Monument record MDO5533 - Gardens at Cranborne Manor, Cranborne

Gardens to Cranborne Manor laid out between 1608 and 1612 by Mountain Jennings and John Tradescant for Robert Cecil, Viscount Cranborne and the Earl of Salisbury. The gardens were restored and replanted, within the 17th century framework, in the late 19th and early 20th century. Further extensive replanting and restoration was carried out from 1954 by Lady Salisbury and during the late 20th century.

Early 17th century gardens at Cranborne Manor House, restored and further developed in the late 19th and late 20th century. <2>

Gardens were first laid out between 1608 and 1612 by Mountain Jennings and John Tradescant for Robert Cecil, Viscount Cranborne and the Earl of Salisbury. The gardens were restored and replanted within the 17th century framework in the late 19th and early 20th century. Further extensive replanting and restoration was carried out from 1954 by Lady Salisbury and during the late 20th century. <3>

Cranborne Manor belonged to the Crown in the medieval period and King John built a hunting lodge there in 1207-08. In about 1601 Cranborne was purchased from the Crown by Robert Cecil, Later Viscount Cranborne. He rebuilt and substantially enlarged the house between 1608-1612 and laid out new gardens. The gardeners employed at Hatfield House, Mountain Jennings and John Tradescant (c 1570-1638), were commissioned to design and plant gardens to accompany the new house (Oswald 1959). Formal gardens are situated to the south-east, south, west, and north of the house, with areas of informal pleasure ground lying principally to the north and south.
The gardens were restored and replanted within the surviving early seventeenth century framework in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Extensive planting and restoration was carried out from 1954 by Lady Salisbury, and more recently this work has been continued by Lord and Lady Cranborne.

<1> Oswald, A, 1959, Country Houses of Dorset (Monograph). SWX2642.

<2> English Heritage, 1984-1987, Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest in England: Dorset (Monograph). SWX1383.

<3> English Heritage, 2005, Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest in England: Dorset (Revised) (Monograph). SDO17438.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1119674 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 6 2022 2:20PM