Curtain Walls, Snape, Wadhurst

These garden walls, designed as defensive curtain walls, stand to the east and south of Snape and its former stable block, which is now the Clock House. They were built between 1893 and 1897, with an additional section added at the south-east end of the Clock House garden sometime after 1908 and probably before 1913. The walls were designed by RP Whellock and constructed for George (later Sir George) Barham.

The walls are constructed from local sandstone rubblestone, squared and coursed. The northern section, which surrounds the terraced gardens to the east of the house, forms a right angle and features a large semi-circular bastion in the north-eastern corner. A wall, belonging to the same phase, runs in a north-west/south-east direction, with a round tower at the south-east end, separating the terraced gardens and the land to the east from the garden laid out to the south-east of the former stable block. A further wall encloses the end of the garden to the south-east of the former stable block, with a round tower to the south-west.

Parts of the walls are crenellated, with the merlons capped by triangular sections. The earlier, northern, section runs north of the house, terminating to the west by a pier of rock-faced blocks with drafted margins, and to the east, where the ground falls away to north and east, with the large bastion, which is crenellated. The wall continues southwards, interrupted by steps leading down to what is now a swimming pool area (the swimming pool and its associated walling are not included in the listing). This wall connects with the wall running along the north-east side of the garden to the south-east of the stable block, which is also crenellated. An arched gateway with wide double gates, applied fillets, strap hinges and a wooden latch, is located in this wall, with a raised crenellated section and square piers on either side. Battlements have been removed from the later section of wall at the south-east end of the garden and from the north-eastern tower. The north-eastern tower has an entrance on its east side, at the angle of the walls, with a timber lintel; rebuilding above this is evident, and the entrance may have been moved. Small openings are visible on the tower's east side. The south-western bastion, which retains its battlements, is open to the north-west and is a lower structure due to the higher ground level to the south-west.