Walled garden at Cockfield Hall

Walled garden at Cockfield Hall

This walled garden stands approximately 100 metres north of Cockfield Hall and was probably built in at least two or three phases during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The garden encloses an area of around 0.66 hectares and is irregular in plan. The main section is roughly rectangular, measuring around 75 metres in length and 85 metres in width, with a curved north-east end and a largely open south side. A curved extension was added to the east side, around 40 metres wide along its north side, curving south-westwards to meet the south-east corner of the main garden. From the south-west corner of the main garden a wall extends south-west for around 75 metres, bounding a pathway to the river.

The walls are constructed of red brick laid in a variety of bonds, generally with a chamfered plinth, shallow buttresses and triangular terracotta coping.

The main garden is largely three-sided, with red brick walls to its north-west, north-east and south-east sides. The north-west wall stands around 2.5 metres high and is laid in monk bond (two stretchers and a header). About half-way along its length the wall steps up to around 3.5 metres high from where it is laid in Sussex bond (three stretchers and one header). At the north-west corner the wall turns 90 degrees and continues south-east at the same height of around 3.5 metres, returning to monk bond. About half-way along, the wall alternates between English bond (one row of stretchers and one row of headers) and Scottish bond (five rows of stretchers and one row of headers). The curved east wall is laid in English bond and runs for around 45 metres before meeting a straight section laid in Sussex bond, which extends south-south-west for around 20 metres. At the junction of these two sections is a segmental-arched opening flanked by square-plan piers.

The curved garden extension to the east may have been added in the late 18th or early 19th century. It is certainly depicted on an 1836 estate map, which was copied from an 1811 map. The north-west corner of the extension projects slightly north of the main garden, creating a recess where a former garden building stood until the late 20th century (no longer extant). The north wall is laid in Sussex bond and has a chamfered plinth, full-height buttresses, and triangular terracotta coping. At the north-east corner the wall steps up slightly with a curved corner bay, and the east wall south of the corner has been demolished.

Along the south side of the gardens, a low wall around 60 metres in length and standing around 1.2 metres high connects the south-east corner of the main garden to the south-east and east side of the extension. This wall appears to have been rebuilt in sections; a curved section on the south-east side retains shallow buttresses over a chamfered plinth and triangular coping.

At the south-west corner of the walled garden, a perpendicular red-brick screen wall with a segmental-arched gate opening and a wrought-iron openwork gate provide access to a pathway south-west to the river. The pathway is bounded on its north-west side by a red brick wall laid in monk bond, standing around 2.5 metres in height and running south-west for around 75 metres before terminating with a square-plan pier. The wall formerly continued south-west to meet the river but has been reduced to ground level beyond the pier.