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Loton Park

Introduction

Loton Park is an extensive deer park attached to a country house of the late 17th century. It is one of only two privately-owned deer parks still extant in Shropshire.

Loton Park extends both north of the Alberbury-Coedway road, to embrace Loton Park house, and stretches much more extensively to the south of it. In 1842 it comprised 227 acres, but now stretches to around 400 acres. In 1892 it contained about 100 fallow deer, and in 1908 it had 150. At the latter date it also had a rabbit warren. In 1892, the park was recorded as being well-timbered with 'monster' oaks, sycamore, beeches, and elms, and it also had fine clumps of cedars, Douglas firs, and other ornamentals. There are two lodges in the park, both of them 19th century, called the English Lodge and the Welsh Lodge.

Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
History

The earliest evidence at Loton Park is Alberbury castle, which was built around 1340. It is possible that there was a hunting park associated with this castle, but the first concrete evidence of hunting at Loton Park is from 1675. At that time, a lodge was constructed in what is now the south-western part of the park, where it still stands. The current extent of the park was probably created soon after the Leighton family moved to Loton Park from Wattlesborough in the early 18th century. It was disparked shortly before 1776, and by 1793 had been leased to a farmer. However, since 1826 the park has again been kept in hand, and it is now still extant and privately owned.

Features & Designations

Features

  • Country House (featured building)
  • Description: Loton Park is a house of late-Jacobean origins, with alterations of the 18th and 19th centuries. The house was doubled in size around 1700, and there were further additions to the east and west, and the porch, in 1838. A large south-east wing was added in the 1870s. The main ranges of the house are all of brick.
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  • Hunting Lodge
  • Description: A hunting lodge of around 1675 stands in the south-west corner of Loton Park. It is a two-storey building of square plan and cubic proportions, and it is built of rendered Alberbury breccia rubble with red sandbstone ashlar dressings. It has a pyramidal slate roof. Much of the 17th-century interior survives.
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  • Hunting Lodge
  • Description: A hunting lodge called the English lodge stands in Loton Park.
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  • Hunting Lodge
  • Description: A hunting lodge called the Welsh lodge stands in Loton Park.
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  • Rabbit Warren
  • Description: There was a rabbit warren in Loton Park in the early 20th century.
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Key Information

Type

Park

Principal Building

Domestic / Residential

Survival

Extant

Hectares

162

Open to the public

Yes

Civil Parish

Alberbury with

References

References