Summary

Cattle shelter, early C19, for Lord Henry Seymour.

Description

Cattle shelter, early C19, for Lord Henry Seymour.

MATERIALS: constructed of coursed rubble.

DESCRIPTION: a rectangular single-storey building, now roofless, built into the west boundary wall of the estate. The main façade faces east, towards the park, and is formed of two bays containing round-headed arched doorways with stone voussoirs. The west elevation contains a blocked opening with red-brick infill. Both the north and south elevations are blind, without openings.

History

The cattle shelter is one of a pair situated along the west boundary wall of the Norris Castle estate. In 1795 Lord Henry Seymour (1746-1830) purchased a small farm called ‘Norris’ and subsequently constructed a marine villa estate. It included Norris Castle, a Gothic Revival house built in the form of a castle, and a castellated model farm (Norris Castle Farm) constructed to the designs of the architect James Wyatt (1746-1813) from c1799 (both Grade I listed). A landscaped park with an oval loop of carriage drive was created from former fields covering 124 acres and is shown on the 1810 OS map (Grade I registered). The inclusion of a watercolour view of Norris by the landscape designer Humphry Repton (1752-1818) in the 1805 edition of Peacock's Polite Repository suggests his likely involvement in the design (Carter et al 1982). Lord Seymour held an interest in agricultural improvement, which was integrated into the new estate. The extensive model farm housed cattle and horses with manure being utilised on an attached kitchen garden. Engravings indicate that the park served as pasture for cattle, sheep, and a muster of peacocks.

The cattle shelter is one of two that were built in the early C19. It is not shown on the small scale (one inch to one mile) 1810 OS map but is likely to have been erected at the same time as the west boundary wall to the estate. The cattle shelter appears to be one of the ‘sheds’ mentioned in a set of 1830 sales particulars, by which time the boundary wall was also built: ‘One hundred and twenty-four acres, nearly encompassed by lofty and substantial walls…Grounds, paddocks, with sheds, grass land, well supplied with water, and plantations’. The cattle shelters are shown on the 1845 Tithe map and appear on the 1864 and 1898 OS maps.

Reasons for Listing

The cattle shelter at Norris Castle, built for Lord Henry Seymour in the early C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as a cattle shelter forming part of a progressive estate within the context of early C19 agricultural improvement, and a landscaped park laid out according to picturesque principles;
* Materials: the cattle shelter is well constructed of coursed rubble and squared stone;
* Group value; as one of a pair of cattle shelters that form part of a marine villa estate of outstanding architectural and historic interest including a Grade I listed house and model farm, Grade II listed lodges, Bathing House and attached sea wall, Pump House and four stone-lined watering ponds, within a Grade I registered landscape, adjacent to a Grade II* registered park and Grade I listed house at Osborne.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q66480508

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
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  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets