Garden Terrace Walls and Seats, Minley Manor

The garden terrace walls and seats at Minley Manor date from 1858 to 1862, designed by Messrs Veitch in collaboration with Henry Clutton. The north-east return wall was likely remodelled around 1908, and the garden seats were dated 1861 and 1908.

The walls are constructed of red brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern, with limestone dressings. The north-east return is built of coursed, rough-hewn stone. The garden seats are of limestone.

The terrace extends for 120 metres, running north-east to south-west along the garden-facing elevation of Minley Manor. A semi-circular garden seat is situated at each end of the terrace. At the east end, a low stone parapet wall supports a decorative wrought iron screen, gates, and overhead ornamentation that extends from the chapel to the edge of the garden terrace.

The retaining wall is low on the terrace side and rises in height on the parkland side, reflecting the change in ground level. It features shaped stone copings and square buttress piers, which also have stone copings and bases for ornaments. The walls terminate at each end in a tall pier of banded brick and limestone, topped with an enriched vase finial, likely made of cast stone. An opening part-way along the terrace features a wrought iron gate and overhead ornamentation, leading to a short staircase within brick and stone parapet walls that descends to the parkland. The wall turns 90 degrees at the east end, forming a battered bastion constructed from coursed rough-hewn stone, seemingly part of the terrace’s later alterations, and providing steps down to the pleasure grounds.

The matching garden seats each feature a semi-circular bench with a moulded back and scrolled armrests. The ends of the benches are decorated with a carved relief of a griffin, a motif recurring in other parts of Minley Manor. They sit on radially paved bases, with central stones inset with lead dates of 1861 (west) and 1908 (east).

A subsidiary feature is a return parapet wall, leading from the terrace to the chapel, and incorporating a decorative wrought iron screen, gates, and overhead ornamentation.