Sir Thomas Hewitt (1656-1726) made extensive alterations and improvements at Shireoaks ... formed several fine avenues, cascades and fishponds etc. (1)
Between the house and the Fountain Pond are the remains of C17 and C18 garden terraces. By 1825 the gardens were "neglected ... gone to ruin ... stagnant" (5). (4)
A formal arrangement of lakes and canals aligned on an axial vista through Shireoaks Hall, a house built by Smythson c 1600 and altered 1720 by Sir Thomas Hewitt, King's Surveyor General. Hewitt laid out a large (125m diam) circular basin, fed by streams from the W, and 3 irregular lakes (Lady Pond, Kitchen Pond and Foundation, the latter partly filled in now) around the house. The Great Basin is linked to the house by a 450m long watercourse with c 20 cascades and 14 oval or circular basins and a 250m long, 15m wide canal. The cascades are in woodland (a degenerate lime and elm avenue), the canal in parkland. Both, and the Great Basin, suffer from the effects of subsidence due to coal mining, and the cascades are partly filled in. All structures are complete and edged with masonry and filled with clay. The scheduled area excludes a) the remnant of parkland around the Hall; b) the sites of 2 avenues radiating W and SW from the Hall, now fossilised as footpaths; and c) the site of a circular "cour d'honneur" to the SE of the Hall. (8)
See M5393 for Hall and cross refs.
NB W grid ref is for county boundary, continues in S Yorks.

Data Held (Document). SNT2647.

OS Card, Parish file

Data Held: Aerial Photograph (Aerial photograph). SNT2645.

Meridian 34/77/062

<1> White R, 1875, Worksop: The Dukery and Sherwood Forest, pp 80-5 (Published document). SNT1415.

<2> Colvin HM, 1976, History of the King's Works, pp 71-3 (Published document). SNT180.

<3> ICDMOS, 1978, Interim List Hist Gardens, p 16 (Published document). SNT823.

<4> Pevsner N, 1979, The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire 2nd ed., pp 310-13 (Monograph). SNT4.

<5> Holland J, 1826, History of Worksop (Published document). SNT782.

<6> Godlewski L, 1980, Pers Comm (Personal comment). SNT717.

<7> Godlewski L, 1980, 1:2500 - Shireoaks (Plan). SNT718.

<8> Fairclough G, 1981, AM107 (Unpublished document). SNT679.