In 1564 the Crown granted the manor of Woodchester to George Huntley.

His grandson, also George, abandoned the old manor house and deer park in Woodchester village and started to lay out the new park in the Inchbrook valley through the enclosure of open field and common lands. He surrounded the park with a wall and stocked it with deer. A hunting lodge was built in the park by George in the 1610s.

In 1631 the estate was sold to Sir Robert Ducie and it was to stay in the Ducie family for the next 200 years. Originally named Spring Park, the estate was variously called Spring and Woodchester Park over this period.

When Matthew Ducie Moreton inherited the park in 1735 it was said to have been the largest in Gloucestershire, with a boundary some seven miles in circumference. The fishponds, the ages of which are not known, were probably in existence by this time. Mills are indicated below Middle and Parkmill Ponds on a 1777 plan. Matthew began immediately on an extensive redevelopment of both house and park, and by the late 1750's had converted the Jacobean hunting lodge into a Georgian house and had laid out formal gardens and walks around the valley.

'Capability' Brown visited Woodchester Park in 1782 and instructed his assistant to make a survey: this records extensive gardens around the house totalling more than 17 acres. Brown died in February 1783, and he may not have had time to draw up proposals before his death. However changes made to the estate after the survey were in Brown's 'picturesque' style.

During this period most of the formal garden features, including a canal garden, were removed to be replaced by parkland extending right up to the house. The woodland further out in the park was modified to provide vistas up into the coombes, and terraced walks and 'Italian Gardens' were laid out north-east of the house, which itself was remodelled. Humphry Repton stayed at the house in 1809, and it is possible that he had been brought in to make landscape proposals. The boathouse is thought to date from this time

In 1845 the house and estate was purchased by William Leigh, a shipowner from Liverpool with Australian estates. Leigh demolished the Georgian house and built the new Gothick mansion on the same footings. By 1862 most of the house was complete; however, it was never fitted out.

By the late 19th century the valley had matured into a highly picturesque landscape with a finely balanced mix of topography, water and woodland.

From the beginning of the 20th century onwards the character of the park gradually became less well defined as the importance placed on forestry grew and the management of the 'designed' landscape began to assume a lower priority. A report on the estate produced in 1921 describes a park characterised, above all, by neglect with much of the best timber being sold off.

In 1939 the estate was sold by William Leigh's niece, Mary Blanche Leigh, to the Trustees of Barnwood Hospital. Brick Kiln pond was drained during this period and plans to turn the Mansion into a hospital were not realised.

In 1953 the estate was acquired by a timber company who carried out extensive deforestation before selling it on again. Over the next few years the remaining estate was sold off in lots. The three main blocks of the valley were thereafter managed for commercial forestry and over the next 20 years the bulk of the park, including the valley bottom, was planted up.

By the time the National Trust purchased the main proportion of the valley in 1994 the plantations were maturing and the park was perceived as a densely wooded landscape.