Burningfold Manor and Gardens

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Burningfold Manor
(Surrey History Centre ref. CC1101/3/Box39 Dunsfold/Folder 1)

Burningfold Manor, formerly Burningfold Farm, was part of the medieval Burningfold estate which was situated in the village of Dunsfold. At its height, the estate comprised some 1641 acres with 800 acres of woodland. The house at Burningfold Manor was originally constructed in the 16th century, although there were some extensive structural modifications in the 19th and early 20th century. Architect Harold Charlton Bradshaw designed the alterations on the manor in the 1920’s. It may have been these works, which prompted the development of the gardens surrounding the manor. Interestingly, Bradshaw and Gertrude Jekyll were both thought to have created designs for a formal garden. Extensive plans of the garden by Gertrude Jekyll designed in 1922 still exist although there is no evidence that these plans were ever implemented in the garden.

Original features of the manor garden include a walled flower garden, a productive kitchen garden, a tennis lawn, an old yew tree, herbaceous borders, yew hedges, and an ornamental garden with adjoining rose and ornamental beds. Later features include a library garden and the walled swimming pool garden. The woodland on the estate comprises oak and ash plantations, which (in 1996) was controlled by a woodland management policy programme.

Despite the uncertainty of the garden designer, the 20th century gardens were created to compliment the house in grandeur and awe. However, the modern garden has not incorporated the original features and very little survives of the 19th / 20th century garden.