THE park and garden of an historic Romsey site, which was once the family home of Florence Nightingale, are 'at risk', according to Historic England.

Embley Park has been listed on the public's body's Heritage at Risk Register 2021.

The register is the yearly health-check of England’s most valued historic places and those most at risk of being lost forever as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development.

Embley's park and garden are listed as grade 2 and the conditions of the grounds have been assessed as "high vulnerability with extensive significant problems".

The assessment has been based on the grounds of Embley Park only and does not mention the historic buildings, including the school.

Most of the buildings situated on the grounds were constructed in the 16th and 17th century, it then fell into the possession of the Nightingale family after making changes to the Manor House with the creation of the West Wing, a new porch in the north side of the house and a bay and balcony which extends almost the entire length of the front of the house.

Various arrangements have been made over the past half century in order for the main building to be used as a school and boarding house.

After the Second World War, Embley Park was divided, with the house and historic core becoming a school. Historic England said: "A Conservation Management Plan covers the school, although the historic character is vulnerable to additional development. The wider open and wooded park has multiple owners and accumulative development pressures.

"A Heritage Impact Assessment was commissioned by Test Valley in 2016 in response to local plan proposals. The need to widen understanding of significance and conservation to sustain value remains."

A spokesperson for Embley School said: “As a leading Hampshire school we are proud to be the stewards of an estate that is featured in the Doomsday Book, was the home of Florence Nightingale and has seen centuries of progress and investment. Sadly, this report has been written of our gardens and grounds – not our buildings -  and has been created without anyone from Historic England actually visiting us. We would be delighted to welcome Historic England to the site so that they can see for themselves the positive work we are doing.

“We firmly believe that our historic location should be somewhere that the people of Hampshire can be proud of and have access to. We are keen to continue building on successes such as last summer’s Celebration of Speed at which we welcomed over 3,000 local people to a weekend of events. Our facilities are also enjoyed by other local schools and community groups who use our excellent sports facilities.”