Garden wall with attached gardener's cottage and glasshouse

Garden Wall with Attached Gardener's Cottage and Glasshouse

A long, high garden wall constructed in three distinct phases runs north-west from the stable block, passing an attached gardener's cottage before reaching an attached glasshouse, from which it continues south-east to Home Farm. The wall, cottage and glasshouse together form a unified composition built and extended between around 1769 and the late 19th century.

The Garden Wall

The first phase, constructed around 1769, lies between the stable block and cottage. It is built of plum brick laid in Flemish bond with a flat brick coping and shallow buttresses. An opening towards the western end is flanked by tall square piers with flat stone capping and a modern plank and batten gate. West of this, a historic repair in buff brick covers the top half of a narrow section.

The middle section, built around 1840, runs between the cottage and glasshouse. This is constructed of gault brick laid in Flemish bond with flat brick coping and a series of iron brackets along the top designed to support frames or nets for protecting fruit trees. An opening with a flat brick arch of gauled brick and a late 19th or early 20th-century plank and batten door sits approximately halfway along.

The third phase, dating to the late 19th century, extends north-west to south-east between the glasshouse and Home Farm. Built of yellow and gault brick, it employs a variation of rat trap bond in which bricks are laid on edge in Flemish bond with a cavity in the centre for heating. A plank and batten door with strap hinges, sheltered by a concrete lintel, stands at the west end. A long range of red brick sheds adjoining the rear of this section, which appeared between the 1923 and 1974 Ordnance Survey maps, does not form part of the listing.

The Gardener's Cottage

Situated midway along the east-west section of the wall, the cottage is divided into two halves by date. The western half dates to around 1769 and is constructed of plum brick; the eastern half, built around 1840, is of gault brick. Both sections use Flemish bond with brick dressings beneath a slate-clad roof.

The two-storey cottage has a shallow pyramidal roof with exposed rafter feet at the eaves and a central chimney stack with four square clay pots. The east-facing façade is covered in white roughcast render. It displays three bays on both floors, lit by three-light wooden casement windows of 20th-century date. The central front door, with flush lower panels and glazed upper panels, dates to the early 20th century and is sheltered beneath a gabled porch with a slate-clad roof supported by timber posts. To the right is a single-storey brick lean-to, painted white and added to the north side in the first half of the 20th century, now used as a kitchen.

The south elevation is lit on each floor by a three-over-three pane horned sash window beneath a cambered brick arch with concrete lintels. The blind south wall of the western half suggests the building may originally have functioned as an agricultural structure with domestic accommodation above. The four-bay west-facing elevation displays a row of segmental arched openings on the ground floor, three of which have been bricked up while the fourth retains inserted wooden doors. The first floor has four square openings with cambered brick arches, three bricked up and one containing a sash window above the door. This elevation is painted white and features a wide double-leaf door of narrow vertical panels with strap hinges.

The interior of the eastern half contains two rooms on each floor arranged either side of a straight staircase enclosed by panelling. The ground-floor fireplaces have been replaced in the 20th century, but those on the first floor retain 19th-century cast-iron grates, one with a semicircular arch inset, set in plain wooden surrounds. Some four-panel doors with spring latches remain, continuing in use from the Regency period. The western half shows exposed brick walls with ceilings removed to reveal 20th-century sawn timber roof structure.

The Glasshouse

The glasshouse, built in the late 19th century, has a rectangular plan and is constructed against the north chamfered corner of the wall, facing south-west into the productive area, with sheds and bothies on the north-east side of the wall.

The curvilinear structure forms one quarter of a circle, its frame of curved concrete ribs and concrete guttering rising from a plinth of gault brick laid in stretcher bond. Overlapping rectangular glass panes are fixed between the rafters by steel strips screwed into place. At each end, concrete door frames support steel panel doors with two upper lights, the glazing now missing. A centrally positioned brick chimney stack with a tall red clay pot rises from the wall behind.

In front of the glasshouse stand the remains of two long rectangular protective glazed frames; the upper glazed structure has been removed but the brick plinths survive.

Behind the glasshouse runs a series of lean-to sheds and bothies constructed of yellow and buff brick laid on edge beneath corrugated iron roofing. These have either plank and batten doors or flush panel doors, and are lit by windows with wooden frames, some fixed two-light windows and others with casements.

The interior is divided into two halves by a concrete frame incorporating a concrete door. A central concrete path runs between borders, with small square ponds lined in galvanised steel at either end. The glasshouse is ventilated by pulleys opening panes along the top. The eastern half retains rusted water pipes that would have heated the glasshouse via a boiler, likely still present in the rear sheds but not inspected during survey. An opening in the rear wall with a segmental brick arch and panelled door provides access to the sheds. A vine and peach tree were still growing inside as of 2019.