in the course of the nineteenth century parks in Hertfordshire reached their maximum extent, covering 7.5 per cent of the surface area on Bryant’s map of 1821 and 7.3 per cent on the Ordnance Survey six-inch maps of 1863-81. Some parks shrank a little but many continued to increase in size as planting programmes initiated by earlier generations were extended. A final stage was reached in the enclosure of commons and closure of rights of way to enlarge park boundaries, while conflicts over game preservation remained unresolved at the end of the century. Socially, owners were more isolated from villagers and their own servants than at any time since 1500. The growth of large estates culminated just after the middle of the century. The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 recorded that seventy-nine owners of more than 2,000 acres held 48.4 per cent of the surface of the county. Owners of the largest estates possessed all the largest parks and, proportionately, owners of smaller estates owned smaller parks. Victorian parks and small ornamental grounds exhibited a great variety of styles, their chief characteristic being novelty.

The decline of parks began about 1880 with the onset of a deep agricultural depression which led to farm rents in Hertfordshire falling by 40 per cent between 1874 and 1898. As the value of land declined, landowners had to rely on urban property and investments in commerce and industry to pay for the upkeep of parks and country houses; a few decided to cut their losses and sell to developers. During the First World War, some park owners and their heirs were killed and a few houses and parks were badly damaged by wartime occupants. After the war, low rents and high taxes forced many to sell up; some parks were converted into golf courses, a few were taken over as municipal parks and others were built over. In 1932-3 the fifth edition one-inch Ordnance Survey map showed 165 parks in Hertfordshire, eighty-four fewer than in 1863-81. The proportion of the surface area of the county occupied by parkland decreased from 7.3 per cent in 1863-81 to 6 per cent in 1932-3. In the interwar years, the population of Watford and other towns, the volume of road traffic, and the number of people travelling to London by rail all increased. Hertfordshire was thoroughly urbanised. A few concerns were expressed about the spread of suburbia but little was done to prevent unsightly developments and no steps were taken to save parks.

During the Second World War agriculture revived whilst parks and country houses suffered serious damage. Plans to control rural land use were implemented after 1945, creating a green belt around London, protecting sites of outstanding historic or scientific interest in Hertfordshire and neighbouring counties. The preservation of parks was left in the hands of private owners, most of whom could no longer afford to maintain them out of income from greatly reduced estates. Some parks and country houses were acquired by hotels and golf clubs, and some were adapted as colleges, schools and other institutions, but others continued to be demolished.

Note: 7. J. Habakkuk, Marriage, debt and the estates system: English landownership 1650-1950 (Oxford, 1994), 1-49, 77-239.