Walled Garden north of 82 to 96 Welsh Row

Walled Garden north of 82 to 96 Welsh Row

This early 17th-century brick walled garden encloses a rectangular-plan space of approximately 60 by 30 metres on its north, east and south sides.

The walls are constructed from small red clamp bricks measuring 250 millimetres wide by 50 millimetres high by 120 millimetres deep, laid in English Bond in lime mortar with red sandstone ashlar dressings.

The northern wall stands 2 metres high and extends approximately 60 metres in length. Its lower section is built in two-brick thickness and projects outward to form a plinth, capped by a canted red sandstone ashlar band. Above this, the wall reduces to one and a half bricks thick and rises to an ashlar sandstone coping that overhangs the wall. The lower course of the coping consists of a pair of parallel blocks with a canted outer surface and a coved lower section; the space between them is filled with mortar and brick fragments. The upper course is formed by a triangular-section block with canted sides and a central roll apex. There is no projecting plinth on the southern interior face. The ground level along the north wall rises from east to west, with the wall stepping up in height at four points along its length; at these step-ups, the coping rises at 90 degrees whilst the plinth band rises at 45 degrees. The western termination has been truncated where an early 19th-century west wall overrides the lower courses. The eastern termination has been remodelled and terminates in a brick pier for a gateway. Near the north-west corner, a section of collapsed wall marks the location of a former pedestrian gateway that once had massive stone jambs and lintel.

The east wall extends approximately 27.4 metres and is identical in construction to the north wall, though it does not step up in height. Its northern termination stops 2.28 metres short of the north wall, creating a gateway opening. The plinth of the eastern exterior elevation is interrupted by a blocked pedestrian doorway beneath a brick basket arch; the blocking brickwork matches the rest of the wall. At the south-east corner, the intersection of the east and south walls forms a projecting brick pier on the exterior elevations.

The south wall extends approximately 64.8 metres, with the alignment of its westernmost 11.7 metres displaced approximately 0.9 metres to the south. Three bee boles with pointed two-centred brick arches are set into the interior elevation. Most of the brickwork matches that of the north and east walls, though there is patching toward the western end with different bonds. A straight join exists west of the bee boles beyond which the bricks are 10 millimetres thicker than elsewhere, but remain laid in English Bond. The western termination has sandstone ashlar quoins, suggesting that the walled garden was once open to Townsend House on its western side and was not fully enclosed; this detail also indicates this section of wall pre-dates the early 19th-century west wall associated with the former terrace of houses in King's Lane. The coping stones on this length differ from the remainder, consisting of triangular-section ashlar blocks laid on narrow base slabs.

The interior of the garden was too heavily overgrown to inspect. The exterior elevation of the south wall was visible from 96a Welsh Row, but access was not possible to the remainder of the wall in adjacent gardens.