Gates, Gate Piers and Walls to the Walled Gardens, Chiswick House Grounds, Hounslow, London

Description

787/0/10206 BURLINGTON LANE
14-DEC-10 CHISWICK
Gates, gate piers and walls to the wal
led gardens, Chiswick House grounds

GV II
Gate piers, gates and garden walls to north of Chiswick House. Gate piers 1682-4 formerly in the garden of the house built for Sir Stephen Fox by Hugh May, demolished and now part of Chiswick House grounds. The gates were restored in the 1950s.

MATERIALS: the piers are of finely-jointed red brick in Flemish bond with stone dressings. Walls are of soft orange-red brick, red-brown and plum coloured brick and stock brick.

DESCRIPTION: Gate piers are square on plan with moulded arrises, they have moulded stone plinths and capitals, surmounted by ball finials set on moulded stone bases. Some stone work is restored or replaced. Gates are hung from repaired brick pilasters strips with stone dressings. Outer faces of the piers have carved console brackets. Gates are of wrought iron. Each has an inner panel of scrolled foliate design flanked by plain bars above arrow head dogbars. (They resemble photographs taken in the late C19 and early C20 and in 1951, but robust foliate bosses are now missing and minor details have changed, suggesting the panels are replaced or restored). Above is an overthrow of similar scrolled design terminating in delicate floral finials. The gate piers are not aligned with the central axis of the walled garden.

The gate piers lead to a series of three connected walled gardens aligned north-west to south-east, of which two are included in the listing. The first, south-western enclosure is a large, rectangular walled garden (c98m x 53m) which follows the late C17 configuration inferred in Kip and Knyff's perspective. It is laid out in four quadrants, as a nursery and kitchen garden.

This enclosure leads to a second, probably later, walled enclosure to the north-west (80m x 55m) and aligned on the same axis, but which extends further east. This northern enclosure forms part of the C18 sequence of walled gardens, the vista terminating in the gateway in the northern wall, but is excluded from the listing because of the degree of alteration and limited survival of early fabric.

To the east is a second rectangular enclosure (99m x 45m) of at least early C18 date, and possibly contemporary with the south-west enclosure. It forms the eastern boundary of the site and is divided by later diagonal cross walls. It is now used as a service yard for the gardens. The position of the enclosure walls, cross walls and gate piers in all three enclosures conform with Samuel Ware's survey of the estate of 1812.

Walls are of orange-red, red-brown and plum coloured brick, part in English bond, part in Flemish bond and with later stock brick repairs and heightening. Most walls have a brick coping or soldier course. South-west enclosure: walls are of orange-red and red-brown brick patched with later stock brick; the south-west angle of this main enclosure, formerly of Wren stock brick, but now partly rebuilt, defines the south-west angle of the site, visible on Kip and Knyff's view of 1707. The southern wall in Flemish bond and designed to be seen, stands c3m in height; the north-east wall is in similar brick 2.5 to 3m high where it survives. The transverse wall, of similar height, is of mixed brickwork of later C17 and early to mid-C18 date; the segmental headed entrance and brickwork surrounding it has been altered, the wall was possibly raised in the C18 and subsequently reduced. The central stretch of the south-west wall is largely of later C20 date, only the SW and NW sections are of historic fabric. Eastern enclosure: eastern and northern walls, the latter now the boundary with Gate House, are of red-brown brick in Flemish bond, 3m in height and buttressed. They formed the NE extent of the walled gardens. The diagonal internal walls are of mixed brick of mid- to later C18 date.

Although sections of the walls are depleted, the walled gardens are included in the listing for the historic significance of the late C17 and early C18 layout and for the subsequent association with Chiswick House.

HISTORY: The gate piers, gates and walls to the kitchen gardens fall within the former grounds of the house at Chiswick which was built in 1682-4 for Sir Stephen Fox by Hugh May and later known as Moreton Hall. The house was demolished in 1812 after the estate was bought by the Duke of Devonshire when he inherited Chiswick House, but the walled gardens remained. From the 1860s the Devonshires let Chiswick House, removing most of its contents to Chatsworth. In 1929 the reduced estate was sold to Middlesex County Council, and in 1948 the house and grounds passed to the Ministry of Works. During the early 1950s the gate piers and gates were surveyed and restored as part of the programme of works on the site.

Sir Stephen Fox (1627-1716) was a loyal courtier to Charles II and an eminent public servant. Until 1680 he served as Paymaster of the Forces, was one of the Lords of the Treasury, and sat in the House of Commons almost continuously from 1665 until his death in 1716. He was considered to be one of the wealthiest men in the country, and noted for his philanthropic work which found favour with Charles II.

Hugh May (1622-84) was the architect of a number of significant country houses after the Restoration, such as Cornbury Oxfordshire for the Earl of Clarendon and Cassiobury Hertfordshire for the Earl of Essex, and both projects appear to have involved garden works. He held public office as Comptroller of the Kings Works and as inspector of French and English gardeners at Whitehall, St James Greenwich and Hampton Court. He died before work on the house for Sir Stephen Fox was completed.

The house and grounds are depicted in contemporary topographical records including Kip and Knyff's Britannia Illustrata of 1707, where the south-west corner of the house and part of the grounds is shown, on John Roque's Exact Survey (1744-46,) and also on Samuel Ware's survey of the estate of 1812, the latter showing the configuration of the garden walls and the position of the gateway. Estate accounts and comments by John Evelyn in his diary of 1682, and Gibson's Short account of gardens near London, 1691, describe the early progress of the house and garden.

A survey of the grounds in 1983 and 1985 classified historic walls and gateways by date and identified the earliest surviving sections.

The two western enclosures of the walled gardens are laid out with a longitudinal vista extending from the principal late C17 gateway to the south (see above), to a smaller C18 brick gateway set into the boundary wall to the north and linked by a simple, altered, arched gateway built into the transverse wall, which was formerly the northern boundary of the first enclosure. Although the western boundary of the northern garden was largely rebuilt in early C20, the garden is part of the historic layout. The northern and eastern boundary walls of the northern enclosure are probably of mid-C18 date, of red-brown brown and buff brick, some probably re-used, in English and Femish bond, and standing up to 3m in height. A central gateway in the north-west wall has brick piers in red-brown brick, which break forward from the wall line, and have replaced stone caps; the entrance which is of painted rendered brick has been modifed. The north-eastern wall, now the boundary with Gate House is altered and in part reduced in height to a low a parapet wall. The south-west boundary wall is of C20 brick.

Outside the walled garden, to the west, is a triangular enclosure which is defined by the historical boundary with Chiswick house. The southern and south-west stretches of Chiswick House's historic eastern boundary wall are of C18 brick, part rebuilt, and pierced by an altered C18 gateway, the northern stretch is early C20. The walled gardens are also associated with mid- to later brick C18 garden walls, gate piers and gateways and Kent House and Paxton House. Probably dating from the period of Sir Stephen Fox's house, and of similar red-brown brick to the walled garden, is the former Burlington Lane boundary wall of the house, which is now within the grounds of the Chiswick House. None of these walls and gatepiers are listed.

SOURCES
Cherry,B and Pevsner, N, London 3: North West (1991), 395-402
Jeffery, S, 'The flower of all the private gentlemens palaces in England': Sir Stephen Fox's 'extraordinarily fine' garden at Chiswick, Garden History, Vol 32, No 1, (Spring, 2004) pp 1-19

Chiswick House and Gardens, English Heritage, (2001 reprinted 2003, 2007)

Photographs
Untitled: Ivy clad gates, Country Life, 3163/73 n.d. c1898, CL L3724-3732
Untitled: View through Iron Gates into RHS gardens area, Country Life 8688/89, n.d. c1910 ,CL S8688-8690-33
Chiswick House, Vol 4, NMR, AL0997/001/01, AL0997/002/01, AL0997/003/01(4 Sept 1951)

Unpublished report
Travers Morgan Planning, Chiswick House Grounds Historical Survey, Schedule of Gateways, Wall Schedule (1983)
Travers Morgan Planning, Chiswick House Grounds Historical Survey, Enclosure (1985)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The gate piers, gates and walls to the walled gardens in Chiswick House grounds, which date from Hugh May's house for Sir Stephen Fox of the 1680s to the early C19, are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the gate piers survive from Hugh May's designs for a house and gardens for the eminent public servant and courtier Sir Stephen Fox; although restored in the 1950s, the gates resemble examples of late C17 or early C18 metalwork;
* Rarity: rare examples of garden structures and walls dating from at least 1682-4;
* Plan: walled gardens certainly extant in 1812, and in part dating from the later C17 and early C18;
* Historic interest: association with Hugh May (1622-84), architect and inspector of gardeners; structures within the internationally important landscape (Registered Grade I) of Chiswick House (listed Grade I) of which they became a part in 1811.

Reasons for Listing

Yes, list

External Links

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