Lyveden New Bield
Lyveden New Bield in Northamptonshire is one of the most mysterious and most poignant heritage properties managed by the National Trust, an unfinished Elizabethan lodge begun by Sir Thomas Tresham in 1595 as a statement of his Catholic faith and never completed because of his death in 1605. The shell of the extraordinary building carries a programme of carved stonework celebrating the Passion of Christ, and the moated garden attached is the finest example of an unrestored Elizabethan garden layout in England.
The unfinished state of the building, its windows without glazing and interior never fitted out, combined with the silence and remoteness of the Northamptonshire countryside, creates an atmosphere of melancholy abandonment quite unlike any other National Trust property.
The garden earthworks around the lodge are the most completely preserved Elizabethan garden earthworks in England, the terracing, mounds, moat and water channels all surviving in their original form. The National Trust's decision to manage the garden without restoration makes Lyveden the best surviving evidence for the form and character of Elizabethan garden design in England.