Entrance To Fullwood (Cheltenham And Gloucester College Of Higher Education)

CHELTENHAM

SO9321SE THE PARK 630-1/21/929 (South side) 14/12/83 Entrance to Fullwood (Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education) (Formerly Listed as: THE PARK Quadrant walls, railings, gatepiers to Fullwood entrance of the College etc)

GV II

Quadrant walls, railings, gates and gate piers. c1890-1900, with later additions and alterations. Probably for Mrs Macknight Crawford of Lauriston Castle. Dwarf walls with heavy iron railings. Central gatepiers joined by C20 gates (not included) quadrant walls surmounted by railings to outer piers, then further stretch of wall for approx 5m with railings to right return and end right pier. Panelled ashlar gate piers with modillion capping; cappings contain copper monograms. Low walls have chamfered copings; railings have heavy spearhead caps and frieze with circle motif, bars in 2 heights. HISTORICAL NOTE: this marks the site of the entrance to the 'Gloucestershire Zoological, Botanical and Horticultural Gardens' which originally occupied the centre of The Park. The Park was laid out by 1833 by its owner, Thomas Billings, as an oval tree-lined drive with a central park which, for a short period in the mid-C19 became a zoological garden. In 1839 the development was bought by Samuel Daukes who continued the building. The Park is one of the developments influenced by White's and Nash's scheme for Regent's Park (1809-11), London. The monograms on the gatepiers probably relate to the occupation of the adjacent house (Fullwood qv) by a Carmelite order of nuns c1920. The Estate passed to St Mary's Training College in 1931 and is now part of Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education. Forms an integral part of a significant streetscape group of piers in The Park. (Sampson A and Blake S: A Cheltenham Companion: Cheltenham: 1993-: 36,92; Girouard M: The English Town: 1990-: 270-271; Sampson A: Historic Buildings of Cheltenham and Gloucester College of HE).

Listing NGR: SO9395121089