Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716-1783)  – One of the most famous and influential landscape designers of the 18th century, Brown was born in Northumberland and worked on various garden projects in the 1740s before becoming an independent landscape gardener and architect around 1750. Based initially at Hammersmith on the outskirts of London and later at Wilderness House, Hampton Court, he had a thriving nationwide business.

In Suffolk, he worked at Branches Park, Cowlinge (1763-5 for Ambrose Dickens); Redgrave (1763 for Rowland Holt); Euston Park (1767-9 for the 3rd Duke of Grafton), Ickworth Park (1769-76 for the 2nd Earl of Bristol); and at Heveningham Park (1781-2 for Sir Gerald Vanneck). He was also consulted, in 1782, by Sir Charles Egleton Kent about Fornham Hall, Fornham St Genevieve, but it is uncertain whether any of his ideas were implemented. Brown is also often said to have worked at Elveden c.1766/8-9 for Admiral Keppel, but this is an error – the records indicate that Brown worked for the Admiral’s cousin, General Keppel, at Dyrham in Gloucestershire.