29 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

South Ockendon’s Belhus Park Golf Course: A Tudor Garden Discovered

Under a golf course, the ruins of Tudor and Jacobean gardens were unearthed.

Aerial images of Belhus Park Golf Course in South Ockendon, Thurrock, matched a 1619 visual assessment of the old estate and a late 17th to an early 18th-century painting depicting a bird’s eye perspective of the land, according to volunteer researchers.

Their data showed that the previous gardens’ plan had survived, and Historic England’s non-invasive investigation of the delicate earthworks and shallowly buried archaeology has recently verified this.

A circular water feature to the west of the ancient manor house, as well as the patterns of walkways and walls, confirmed the perspective of the gardens depicted in the late 17th to the early 18th-century picture.

Historic England used ground-penetrating radar, with senior geophysicist Neil Linford describing how the image of a Tudor water garden became clear.

“We were very excited when we started to see the image of the Tudor water garden appear on the laptop screen as we were collecting the data – that made all the hard work very worthwhile,” he said. (Echo-News)

Volunteer researchers from the Land Of The Fanns scheme noticed that aerial images resembled a past survey and bird’s eye view painting.
Volunteer researchers from the Land Of The Fanns scheme noticed that aerial images resembled a past survey and bird’s eye view painting.

The golf course used to be part of the Belhus Park estate, which also contained a manor house. In the mid-eighteenth century, the gardens were replaced with a landscape park created by famous landscape architect Lancelot “Capability” Brown, whose other works include gardens at Hampton Court, Blenheim Palace, and Chatsworth House.

Historic England wishes to protect the historic environment and strive to get Belhus Park removed from the Heritage At Risk Register.

Christopher Laine, the landscape architect for Historic England, said: “We already knew that Belhus Park was a special place and a designed landscape of great historic interest. (Echo-News)

“This research proves the survival of these rare formal gardens just underneath the surface of the golf course and improves our knowledge of how the gardens and landscape park at Belhus Park developed.

The research was carried out with the support of golf course operator Impulse Leisure, whose managing director, Karl Hayes, said he wants to “explore, understand and retain such a historical finding”.

The historic garden features lie within the private golf course.

Historic England said it is “hoped that there will be future opportunities for community engagement, volunteering, exploring and enjoying this fascinating place”.

Related Articles

Researchers find evidence of the destruction of the Second Temple at the hands of Roman soldiers

29 July 2023

29 July 2023

Israeli researchers find evidence of the destruction of the Second Temple at the hands of Roman soldiers. The discovery of...

New Study shows Early Native Americans in Alaska were freshwater fishermen 13,000 years ago

15 June 2023

15 June 2023

A team led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers has discovered the earliest known evidence that Native Americans living...

Stone-arched tunnel discovered near Achaemenid dam in southern Iran

4 February 2022

4 February 2022

A cultural heritage protection team has recently discovered a stone-arched tunnel located near an Achaemenid embankment dam in southern Iran....

A new study reveals more than one person was buried in a tomb where the famous Nestor’s Cup was found

6 October 2021

6 October 2021

The Tomb of Nestor’s Cup, a burial that contained one of the oldest known Greek inscriptions, was more crowded than...

Intact Bodies of Catalan Nobles Discovered in Santes Creus Monastery

11 March 2024

11 March 2024

A team of archaeologists and anthropologists found the human remains of a dozen members of the Catalan nobility dating back...

Ancient Christian Settlement Discovered in Egypt

14 March 2021

14 March 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said on Saturday that a French-Norwegian archaeological team had discovered a new ancient Christian settlement...

The ruins of a temple dedicated to Goddess Kubaba found for the first time in ancient city of Kastabala, southern Türkiye

17 December 2023

17 December 2023

Ruins of a temple belonging to the goddess Kubaba were found in the Ancient City of Kastabala. The ancient city...

Thracian Horseman Votive Tablet Discovered in Bulgaria

28 July 2023

28 July 2023

A stone votive relief depicting a Thracian horseman was found during excavations at the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica, located...

4,000-Year-Old Lion Jaw Bone Unearthed in Kültepe

14 September 2021

14 September 2021

Excavations continue in Kültepe, the starting point of Anatolian written history. During the excavations, a 4,000-year-old lion jawbone was unearthed....

1,500-year-old Byzantine artifacts found under a peach orchard in Turkey’s Iznik

27 January 2023

27 January 2023

In the world-famous historical city of Iznik, which was the capital of four civilizations, a farmer found coins and historical...

A Rare Late Neolithic Period Seal found in Domuztepe Mound

25 August 2022

25 August 2022

A rare Late Neolithic Seal was discovered during the 2022 excavations of the Domuztepe Mound (Domuztepe Höyük), located on the...

Researchers found similar descriptions in the Book of Revelation and ancient curse tablets

10 February 2023

10 February 2023

A research project headed by Dr. Michael Hölscher of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), has uncovered that the book of...

Egyptian Pharaoh Slain in Battle Because of the Hippos

17 February 2021

17 February 2021

The mummy of Pharaoh Seqenenre Taa II, found in 1880, was re-analyzed. When it was found, the deep wounds on...

A basement discovered on the premises of the ruins of Hitoyoshi Castle in Japan could be a Jewish bathing facility!

7 December 2022

7 December 2022

Experts are still indecisive about why there was a bathing area in the basement which was discovered on the site...

A 1600-year-old writing set was unearthed in the city of Bathonea, which has the oldest ancient port in Istanbul

21 August 2022

21 August 2022

During the Istanbul Bathonea excavations, a 1600-year-old writing set containing a miniature vessel, a bone writing pen, and an inkwell,...