Garden Walls At Northbourne Court

The walls form a large walled garden complex, originally designed circa 1616 for Sir Edwin Sandys, with sections dating from the 13th century to late 20th-century repairs. The construction is primarily red brick with some flint. The outer wall extends over half a mile from northwest to southeast, and the walled enclosures are approximately 500 metres from southwest to northeast. There are three main enclosures, each subdivided internally. The walls of the outer court are approximately 10 feet high, built in irregular English bond, with extensive restoration of the dogtooth cornice and coping. A 19th-century wrought iron gate is situated between two piers on the northwest wall. The main entrance, located on the long southwestern wall, features a segmental rusticated stone carriage arch with imposts, a keystone, and a cornice. It is flanked by 19th-century wrought iron gates. The northwestern walls are largely of flint, incorporating smaller gateways.

A significant feature is the mount, a series of three terraces, with the two lowest terraces brought forward within a walled enclosure to create side terraces. These terraces are retained by substantial brick walls, reaching a maximum height of 30 feet. At the eastern end of the courtyard are flint ruins, potentially remnants of a chapel belonging to the monastic grange that previously occupied the site, or of the mansion house of Sir Edwin Sandys. 18th-century plaques on the walls suggest the former interpretation.

Associated outbuildings include a range of 19th-century stables within the courtyard, located behind Northbourne Court. These have a half-hipped pantiled roof with two raking loft doors and six half-doors. A smaller half-hipped outhouse opposite the stables (listed separately as item 4/30) has a single boarded door, a cornice to the roof, and a stack projecting to the left end.

The precise location of the monastic grange and later mansion house within the walled enclosures remains unclear, although the present Northbourne Court likely occupies part of the site. Ruins and excavated sections within the mount-court indicate that the house may have extended onto this area. The mount is recognized as one of the finest surviving examples of this type and date in the country.