Public Places


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The rotunda is flanked by single storey narrow corridors linking to two pavilions; the East and West wings of the building


The mansion was designed by Mario Asprucci; construction began in 1795 ©National Trust


around the old manor house to construct a walled garden and summerhouse. On becoming the first Earl of Bristol in


Some of the trees date back to the early 1800


The layout of the gardens around the House is the creation of the first Marquess and these have


altered little since his time


” The first Marquess designed the garden layout ©National Trust 72 I PC APRIL/MAY 2017


1714, William Hervey enlarged the estate further and, following his death in 1751, the park expanded considerably and was set with small woods and scatters of trees, surrounded by perimeter plantations on the higher ground. During this period, George Hervey and his family had moved into Ickworth Lodge, in the centre of the park, where plans were being considered for the design and location of a new mansion. At this time, the landscape was known as Horringer Park and was centred around the Lodge with numerous views and vistas created by a combination of new planting and the judicious use of the landscape. In 1776, the second Earl commissioned Lancelot (Capability) Brown to carry out work on the park and gardens but, although there is evidence of payments to Brown, there are no direct references to the work in progress, bringing into doubt the degree of actual work undertaken. The third Earl’s (Augustus Hervey) tenure was brief and it was the fourth Earl (Earl-


Bishop Frederick Augustus Hervey) who finally took control of building the new mansion, which began in 1795 to a design by the Italian, Mario Asprucci. The building programme was short-lived as the Earl- Bishop died just eight years later and it was almost twenty years before the fifth Earl (Frederick William Hervey, later the first Marquess) completed the task. This is the house that stands in the grounds to this day and is known as Ickworth House. In 1956, ownership was transferred from the Hervey family to the National Trust in lieu of death duties.


As one of England’s more unusual houses, it is dominated by a central rotunda, thirty- two metres (105 feet) high with a domed and balustraded roof. The rotunda is flanked by single storey narrow corridors linking to two pavilions; the East and West wings of the building. The layout of the gardens around the House is the creation of the first Marquess and these have altered little since his time. He was also responsible for completing the Albana Wood and Walk, developing the Building Plantation as a pleasure ground with


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