Walled Garden north of Ashby Hall

Summary

A late C18/ early C19 detached walled garden associated with Ashby Hall.

Reasons for Designation

Ashby Walled Garden is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:

* The unusually designed hexagonal plan suggests the structure was clearly intended to impress visitors to the estate;

* The garden walls survive well, along with the legible remains of hothouses and equipment for heating and ventilation.

Historic Interest:

* The walled garden pre-dates the proliferation of detached walled gardens in the mid-C19 and is therefore a relatively early survival.

Group Value:

* As part of a cohesive group with Ashby Hall (Grade II; NHLE 1061827), Stable Block (Grade II; NHLE 1360600) and Ice House (Grade II; NHLE 1261470).

History

Ashby Hall (Grade II; NHLE 1061827) was constructed in 1595 as a private residence for the King family. It remained in their ownership until the late-C19. It is thought that the Walled Garden was a later addition to the estate and was constructed in the early-C19, possibly contemporary with the Stable Block (Grade II; NHLE 1360600) and Ice House (Grade II; NHLE 1261470). Between 1818 and 1835 the estate operated as a girl’s school.

The Walled Garden first appears on H. Stevens’ 1820 map, and then later on the 1888 OS map with its hexagonal shape clearly evident. The 1820 map does not present enough detail to establish the existence of glasshouses at this time. The 1888 OS map depicts a glasshouse located on the north wall and additional glasshouses located outside the Walled Garden on the south wall. A C19 detached glass house is located to the north of the garden. The quartered planting layout is clearly depicted on this map. The glasshouses remained in situ until the 1979 OS map, however, the glasshouse along the north-western wall was rebuilt in the early-C20.

The estate was divided in the mid-C20, and the Hall and Walled Garden divided into separate ownership. Planning permission was granted in 2013 to convert a stone outbuilding and the site of the former glasshouse to the northern wall into living accommodation.

Details

A late C18 or early C19 detached walled garden with boiler house and surviving greenhouse dwarf walls.

MATERIALS: constructed of red brick with a pantile coping.

PLAN: The Walled Garden has a hexagonal plan form.

EXTERIOR: the garden is constructed in an English garden wall bond using 2 ¼ inch handmade red bricks. The wall is topped with pantile coping.

A partially reinstated gravel pathway traverses the exterior of the garden. On the exterior of the southern wall are the surviving dwarf supporting walls of the glasshouses, as well as surviving elements of the iron winching mechanism used to open the glass panels of the roof. There is some evidence for heating pipes surviving within the dwarf wall structure. On the north-eastern portion of the exterior wall is a multi-diamond pattern created out of blue bricks.

Within the Walled Garden, there are also surviving elements of the Victorian glasshouses to the north wall. There are visible brick arches which would have provided a heat source, and above a modern dwelling has been built on the footprint. To the west of the reinstated glasshouses is a small C19 lean-to.

Located at the western and eastern extremities of the hexagon layout are plank doors, with wooden lintels above. To the southern wall there is the remains of a small shelter, likely for a boiler, with a brick chimney within which indicates that the southern wall was heated. It is likely that this was later extended to provide the heating for the southern glasshouses.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the modern dwelling built upon the dwarf walls to the northern section of the Walled Garden is not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.

Sources

Websites
Britain from Above - 1947 aerial photograph, accessed 11/08/2023 from https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/raf_cpe_uk_2041_rs_4123

Other
1820 field map by H. Stevens
1888 OS map
1979 OS map

End of official list entry

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