Boundary Wall To South Of Ashton Wold House And Gardens

This boundary wall, constructed around 1900 by William Huckvale for Charles Rothschild, stands approximately 70 metres to the south of Ashton Wold House and forms a key element of the Edwardian estate development.

The wall is built of limestone in a random polygonal "jigsaw" pattern with ashlar copings. It runs for approximately 225 metres from east to west, abutting woodland at each end, and is stepped to the east of the gateway where the land gently rises.

Located approximately 20 metres from the wall's east end, the gateway provides access to the three formal gardens situated to the east of the house. It is constructed with the same pattern of limestone blocks and is topped by a splayed dressed stone hood. Beneath lies a single wrought-iron gate featuring a scroll motif, set in an ashlar surround with a shallow arch head and dressed stone cornice above. The gateway has a single step on either side topped with carved stone in a scroll motif. In simpler form it echoes 17th-century gateways at nearby houses including Lyvden, Holdenby and Kirby Hall.

The wall marks the boundary between the pleasure gardens to the south and east of the house and the meadows beyond, which fall gently down to the fish ponds and boating lake, where the boathouse and observation hide are located. The wall appears on the 1901 Map of Ashton Wold and remains unaltered.

The Ashton Estate has been occupied since Roman times. In the 18th century it was a well-known sporting estate, with avenues of chestnut trees planted in a cross as rides and a number of fox coverts. In the early 19th century, the estate was owned by William Walcot and was largely farmed by tenants. When purchased by Lionel Rothschild in 1860, the sale particulars described it as "a very valuable and important landed estate" with sporting advantages, though it contained no house adapted for a gentleman's occupation. The only 19th-century structural work was the building of a hunting lodge at Ashton Wold.

When Lord Rothschild's second son, Nathaniel Charles (1877–1923), known as Charles, discovered Ashton during a butterfly-collecting expedition, he was so impressed by the rich fauna and flora that he persuaded his father to build him a house on the site of the hunting lodge. In 1900, Lord Rothschild commissioned William Huckvale to design not only a house but a model farm and an entire complement of estate buildings, including the Steward's house, stables, gardeners' accommodation, a fire engine house, petrol store, kennels (now derelict) and dog hospital. Most of the cottages at nearby Ashton were rebuilt to create a model village. The Rothschilds became the first landowners in the country to provide their tenants with both running filtered water and electricity, the latter generated by turbines housed in an old mill below the village on the River Nene. Water was pumped to a water tower and thence to the estate buildings. Each cottage had a bath house and was placed in a large garden planted with a lilac, a laburnum and fruit trees.

High quality design and workmanship were consistent themes throughout the estate, where traditional vernacular building traditions—Collyweston stone slate and thatch roof coverings, steeply pitched roofs, tall chimneys, limestone masonry walling and dressings, and mullioned windows—were all faithfully referenced.

Charles Rothschild was a renowned naturalist and became the leading expert on fleas in the country, publishing around 150 scientific papers. He was also interested in the cultivation of rare orchids, irises and water lilies, and was a pioneer conservationist, arguing that the whole natural habitat needed to be protected, not just rare species.

Following his death in 1923 and that of his wife Rozsika in 1940, their daughter Miriam (1908–2005) inherited the estate. The house was commandeered for use as a hospital during the Second World War, and the gardens and estate suffered much damage and neglect. Like her father, Miriam was deeply involved in conservation and continued his work with fleas to become an international expert in her own right. She was a fellow of the Royal Society, awarded eight honorary degrees, and appointed DBE for her services to the study of natural history.