thumb|248px|Bradgate Park and surrounding villages
thumb|248px|Reginald Grey Pedigree of Grey of Groby displayed within Bradgate Hall ruins.
Bradgate Park () is a public park in Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, England, northwest of Leicester. It covers . The park lies between the villages of Newtown Linford, Anstey, Cropston, Woodhouse Eaves and Swithland. The River Lin runs through the park, flowing into Cropston Reservoir which was constructed on part of the park. To the north-east lies Swithland Wood. The park's two well known landmarks, Old John and the war memorial, both lie just above the contour. The park is part of the 399.3 hectare Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir Site of Special Scientific Interest, which has been designated under both biological and geological criteria.
Following a fire in April 2017, the owners Bradgate Trust advised that all visitors are expected to be alert to the risk of causing fire, though another fire in June destroyed one of the ancient oaks.
History
The area now enclosed as Bradgate Park was one of a number of parks surrounding Charnwood Forest. Since medieval times it has been part of the Manor of Groby. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the area was owned by a landowner named Ulf. The manor, along with some 100 others in and around Leicestershire, was awarded to Hugh de Grandmesnil in the eleventh century as reward for his assistance in battle to William I. The name Bradgate is thought to derive from Norse or Anglo-Saxon, meaning "broad road" or "broad gate" respectively. The Grey family retained it for the next 500 years, and in the 19th century was opened to the public several days a week. In 1928 it was bought by Charles Bennion and given, as a plaque in the park describes, 'to be preserved in its a natural state for the quiet enjoyment of the people of Leicestershire'.
Medieval deer park
The park was originally enclosed using a bank and ditch topped by vertical pales of oak. These first ditchworks cross the River Lyn east of the Little Matlock Gorge. A parker, living in a moated house, was the only occupant, maintaining stocks of deer for the lord of Groby Manor to hunt.
Sir Thomas Grey died in 1530 and was succeeded by his son Henry, the 3rd Marquess of Dorset, who was married to Frances, the daughter of the Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's younger sister.
Their daughter Lady Jane Grey was born at Bradgate House probably in October 1537. Notably in July 1553, at the age of fifteen, the Duke of Northumberland (her husband's father) proclaimed her Queen of England and Ireland, in opposition to Mary Tudor. However Mary had more support, and when the Lord Mayor of London proclaimed Mary queen on 19 July, the Duke of Northumberland lost all support, and he, his son, and Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen, were beheaded for treason.
There is a longstanding tradition that the oak trees of Bradgate were pollarded at the time of Lady Jane's death. Pollarding of the trees was a practice that was undertaken then, as before and since as it kept the new growth high up, away from browsing deer and has enabled the ancient trees to reach their great age. It is not known if the estate workers of 1554 attached any particular significance to the practice.
centre|1120x1120px|The Bradgate ruins
Old John
A prominent landmark is the folly known as 'Old John' on the top of the highest hill in the park. Built by the Greys in 1784, the folly is, by local legend, a memorial to John, an estate worker killed in a bonfire accident during celebrations of the 21st birthday of George Grey, the future sixth Earl of Stamford. It is reputed that the stonework at the side of the tower was altered to look like a handle, perhaps knowing John's liking of ale. However he was not 21 until 1786, and a map of 1745 names the hill as 'Old John'. The tower was used during the 19th century as a viewing point for the horse-racing practice circuit laid out by the seventh earl.
In 2001, Bradgate Park Trust registered the design of the building as a trademark, and in 2018 told a local artist that she would have to pay them if she continued to sell her paintings of it.
Cropston Reservoir
Cropston Reservoir was constructed in the south-east corner of the park in 1871, submerging the Head Keeper's house A number of pools were also constructed along the course of the River Lin through the park, to allow silt to settle before reaching the reservoir. The nearby Swithland Wood had previously been sold in 1921 to the Leicester timber merchant William Gimson, who began to extract the timber commercially, with the aim of dividing up the land for building plots as it was gradually cleared. Following public concern about the threatened loss of this ancient woodland of importance for its geological, natural history and industrial history features, in 1925 the Rotary Club of Leicester, with the cooperation of William Gimson, bought the whole site of approximately for preservation and to provide access to the public for recreation "as a national heritage". The Rotary Club established the Swithland Wood Trust, repaired and renewed the fencing of the area, provided car parking and restored the paths, spending around £6,000 on the original purchase, fencing and landscaping. The Club opened Swithland Wood to the public on August Bank Holiday, 2 August 1925, employing its own staff to manage the Wood and visitor services. In 1928 the Club initiated the annual Bluebell Service in the Wood, in partnership with Swithland Parish Church. On 29 December 1929 the Bradgate Park Charity with trustees nominated by the County Council and the National Trust was established to manage Charles Bennion's purchase and gift of Bradgate Park, with the appropriate senior officers of the Council providing the necessary professional and administrative services, including land management, legal, secretariat and financial support. Although there does not seem to have been a formal opening of Bradgate Park, public access to the Park became available soon afterwards in 1929. In 1931, once the Bradgate Park Trust was fully operational and established, the Rotary Club approached the County Council and trustees about the possibility of merging the two properties and charities under the Bradgate Park trustees and this was completed in 1931. The park is now administered by the Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood Charitable Trust, with trustees nominated by Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City Council and the National Trust. With the consent of the Charity Commission, the charity has adopted the shorter working title of Bradgate Park Trust.
Civil parish
It was formerly an extra-parochial tract, in 1858 Bradgate Park became a separate civil parish, on 25 March 1884 the parish was abolished and merged with Newtown Linford, Anstey and Ulverscroft. In 1881 the parish had a population of 6.
Geology
thumb|Old John
The visible geology in Bradgate Park ranges from some of the oldest (Precambrian) fossil bearing rocks in England to the youngest (Quaternary). The rock outcrops were created in conditions varying from volcanos rising out of the ocean, to magma flowing deep underground and from tropical deserts to Ice sheets. Within the park the outcrops are widely distributed as hillside crags and outcrops, both along the valley sides of the River Lin and on the hilltop of Old John. They include rocks with some of the oldest known developed forms of fossil animal life in Western Europe.
Precambrian rocks
thumb|Map of the geology of Bradgate Park formed some 560 million years ago. The various layers were subsequently deeply buried, subject to vast periods of mountain-building ([[orogeny), heat, pressure and erosion of overlying material, to expose the hard, jagged outcrops seen in the photograph.
Overlying the Beacon Hill Formation, but found a little further down the hillside to the south, are the Bradgate Formation beds, the most notable of which is the Sliding Stone Slump Breccia rocks. Forming a line of crags below Old John, these are laminated mudstones, with layers of sandstone, mainly of volcanic origin. The beds are substantially warped, contorted and folded. Many of the more intricate folds and 'sag' patterns are thought to have occurred while the sediments were unconsolidated and water saturated. and were subsequently exposed by erosion of the uplifted rocks above. The Diorites are the cliffs and blocks seen along the Lin valley, through the so-called Little Matlock Gorge and near Bradgate House. They are massive blocky outcrops Trust notices displayed at the entrances now advise that dogs must be on a lead in specified areas near the main footpath. Dogs are allowed off lead in around 75% of the area of the park, so long as they are kept under effective control and do not worry the deer. The Daily Telegraph highlighted Bradgate in an article referencing the busybodies charter though it failed to mention the deer.
Café and information centres
In July 2016 a visitor centre opened in the Deer Barn buildings off the main path east of Bradgate House in addition to the existing cafe. The geology section features details of the park's formation during its stages of volcanism, glacial erosion and inhabitation by Ediacara biota. It also shows the tracks of a later land based lizard. The archaeology section features work by Leicester University beginning in 2014 and includes evidence of Creswellian sites from 14,500 years ago.
The Deer Barns café in the centre of the park is open 7 days a week and offers sandwiches, toasties, jacket potatoes and other cold snacks and hot and cold drinks.
There is also a café at the Newtown Linford car park which is operated externally as of 2021.
Access
thumb|Sunshine across a winter scene.
Car
Pay&Display car parks are operated at the Hallgates entrance and Hunts Hill (at the top of the park near Old John). At Newtown Linford an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system is in operation and visitors pay on exit. The park is open from dawn until dusk all year round, though the public footpaths which run through the area mean that in practice the park is always accessible.
Bus
A limited service 125 operates by the Newtown Linford entrance Monday to Saturday and Arriva 29B operates an infrequent Sunday service both serve Leicester City Centre and Coalville.
Walking
One path is directly opposite the bus stop on Link Road, between Cropston Road and Hazelhead Road. The path is signposted from Link Road and crosses several fields before entering the park proper. Another route, which joins the main path, is accessible from the edge of the village, adjacent to the last houses on Bradgate Road.
Cycling
The park is within easy cycling distance from the city centre of Leicester.