Arched Gate and Bridge, south of the Former Tennis Court, Hewell Grange

Summary

A garden building, probably of mid-C19 date, in the form of a bridge over a stream, with an attached architectural gateway.

Reasons for Designation

The Arched Gate and Bridge, south of the Tennis Court, Hewell Grange is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural quality: this relatively small garden building has considerable presence;
* Intact survival: despite the loss of parts of the balustrade to the bridge, which is regrettable, the structure of stone gateway and bridge is little altered from its original form;
* Group value: the gate and bridge are set in a significant landscape by Lancelot Brown and Humphry Repton (Grade II*) and are placed close to the Former Tennis Court and Ruins of the former Hewell Grange (both listed at Grade II).

History

On the death of the 5th Earl of Plymouth in 1799, the estate at Hewell Grange passed to his son, Other Archer, who came of age in 1810. The estate at that time had at its centre a house built c.1712, incorporating parts of an earlier house, and said to have been designed by William or Francis Smith of Warwick. The house stood in a park which had evolved over the course of the C18, with advice from the landscape architect William Shenstone in the 1850s and Lancelot 'Capability' Brown in the 1860s.

Following his inheritance, the 6th Earl consulted Humphry Repton on improvements to the park at Hewell, and in 1812 Repton produced a red book for the estate. In 1815, the Earl chose Thomas Cundy senior as his architect for much of the work taking place at Hewell at this time (Thomas Cundy junior may also have been involved), and improvements continued until the Earl's death in 1833, including some remodelling of the house itself.

It seems probable that the inspiration for the design of the arched gate and bridge by Cunday was the series of designs for gateways by Inigo Jones, in turn based on the designs of Serlio, Palladio and Scamozzi. These include Jones's surviving Beaufort Gate, which was bought by Lord Burlington and re-erected at Chiswick House. It also has a round arch and contrasts vermiculated rustication with smooth ashlar.

Details

A garden building, probably of mid-C19 date, in the form of a bridge over a stream, with an attached architectural gateway.

MATERIALS & PLAN: both buildings are of limestone with a wrought iron gate. The bridge has a single span with fronts facing north and south, and the balustrade on both sides is attached to the arched stone gateway at its eastern end. The gateway faces east and west.

The south side of the bridge (downstream) has a single, elliptical arch to the bridge, flanked by projecting piers and with a projecting keystone. The spandrels have vermiculated rustication and the keystone and the lower body of the parapet are of ashlar. The left-hand pier has been partially rebuilt in brick to its lower body. Adjoining at right of this is the flank of the arched gateway, which has vermiculated rustication, except for the projecting cornice and blocking course at the top, which are ashlar. The upper balustrade of the bridge survives partially and takes the form of an ashlar pier attached to the west side of the gateway, with a single half baluster of vase shape, which indicates the pattern of the rest of the balustrade. The north side of the bridge is similar.

The gateway faces east and west and both sides are similar, with vermiculated rustication to the lower body, including the voussoirs of the round arch and an ashlar keystone with projecting cornice and stepped blocking course.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURE: a wrought iron gate, designed to fit the archway, was lying on the ground near to the gateway at the time of survey (May, 2016).

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Brooks, A, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, (2007), 625-628
Colvin, H, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1995), 285

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