Curtain Walls, Snape, Wadhurst, Wadhurst, East Sussex

Summary

Garden walls at Snape, in the form of defensive curtain walls, with bastions, to the east and south of Snape House and its unlisted former stable block (now the Clock House). Built in the 1890s as part of a wider development of the site by RP Whellock for George (later Sir George) Barham, with an additional early-C20 section.

Description

Garden walls, in the form of defensive curtain walls, to the east and south of Snape and its former stable block (now the Clock House, unlisted). Built at some time between 1893 and 1897, with an additional section at the south-east end of the Clock House garden built some time after 1908 and probably before 1913. The main part of the walling, and probably the later section, was designed by RP Whellock, and erected for George (later Sir George) Barham.

MATERIALS: local sandstone rubblestone, squared and coursed.

PLAN: the northern section, enclosing the terraced gardens to the east of the house, forms a right angle, with a large semi-circular bastion to the north-eastern corner. A wall belonging to the same phase, running in a north-west/south-east direction, with a round tower at the south-east end, separates the terraced gardens and the land to the east from the garden laid out to the south-east of the former stable block. A further stretch of wall encloses the end of the garden to the south-east of the former stable block, with a round tower to the south-west.

DESCRIPTION: part of the walling is crenellated, the merlons having capping, triangular in section. The earlier, northern, section includes a wall running to the north of the house, terminated to the west by a pier of rock-faced blocks with drafted margins, and to the east, where the ground falls away to north and east, by the large bastion. The bastion is crenellated. The revetment wall continues southwards, broken by a flight of steps leading downwards from the terraced lawns to an area now occupied by a swimming pool (the swimming pool and associated walling linking the pool area with the curtain wall are excluded from the listing). This wall meets the wall running along the north-east side of the garden to the south-east of the stable block, which is crenellated. In this wall, to the south-east of the junction, is an arched opening with wide double gates with applied fillets, strap hinges and a wooden latch; there is a raised crenellated section above the gateway, with a square pier to either end. The battlements have been removed from the later section of wall enclosing the south-east end of the garden to the rear of the former stable block, and from the north-eastern tower. This tower has an entrance to the east, in the angle of the walls, with a timber lintel; there is evidence of some rebuilding above this, and it is possible the entrance may have been moved. The structure also has a row of small openings to the east. The south-western bastion, which retains its battlements, is open to the north-west, and because of the higher ground-level to the south-west, is a lower structure.

History

Snape is first mentioned in about 1200 when it was given to Battle Abbey, by which it was held until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The site then came into the ownership of the Barham family, prominent local ironmasters. Snape was inherited by David Barham in the 1590s, and in 1617 he built a new house; this building, now known as Old Snape, forms the original part of the house. It has been suggested that the 1617 building may have incorporated an earlier farmhouse on the same site, but no clear evidence of this has so far been found within the building. The farmhouse was extended, with two parallel ranges to the north, by the time the Tithe map was made in 1840. At that time there was a range of agricultural buildings to the north, thought to have incorporated an oast house with a pair of round kilns, and a loose courtyard of agricultural buildings to the south, including the late-C15 or early-C16 barn, understood originally to have been a Tithe barn for Battle Abbey, with additional smaller buildings to the west and south-east.

Snape Farm passed out of Barham ownership in 1721, before being bought in 1887 by George (later Sir George) Barham (1836-1913), a member of another branch of the Barham family. Barham transformed the site into a small but lavish country house for entertaining, building in stages between about 1893 and 1904, to designs by RP Whellock, to create an essentially separate building, now known as Snape House, linked with the former farmhouse, now known as Old Snape, which was retained as the servants’ quarters and service area, and was altered and extended westwards. (The two parts of the house are listed on the National Heritage List for England under a single entry: 1479467). The first stage of building involved the construction of a new square range adjoining the old house at its eastern end, extending to the north; the later northward extension was completed in 1904.

Whellock’s development for Barham extended to other parts of the site. The barn (NHLE entry 1387304) was converted by Barham to serve as a ‘baronial hall’ with a sunken garden to the west (now largely built over); the garden walls, incorporating cast-iron railings removed from the forecourt of St Paul’s Cathedral (amongst the earliest English cast-iron railings, and said to have been made by the foundry at nearby Lamberhurst), are listed (NHLE entry 1246105). A new stable block (now the Clock House, unlisted) was constructed to the south of the house as part of the first building phase, together with an ancillary stable range; additional service buildings followed further to the south at some time after 1908. Gardens were created immediately surrounding the house, taking the place of the oast house to the north and the orchard to the east. The gardens were enclosed to the north and east by curtain walls with bastions to the corners; a second phase after 1908 saw the construction of a further stretch of wall to the south. Walls and a gateway (NHLE entry 1271524) were created between the stable and the main house once a new drive had been created encircling the house to the north and providing access to Riseden to the west, at some time between 1897 and 1908. Also built as part of this later phase were the gates and gate piers serving the new drive, and the lodge by the gates. The gates and gate piers and railings (the railings once again from St Paul’s) are listed at Grade II (NHLE entry 1271525); the lodge has been considerably extended and does not form part of this assessment.

George Barham’s grandfather had been a dairy farmer near Battle; his father opened a dairy shop in London. After being apprenticed to a cabinet maker, George opened his own dairy shop; in 1864 he established the Express Country Milk Supply Company in Museum Street, importing milk by rail from a network of Derbyshire farms to Kings Cross Station, so was well placed to exploit the disruption in London’s milk production caused by an outbreak of rinderpest in 1865. The company became the Express Dairy Company in 1882, and by 1885 was importing 50 per cent of the capital’s milk. Barham also established the Dairy Supply Company to make dairy equipment, including large churns for transporting milk by rail – Barham’s own invention. A pioneer of hygienic dairying, in 1883 Barham established College Farm in Finchley as a model for the dairy industry, a livestock showcase and training centre. Barham and his wife Margaret Rainey had two sons; he was knighted in 1904, was county councillor for East Sussex, 1904-1910, Mayor of Hampstead, 1905-1906 (Barham’s London home was in Belsize Park), and High Sheriff of Middlesex, 1907-1908. He lived at Snape from 1906 until his death.

Following Barham’s death, Snape was let to tenants including, from 1919-1920, Natalie Sergeyevna, Countess Brasova, the widow of Grand Duke Michael of Russia. Snape was sold in 1955, and thereafter was divided into separate properties, with Snape and Old Snape becoming two residences. The barn was converted in 1959 by the architect Frankland Dark for his own domestic use. The stable block was converted to domestic use in the same year. The two parts of the main house have recently (2021) been returned to single ownership.

Robert Phillips Whellock (1835-1905) was elected RIBA in 1879. In 1875 he was recorded as working in the Cathedral Surveyor’s Office, St Paul’s Cathedral (this may explain why in 1896 Barham was able to buy some of the railings removed for improvements in 1873). Whellock lived for some time in Camberwell, South London, and was responsible for the designs of the 1888 circular ward at St Giles’s Hospital, Camberwell (NHLE entry 1385597), and for the Camberwell Public Library of 1890 (NHLE entry 1385739). Whellock was also the architect of Barham’s headquarters building for his Dairy Supply Company erected at 30 Coptic Street and 35 Little Russell Street in 1888 (NHLE entry 1456165).

Reasons for Listing

The Curtain Walls at Snape, built in the 1890s as part of a wider development of the site by RP Whellock for George (later Sir George) Barham; the walls, which have an additional early-C20 section, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the castellated curtain walls, with bastions, which enclose the terraced gardens to the east of the house represent a significant element within an unusual group of late-C19/early-C20 structures, which incorporates earlier elements, together with historicist additions; these walls contribute an element of fantasy, suggesting evolution within an earlier defensive site;

* despite some loss and alteration, the walls and bastions survive well.

Historic interest:

* the late-C19/early-C20 transformation of the wider site was undertaken by George (later Sir George) Barham, innovatory dairyman and founder of the Express Dairy Company, as a place for leisure and entertaining, building on a farm site owned historically by his forebears; his own development includes features celebrating the Barham heritage.

Group value:

* with the site’s other listed buildings, also developed by Barham and Whellock: Old Snape (a C17 farmhouse) and Snape House (a large late-C19/early-C20 addition), Snape Barn, converted to a ‘baronial hall’ for Barham, with its garden walls incorporating railings from St Paul’s Churchyard, as well as the wall, gatepiers and gates to the south-east, and the main entrance gateway to the north-west, all listed at Grade II. The walls also have group value with the unlisted former stable range by Whellock, now the Clock House, and the ancillary stable block, both built about 1893, and with the unlisted lodge.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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