Ashtead Park is a Local Nature Reserve in

Ashtead Ashtead is a large village in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, approximately south of central London. Primarily a commuter settlement, Ashtead is on the single-carriageway A24 between Epsom and Leatherhead. The village is on ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. It is owned by

Mole Valley District Council Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Dorking. The other town in the district is Leatherhead. The largest villages are Ashtead, Fetcham and Great Bookham, in the northern third of the district ...

and managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. It contains several important listed buildings. The Park itself has remains of a Roman building, four lakes/ponds and the school's playing fields and is Grade II listed on the

Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

History

Ashtead Park House

Ashtead Park showing City of London Freemen's School

Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, (11 January 1655 – 2 April 1701) was an English nobleman, politician, and soldier. He was the son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk, and Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of ...

sold Ashtead Manor to Sir Robert Howard (son of

Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire (8 October 1587 – 16 July 1669) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1605 and 1622. He was created Earl of Berkshire in 1626. Life Howard was born in Saffron Walden, Essex, ...

) in 1680. The house remained in the Howard family until it passed, through marriage, to Richard Bagot in 1783. Richard Bagot commissioned the leading architect

Sir Thomas Wyatt Sir Thomas Wyatt (150311 October 1542) was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. He was born at Allington Castle near Maidstone in Kent, though the family was ...

to develop its grand façade from designs by Joseph Bonomi. Bagot then changed his name to Howard and the house remained in the Howard / Bagot family for nearly a century. The house was bought by Sir Thomas Lucas, 1st Baronet in 1880 and enlarged and altered at major expense. Lucas sold it to Pantia Ralli in 1889. Following Ralli's death the house was acquired by the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

in 1924 and since then has been occupied by the

City of London Freemen's School City of London Freemen's School (CLFS) is a co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils, located at Ashtead Park in Surrey, England. It is the sister school of the City of London School and the City of London School for Girls, ...

. The house is listed as Grade II*.

Ashstead House

Ashtead House is a large red brick house with a nucleus dating back to the 17th century or earlier with 18th century and late 19th century additions.

Headmasters House

Headmasters House is an architecturally imposing red brick development which also forms part of the school campus.

Ecology

The nature reserve was formerly part of the park of Ashtead House. It is mainly woodland on heavy

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

and it has two ponds. Fauna include the

broad-bodied chaser ''Libellula depressa'', the broad-bodied chaser or broad-bodied darter,Hart. M., et al, (1978), ''The Naturetrail Omnibus'', London: Usborne Publishing Limited, page 157 is one of the most common dragonflies in Europe and central Asia. It is ver ...

and

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

dragonfly and the

common blue damselfly ''Enallagma cyathigerum'' (common blue damselfly, common bluet, or northern bluet) is a species found mainly between latitudes 40°N and 72°N; It is widely distributed in the Palearctic, and the Nearctic species '' Enallagma annexum'' was at on ...

References

{{Authority control Surrey Wildlife Trust Local Nature Reserves in Surrey Country houses in Surrey Grade II listed parks and gardens in Surrey