Stone-lined watering pond at Norris Castle

Norris Castle, New Barn Road, East Cowes, PO32 6AZ

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

Overview

Livestock watering pond, early C19, for Lord Henry Seymour. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1438975
Date first listed:: 16-Nov-2016
List Entry Name:: Stone-lined watering pond at Norris Castle
Statutory Address:: Norris Castle, New Barn Road, East Cowes, PO32 6AZ

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1438975
Date first listed:: 16-Nov-2016
List Entry Name:: Stone-lined watering pond at Norris Castle
Statutory Address 1:: Norris Castle, New Barn Road, East Cowes, PO32 6AZ

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

Statutory Address:: Norris Castle, New Barn Road, East Cowes, PO32 6AZ

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

District:: Isle of Wight (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: East Cowes
National Grid Reference:: SZ5133395924

Summary

Livestock watering pond, early C19, for Lord Henry Seymour.

Reasons for Designation

The livestock watering pond at Norris Castle, built for Lord Henry Seymour in the early C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Historic interest: as a livestock watering pond forming part of a progressive estate within the context of early C19 agricultural improvement, and a landscaped park laid out according to picturesque principles; * Materials: a substantial stone-lined pond finely constructed of coursed and squared stone; * Group value; as one of a group of early C19 livestock watering ponds that form part of a marine villa estate of outstanding architectural and historic interest including a Grade I listed house and model farm, Grade II listed lodges, Bathing House and attached sea wall, Pump House and two cattle shelters, within a Grade I registered landscape, adjacent to a Grade II* registered park and Grade I listed house at Osborne.

History

The livestock watering pond is one of nine ponds originally situated with the landscaped park of Norris Castle. In 1795 Lord Henry Seymour (1746-1830) purchased a small farm called ‘Norris’ and subsequently constructed a marine villa estate. It included Norris Castle, a Gothic Revival house built in the form of a castle, and a castellated model farm (Norris Castle Farm) constructed to the designs of the architect James Wyatt (1746-1813) from c1799 (both Grade I listed). A landscaped park with an oval loop of carriage drive was created from former fields covering 124 acres and is shown on the 1810 OS map (Grade I registered). The inclusion of a watercolour view of Norris by the landscape designer Humphry Repton (1752-1818) in the 1805 edition of Peacock's Polite Repository suggests his likely involvement in the design (Carter et al 1982). Lord Seymour held an interest in agricultural improvement, which was integrated into the new estate. The extensive model farm housed cattle and horses with manure being utilised on an attached kitchen garden. Engravings indicate that the park served as pasture for cattle, sheep, and a muster of peacocks.

The livestock watering pond was built in about the early C19. It is one of an original nine ponds situated within the park, of which seven survive in varying states of preservation; some of these were ornamental, others were provided for livestock. A set of 1830 sales particulars notes the provision of ‘grass land, well supplied with water’ in the park, which is likely to be a reference to the ponds within the pasture fields. The pond is not shown on the 1845 Tithe map, although its omission is probably cartographic; not every detail from the landscape is shown on the map. It appears on the more detailed 1864 OS map, just to the south of a plantation. The design, with a watering ramp on one side, is likely to have controlled livestock access in order to maintain water quality; if given unrestricted access on all sides of a pond livestock can erode the edges, muddy the water through wading, add manure, and promote aquatic weed growth.

Details

Livestock watering pond, early C19, for Lord Henry Seymour.

MATERIALS: constructed of coursed and squared stone.

DESCRIPTION: a substantial T-shaped stone-lined watering pond approximately 12m by 8m with a watering ramp extending 6m on the south side. The squared stone walls are about 1m to 2m high.

Sources

Books and journals
Carter et al, G, Humphry Repton Landscape Gardener 1752-1818, (1982), 155
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1967), 743-744
Other
Ettwein Bridges Architects, Norris Castle Heritage Assessment (2016)
OS map 1:2500 (1864 edn, surveyed 1863-4)
OS map 1:2500 (1898 edn)
OS Map, One inch to one mile (Old Series, 1810)
Phibbs, J, Lord Henry Seymour’s marine villa (2016)

Legal

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