Temple by Lady Dorothy Wellesley (Duchess of Wellington) in the Garden of Penns in the Rocks is a Grade II listed building in the Wealden local planning authority area, England. First listed on 31 December 1982. Temple.

Temple by Lady Dorothy Wellesley (Duchess of Wellington) in the Garden of Penns in the Rocks

WRENN ID
shifting-basalt-thyme
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Wealden
Constituency
Sussex Weald MP: Ms Nusrat Ghani (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
31 December 1982
Type
Temple
Address
Temple by Lady Dorothy Wellesley (Duchess of Wellington) in the Garden of Penns in the Rocks, Withyham
OS grid reference
TQ 520 344
Coordinates
51.08951, 0.16987
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The temple, built by Lady Dorothy Wellesley, who later became the Duchess of Wellington, is located in the garden of Penns-in-the Rocks in Groombridge. Constructed in red brick, it features stone columns and a tiled roof. Lady Wellesley, a poetess, created this temple to honor fellow poets such as W. B. Yeats, Walter de la Mare, and Vita Sackville-West, who visited her. The names or initials of these poets are inscribed on stone tablets set into the floor.

Local climate

Temple by Lady Dorothy Wellesley (Duchess of Wellington) in the Garden of Penns in the Rocks receives an average of 760 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 67% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 57% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 30 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 65% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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