Magic Lantern Slide of Hartsholme
from the West Bank.
Hartsholme Country Park is included in the register of historic parks and gardens as a park of grade II importance.
Notable events during the Park's History:
1848 Lake constructed by the Lincoln Waterworks Company.
1862 The Hall was built for Joseph Shuttleworth and the gardens were laid out by Victorian landscape gardener Edward Milner.
1902 Colonel Thomas W. Harding became the owner of Hartsholme Estate.
1909 Estate purchased by Lord Liverpool.
1939 Estate sold to Thomas Place, who never actually took up residence. During
WWII Estate used for military training.
1951 Hall and 54 hectares of land were sold to
Lincoln Corporation. Most of the Hall was demolished and the park was opened to the public.
1974 Park designated as a Country Park.
1978 Stables were converted into a visitor centre, café and toilets.
Brief history of Hartsholme Hall
Hartsholme ('Harts' from deer and 'Holme' an area of marshy ground) was historically low-lying marshy woodland in the early 1800's.
In 1846 Lincoln Waterworks Company established.
Monument on West of lake erected by Richard Carline to commemorate such. (This monument re-erected by Colonel Harding in 1902).
In 1848 what is now Hartsholme lake was excavated by the Lincoln Waterworks Company to provide water to Lincoln. Lake covers 25 acres and held 23 million gallons of water. Water was conveyed to Boultham filter beds and then pumped to service reservoir in Lincoln.
The lake supplied 733 houses at its height and was used until 1911.
1851 local paper reports: “shareholders were conveyed to the Company’s reservoir which consists of a very fine piece of water, the banks being planted with a variety of shrubs”.
However by 1853 the state of the water quality was reported as “the water supplied by the Lincoln Company is so very stinking and impure that it cannot be used for drinking or cooking”
In 1861 Joseph Shuttleworth bought the lake and grounds.
Joseph Shuttleworth was co-founder together with Nathaniel Clayton, of the Clayton and Shuttleworth heavy engineering company. They helped revolutionise agriculture by such innovations as portable thrashing engines.
By the end of 1862 hartsholme Hall (designed by F.H.Goddard) was completed. As well as the grand Hall a stable block, cottages, laundry, battery house, farmstead, lodges on Skellingthorpe road and Doddington road were also constructed. The interior of the Hall took a further 2 years to complete.
1876 Glowing article appears in the Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener, praising the achievements of the landscaped area, notably the abundant growth of trees,
“…considering the time they have been planted, nothing short of marvelous proportions”.
1879 Doddington Road lodge built.
1881 Boat house built. (last building on site to bear the Shuttleworth crest)
Joseph Shuttleworth extended the estate to around three hundred acres in 1879 but passed away in 1883.
Frank, the youngest son moves to Old Warden, Bedfordshire.
1904 Outbreak of typhoid in Lincoln, Hartsholme lake is suspected of being the source, 243 people die.
Prior to 1906 the Hall had 3 occupiers, Alfred Shuttleworth (eldest son of Joseph), Nathaniel Clayton Cockburn and Colonel Thomas Walter Harding.
Colonel Harding improved the Hall with electricity and placed the estate for sale in 1906, it was sold in 1907.
Colonel Harding moved to Madingley Hall in Cambridge.
Lord Liverpool completed the purchase of the Hall and estate in 1908.
Lord Liverpool (Arthur William de Brito Savile Foljambe, second Earl of Liverpool) was resident in New Zealand from 1912 to 1920. During his ownership of the Hall He enlarged the estate to cover more than 2,000 acres.
1911 Elkesley bore holes become the principle water supply for the City.
Lord Liverpool sold the estate in 1939 to Thomas Place of Northallerton, Yorkshire.
It is widely held that Thomas Place never lived in the Hall.
Lord Liverpool died in 1941.
In 1942 the Army requisitioned the Hall. During the War, the Hall is used as an officers’ mess and the estate used for military training. Deterioration of the building fabric and interior fittings begins. White bridge removed.
As early as October 1946 the Lincoln Corporation begins proceedings to purchase the Hall and Estate.
Following the war the Hall fell rapidly into disrepair and by 1947 was resident to 32 families squatting in the once impressive house.
08/01/47 Thomas Place offers Hartsholme Estate for sale and seeks compensation for deterioration of Hall.
15/09/50 J.E. Walter and Sons, Barclay Bank Chambers, Lincoln. Are the agents for Mr T Place deceased.
The Lincoln Corporation are approved a loan from the Ministry of Health to purchase the Estate and convert the Hall into an old peoples home.
1951 the Hall and 130 acres are sold to the Lincoln Corporation, 5 years after initial proceedings and following the death of Mr T Place. The sale is completed on 24 May for £5,225.00.
Due to the extent of neglect, vandalism, damage and theft, tenders are invited for the demolition of the Hall.
The successful tender secures the contract for £600.00. The majority of the Hall is demolished, with the Kitchen block and ancillary buildings remaining for Civil Defence use.
1954 Black bridge repaired.
1964 Kitchen block is demolished and the site cleared. White Bridge is rebuilt.
1974 designated a Country Park in September.
1978 With grant aid from Countryside Commission, the Farm Homestead (not the stables) is renovated, converted into the Visitor Centre with Toilets and Café.
1979 Official opening of Hartsholme Country Park.