Switchback Tunnel at Downton Castle
SWITCHBACK TUNNEL AT DOWNTON CASTLE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1392843
- Date first listed:
- 03-Sept-2008
- List Entry Name:
- Switchback Tunnel at Downton Castle
- Statutory Address:
- SWITCHBACK TUNNEL AT DOWNTON CASTLE
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1392843
- Date first listed:
- 03-Sept-2008
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 09-Mar-2010
- List Entry Name:
- Switchback Tunnel at Downton Castle
- Statutory Address 1:
- SWITCHBACK TUNNEL AT DOWNTON CASTLE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- SWITCHBACK TUNNEL AT DOWNTON CASTLE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- County of Herefordshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Burrington
- National Grid Reference:
- SO4399774007
Details
1421/0/0
03-SEP-08
DOWNTON
Switchback Tunnel at Downton Castle
(Formerly listed as: DOWNTON CASTLE TUNNEL)
GV
II
A rustic style switch-back tunnel dating from the mid-1780s, built by Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824) as a feature in his Picturesque landscape at Downton Castle(qv) in order to offer the visitor an unexpected view of it. The tunnel is constructed in stone rubble with some stone dressings remaining, and spans a path on the steep southern cliff side of Downton Gorge. It has a V-shaped plan, with slightly irregular entrance arches, with integral steps at its south-west end leading up the cliff path.
HISTORY: Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824) was an art collector and writer, most famous for his influential role within the Picturesque Movement, and for his didactic poem The Landscape. The tunnel was introduced as a feature along one of a series of walks within the Picturesque landscape he created in the dramatic Downton Gorge (then known as Downton Vale), which carries the River Teme situated to the south-west of the Castle. The landscape included several other features, some now no longer, or only partly extant, including rustic bridges over the River Teme, and a Cold Bath (qv). The tunnel is designed to lead the visitor from one view of the landscape to another. These dramatic views are recorded on a series of paintings by Thomas Hearne, commissioned by Richard Payne Knight in the mid-1780s, when his landscape was near completion.
SOURCES: The entry for Downton Castle as included on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
S Daniels and C Watkins, The Picturesque Landscape (1994), pp 49-60.
Richard Payne Knight, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-7)
Historic Ordnance Survey series.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The tunnel in Downton Gorge at Downton Castle is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is a good example of a late-C18 garden feature in the rustic Picturesque style.
* Its design, a switch-back tunnel with a V-shaped plan, guides the visitor up a steep cliff path, and offers unexpected views of Downton Gorge which are recorded in a series of paintings of the mid-1780s by Thomas Hearne.
* It has a strong historic association with Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824), most famous for his influential role within the Picturesque Movement.
* It forms an important feature within the registered grade II* landscape at Downton as created by Richard Payne Knight at Downton in the 1780s.
* It makes an important contribution to the understanding of the historic development of the designed landscape at Downton and to the understanding of the Picturesque landscape movement in general.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 504873
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
The Picturesque Landscape: Visions of Georgian Herefordshire, (1994), 49-60
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 25-Jun-2026 at 01:34:39.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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