Landscape record 0651600000 - Lowndes Park (formerly the Bury)

Started life in 1712 as The Bury, in 1798 it was bought by the Lowndes family with adjoining parkland. The first edition 6" OS map shows terracing, possible formal gardens, a large lake and lots of parkland, called Chesham Park. Now a municiple park. Modern APs show that most of the smaller features survive but the park itself has been encroached on by modern development and there are now playing fields in the west part of the park (B1).
A country villa built 1712-16 for the Lowndes family of landowners and politicians at the edge of the market town of Chesham. The grounds comprise elements of the original formal layout, with other areas in informal style. Elements of the early-C18 framework include the entrance, gateway, fine flanking lodges, drive and forecourt and the strong relationship with the church and churchyard. Other notable later features include the terraced lawns leading down to Bury Pond, which is a large, C18 serpentine lake possibly created from a formal canal, and the remains of The Grove (now overgrown), formerly a lawned pleasure ground with specimen trees and an C18 avenue bisecting it which overlooked the Pond. The main loss is the kitchen garden, developed in the C20 with houses, although elements survive including some walls. The elements of the early C18 layout are a rare survival; later modifications reflect contemporary trends in various phases. The setting contrasts the buildings along one of the main roads into Chesham, to which the entrance ensemble makes a strong contribution, with the rural Chiltern Pednor valley and the public Lowndes Park. See report for detail (B2).
The grounds of a mid-C20 public park incorporating the pleasure ground and park of the former Bury Hill House which was closely associated with the adjacent town house, The Bury (q.v.). The layout, including Skottowe’s Pond and the nearby avenue at the bottom of the park nearest to the town, survives largely intact although incursions have occurred at the north-west, upper end of the park with school and other development. The park is dominated by the great sweep of sward planted with specimen trees and clumps rising from the avenue north-westwards, with increasingly spectacular views over the Chiltern Chess and Pednor valleys in which the market town of Chesham lies, and of the parish church. See report for detail (B3).