More information : GAWSWORTH OLD HALL II*
Modern formal garden on site of C16th garden (circa 0.75ha), within a larger area (circa 5ha) enclosed to the north by four fish ponds, to the west by earthworks, and to the south and east by a boundary wall. house C16th and later (SJ 86 NE 6). To the north-west of house is a raised terrace, possibly C16th archery butts. Formal and enclosed gardens are to the immediate west and south of house (given Elizabethan character circa 1970 with knots and formal bedding) Terrace wall to south overlooks main grass area, reputed to have been a tilting ground; in the lower centre is a rectangular pool, 50m long north to south. In the south-west corner of area is a mount and probable vestige of a twin mount in the south-east corner. (1)
Fieldwork between 1986 and 1988 revealed the complex structure of the Elizabethan `Great Garden' of Gawsworth Hall and refuted the suggestion of a medieval tilting yard. The long mound on the west side of the garden was identified as a promenade, and terraces below as remains of a `Wilderness Garden'. The most complicated feature on the site was the triple-terraced earthworks in the south-west corner of the garden. The complex is likely to date to the tenacy of Sir Edward Fitton III (1550-1606) (2).
The gardens at Gawsworth Hall were probably created for the family of Sir Edward Fitton III (1550-1606), at the height of their success and popularity in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. The garden was designed as a pleasure ground with a line of five pools, a possible tilting ground, a gravelled walk, prospect mounds in the south west and south east corners, formal beds and in the north west corner a formal planting of lime trees The garden, with the exception of the flight of pools, is enclosed by a high wall. The flight of five large ponds lie at the northern end of the monument and form an impressive, formal water garden feature. To the south of these ponds, details of the original Elizabethan gardens have been obscured by modern development and land use. To the west, south and east of the hall is the large walled garden defined by a wall which stands up to 3 metres high. The west wall is exactly 300 metres long and indicates the preciseness of the whole garden layout in its original scheme. Within this enclosure, on the west side there is a raised walk. In the south west corner is a prospect mound which was paired with another in the south east corner. To the east of the walk was the 'rookery'; a group of trees including four lime trees. To the south of this feature was the area now called the 'wilderness garden'. Around its eastern and southern edges was a wall which enclosed formal beds in a lawn with a possible bowling green. To the south of this area is a rectangular sunken feature with three terraces to the north, three to the west and a single terrace facing into the centre of the garden. The central area of the garden had a water-filled canal running north-south, with a circular pond at the southern end. On the west side of the hall is a more modern enclosed garden layout, but within it are elderly yew trees which hint at former formal layout in Elizabethan times. Scheduled. (3)
Formal gardens and associated earthworks to Gawsworth Old Hall created either circa 1600 or during the late 17th century. The main pleasure garden was developed during the1960s. (4)
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