Bath House and Cascade

MATERIALS: ironstone, thatched roof to north-west room, ashlar and concrete lining to pool.

PLAN: the Bath House and Cascade are to the south of the walled garden, beside a pond created as an arm of the meandering canal that forms the south, west and east boundaries to the gardens; the Cascade is at the north end, and the Bath House on the north-west bank. In plan the Bath House forms a figure of eight, with an octagonal room to the north-west and a round bath or plunge pool to the north-east.

EXTERIOR: Bath House: up to lintel height and below the eaves the stone to the north-west room is coursed; between these two zones the walls are constructed of large blocks of random rubble; the pool room is entirely made of larger more roughly hewn blocks of stone. This room is designed as a romantic semi-ruin, the domed roof with three large, irregular, rough edged openings, the wall with three wide arched openings with massive keystones. The north-west room also has three narrower arched openings, one of which is the entrance; all these openings have large block keystones.

Cascade: to the north-east of the Bath House the Cascade is set under a mound crossed by stone lined paths. At the summit a rough stone arch facing the Bath House lines the opening to the Cascade, beyond which is a stone lined channel with a niche set into its north wall.

INTERIOR: Bath House: the interior of both spaces is lined with carefully coursed regularly shaped ironstone. The north-west room has a cobbled floor with a radiating pattern of deer bones, and has arched niches set in the wall. The bath to the south-east is lined with ashlar and concrete, with steps down into the bath from the entrance flanking a central ashlar block. Set into the block is a lead spout in the form of a lion's head.

Cascade: the stone lined channel leads under a low pointed arch into a chamber which holds a lead lined tank, from where stored water presumably cascaded out under the rough stone arch.