Campden House, formal Garden and associated Medieval cultivation earthworks.

Reasons for Designation

As a class of monument, gardens are unusual in that, during their period of use, they are frequently redesigned as fashions and tastes change. Relict gardens are, therefore, particularly rare because they retain their original design or the design of a particular period. The gardens of Campden House represent an exceptional survival of a high quality Rennaissance formal garden. Normally gardens of this period are known only from documentary and art historical sources. The gardens are particularly interesting because of their short lifespan, from 1609 to 1645, when Campden House was destroyed in the Civil War. As such the gardens have suffered few alterations from their original layout.

The design of the garden includes a large number of diverse features including terraces, walls, a prospect, water gardens and banqueting houses. Most survive in excellent condition despite the loss of Campden House itself. The importance of the gardens is enhanced by their association with earlier cultivation earthworks dating from the Medieval period. The ridge and furrows and clearly defined headlands survive in excellent condition in a small park east of the formal gardens.

Details

The monument includes the standing and below-ground remains of the early 17th century Campden House, the related garden earthworks, canals and ornamental features and an area of earlier associated cultivation earthworks. Campden House was destroyed during the Civil War, only a fragment of the south facade survives above ground. The gardens include; entrance courts north of the house, currently overlain by orchard ridges; an upper terraced walk; a large square inner garden with raised terraces on two sides, the paths visible below orchard planting; the lower garden features paired terraces, alternately broad and narrow; and to the east a Water Parterre, a small water garden. The garden is defined by an angled canal with returns at the east and west end and bounded by the Cam to the south and south east. The bed of the River Cam is included here as it is considered that in this stretch it has been canalised. The water running through it is excluded. To the east is a straight canal fed by a stone faced spring with a mount at its south end. An earthen causeway crosses the valley to Lady Juliana's Gateway and spans the Scuttlebrook which fed a water feature. Over a flat meadow a circular feature is considered to be the remains of a viewing platform. Further east is a fine example of Medieval ridge and furrow, predating and possibly underlying the formal gardens. The East and West Banqueting houses (both Listed Grade II*) and the Almonry are excluded from the schedule, although the land beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

11504

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
A81/4, ()
Rushen, P W, The History and Antiquities of Chipping Campden, (1899)

Other
Everson, P, RCHME Survey,
Kings Maps Top XIII.75.3,

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