Bradgate Park
Bradgate Park is a public park in Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, England, northwest of Leicester. It covers. The park lies between the villages of Newtown Linford, Anstey, Cropston, Woodhouse Eaves and Swithland. The River Lin runs through the park, flowing into Cropston Reservoir which was constructed on part of the park. To the north-east lies Swithland Wood. The park's two well known landmarks, Old John and the war memorial, both lie just above the contour. The park is part of the 399.3 hectare Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir Site of Special Scientific Interest, which has been designated under both biological and geological criteria.
Following a fire in April 2017, the owners Bradgate Trust advised that all visitors are expected to be alert to the risk of causing fire, though another fire in June destroyed one of the ancient oaks.
History
The area now enclosed as Bradgate Park was one of a number of parks surrounding Charnwood Forest. Since medieval times it has been part of the Manor of Groby. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the area was owned by a landowner named Ulf. The manor, along with some 100 others in and around Leicestershire, was awarded to Hugh de Grandmesnil in the eleventh century as reward for his assistance in battle to William I. The name Bradgate is thought to derive from Norse or Anglo-Saxon, meaning "broad road" or "broad gate" respectively. The first mention of Bradgate Park is from 1241, by which time it was laid out as a hunting park, although rather smaller than the current boundary. It was subsequently acquired by the Beaumont family, passing to the de Quincy family and on to William de Ferrers of Groby. It remained in the de Ferrers family until 1445, when it passed to the Grey family after William's only surviving daughter married Edward Grey. The inquisition into the estates of de Ferrers, made after his death, mentions the park, with "herbage, pannage and underwood, worth 40 shillings yearly". The Grey family retained it for the next 500 years, and in the 19th century was opened to the public several days a week. In 1928 it was bought by Charles Bennion and given, as a plaque in the park describes, 'to be preserved in its a natural state for the quiet enjoyment of the people of Leicestershire'.Medieval deer park
The park was originally enclosed using a bank and ditch topped by vertical pales of oak. These first ditchworks cross the River Lyn east of the Little Matlock Gorge. A parker, living in a moated house, was the only occupant, maintaining stocks of deer for the lord of Groby Manor to hunt. The park was greatly extended by the first marquis in the late 15th century, to occupy land previously farmed by both Newtown Linford and the now lost village of Bradgate. Lichen dating of the dry-stone walls suggest that the north and west boundary walls were built in the 17th and early 18th centuries, when Bradgate was still occupied by the earls of Stamford. The walled spinneys are a later feature, built and planted in the early 19th century as coverts for shooting. The park still has herds of red and fallow deer, which probably have an unbroken occupancy since medieval times.Bradgate House
Edward Grey's son Sir John Grey of Groby married Elizabeth Woodville, who after John's death married King Edward IV. Their son Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, prepared for building Bradgate House in the late fifteenth century but died before he was able to begin. It was his son Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, who built Bradgate House, the likely completion date being 1520.There is now some confusion over this completion date however, as an older house has been discovered under the visible walls and findings have suggested that Lady Jane Grey, who wasn't born until 12 October 1537, lived in the older house.
Sir Thomas Grey died in 1530 and was succeeded by his son Henry, the 3rd Marquess of Dorset, who was married to Frances, the daughter of the Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's younger sister.
Their daughter Lady Jane Grey was born at Bradgate House probably in October 1537. Notably in July 1553, at the age of fifteen, the Duke of Northumberland proclaimed her Queen of England and Ireland, in opposition to Mary Tudor. However Mary had more support, and when the Lord Mayor of London proclaimed Mary queen on 19 July, the Duke of Northumberland lost all support, and he, his son, and Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen, were beheaded for treason.
There is a longstanding tradition that the oak trees of Bradgate were pollarded at the time of Lady Jane's death. Pollarding of the trees was a practice that was undertaken then, as before and since as it kept the new growth high up, away from browsing deer and has enabled the ancient trees to reach their great age. It is not known if the estate workers of 1554 attached any particular significance to the practice.
Old John
A prominent landmark is the folly known as 'Old John' on the top of the highest hill in the park. Built by the Greys in 1784, the folly is, by local legend, a memorial to John, an estate worker killed in a bonfire accident during celebrations of the 21st birthday of George Grey, the future sixth Earl of Stamford. It is reputed that the stonework at the side of the tower was altered to look like a handle, perhaps knowing John's liking of ale. However he was not 21 until 1786, and a map of 1745 names the hill as 'Old John'. The tower was used during the 19th century as a viewing point for the horse-racing practice circuit laid out by the seventh earl.In 2001, Bradgate Park Trust registered the design of the building as a trademark, and in 2018 told a local artist that she would have to pay them if she continued to sell her paintings of it.