28 March 2023 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”.

Banner
Related Post

Archaeologists have discovered a 2800-year-old Urartian Castle in eastern Turkey

17 June 2021

17 June 2021

Archaeologists discovered the ruins of a castle going back 2,800 years on a mountain 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) above sea...

Germany: 700-year-old Causeway Found Under Central Berlin Street

19 February 2022

19 February 2022

Archaeologists from the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin (LDA) made a sensational find during their excavation at Molkenmarkt: about 2.50 m below Stralauer...

Ancient Synagogue found in Turkey’s popular tourist center Side

27 December 2021

27 December 2021

A 7th-century ancient synagogue has been found in Side, a resort town on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The synagogue found was...

5500-year-old pentagon structure found in North China

13 November 2021

13 November 2021

Archaeologists discovered the remnants of a pentagonal structure going back 5,500 years in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, north China. According to...

New fibula types discovered at prehistoric Kopilo graves in Bosnia

26 August 2022

26 August 2022

An archaeological dig at Kopilo, a hill settlement founded around 1300 BC about 70 miles west of Sarajevo, has discovered...

Royal-Memorial Inscription Attributed to King Sargon II Discovered in Western Iran

25 April 2021

25 April 2021

In western Iran, Iranian archaeologists discovered a part of a royal memorial inscription attributed to the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II....

China’s 4300-Year-Old Ancient Pyramids

26 March 2021

26 March 2021

Shaanxi Province in Northwest China is famous for its rich archaeological treasures. Among the many sites discovered in Shaanxi, the...

New Findings from 3,000-year-old Uluburun shipwreck: Uzbekistan Nomads Supplied a Third of the Bronze Used Across Ancient Mediterranean

5 December 2022

5 December 2022

A new study of the 3,o00 years old Uluburun shipwreck revealed a complex ancient trading network during the late bronze...

The Headless Corpses of Somersham was Victims of Roman Executions

30 May 2021

30 May 2021

Excavations at Knobb’s Farm in Somersham, Cambridgeshire, unearthed three small late Roman graves on the outskirts of an agricultural village....

Researchers Say that Neanderthals Had the Same Hearing Capacity as Humans

1 March 2021

1 March 2021

Virtual reconstructions of Neanderthal ears show that had the same physical capacity for hearing as modern humans, and by inference...

1600-Year-Old Geometric Motifs Mosaic Found in Yavne

26 April 2021

26 April 2021

The Israel Antiquities Authority declared Monday that a 1,600-year-old mosaic discovered in Yavne, which archaeologists believe may have once graced...

Ruins of China’s earliest state academy found in east China

21 February 2022

21 February 2022

The ruins of ancient China‘s first government-run institution of higher learning, built in 374 BC, have been discovered in the...

Drone photos reveal Venice of the Fertile Crescent

16 October 2022

16 October 2022

A drone survey of Lagash, a site located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, revealed that the 4,900-year-old settlement was...

Karahantepe; It will radically change the way we look at the Neolithic Age

1 June 2022

1 June 2022

Findings on settled village life in the ongoing excavations in Karahantepe will profoundly change our knowledge of the Neolithic Age....

In Switzerland, a Roman amphitheater was discovered during the construction of boathouse

21 January 2022

21 January 2022

Archaeologists from Aargau Cantonal Archaeology have announced the discovery of a Roman amphitheater in Kaiseraugst, located in the canton of...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *