Aerial views of 17th Century garden archaeology, August 2022

In August 2022 aerial photography revealed Lydiard's 17th extensive century gardens, traced on the sun-baked lawns surrounding Lydiard House. The gardens were swept away some 250 years ago following the remodelling of the old Elizabethan manor house in the 1740's.

The gardens which once led down to the lake, then a formal canal, are evidenced in a plan of the park made in 1700. They are also recalled in the letters of Lady Johanna St.John to Thomas Hardyman, her steward at Lydiard Park, with advice and instructions on sowing, planting and tending her flowerbeds.

However, fashions changed. Lady Johanna’s gardens were demolished following the remodelling of the old manor in the 1740’s by her grandson, Sir John St.John. The new Palladian mansion required an equally fashionable setting of open lawns, strategically placed clumps of trees and a naturalistic looking lake in the English Landscape Garden style made popular by William Kent and Capability Brown.

See Items of Interest to see the 1700 plan of Lydiard Park and a painting (2021) based upon the plan by local artist Billy Beaumont.