Best Garden Walls and attached former Cold Bath, Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens

Summary

Early-C18 garden walls with attached former cold bath of 1733.

Reasons for Designation

The Best Garden walls and former cold bath at Castle Bromwich Hall are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:
* the walls of the Best Garden form an important part of the early-C18 gardens at Castle Bromwich Hall, a remarkably complete survival from the period.

Architectural interest:
* the garden walls have good detailing with brick coping stones and pediments.

History

The gardens at Castle Bromwich Hall were begun in 1600 following shortly after the completion of the hall for Sir Edward Devereux. The formal gardens were initially laid to the north and south of the hall, with the walled ‘Best Garden’ later constructed immediately to the west in 1701, with parterre designed by George London. With the designed gardens continuing to expand into the C18, under the ownership of Sir John Bridgeman II, further areas were planted to the west and south-west of the hall, with the introduction of a ‘wilderness’ garden and a ‘holly walk’ planted to run along a north to south axis in the new gardens. In 1733 a cold bath was constructed to the north of the best garden consisting of two chambers: a robing room with a fireplace and a tiled bath room with steps into the water.

Over the course of the C19 some changes were made to the gardens though the garden walls, Orangery and Music Room (listed together at Grade II) are left relatively unaltered. The cold bath fell out of use and saw the installation of a new floor in the late C19; it was subsequently used as a store room.

During the C20 the Bridgeman family ceased living at the hall and the gardens were subsequently gifted as a restrictive covenant to the National Trust in 1946. The mid- to late C20 saw the gardens fall into decline, with many of the structures becoming ruinous. The gardens were restored with some of the buildings partly rebuilt by the Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens Trust, formed in 1985. Any surviving parterre within the Best Garden was also lost during this time and the area is now laid to lawn (2020). The Hall and Gardens are now in separate ownership, with the gardens owned and managed by the independent charitable Trust.

Details

Early-C18 garden walls with attached former cold bath of 1733.

MATERIALS: constructed of brick, the walls have brick coping stones.

PLAN: the garden walls enclose the Best Garden at its northern, southern and eastern ends, with the garden forming an area of approximately 0.7 acres in total. On the northern elevation of the north wall one of the rooms of the former cold bath survives.

DESCRIPTION: the walls are constructed in irregular brick bond and stand at approximately 3.5 metres tall with curved brick coping stones. The northern section of wall is punctuated by a large opening leading to the north garden and a further doorway at its western end leading to the former cold bath. The cold bath is rectangular on plan and leans against the north wall of the best garden. The building is partly ruinous and has no roof covering.

The eastern wall of the Best Garden flanks the hall and has an opening under a segmental arch both directly to the north and south of the hall, each with a brick pediment above. The southern wall is without openings and turns south to join the rest of the garden walling.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

218150

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
National Trust Archaeological Survey, 'Castle Bromwich', J. Milln & R. Woodside, 1996
'Castle Bromwich Hall, Survey of the Grounds', West Midlands County Council, c.1985

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