Monument record MDO5531 - Landscaped park and gardens at Boveridge House, Cranborne

Landscape park, pleasure grounds and formal gardens to Boveridge House, a late 18th/early 19th century country house. The pleasure grounds were documented in 1807-08 and had been extended by 1887. In 1920 Charles Wilfred Gordon commissioned Thomas Mawson to provide plans for formal gardens around the house. Planting plans were provided by Gertrude Jekyll during the 1920s. Jekyll also appears to have developed parts of the pleasure grounds circa 1920. The park was developed during the early 19th century. A restoration programme of the grounds was started in 1998 by head gardener, Alison Smith.

Formal garden and water garden at Boveridge House, a late 18th/early 19th century country house. The gardens were designed during the 1920s by Thomas Mawson with a planting scheme by Gertrude Jekyll. <3>

The pleasure grounds were documented in 1807-08 and had been extended by 1887. In 1920 Charles Wilfred Gordon commissioned Thomas Mawson to provide plans for formal gardens around the house. Planting plans were provided by Gertrude Jekyll during the 1920s. Jekyll also appears to have developed parts of the pleasure grounds circa 1920. The park appears to have been developed during the early 19th century. A programme of restoration was started in 1998 by head gardener, Alison Smith. <4>

Boveridge House was designed by William Evans for Henry Brouncker in the late eighteenth century. In the early nineteenth century the house was set in a strip of pleasure grounds and woodland extending from north-west to south-east. The house was extended and renovated in about 1885 and the 1887 and 1902 Ordnance Survey maps <1-2> show the house set in an area of parkland with lawns to the east, a terrace to the south, and an area of pleasure grounds in woodland to the north-west with a kitchen garden beyond. The house was sold to Charles Gordon who made further extensions to the House. In 1920, Charles Gordon and his wife, an enthusiastic amateur gardener, commissioned Thomas Mawson (1861-1933) to provide plans for new formal gardens around the House. Mawson’s scheme involved a formal terrace (with loggia) to the east of the mansion, with steps down to a rectangular pool, with areas of bedding to each side. It is not known whether Mawson produced a planting scheme for the new gardens. However, the Gordons approached Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) to provide planting plans which were implemented in the 1920s.
Boveridge remained the property of the Gordon family until 1961 when it was purchased by Viscount Cranborne. The House and grounds were let to a special needs school, and remain in institutional use. A programme of renovation was begun in the grounds in 1998.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1900, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch two (Map). SDO11594.

<3> English Heritage, 1984-1987, Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest in England: Dorset, Part 12 (Monograph). SWX1383.

<4> English Heritage, 2005, Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest in England: Dorset (Revised), Part 12 (Monograph). SDO17438.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1119498 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 15 2022 2:31PM