Historic Landscape: Hagley Hall, Worcestershire

Askew Nelson have been appointed to prepare a Conservation Management Plan for the c.300 acre Grade I registered park at Hagley Hall.

The park has medieval origins but is principally known as one of the finest surviving 18th C landscapes. It was laid out c.1739-64 by George, 1st Lord Lyttelton (a nephew of Lord Cobham of Stowe). The site’s dramatic natural topography, wooded valleys, water and fine views towards the Malvern Hills, Wychbury Hill and the Black Mountains, made an ideal canvas for a designed landscape infused with political and literary reference.

The hall (1754-60) was the last of the great Palladian houses to be built in England. Landscape structures include the Grade I listed Temple of Theseus, Sanderson Miller’s ruined castle, a rotunda, Palladian bridge, an obelisk, a column, pools, cascades, a grotto, hermitage and seats dedicated to Pope, Milton and Shenstone. The landscape is all the more remarkable in that it has remained largely unchanged since the 18th C, even though many of the features are in varying states of repair and survival.

The commission includes a detailed survey of the historic landscape and preparation of a 10 year conservation management plan. This is part of a Higher Level Stewardship agreement between the owner, the 12th Viscount Cobham, and Natural England.

Commission February 2011 – ongoing.