Summer house overlooking the site of a former tennis court in Rivington Gardens at SD 6394 1399

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

A summer house overlooking the site of the former tennis court in Rivington Gardens. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1410746
Date first listed:: 06-Feb-2013
List Entry Name:: Summer house overlooking the site of a former tennis court in Rivington Gardens at SD 6394 1399

User submitted image — Uploaded by Barrie Price This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1410746
Date first listed:: 06-Feb-2013
List Entry Name:: Summer house overlooking the site of a former tennis court in Rivington Gardens at SD 6394 1399
Location Description:: Rivington Gardens, Chorley, Lancashire

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Lancashire
District:: Chorley (District Authority)
Parish:: Rivington
National Grid Reference:: SD6394013996

Summary

A summer house overlooking the site of the former tennis court in Rivington Gardens.

Reasons for Designation

The Summer House overlooking the former tennis court is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architect: this building is a good example of the landscape design work of Thomas Mawson; * Group value: they not only complement the other surrounding listed structures, but are integral components of the designated garden.

History

Rivington Gardens was one of a series of three major private gardens produced by Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861-1933) in collaboration with the industrialist and philanthropist William Hesketh Lever, Lord Leverhulme (1851-1925). The Rivington site was purchased by Lever in 1899 as a parcel of land which included the area now occupied by Lever Park to the west. Lever had already formulated ideas on how the grounds might be developed and in 1901 a single-storey wooden bungalow called 'Roynton Cottage' and intended for weekend visits and shooting parties was designed by Lever's school friend Jonathan Simpson. In 1905 Lever met Mawson who collaborated with him in the design of the gardens over the period 1906-22. However, others were also involved in the design including Thomas's son, Edward Prentice Mawson (1885-1954), who undertook the overall design and in the latter years was as much responsible for the project as his father, Robert Atkinson (1883-1952) who drew illustrations in the journal 'Civic Art' in 1911, and the landscape and architectural firm of James Pulham & Son who, in 1921, were responsible for a Japanese style garden and a steep and rugged ravine with waterfalls. Lever himself also influenced the gardens' layout, designing a seven-arched bridge across Roynton Lane.

In 1913 the bungalow was destroyed by fire then rebuilt on a grander scale. Following Lever's death in 1925 the house and gardens were purchased by John Magee. After Magee's death in 1939 the site was acquired by Liverpool Corporation and in 1948 the bungalow and three entrance lodges were demolished and the gardens became open to the public. In 1974 the site passed to the North West Water Authority following local government reorganisation.

The summer house overlooking the site of a former tennis court was constructed from 1906 to a design by Thomas Mawson.

Details

A summer house with associated staircases built from 1906 to a design by Thomas Mawson for Lord Leverhulme. It is built in gritstone and is rectangular in plan.

The single-storey flat-roofed summer house overlooks the site of a former tennis court to the south and is accessed up a couple of steps leading to a broad centrally-placed entrance that is divided into three by two pairs of columns of thin, stacked gritstone. Similar columns are located at either end of the broad entrance. Slightly protruding bays to either side of the entrance each have a centrally-placed rectangular window opening with rock-faced gritstone surrounds. Staircases with associated flanking walls lead upwards at either side of the summer house and give access to a viewing deck surrounded by a parapet on the flat roof. The parapet is solid at each end of the summer house but is balustraded above the summer house's broad central entrance. Access to the interior of the summer house and its viewing deck is blocked by iron railings.

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, M D, Leverhulme's Rivington, (1984)
Waymark, J, Thomas Mawson: Life, Gardens and Landscapes, (2009)
Other
Guide to Rivington Terraced Gardens Trail, Rivington Terraced Gardens Trail: a walk around the grounds of the former residence of Lord Leverhulme.,

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.