The 2400 acre estate comprises the Hall at its centre, the surrounding gardens and landscaped park, and outlying farmland.  To the northeast of the Hall lies the Walled Garden and the Home Farm.  The parish church of St Andrews’s sits close to the east end of the hall, now in a group of  five, is still in use by local residents.

THE HALL

Built c.1643 close to the site of the earlier moated Manor House of Wimpole, the Hall has been much altered throughout its history and extended by subsequent owners.  It is without doubt the grandest house in Cambridgeshire.  The fabric of the building includes work by the architects, James Gibbs, Henry Flitcroft, Sir John Soane and Henry Kendall. Soane’s alterations to the interior of the Hall are particularly impressive.  He was also responsible for the Primitive Rustic buildings of the model Home Farm, and with the landscape architect William Emes, for the Walled Garden.  Wimpole bankrupted several of its successive owners, so ambitious were the changes made almost with each generation to house and gardens.

The property was purchased in 1938 by Captain and Mrs George Bambridge almost empty of indigenous contents. Captain Bambridge’s taste for small-scale continental narrative pictures was advanced for the time and remains of interest today.  The couple also collected pictures, which they believed had had an association either with Wimpole or with its past owners.  Some of the rooms, the sets of petits apartements, which they formed within the house, are reflective both of their personal taste and more generally of country house living during the 1940s and 1950s.

THE PARK

As with the Hall, successive owners altered the gardens and wider landscape with the dictates of fashion.  The celebrated landscape designers who have left their mark on the place include Charles Bridgeman, Robert Greening, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and Humphry and John Adey Repton.  None of the above wholly eradicated the work of his predecessors, so leaving a complex palimpsest of features which can still be read on the ground.  The most important amongst these are Bridgeman’s 2 ½ mile Great South Avenue, Brown’s serpentine lakes and the Gothic Folly designed by Sanderson Miller but built some 25 years later.

Despite these conscious design changes the relict medieval landscape remains readable and indeed fundamentally influenced the shape of the modern estate – field boundaries and estate roads directly relate to ancient precursors.  The three deserted medieval village sites and the ridge and furrow of the associated agricultural system are of great rarity in Cambridgeshire, and make up the largest Scheduled Ancient Monument in the county. Approximately one mile to the east of the Hall, are the moated fieldwork remains of one of the several manor houses, which once stood nearby.  The Roman road Ermine Street runs along the western boundary of the estate and Roman remains have been found in this area.

THE GARDENS

In front of the Hall the vestiges of the elaborate late 17^th century formal gardens can be seen.  To the north the Victorian parterre has been reinstated on the basis of archaeological and aerial photographic evidence.  The Pleasure Grounds leading to the Walled Garden and the Home Farm, is essentially an arboretum and contains a National Collection of Walnut trees.  The Walled Garden was designed by William Eames, working in conjunction with John Soane who designed the glasshouses and archaeological evidence and design drawings show their precise construction.

THE HOME FARM

The architect John Soane designed the buildings in1794 to serve as a model farm for the 3^rd Earl of Hardwicke, a keen agricultural improver of his time. Most of these buildings survive and were added to in the later 19^th century.  The Victorian elements include a dairy of 1863. The present farm houses a collection of rare breed’s animals. It attracts a different profile of visitor to the Hall, many being families with young children.

The Farm is recognised as one of the most important breeding centres in the country for the declining numbers of Rare Breed farm animals.

THE ARABLE FARMS

The tenant farms are principally arable, and have suffered in the past from the removal of hedges and trees, with the consequent loss of wildlife habitat.  There has been opportunity for the NT to enter into Stewardship agreements to improve the in-hand arable farms for wildlife.  At the centre of the arable farms is the park with its permanent pasture and woods providing a reservoir of wildlife for the surrounding areas.

CONSERVATION

Wimpole estate has a wide variety of habitats.  These include: open parkland with mature trees, including some notable 300 year-old lime trees; surrounding woodland belts; open spaces of water; ditches; small streams; permanent old pasture and an area of semi-ancient woodland.  They accommodate a wide variety of fauna and flora.  Recent surveys have produced surprising results in terms of Wildlife and the park once considered relatively unimportant in conservation terms is now showing its importance both within the locality and nationally.

RECREATION

Because of its location near to Cambridge and many of the north London towns, Wimpole provides for a wide variety of recreational uses and is much appreciated by these and more local users.  It is the largest park within striking distance of Cambridge, and allows visitors to walk freely amongst farm animals in an age when the public are increasingly divorced from the sources of the food it eats.  Public benefits include walking, bird watching, dog walking, cycling, and horse riding, and shooting.  Others volunteer as part of their recreation which also gives the NT valuable support.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Well over 50 people each day are associated with the functioning of Wimpole and villagers in the area see it as supportive of the local economy.  Much of our revenue expenditure is with local companies.  Local authorities also value Wimpole as part of the tourist economy and as a recreational resource.

Wimpole has a full time Education Officer who provides material for formal school visits to the Hall, Farm and Park.  All aspects of the estate are used for higher education and as a resource for more informal educational activities.

THE ESTATE

Wimpole is a complete working estate.  It is viewed as a whole and managed in an integrated way that takes full account of its historical, recreational and conservation value.  Wimpole is financially self-sufficient within the National Trust, placing no burden on NT central funding.

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If you have any comments with reference to the Statement of Significance of the Wimpole Estate please e-mail them to: wimpolehall@nationaltrust.org.uk or alternatively write to the address below marking the envelope Statement of Significance.