Tea House in the Japanese Garden, Bitchet Green, Bitchet Green, Kent

Summary

A Japanese tea house, imported from Japan, which forms part of the Japanese Garden at Bitchet Green, designed by the architect Raymond Berrow for Hugh Micklem, executed between 1919 and 1921.

Description

A Japanese tea house, imported from Japan, which forms part of a Japanese garden designed by the architect Raymond Berrow for Hugh Micklem, executed between 1919 and 1921.

MATERIALS: wooden framework to walls with painted infilling and wooden floor, metal guttering and rain spout and hipped thatched roof.

PLAN: a part-raised, single-storey building, square on plan. The rear and part of the side elevations have walls providing a large alcove, the remainder is open.

DESCRIPTION: the roof has two hips, the upper one covered in water reed thatch, the lower one has a metal covering, metal guttering and a front water spout. The walls have thin square framing with infill painted red, formerly white. The rear wall has a central oval unglazed opening with wooden divisions. The front of the building is supported on two wooden corner posts with braces to the overhanging roof. There is a wooden floor, wooden handrail to the front and part of the sides and the floor at the front of the building partially overhangs a pond.

History

This building is a 'chashitsu', in the Japanese tradition an architectural space designed to be used for the tea ceremony 'chanoyu' gatherings. It is one of a series of features in the Japanese Garden designed by Raymond Berrow for Hugh Micklem, laid out between 1919-1921. It was modelled closely on 'Hill Garden - finished style' in Joseph Condor's 'Landscape Gardening in Japan', originally published in 1893. Tea houses first appeared in the Sengoku period (mid C15 to early C17) at a time of great upheaval in Japan and were mostly built by Zen monks, samurai and merchants who practiced the tea ceremony. The structures were influenced by Zen tenets of simplicity and tranquillity.

The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 at the White City, which had entire buildings and gardens shipped from Japan, and eight million visitors over a six month period, vastly increased the interest in and construction of Japanese gardens in the United Kingdom. At the height of the fashion for Japanese gardens considerable numbers were created. For example, the Japanese landscape designer Seyomon Kusumoto created over 200 such gardens in Britain in the early C20, but many Japanese gardens have not survived as they required meticulous maintenance.

Hugh Micklem was a local benefactor and wanted to give employment for former employees returning from the 1914-18 War by constructing a Japanese garden. He travelled to Japan to source trees, rocks, large stepping stones, garden ornaments and the tea house. These were shipped to England, sent to Bat and Ball Railway station and from thence on a specially laid temporary track. Originally it was a self-contained garden, part of a 25 acre estate which was later subdivided. Early photographs, probably of the 1930s, indicate little change to the structure.

The Japanese Garden at Bitchet Green was added to the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest at Grade II* on 1 May 1986. Originally built as a self-contained garden of 25 acres, it became part of the grounds of the adjoining Lantern Cottage in the C21.

Reasons for Listing

The 1919-1921 timber-framed and thatched Tea House in the Japanese Garden at Bitchet Green (a registered Park and Garden), is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:
* A little altered and rare example of a Japanese tea house, shipped over from Japan;
* It compares well with other listed tea houses of similar date and type.

Historic Interest:
* It demonstrates the enthusiasm for Japanese gardens and their associated structures from the 1890s, which were greatly enhanced by the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition.

Group Value:
* As an important structure in the Japanese Garden at Bitchet Green, which is on the Register of Park and Gardens of Special Historic Interest and with which it has considerable group value.

External Links

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.