Summary
A Gothick grotto, probably built for James Guest, a merchant, in the early-C19.
Description
A Gothick grotto, probably built for James Guest, a merchant, in the early-C19.
MATERIALS: The grotto is constructed of red brick faced with blast-furnace slag, shells, animal bones and teeth impressed into cement.
PLAN: the structure is D-shaped in plan with a flat front elevation and semi-circular rear wall.
DESCRIPTION: the grotto is Gothick in style and has a pedimented front with two, pointed-arch windows flanking a central ogee-arched door. The window and door surrounds are dressed with shells and animal teeth. The pediment sits above a shell frieze and features a central star-burst motif and three short obelisk pinnacles to each corner. Only the lower part of the rear, semi-circular wall survives. Its inner surface features low-level panels framed by sheep or cow vertebrae and decorated with shells. This wall also features slots suggesting that there may have been a fitted bench around the back wall. Fragments of a timber door are suggested to survive. The roof is no longer present.
History
The earliest grottoes were shrines built over sacred springs in ancient Greece, followed by Roman temples dedicated to water deities or surrounding public fountains. Grottoes were revived by Italian Renaissance architects and the fashion reached Britain in the early-C17. Their popularity peaked in the C18, but continued into the C19 and C20, with many grottoes created in landscaped parks and gardens.
In 2021, a Gothick-style grotto was uncovered in the garden of 101 Bristol Road in Edgbaston. Development started along Bristol Road from around 1814, gradually transforming land previously in agricultural use. The 1827 Edgbaston tithe awards describe the plot of land now forming 101 Bristol Road as ‘pleasure grounds and plantation’ occupied by James Guest, a merchant. There is a structure identifiable on the tithe map roughly in the location of the present grotto.
By 1888 the site was occupied by a large house called Oaklands and a collection of buildings was present along the north edge of the garden. Oaklands was demolished in the 1930s and replaced by the current two houses by Peacock and Bewlay at 101 and 101a Bristol Road. The grotto was uncovered by the owners of 101 Bristol Road in the summer of 2021 as they were clearing the garden prior to selling the house.
Reasons for Listing
The early-C19 Gothick shell grotto within the garden of 101 Bristol Road, Birmingham is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural Interest:
* As a rare example of a Gothick shell grotto within a small-scale domestic garden setting;
* For the remarkable survival, and high quality of the unusual surface treatment, incorporating shells, animal bones and teeth.
Historic Interest:
* For illustrating the development of the fashion for grottos within private gardens and pleasure grounds by the early-C19.
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.
Recommended Books
The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
[(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)