Panshanger was a large country house located between the outer edge of

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

and Welwyn Garden City in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England.

History

Earl Cowper, who later became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, acquired the Cole Green estate c. 1700.Robinson, p. 157 He remodelled the estate in 1704 and made alterations to the house in 1711.Robinson, p. 158 The 5th Earl Cowper commissioned Samuel Wyatt and then William Atkinson to design a new house in a slightly different location in Regency-Gothic style; construction work started on site in 1806. The park was landscaped with advice from Humphry Repton, starting in 1799. Following the death of the 7th Earl Cowper in 1905, the estate was inherited by Ethel Grenfell, Baroness Desborough and, after she died in 1952 with no heir, the estate was sold in lots by auction the following year, but there was no interest in the house itself and it was demolished between 1953 and 1954. A large portion of the outlying farms forming part of the estate had been sold by auction on 30 May 1919. Panshanger orangery

The park contains the largest maiden (not pollarded) oak in the country, with a circumference of 7.6 metres. It is believed to have been planted by Queen Elizabeth I. Acorns from the tree have been used as seedlings for notable oaks in other parts of the country, such as the Prince Consort Oak in the Forest of Dean.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

planted a sapling from the tree in the park and the tree can still be seen in the grounds.

Panshanger Park and nature reserve

Panshanger Park is owned by

Tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...

which extracts sand and gravel from the site. Although Panshanger House was demolished, the orangery, nursery garden wall, stables, and a number of cottages and estate buildings remain, all of which are listed by English Heritage. The eastern end has been open since 31 March 2014 as a 1,000 acre country park and nature reserve - with 200 acres open to the public. The park consists of

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

grasslands A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natural ...

and reedbeds which serve as a home for a wide variety of damselfly and

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

species. The park is also home to kingfishers, waterfowl and osprey. The rest of the site will be opened as gravel extraction is completed.

Panshanger district

The Panshanger district of Welwyn Garden City, and the nearby

Panshanger Aerodrome Panshanger Aerodrome was a former general aviation aerodrome located on the most eastern tip of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, west of Hertford, East Hertfordshire. Wartime history During the Second World War, a decoy aerodrome ...

, are named after the Panshanger estate. However, Panshanger Park does not lie within the Panshanger ward of Welwyn Garden City, nor indeed any part of Welwyn Garden City. It actually lies within the parishes of Hertford and Hertingfordbury.

References

Sources

*Robinson, John, ''Felling the Ancient Oaks'', Aurum Press, 2011, {{coord, 51.8023, -0.1305, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Hertfordshire British country houses destroyed in the 20th century East Hertfordshire District Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Hertfordshire Gardens by Humphry Repton Gardens by Capability Brown