460 yards. From Bird Henge continue along path leaving a wood of fir trees on right. After 220 yards you will come to some steps which lead down to a path to the left starting alongside the A36. Continue towards the bollards. On the left is a milestone erected in 1840 when a Turnpike Act consolidated roads leading from Warminster..The decaying tarmac was the A36 until the bypass was built. You will come to Park Lane going left and Park Street going straight ahead. A diversion of 100 yards along Park Street will bring you to these gates.
Rather strange to have these grand early nineteenth century gates leading to a modern garage.They were the gates that led through the park to Heytesbury House. The coat of arms are those of the Barons Heytesbury. William Ashe a Court was made a Baron on becoming British Ambassador to Saint Petersburg in 1828. In 1883 the Lord Heytesbury of the day had 7025 acres in Wiltshire, 4805 in the Isle of Wight and 13303 in County Wicklow. Nearly all Heytesbury belonged to Heytesbury. In World War 1 the House was requisitioned for use by army officers, among them Dennis Wheatley, the thriller writer whose mess bill at Heytesbury House survives in the Imperial War Museum.
Siegfried Sassoon, the war poet, bought the house and park in 1933 and lived there until his death in 1967. He entertained well known friends such as Lawrence of Arabia. The new bypass divided the park in 1986. The Department of Transport paid for the gates below to be moved to the new drive north of the A36 to the house,then owned by George Sassoon , Siegfried's son. In 1993 West Wiltshire District Council insisted on their return to the original site and, after threatened fines, got their way. The present house behind and to the right of these gates replaced a much smaller lodge.
In the 1920's the Heytesbury estate was selling up most of its land.The notice below announced the sale of "about 55 cottages."
Return to Park Lane and continue along it.
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