Summary
An early to mid-C18 Arcadian pleasure ground which was laid out around Brownsea (also known as Branksea) Castle, a country house built on the remains of a C16 blockhouse. It developed in the early C19 into a Picturesque landscape which extended over most of the island; this was enhanced in the second half of the C19. It was remodelled and updated in the early C20 when the landscape reached its zenith. A large part of the landscape was damaged by fire in 1934.
Reasons for Designation
The gardens and pleasure grounds at Brownsea (also Branksea) Castle on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset are registered at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Design interest:
* as a multi-layered ornamental landscape of great time-depth, which reflects the changing tastes for landscape design from the mid-C18 onwards, and strongly complements the principal house;
* the good documentation, including maps, plans, pictorial sources and published articles, relating to the history of the landscape and its development.
Historic interest:
* the long history of the island and the associations with its previous owners adds to the significance of the landscape.
Group value:
* for the very strong group value with the Grade II listed Brownsea Castle, the Grade II* listed Church of St Mary and the other Grade II listed buildings within them.
History
During the medieval period Brownsea Island, historically Bruncksey, Branksea and Brownsey, was part of the estate of Cerne Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, and a hermitage and a chapel (neither is extant) dedicated to St Andrew were built there. The island was confiscated by the Crown at the Dissolution and a blockhouse (an artillery fortification) and hexagonal gun platform were constructed at the south-east end of the island around 1547-1548 as part of Henry VIII’s chain of coastal defences against possible French or Spanish invasion. It was garrisoned during the Civil War. Two other buildings are depicted along with the blockhouse on an early-C17 plan. The island passed into private hands in the mid-1650s and for a time copperas, used in leather tanning, cloth-dyeing and ink manufacture, was produced there.
Brownsea Island was purchased in 1724 by William Benson (1682-1754), a keen botanist and former Surveyor of the King’s Works. He extended and converted the ruins of the blockhouse to a country house called Branksea Castle (later re-named Brownsea Castle) and appears to have laid out gardens around it, including a walled garden and less formal gardens. In 1741 the Prince of Wales was a guest. A mid-C18 drawing by Isaac Taylor (SR Historic Environment Ltd, see Sources) depicts the house as a four-storey structure under a hipped roof topped by a belvedere, with lower wings on three sides. A walled garden is shown to the side of the house, with pavilions at the corners and a small building at the mid-point of its north-east wall; described on a 1774 plan (Hutchins, see Sources) as a ‘Green House & Hot House’. To the west, Taylor’s survey map of 1765-1767 depicts a formal arrangement of trees and a group of buildings described in 1774 as a grove and ‘Farmhouse, stable etc and garden’ respectively. A menagerie is also recorded.
Significant improvements were carried out after Brownsea Island was acquired in 1762 by cousins Humphrey Sturt (d. 1786) and Sir Gerard Napier (d. 1765). Brownsea Castle was repaired and extended, and additional buildings were added along the quay to the north-east. A naturalistic landscape of pleasure grounds with plantations on the higher ground was developed, along with a lake some 785m north-west of the house and a series of walks or drive, including a circuit route around much of the island. Some additional land was enclosed, probably for agricultural purposes, but most of the island remained unimproved heathland. During the later C18 Humphrey’s son, Charles (d. 1812) made Brownsea Castle his primary residence. In 1817 the island was purchased by Sir Charles Chad who embellished the house, adding a new north-west front, and built a sea-water bath. He also enhanced the Picturesque landscape; illustrated in part in a series of drawings and engravings of the island by John Preston Neale in 1822, adding walled gardens with pineries and a greenhouse. A deer park and a pheasantry ‘for gold, silver and common pheasants’ were also established and several cottage ornés were introduced to the landscape. The walks and pleasure grounds were described in 1829 as ‘varied and extensive’ and ‘nothing can be more picturesque than the views of Corfe Castle and the Isle of Purbeck.’ Sir Charles hosted the Prince of Wales in 1818. In 1842 a Coastguard Station of thirteen dwellings, a boathouse and a watch house were built on the quay to the south-east of Brownsea Castle. The family pier to the north-east of the house may have been added around this time since it is first depicted on a chart of 1849, though it could possibly have been built by the next owner.
Brownsea Island was sold in 1845 to Right Honourable Sir Augustus Foster (d. 1848) who remodelled the house and appears to have replaced or modified the hothouse in the walled garden with a large conservatory range. A second lake was also created adjacent to the late-C18 lake.
In 1853 Colonel William Waugh (1812-80) bought the island. He was a keen amateur geologist and established a pottery (Branksea Pottery Company) at the south-west end of the island with the intention of manufacturing high-quality tableware. However, the venture proved short-lived as the island’s clay deposits were of poor quality, suitable only for sewage pipes and bricks. Production ceased by 1887. Waugh laid a horse-drawn tramway around the west side of the island between the clay pits to the north-west, via Pottery Pier, to the pottery itself. It ran past Maryland, a village of 20 cottages, a pub, skittle alley and a shop that Waugh built for some of his workers. In addition, he built St Mary’s Church, named after his wife; a rectory; large kitchen gardens; a gatehouse and lodge and various other buildings. Waugh was responsible for the curved wall built from some 1.25 million bricks around the lagoon (St Andrew’s Bay), reclaiming the land and putting it to pasture. He enlarged and refurbished Brownsea Castle, adding a glazed corridor between the family pier and the house, and improved the farm and the gardens. Waugh commissioned eleven paintings of landscape views of the island and Poole Harbour from his architect, Philip Brannon. After amassing extensive debts, the Waugh family fled to Spain to avoid creditors. The island was taken in lieu of debt and in 1873 was sold to the Right Honourable George Cavendish-Bentinck (1821-1891).
Cavendish-Bentinck added an extensive collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture and artefacts to the island, though many pieces have since been removed. He also introduced Guernsey and Jersey cows and arable crops such as maize, barley and oats, and briefly revived the pottery. He gave the island to his son, Frederick in 1887 and paid for the house to be extensively renovated, which included introducing electricity. Cavendish-Bentinck died in 1891 with extensive debts and the island was sold. A fire in 1896 caused extensive damage to Brownsea Castle. The house was extensively rebuilt and refashioned by Major Kenneth Balfour, the owner at this time, and the conservatory in the walled garden was also removed.
From 1901 to 1925 Brownsea Island was owned by industrialist Charles van Raalte (d 1908) and his wife Florence. Brownsea Castle was refurbished, and the walled garden and the pleasure garden to the west and north-west were remodelled possibly, although unconfirmed, with advice from plantswoman and garden designer Norah Lindsay who was a family friend (SR Historic Environment Ltd). Grass tennis courts and a croquet lawn were also introduced, and a 9-hole golf course replaced the deer park. The kitchen gardens were enhanced with an ornamental scheme and 14 acres of daffodil bulbs were planted; the cut flowers being sold locally and further afield, including Covent Garden. It was during the van Raaltes’ tenure that family friend Robert Baden-Powell was invited to use the island in 1907 as a camp for 20 boys to train them in ‘scouting’ skills. This is widely accepted as the origin of the Scouting movement; the association was formed in 1910.
The island was owned between 1927 and 1961 by Mrs Mary Bonham-Christie, the last private occupier and a recluse. During this period the island’s residents were evicted and re-located to the mainland. Little maintenance was carried out; Brownsea Castle and the gardens fell into disrepair, the lagoon flooded, and farm animals roamed the island. In 1934, a devastating fire spread across the island, destroying many trees and plants in the south and west parts of the island. Bonham-Christie subsequently banned all public access. During the Second World War the island was part of Poole emergency coastal battery. In 1962, in lieu of death duties, the island passed to the National Trust, opening to the public the following year. Brownsea Castle has been renovated and is leased to the John Lewis Partnership and used as a hotel, while a nature reserve managed by Dorset Wildlife Trust has been established in the north half of the island.
Details
An early to mid-C18 Arcadian pleasure ground which was laid out around Brownsea (also Branksea) Castle, a country house built on the remains of a C16 blockhouse. It developed in the early C19 into a Picturesque landscape which extended over most of the island; this was enhanced in the second half of the C19. It was remodelled and updated in the early C20 when the landscape reached its zenith. A large part of the landscape was damaged by fire in 1934.
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING
Brownsea Island is located within Poole Harbour, some 2km south of Poole and 0.5km north-west of Sandbanks. The island extends to just over 240ha, measuring 2.4 km west-east and 1.2 km north-south, and rises some 27m above sea level. In places it slopes steeply down to the sea and is bounded on all sides by the foreshore. The designed landscape comprises gardens and pleasure grounds, home farm, kitchen garden and lakes. Beyond the boundary of the registered area, in the west and south parts of the island there are walks, plantations and a belt of grassland, but there are areas that suffered significant damage from a fire in 1934.
There are extensive marine views in all directions and, from various locations on the island, with views north and north-east towards Poole; Sandbanks to the east; south-west to the mouth of Poole Harbour, with Old Harry Rocks beyond and, on a clear day, the Isle of Wight in the far distance; and south and west towards Studland, the Purbeck Heaths, the Purbeck Hills and a distant view to Corfe Castle. Views of some of the island’s features are afforded from the water, with significant views of Brownsea Castle and the quay.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES
The island is approached by water from Sandbanks or Poole to two landing stages at the south-east end of the island: the family pier (Grade II*) and a pier on the quay. The former was built in the mid-C19 by either Chad or Foster as a private landing for family and their visitors. It is now used by the guests of Brownsea Castle. It comprises a modern timber jetty and the mid-C19 the Gothic pier building has battlemented parapets and tall, stuccoed octagonal turrets flanking the entrance range. An archway leads into a covered walk that extends north some 20m and previously then turned 90 degrees to lead into the mid-C19 conservatory that stood against the north-east side of the walled garden and into a glazed passage on the north-west side of the garden; the three structures providing a covered pedestrian route to the house. The conservatory and glazed corridor were removed following the fire in 1896. Many of Bentinck-Cavendish’s surviving Renaissance sculptures and artefacts are displayed within the covered walk.
The second landing stage to the east is adjacent to the quay and has existed since at least the late C18. It was remodelled in the 1840s. The quay is lined with mid-C19 estate buildings (all listed Grade II) including the former boathouse, today the ticket office; the former engine house and cottages. The mid-C19 East Drive runs from the quay to the north (rear) side of Brownsea Castle, passing The Villino (Grade II) which was built as the Chief Coastguard Officer’s house and is presently used as offices. It is within a walled enclosure overlooking a small beach and concrete slipway. The south-east wall (Grade II) has been lowered and has a series of recesses with small openings which were originally gun ports. The drive curves west through the arched gateway of the mid-C19 gatehouse (Grade II) with its decorative clock turret and on through an ornamental stone archway with stepped crenellation, terminating at the rear of Brownsea Castle.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING
Brownsea Castle, also known as Branksea Castle (listed Grade II), is the product of a number of building campaigns, initially for William Benson in about 1724 on the site of and incorporating the remains of the mid-C16 blockhouse which survives in the basement as a roughly-square, stone-built structure with a battered plinth. The house is mainly in the Gothic style, of dressed stone and brick construction under flat roofs with battlemented parapets. The central, four-storey tower is built off the original blockhouse and is shown on late-C18 and early-C19 illustrations flanked on three sides by lower wings. C19 extensions include a new north-west brick front of two and three storeys with taller turrets added around 1820 for Sir Charles Chad and a two-storey south-east addition which overlooks the sea and has extensive views to the south and a north-east addition; both designed by Philip Brannon for Colonel Waugh and dating from around 1853. A brick range with a full-height circular tower was added to the north-east by Sir Augustus Foster in about 1840. The house was partially rebuilt and its interior re-fashioned following a fire in 1896. The raised loggia to the south-west elevation was added around 1902 by the Van Raaltes. Hutchins’ illustration of 1774 shows a doorway with a rusticated surround and closed pediment on the south-east side of the house, most likely the principal entrance at this time, but from the mid-C19 family and visitors disembarking at the family pier would enter the house through a doorway at raised ground level on the north-east side. There is a further entrance to the north-west, accessed from the drive.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS
The formal gardens lie to the north-east and south-east of Brownsea Castle and comprise a walled garden and a terraced garden, while informal gardens lie to the west and north-west.
The main feature since the C18 is the Italian or east walled garden (walls listed Grade II) on the north-east side of the house. Mid- and late-C18 illustrations do not depict any planting within the garden at this time but do show gazebos or pavilions at each corner and a small building, described as a greenhouse and hothouse, at the centre of the north-east wall. By the mid-C19 the walls appear to have been largely rebuilt and parterres, shrubs and stone statuary had been introduced. It was first described as the ‘Italian Garden’ in 1859. It achieved its present form in the early C20 when it was extensively remodelled by the Van Raaltes. Some of the features they introduced, such as a wall fountain and rose garden do not survive. The present planting scheme evokes the character of the early-C20 garden. The garden is enclosed to the north-west and north-east by mid-C19 battlemented brick walls, a later wall to the south-east, and the house and a short brick wall to the south-west. At the south-west corner is a circular brick gazebo with ogee-shaped stone roof; the only one to survive. From inside, the windows provide views to the south over the water. The south-west side of the garden has a paved raised terrace bounded by a solid stone balustrade of undulating profile, with square piers topped by urns. Stone steps lead to a grassed terrace from where further steps; the central one flanked by stone lions, descend to the central part of the garden which is laid to lawn with a sundial at the centre. There are paths and raised beds of shrubs and herbaceous plants to the north-west and south-east, and a path and low stone wall along the lawn’s north-east side. Beyond the wall are small lawns with parterres and cypress trees, a paved path and sculptural pieces including an ornamental stone bath with relief carvings. Scars in the garden’s north-east wall mark the former position of the mid-C19 conservatory (not extant) which, as depicted on historic photographs, had a distinctive Paxtonian design of ridge and furrow glazing. Close to the south-east corner is a lunette window framing a view of the water beyond.
The mid-C19 and early-C20 terraced garden (walls listed Grade II) to the south-east has extensive views across the water. The paved upper terrace corresponds approximately with the site of the C16 gun platform and provides a vantage point with views south across the Harbour to the open sea, Sandbanks, Studland and Old Harry Rocks beyond. It is bounded to the front by a part-rendered, stone rubble wall. Splayed stone steps descend to a lower terrace with a solid brick balustrade wall, square piers and moulded caps. The slopes of the terraces are planted with exotic and frost-hardy plants, and there are mature Ilex oak to the sides. The steps continue down to a beachside path bounded by a 65m long brick wall with an archway through to the beach.
To the north-west and west of the house is an informal pleasure ground which extends north-west up the valley towards the farm. The lower part, closest to the house, is shown on a late-C18 engraving as an enclosure bounded by walls and fencing and was probably part of Sturt’s pleasure gardens. By the early C19 the area was described as lawns with a few scattered groves of trees (Jones, see Sources). Much of the present layout dates from the early C20 when it was re-designed with a more overtly garden character by the Van Raaltes. There is a large lawned area with ornamental shrubbery and some herbaceous borders. A box-edged walk laid with crazy paving extends through the lawn towards the farm to the north-west, before turning almost 180 degrees, becoming a serpentine walk that heads back towards the house, becoming more informal, and affording extensive views of the house. At the southern end of the lawn is a small vegetable garden and a greenhouse of late-C20 date. There are specimen trees including beech, ash, Monterey pine and willow along the north and south sides of the lawn, but the former views towards the lagoon to the north-east are largely obscured. A further area of pleasure ground to the south and south-west provides a view of Brownsea Castle and the sea beyond. It comprises a grassy valley edged with deciduous and evergreen trees and some underplanting of ornamental woody planting.
The farm north-west of the pleasure ground consists of a rectangular arrangement of mid-C19 agricultural (one is the visitor’s centre) and domestic buildings grouped around three courtyards. It replaced an earlier farmhouse, stables and other buildings which are depicted as two parallel ranges on Taylor’s survey map of 1765-1767. At the south-east end of the present farm, incorporated into the gable end of a dwelling (1-2 and 3 Farm Cottages, listed Grade II), is a mid-C18 classical screen wall with segmental-arched recesses, an infilled gateway with rusticated gate piers, and matching piers to either end. This was probably intended as an eyecatcher in the landscape, whilst also screening the mid-C18 farm from the house; the view is now obscured by trees. Some 130m to the north-north-east is the Church of St Mary (Grade II*) which was built in 1854. It forms a punctuation mark in the pleasure ground, however, the intended view between the church and Brownsea Castle has been lost. The planting within the churchyard includes cedar, sweet chestnut and Irish yew. George Cavendish-Bentick’s monument (Grade II) of 1891 consists of an Italian well-head with an ornamental overthrow. The church is approached from a tree-lined walk that ascends the gentle valley to the north-west of the house; a further walk heads towards the farm. Between the church and the farm is open grassland of parkland character, with scattered specimen trees and an arc of mixed woodland on the rising ground to the north-west and west. A mid-C19 painting by Brannon depicts a bucolic scene of cattle grazing on the green and visitors walking along the paths, with the church in the background.
Beyond the church, the walk from the house diverges, with one route heading north towards The Villa (Grade II), the mid-C19 former rectory built by Waugh which stands in an area of predominantly coniferous woodland. Late-C20 scrub and woodland regeneration have obscured the view from here towards Brownsea Castle. The walk passes through an area that was reclaimed and put to pasture in the mid-C19 but has since reverted to wetland, through semi-natural broad-leaved woodland, and onto Venetia Park, a detached pleasure ground of some 1.3ha, formerly known as the Pheasantry, which served as a key Picturesque feature. It was described in the mid-C18 as a grove, and by 1774 a building recorded as a Keeper’s Cottage and paths had been added. It was developed as a pleasure ground in the late C18 and early C19, and embellished with sculptures, a fountain and exotic plants in the mid-C19 when it was described as a ‘retired pleasure ground’. It was later re-named Venetia Park after a daughter of George Cavendish-Bentinck. It is laid out within a small bowl-shaped valley framed by evergreen trees, including yew, on the rising ground to the north, east and south, with the remains of a low wall parallel with the drive. Some mature specimen trees including chestnut, beech, a lime and conifers, along with a large rhododendron, are present, but the lawns, path pattern and much of the ornamental underplanting and specimen shrubbery have been lost. The grotto, ornamental fountain and cottage depicted on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1889 do not survive.
The walk continues west from Venetia Park to the lakes; a second walk named Middle Street approaches from the south-east and a connecting walk crosses the dam of the upper lake. The lower lake, East Lake, and a plantation on the higher ground to the north-east were laid out by Humphrey Sturt in the 1760s, probably to create an ornamental feature in the wider landscape. East Lake appears to have largely disappeared by 1805 but was reinstated in the mid-C19 when West Lake was created. The lakes were intended to be open sheets of water and key features in the landscape, but the proliferation of scrub and trees has affected the ornamental feeling and obscured the key historic view west to east along the lakes and depicted in a mid-C19 painting. They are surrounded by dense woodland, principally Scots pine. Some Monterey pine grow on the dam of the upper lake, but significant elements such as the C19 ornamental Swiss Cottage, a thatched summer house; Rialto Bridge, a rustic timber bridge; the circuit paths and some large specimen trees are missing.
KITCHEN GARDEN
The kitchen garden, 660m north-west from the house, was established by 1859 and included vineries and mushroom, peach and fig houses. The land rises to the south and west, and the 1ha kitchen garden is positioned on the sheltered south side of the 90m long and 4.6m high former vinery wall. Its three other sides were enclosed with hedges by 1906; only a laurel hedge to the east remains. Stores, potting sheds, a boiler house and a bothy were built against the wall’s outer (north) face and glasshouses along the inner face. They are depicted on the 1890 Ordnance Survey map. The wall is upstanding, but apart from some footings, the structures do not survive. Lengths of boiler flues and heating pipes and grates and ventilation fittings manufactured by Messenger and Co are also evident. By the late C19 the kitchen garden was roughly-square and sub-divided into six compartments of various sizes. In the early C20 it was substantially altered with the introduction of an ornamental layout of gravel paths bordered by herbaceous plants, pergolas of roses and apple trees and seating. It was abandoned after 1934 and the early-C20 layout is no longer evident, though some yew hedges and a bench seat remain and several paths have been reinstated.
PARK AND OTHER LAND
The predominant vegetation cover beyond the pleasure grounds is coniferous plantations, largely regenerated since the fire in 1934. There is also some semi-natural broad-leaved woodland and mixed plantations, understoreys of bracken and rhododendrons, and heathland.
By 1805 a network of walks or drives had been laid out across the island; many since named for members of the Cavendish-Bentinck family, with woodland planted alongside some stretches. A book of 1829 (Jones, see Sources) records that ‘Mr Sturt has planted to the quantity of a million of trees of various sorts chiefly firs; so that the hills will be all wood and the vales lawn’. The walks connected with particular viewpoints, both outward and localised internal views, though some have been diminished by subsequent tree growth. From Brownsea Castle a path heads south-west, ascending Portland Hill to a cliff-top walk. It appears to have mid- or late-C18 origins since a clearing through a coniferous woodland is shown on a drawing of 1765-1767. The area is now more densely planted and the outward views which would historically have been the walk’s dominant feature are largely obscured by trees. In places specimens of Arbutus unedo dominate the evergreen shrubbery, possibly remnants of C19 ornamental planting; some mature and semi-mature yew are also present. The path passes the remains of a Second World War gun emplacement and continues along the hill to a semi-circular platform which is depicted on the 1890 Ordnance Survey map and formed a set-piece and focal point in the landscape in the early C20. Beyond, is a Second World War searchlight emplacement, used as a shelter, affording views to Sandbanks and Studland. Beyond are dense belts of pine, interplanted with sycamore and underplanted in places with Arbutus, yew and laurel. At Oak Corner some oaks remain, but the walk is enclosed by pines that have obscured the views towards the Purbeck Hills and Corfe Castle. The walk continues west along the top of Caroline Cliff where the cover is predominantly coniferous and scrubby, and the intended views are mainly lost. To the west, a path leads to a group of three mid-C19 cottages ornés (South Shore Lodge is listed Grade II) that provided accommodation for estate staff and early-C20 kennels. One of the cottages, St Mark’s Lodge, appears to have been built as a dovecote and fowl house and was adapted to a dwelling. A walk extends north-eastwards through a narrow clearing towards the kitchen garden and, to the east is Portland Avenue which was formerly lined with mid- to late-C19 Scots pines, of which only a few remain, most having been replaced by sycamore and yew. Parallel with Portland Avenue is an open meadow with scattered mature specimen trees, now encroached upon by woodland and bracken. It was under arable cultivation in the mid-C18 and was later part of the deer park recorded in the mid-C19. Some of the land was re-used for commercial daffodil and narcissi production in the early C20, and many of the plants still flower every spring.
