History Column

St Peter. Site of.

Treyford · 3.7 miles

Outline of demolished church.

Common Lime

River · 6.2 miles

Difficult to age as the trunk has fragmented but perhaps is 5/600 yrs old with a 7.46m girth. It could continue hollow for several hundred years. To preserve it, the vertical growth is reduced periodically to minimise risk of failure of the detached trunk

Upper Pond

Petworth · 6.2 miles

It went through several design changes between 1752 and 1756, as the park boundary was moved & buildings removed. Viewed from the Pleasure Garden, the Upper and Lower ponds are designed to simulate a river flowing through the landscape.

Lower Pond

River · 6.8 miles

In 1603, this area was ‘fowle & deepe of myre. 'Capability' Brown designed the pond to go here, along with the culverts that feed it, during his 4th contract with the 2nd Earl of Egremont (1756–57). It acted as a focal point for views from new park roads

Norman Oak

Petworth · 6.8 miles

Petworth was a royal gift by Henry I's widow in 1150 to the Percy family (powerful landowners in the North). The oak tree has survived all landscape changes since & now has hollies growing from decomposing wood in its cavities.

Doric Temple

Petworth · 6.8 miles

Capability Brown sited the Doric Temple here for the view across the Shimmings Valley. The Temple was formerly situated on terraces that were part of the formal garden laid out by George London for the 6th Duke of Somerset. Brown removed the terraces to c