Balustraded Upper Terrace To West Of Condover Hall With Urns, Bastion Garden House And 2 Flights Of Steps To Lower Terrace

Terraced gardens and associated structures, mainly of 1868-1872, probably by George Devey, incorporating earlier structures.

MATERIALS: sandstone ashlar and rubble with limestone dressings.

PLAN: balustrade parallel with the south-west elevation of Condover Hall, approximate length of 85m. Terraced lawns step downhill, with a second wall parallel, 30m to the west. Terraces are linked at the north and south by steps and low walls. A south-east bastion and an exedra to the north.

DESCRIPTION: the top terrace has an open balustrade with bottle balusters and rectangular piers flanked by round-arched openings and C-shaped brackets. Two short flights of steps at the north end to the lower terrace. Square bastion at south end with splayed corner buttresses, through which passes a rib-vaulted tunnel with round-arched four-bay arcades to either side, serving as garden house or grotto. On a bank immediately to the east is an inscribed stone tomb slab commemorating Catherine Owen (1703-1721). At the north end of the terrace is an exedra: a raised semi-circular platform with a garden seat, terminating in square corner piers with scrolled brackets, approached by wide flight of three steps to south.