Information for record number MWA12853:
Garden at No 1, Castle Hill, Kenilworth

Summary A suburban Arts and Crafts garden for Wantage, a house built in 1901, laid out circa 1901-5, by Herbert Buckland, architect, and Ethie Dennison, owner.
What Is It?  
Type: Garden, Kitchen Garden, Rose Garden, Orchard, Garden Terrace, Sundial
Period: Modern - Modern (1903 AD - 2050 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Kenilworth
District: Warwick, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 28 72
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Registered Park or Garden (Grade: II)
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 The garden at Wantage covers a roughly rectangular area of approximately 0.57 heactres. The garden serves the Grade II-listed house known as Wantage, an Arts and Crafts house built in 1901 to designs by Herbert Buckland of Buckland and Farmer, architects of Birmingham. gardenS The garden is divided into compartments, or rooms, each with its own character or function. To account for the steep slope away to the south to the rear of the house, and the shallower slope to the west, the gardens are terraced. To the front of the house, the eastern side is an entrance court, with a driveway leading to the recessed front porch and a small outbuilding to the left, which is linked to the house by a wall housing a gate to the garden. The driveway is divided from the garden by a narrow flower bed. The western side of the front garden is devoted to a rose garden, which is lower than the driveway and separated from it by a grass bank creating a level garden beyond, with a short flight of three stone steps down. The rose beds are circular, within lawn. To the western edge of this area is a low wall of brick with plain capping, and a short flight of steps down into the orchard, which occupies the Northwest compartment of the garden. The orchard has a holly hedge at its southern boundary, above retaining walls to the next compartment to the south, which along with the area further south, is also overgrown; this was used latterly as a vegetable garden. The lawned area continues on a level with the rose garden along the West side of the house, and returns along the rear of the house. The terrace to the rear is formed by walls, the retaining portion built in stone, with brick parapets above. The face of the parapet wall towards the house is rendered. A flight of stone steps down to the next terrace is set centrally, aligned on the rear of the house; it has square-section brick piers with plain capping and flattened stone ball finials, and matching walls. A sundial stands towards the eastern end of the terrace. The East end is bowed out, and carries a flight of stone steps down to the small service court, in front of the lower-ground floor entrance to the service range. Beyond the service court, a wall divides the upper part of the former kitchen garden from the formal gardens. The kitchen gardens are further separated from the formal gardens by hedging moving southwards down the slope of the rear garden. At the time of inspection the kitchen garden was largely overgrown. The first terrace below the house is a rectangular compartment, with the remains of flower borders surrounding lawn, and a hedge to the East side separating the compartment from a path leading from the service court southwards. Box bushes describe openings at the north and south ends of the compartment, in alignment with the steps down into the terrace, and with the long flight of stone steps which leads down from this terrace to the next, maintaining the strong axial focus on the rear of the house through the whole of the formal garden. Beyond this, the garden is overgrown, and largely inaccessible, but a measured survey of the entire garden shows the surviving built features well, and this, together with photographs from recent sales particulars allows a description of the garden to be made. The flight of steps leads down to the formal lawn, which is lower than the surrounding areas of garden and has stone retaining walls to three sides. The sloping areas to either side of the steps were used for planting, and were divided by small walls into miniature terraces: those to the East side of the steps still survive. The main retaining walls have semi-circular niches built within them, and the edges had borders for planting. The southern boundary of the formal garden was planted with an area of yew hedging, with other hedging for the remaining boundaries.
2 Lovie reports a garden contemporary with the 20th century arts and crafts house. garden incorporates part of former Abbey precinct wall. garden with simple spaces, hedges, greenhouse, orchard and rose garden.
 
Sources
Source No: 2
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Warwickshire Register Review Data Tables (Warwick)
Author/originator: Lovie, Jonathan
Date: 1997
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Statuatory List
Title: National Heritage List for England
Author/originator: Historic England
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
none Registered Park or Garden Parks and gardens that are considered to be of historic importance are placed on a register. The register comprises a variety of town gardens, public parks and country estates. The main purpose of the register is to help ensure that the features and qualities that make the parks and gardens special are safeguarded if changes are being considered which could affect them.

The gardens on the register are divided into three grades in order to give some guidance about their significance, in a similar way to Listed Buildings. The majority of parks and gardens on the Register are of sufficient interest as to be designated as grade II. Some, however, are recognised as being of exceptional historic interest and are awarded a star giving them grade II* status. A small number are of international importance, and are classified as grade I.
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period Modern The Modern Period, about 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
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period modern About 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
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monument FLOWER BED * A plot of earth used for the raising of flowers and shrubs. back
monument ROSE GARDEN * A garden, often geometrical in layout, or area for the cultivation of roses. back
monument HOUSE * A building for human habitation, especially a dwelling place. Use more specific type where known. back
monument BORDER * A strip of ground forming a fringe to a garden. Use more specific type where known. back
monument KITCHEN GARDEN * A private garden established primarily for growing vegetables and herbs for domestic consumption. back
monument STONE * Use only where stone is natural or where there is no indication of function. back
monument FORMAL GARDEN * A garden of regular, linear or geometrical design, often associated with the traditional Italian, French and Dutch styles. back
monument FLOOR * A layer of stone, brick or boards, etc, on which people tread. Use broader site type where known. back
monument BOUNDARY * The limit to an area as defined on a map or by a marker of some form, eg. BOUNDARY WALL. Use specific type where known. back
monument FEATURE * Areas of indeterminate function. back
monument ABBEY * A religious house governed by an abbot or abbess. Use with narrow terms of DOUBLE HOUSE, MONASTERY or NUNNERY. back
monument PATH * A way made for pedestrians, especially one merely made by walking (often not specially constructed). back
monument WELL * A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water. back
monument PIER * A structure of iron or wood, open below, running out into the sea and used as a promenade and landing stage. back
monument OUTBUILDING * A detached subordinate building. Use specific type where known, eg. DAIRY. back
monument SQUARE * An open space or area, usually square in plan, in a town or city, enclosed by residential and/or commercial buildings, frequently containing a garden or laid out with trees. back
monument GARDEN * An enclosed piece of ground devoted to the cultivation of flowers, fruit or vegetables and/or recreational purposes. Use more specific type where known. back
monument SUNDIAL * A structure used to show the time of day by means of the sun shining on a 'gnomon', the shadow of which falls on the surface of the dial which is marked with a diagram showing the hours. Can be freestanding, usually on a pillar, or fixed to a building. back
monument HEDGE * Usually a row of bushes or small trees planted closely together to form a boundary between pieces of land or at the sides of a road. back
monument ORCHARD * An enclosure used for the cultivation of fruit trees. back
monument GATE * A movable stucture which enables or prevents entrance to be gained. Usually situated in a wall or similar barrier and supported by gate posts. back
monument GARDEN TERRACE * A flat, level area of ground within a garden. Often raised and accessed by steps. back
monument VEGETABLE GARDEN * A garden devoted to the growth of vegetables. back
monument LAWN * A flat, and usually level area of mown and cultivated grass, attached to a house. back
monument STEPS * A series of flat-topped structures, usually made of stone or wood, used to facilitate a person's movement from one level to another. back
monument WALL * An enclosing structure composed of bricks, stones or similar materials, laid in courses. Use specific type where known. back
monument RETAINING WALL * A wall constructed for the purpose of confining or supporting a mass of earth or water. back
monument PRECINCT WALL * A wall enclosing a precinct. back
monument TERRACE * A row of houses attached to and adjoining one another and planned and built as one unit. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record