Landscape July

walking in the
footsteps of ROYALTY
A walk around Bradgate Park, in the Leicestershire countryside, reveals
secrets from history that reach back millions of years
A
herd of fallow deer rest, Bradgate Park, in the heart of
idle but alert, in the midday Leicestershire, has been well-loved for
sunshine of a country park. centuries. It was officially opened to the
Disturbed by a nearby walker, public in 1928, when it was gifted by local
one clambers to its feet and wanders closer
to the centre of the group, its antlers
swinging. Further uphill, another herd of
larger, rougher-coated Red deer, lie
drowsily in the heat. At ease among
thickets of trees and bowed green bracken,
they ignore the people traversing the paths
between ruined buildings and outcrops of
entrepreneur Charles Bennion, but its
history reaches back much further than
that. In the grounds are the estates of a
family with Royal connections, evidence
of Roman occupation, stone age tools and
ancient fossils. A 4-mile walk around the
park offers an experience of history
spanning millennia.
rock. Some visitors make their way down
towards the broad path hugging the edge
of the park; others climb to the twin
highest points, to arrive amid views
stretching out for miles over the
surrounding countryside.
Early beginnings
Starting at the car park at Newtown
Linford, a broad, surfaced track leads
straight into some of the park’s most
ancient sites. It enters an area known ›
Old John
Tower
War
memorial
BRADGATE
PARK
cropston
reservoir
The first written reference to a deer
park at Bradgate is from 1241. The park
supports both Red and Fallow deer, with
a herd of approximately 550 animals,
three-quarters of which are Fallow deer.
Newtown
Linford
RIVER LIN
Deer
sanctuary
Ruins of
Bradgate House
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