Former Kitchen And Pleasure Garden Walls At Hestercombe Gardens

The former kitchen and pleasure garden walls at Hestercombe Gardens are garden walls and bridges dating from the late 18th century, with extensions made around 1910 by Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Portman family. The walls are constructed of red brick and stone rubble. There are two adjoining rectangular enclosures: the kitchen garden to the east features late 18th-century brick and stone walls, while the pleasure garden to the west was added by Lutyens around 1910, using coursed stone rubble walls that now have concrete coping. The central dividing wall includes two doorways with rusticated stone architraves and has been breached at its south end. Lutyens' west garden enclosed an existing channel in the park, which he transformed into a sunken canal with a grassed walk. This canal is finished with a small stone bridge at the north end, featuring two segmental arches, and another bridge at the south end, which has remains of round piers that once supported a loggia above.