Bardney Manor Walled Gardens

From as early as 1086, recorded in the Domesday book there are records of a Manor and farm dwellings at Bardney.

The first recorded Lord of Bardney was Lord William Willoughby, and following the dissolution of all the lands held by the monasteries in 1536 .The crown being the recipient of the tithes of the parishioner's. Many of the lands including Bardney were eventually returned to the church, the bishop was entitled to (with the crown permission) to lease the lands. In 1557 Queen Mary and Philip of Spain permitted the bishop of Lincoln to lease the Lordship of the Lands of Bardney for 30 years to Lord William Willoughby.

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Lord Willoughby was an English Landowner and Politician who sat in the House of Commons and later in the House of Lords. During his time as Lord of Bardney he did extensive renovations to the Manor. The newly added frontage to the manor which he added was designed and modelled on his good friends home, who was Frederick John Robinson. 1st Earl of Ripon who owned Nocton Hall.

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The next Lord of Bardney was Lord John Sutton Sharpe, from the family of the World Famous Sharpe Seeds International Seed Company. Who after a family dispute with his brother Charles came to Bardney and transformed the Manor and its Gardens.

John's wife who was a Sutton and from the Sutton Seed family, helped him transform the Manor and gardens into what it was said 'one of the Largest Walled Gardens in England in the 18th Century.' The Glass houses that housed the vines were 3/4 of a mile long and grape trusses weighing up to 12 pounds were recorded. Trial grounds were set up at the Manor and in the fields surrounding Bardney, which John created Bardney Sharpe Seeds. The seed factory was on Station road in the building which is locally known as the canning factory owned by Morells.

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