Retaining Walls and Steps Surrounding the Site of the Great Conservatory is a Grade II listed building in the Peak District National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 June 1987. Landscape feature.
Retaining Walls and Steps Surrounding the Site of the Great Conservatory
- WRENN ID
- nether-alcove-solstice
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Peak District National Park
- Constituency
- Derbyshire Dales MP: John Whitby (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 19 June 1987
- Type
- Landscape feature
- Address
- Retaining Walls and Steps Surrounding the Site of the Great Conservatory, Chatsworth, Derbyshire Dales
- OS grid reference
- SK 262 698
- Coordinates
- 53.22467, -1.60877
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The retaining walls and steps surrounding the site of the Great Conservatory, located in Chatsworth Gardens, were built between 1836 and 1840 by Joseph Paxton. These structures are made of coursed squared sandstone and ashlar, forming a large rectangular area with low retaining walls topped with flat copings. At the corners, there are diagonal flights of stone steps that feature two landings, square piers, and plain square caps, along with some supporting urns. At the north end, there is a pedestrian bridge over a pathway, which has a rusticated round arch with a plain impost band, as well as coping and a plain parapet with ball finials. The walls curve and are adorned with urn finials, and there are steps leading up on either side of the bridge. The Gardens and Park are recognized on the Gardens Register at Grade I.
Local climate
Retaining Walls and Steps Surrounding the Site of the Great Conservatory receives an average of 930 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 70% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 60% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 44 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 85% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 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.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Foundation Walls of Paxtons Great Conservatory
- 2 The Conservative Wall
- 3 Walls, Gatepiers and Steps Defining the North and East Sides of the Terraced Gardens South East of the Conservatory
- 4 The Conservatory and Attached Wall, Steps and Urns
- 5 Upper Terrace Wall, Garden Before South Front of Tatton Hall
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings
Nearby listed buildings
- Foundation Walls of Paxtons Great Conservatory
- Doric Column and the Bust of Sixth Duke
- The Willow Tree Fountain
- The Emperor Fountain
- Urn to Blanche
- Group of Statues and Vases on Lawn South of Chatsworth House
- The Seahorse Fountain
- Ice House
- Row of Eleven Statues Along the Broadwalk
- Grotto in Arboretum