Mock Ruin In Garden Of Longcroft

A mock ruin, dating to circa 1832, was likely designed by C Kemp for Revd Nicolsen Robert Calvert as a garden feature for his newly built Tudor style rectory, which later became Hunsdonbury. Constructed from knapped flint with stucco dressings on brick to imitate stonework, the ruin represents the lower portion of the west wall of a medieval church tower. It faces north and appears as a convincing ruin, now partly covered in creeper. The structure includes diagonal corner buttresses with stucco quoins and a heavy moulded plinth course. A central four-centred arched doorway features two chamfered orders and a dripmould with kings' heads as stops; above the door is a lower portion of a window. The doorway leads to a small, circular vaulted chamber with plastered walls and vault, designed to resemble ashlar. The chamber is covered by a large semicircular earth mound, most of which is now within the garden of The Gate House. This picturesque Gothic garden building forms part of a group with Hunsdonbury and the Gate House.