Monument record 0055601002 - QUARRENDON, S OF CHURCH RUIN

Dimensions - Length 270m, Width 170m.
Plan Form - Rectangular.
Substantial bank but flat topped & ditch on inside, as well as other sunken areas internally. Whole quite unlike a conventional moat; more likely to be a landscaped water garden. Great house possibly on level area in W of same field (B9).
RCHME topographical survey, comment and interpretation on geometric alignment of garden earthworks and water supply (B18).
The nationally significant earthwork remains of the extensive gardens and park of a lost C16 country
house, probably commissioned for Queen Elizabeth’s pre-eminent courtier and Queen’s Champion,
Sir Henry Lee. These include an exceptionally large late C16 water garden in three sections, with
terraces, ponds and canals, and a warren, all now within pasture. The site was abandoned in the C17, and the house gradually demolished by the early C18, with little disturbance since leaving a single-phase earthwork layout of magnificent complexity and scale. The ornamental landscape is comparable in scale locally with Ascott Old House, Wing, and further afield with other great C16 and early C17 gardens including Theobalds, Herts and Holdenby, Northants, but the central great water garden is unique. See report for detail (B22).

The remains of late 16th century (water) gardens are visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located in a field about 670 metres ENE of Quarrendon House Farm and centred at SP 80038 15764, the gardens are single phase earthworks that were once part of a (now demolished) 16th century country house for one of Queen Elizabeth’s courtiers. The site was abandoned in the 17th century, after which the house was demolished. The water gardens comprise a complex of channels or canals surrounded by linear raised earthwork terraces up to 19 metres wide, with flat-tops 10-12 metres wide, forming three sides of a trapezium: the E facing is 137 aligned SSW-NNE: the N facing side is 123 metres long with a small offset division, aligned WNW-ESE: and the S facing side is about 197 metres aligned just off W-E. To the W, the gardens are enclosed by two banks, between which is a linear ditch up to 9 metres wide and 138 metres long aligned SSW-NNE. The earthwork banks and terraces are flanked inside and outside by a system of interconnected linear water carrying ditches 2 to 9 metres wide and linear ponds that are integral to the garden design, creating bank and terrace islands that would likely have been accessed by bridges. The central garden enclosed area contains a linear canal canal ditch about 5 metres wide, flanked on either side by earthwork banks between 4 and 7 metres wide that runs diagonally NW-SE for about 120 metres, joining to the perimeter ditches on the N and S sides. This divides the central garden’s W and E areas unevenly. A further annexe to the main garden lies to the S. The comprises a subrectangular ditch that varies between 3.5 and 5 metres wide that encloses an internal area about 100 x 105 metres at its widest points. Flanking the exterior of the W, S and E facing sides are sections of earthwork bank between 5 and 14 metres wide. The N facing side is formed by the S face of the main garden. On the exterior of the E facing side are a number of parallel earthwork banks of uncertain function that appear to have been repurposed from ridges of a small block of ridge and furrow cultivations that is still visible immediately adjacent (25-32).