Kitchen Garden Wall

MATERIALS: Rich red brick laid predominantly in English garden wall bond with magnesium limestone coping and buttresses. Bothies constructed of red brick and limestone under roofs covered in corrugated iron.

PLAN: The wall is semicircular and faces south. It has a recessed central section where the glasshouse was formerly positioned, behind which, on the north side, are attached bothies.

EXTERIOR: The wall is approximately five metres high and over 200 metres long, forming an impressive sweeping curve, slightly staggered in places. It has coping of limestone flags which project a few inches on each side. The wall is buttressed on the north side in order to leave the south, fruit-growing side unencumbered. There are three doorways placed at regular intervals: the outer two have segmental brick arches and the central door in the recessed section has a flat brick arch. This recessed section, which was the heated wall, has a shallow raised lower section which enabled trellises to be positioned a few inches away from the wall to prevent trees from being scorched by excessive heat. The range of brick and stone lean-tos, occupying the north side of the wall, are divided into four sections by three buttresses of coursed limestone rubble with large quoins, and there is another small, L-shaped building attached on the west side. One of the bothies has been partly rebuilt in C20 brick and they are all in a semi-ruinous state with crumbling masonry. The glazing in the windows has been lost, as has one of the lean-to roofs.

INTERIOR: The bothies have either brick or stone floors and exposed brick or masonry walls. The L-shaped building on the west side has two rooms and a small range in the east wall, probably added in the second half of the C19.