Walled Kitchen Garden, Potting Sheds And Boiler House, Three Greenhouses And Sundial

This walled kitchen garden with its associated potting sheds, boiler house, three greenhouses and sundial was built around 1900 by the architect William Huckvale for Charles Rothschild at Ashton Wold.

The kitchen garden walls, potting sheds and boiler house are constructed of coursed, irregular sized, rock-faced limestone blocks with stone coping. The potting sheds and boiler house are attached to the north side of the wall and have pent roofs covered with Collyweston slate. The sundial is of stone and the greenhouses have coursed stone half-walls with timber and glass superstructures.

The garden is rectangular in plan, measuring approximately 109 metres east to west by 42 metres north to south. The wall survives intact on all sides. Centrally placed on the east, south and west sides are pairs of cast-iron gates decorated with scroll motifs. These gates are set within ashlar stone surrounds with cranked arch heads and moulded stone entablatures above, framed by slightly projecting piers topped with ball finials.

The potting sheds are subdivided into three groups by parapets, each with a single stack. They have boarded doors painted in the Rothschild blue livery, some in stable-door style, and casement windows, though a small number are late 20th-century replacements. At the west end, one shed has double garage doors adjacent to an open-fronted cart-lodge with timber posts.

Inside the garden, scars from a demolished hothouse are visible on the interior of the north wall, where brackets (presumably for shelving), lighting, wall stubs and evidence of pipework remain. Building scars also appear on the interior of the east wall.

The interior arrangement of the potting sheds survives. The easternmost shed has a fireplace and stove. The central shed, which provides access to the garden interior, retains its engineering brick floor and some pipework from the hothouse.

At the central intersection of the grass-covered paths stands an octagonal sundial with a simply detailed base set on a larger octagonal plinth. The ashlar shaft is topped by a splayed, moulded cap on which the metal sundial remains.

In the north-east corner, three contemporary glasshouses survive, each with continuous glass ventilation louvres along the ridge and finials at each apex. The decorative cast iron ribs and mechanism for opening the louvres remain inside.

The Ashton Estate, stretching from the River Nene near Oundle in the west to Ashton Wold in the east, 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 several fox coverts. In the early 19th century the estate was owned by William Walcot and was largely farmed by tenants, with Ashton Wold continuing as a sporting ground. However, there is no evidence that it ever contained a manor house. When it was purchased by Lionel Rothschild in 1860, the sale particulars described it as a very valuable and important landed estate with sporting advantages, but no house adapted for a gentleman's occupation.

Neither Lionel Rothschild nor his son Nathaniel Mayer, 1st Lord Rothschild (1840-1915), showed much interest in the estate, and the only structural work undertaken in the 19th century was the building of a hunting lodge at Ashton Wold. However, when Lord Rothschild's second son, Nathaniel Charles (1877-1923), known as Charles, discovered Ashton by accident whilst on a butterfly-collecting expedition with the vicar of Polebrook, he was so impressed by the rich fauna and flora of Ashton Wold 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 which included the steward's house, stables, gardeners' accommodation, a building to house a fire engine, a petrol store, kennels (now derelict) and a dog hospital. Most of the cottages at nearby Ashton were rebuilt to create a model village.

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. Simple working buildings such as cart hovels, wash houses and potting sheds were consciously afforded the same care as the dwellings, farmsteads and garden structures.

The walled kitchen garden and associated structures were probably designed by William Huckvale (1847-1936) around 1900. A map of the Ashton Wold estate from around 1901 shows the walled garden complete with a principal south-facing hothouse attached to the north wall and ten other glasshouses in the north-east corner of the garden. Sadly, the main hothouse and seven of the glasshouses have recently been demolished. A tennis court and outdoor swimming pool were constructed in the south-east quadrant in the late 20th century.

Little is known about Huckvale who worked mainly for the Rothschilds and therefore had no need to publicise his work in the architectural journals, and was not a member of the RIBA. After setting up his own practice in London he came into contact with Alexander Parks, agent to Lord Rothschild. He designed a number of buildings for the Rothschilds on the Tring Park estate, undertook considerable work at the Rothschild bank in New Court in the City of London, and was the architect for the Royal Mint Refinery. He also carried out work on the Rothschild estate at Aston Clinton. The quality of his work is reflected in the 42 listed buildings he already has to his name, 13 in Tring and 29 on the Ashton Estate.

Charles Rothschild was a renowned naturalist and became the leading expert on fleas in the country. He published around 150 scientific papers and was also interested in other fields, including the cultivation of rare orchids, irises and water lilies. He was a pioneer conservationist, arguing that the whole natural habitat needed to be protected, not just rare species. He was keenly involved with the kitchen garden at Ashton Wold, whose design was inspired by the hothouses and facilities at Tring. Soil was bought from the Bournemouth area by train to replace the natural calcareous boulder clay within the garden and Rothschild engaged 14 gardeners at Ashton, with a head gardener who was trained at Tring. Among the men was an orchid specialist who looked after his collection in a specially designed greenhouse against the north wall, now sadly demolished. A special greenhouse for the water-lily collection, containing two tanks filled with rainwater, has also been demolished.

Miriam Rothschild recalls the garden of her childhood in her 1996 article. The gravel paths formed a cross with the sundial at the centre, which remain. Down both sides of the paths were wide herbaceous borders planted with cottage garden flowers, flanked by cordons of fruit trees of different varieties of apples and pears behind which lay vegetables, strawberries and several raised asparagus beds. Greengages, apricots, plums, pears, cherries and figs were trained around the inside of the stone walls. On the outside were Morello cherries and peaches enclosed in a glass and wooden frame. Hybrid tea roses and a variety of berries were also grown. One greenhouse was reserved for black grapes, another for green grapes and another for Charles's collection of cacti. After his untimely death in 1923, the number of gardeners was reduced to eight.

Charles's wife Rozsika died in 1940 and 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. After 1945, Miriam Rothschild concentrated on the restoration of the kitchen garden while the house was renovated and altered, reinvigorating the fruit trees and peach frame. Like her father, Miriam was deeply involved in conservation, latterly using one of the smaller greenhouses for breeding butterflies. She continued her father's work with fleas to become an international expert in her own right. She was a fellow of the Royal Society, was awarded eight honorary degrees and was appointed DBE for her services to the study of natural history.