[9] The inquisition into the estates of de Ferrers, made after his death, mentions the park, with "herbage, pannage and underwood, worth 40 shillings yearly".

[8] The park was greatly extended by the first marquis in the late 15th century, to occupy land previously farmed by both Newtown Linford and the now lost village of Bradgate.

Their son Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, prepared for building Bradgate House in the late fifteenth century but died before he was able to begin.

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.

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 the future sixth Earl of Stamford.

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.

[16] Cropston Reservoir was constructed in the south-east corner of the park in 1871, submerging the Head Keeper's house[9] and a substantial area of former parkland.

The water level was raised 2 feet (60 centimetres) in 1887, to increase capacity and the original steam powered beam engines ran until 1956.

[9] In 1899, a Private member's Bill was presented to Parliament for the formation and construction of the Leicester, Groby and Bradgate Park Railway.

The proposal ultimately failed however, as the Commons Committee meeting on 20 March 1899 felt that the argument in favour of building the railway was insufficient.

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 137 acres (55 ha) for preservation and to provide access to the public for recreation "as a national heritage".

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.

[27] 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.

It appears to have formed in deep water, out of sediments of volcanic ash and other pyroclastic material, which were then subject to slumping and submarine flows, to create rocks with various degrees of stratification.

[30] 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.

[28] Suggested causes for these include slumping, earth tremors and fault-movements, trapped water or gases and volcanic bomb impacts.

They cooled slowly and at great depth to create their large crystalline structure,[31] and were subsequently exposed by erosion of the uplifted rocks above.

A possibly explanation is that it formed in a channel cut into the existing sea floor, but a preferred conclusion is that movement along fault-lines has relocated it relative to its surrounding rocks.

The relationship between the different outcrops in Bradgate are made more obscure by the overlying peat and Boulder clay, which mean the contacts between adjacent stratigraphic sequences are nowhere exposed.

This outcrop is part of the Brand Group and is known as the Stable Pit Member, a Quartz arenite rock with a smooth glassy appearance.

By this point they were part of the Pangea supercontinent and desert conditions resulted in an accumulation of windblown Loess, which now forms the Mercia Mudstone Group.

[28] Bradgate Park and its surrounding areas were heavily overlain in the (geologically) recent past by glacial deposits of Boulder Clay.

The 1957 discoveries, by Roger Mason, in rocks near Woodhouse Eaves, subsequently named in his honour as Charnia masoni, required a re-evaluation of when life began.

They mainly take the form of two-dimensional impressions of fronds and disks and have at various times been described as seaweed, jelly fish, corals or sea anemones.

Because of the risk of vandalism and damage, specific locations of these fossils are not disclosed and those wishing to investigate them should first of all seek the permission of the Bradgate Park Trust.

Deadly nightshade is allowed to grow within the ruins of Bradgate House, having been originally established there during World War II by Leicester Polytechnic's School of Pharmacy for medicinal purposes.

[33] 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.

The archaeology section features work by Leicester University beginning in 2014 and includes evidence of Creswellian sites from 14,500 years ago.