Hestercombe House

Last updated

Hestercombe House
Geograph 3146311 Hestercombe House.jpg
Hestercombe House
Location West Monkton, Somerset, England
Coordinates 51°03′11″N3°05′03″W / 51.05306°N 3.08417°W / 51.05306; -3.08417
Official nameHestercombe
Designated1 June 1984 [1]
Reference no.1000437
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameHestercombe House
Designated17 May 1985 [2]
Reference no.1060513
Somerset UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Hestercombe House in Somerset

Hestercombe House is a historic country house in the parish of West Monkton in the Quantock Hills, near Taunton in Somerset, England. The house is a Grade II* listed building and the estate is Grade I listed on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. [3]

Contents

Originally built in the 16th century, the house was used as the headquarters of the British 8th Corps in the Second World War. Somerset County Council assumed ownership in 1951 and use the property as an administrative centre. Hestercombe House served as the Emergency Call Centre for the Somerset Area of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service until March 2012. [2]

Aerial view of Hestercombe grounds Hestercombe Grounds from Air.jpg
Aerial view of Hestercombe grounds

Hestercombe House is surrounded by gardens which have been restored to Gertrude Jekyll's original plans (1904–07) and have made it "one of the best Jekyll-Lutyens gardens open to the public on a regular basis", [4] visited by approximately 70,000 people per year. The site also includes a 0.08 hectare (8,600 sq ft) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, notified in 2000. The site is used as a roost site by lesser horseshoe bats.

Location

Hestercombe House is between West Monkton and Cheddon Fitzpaine in the Taunton Deane area in the south of the English county of Somerset. It is on the Quantock Hills which were England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty being designated in 1956. [5] The south facing gardens offer views of the Blackdown Hills. [6]

History

In the 11th century Hestercombe was owned by Glastonbury Abbey. Sir John Meriet founded a chantry in the 14th century and in 1392 it passed to John La Ware by marriage and stayed in his family for almost four hundred years. [1] The current house is a Grade II* listed [7] country house which was originally built in the 16th century for the Warre family. Sir Richard Warre (d. 1601) bequeathed it to his son Roger who married Elinor, daughter of Sir John Popham. [8] When their descendant Sir Francis Warre, Bt. died in 1718 he left the estate to his daughter, Margaret, who transferred it to her husband John Bampfylde (1691–1750). Following his death in 1750 it was inherited by the couple's son, Coplestone Warre Bampfylde, a landscape painter who developed pleasure grounds to the north of the house incorporating cascades, lakes and a series of ornamental structures. [9]

The house was enlarged and altered in the 18th century, but this work is no longer visible beneath the refronting and enlargement works carried out around 1875 for Edward Portman, 1st Viscount Portman, who had acquired it in 1873. [10] [11]

Second World War

Remains of barracks block in the grounds Geograph 3146482 Hestercombe Gardens - Barracks.jpg
Remains of barracks block in the grounds

During the early years of the Second World War, the house and gardens were used by the British Army as part of the headquarters for VIII Corps, which was formed to command the defence of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Bristol. The VIII Corps main headquarters was at nearby Pyrland Hall, and the rear headquarters established at Hestercombe House, with Personnel and Logistics staff. Hestercombe was the headquarters of the American army 398th General Service Engineer Regiment from July 1943 to April 1944. Eisenhower visited Hestercombe on 18 March 1944 to meet General Gerow and inspect the troops. The Engineers were joined by the 19th District Headquarters of the US Supply Services in July 1943, which stayed until July 1944. [12]

Early on 28 March 1944, a few minutes after midnight, a Junkers Ju 88 crashed on the drive to the house after being shot down by cannon fire from a de Havilland Mosquito of No. 219 Squadron Royal Air Force. Hestercombe was the American 801 Hospital Centre after the Normandy landings until the end of the war. [12] A total of 33 barrack huts (various Nissen huts, Romney huts and MOWB (Ministry of Works brick huts) were constructed at Hestercombe during the war. Many were demolished in the 1960s by the Crown Estate, and only one is left standing, in Rook Wood. [13]

Post war

The 'Great Plat', with the pergola beyond Hestercombe Detail.jpg
The 'Great Plat', with the pergola beyond

The house remained in the Portman family until 1944 when it was accepted in lieu of death duties by the Crown Estate, however Mrs Portman remained at the house until her death in 1951. It was leased to the fire service in 1953. [14] A visitor centre opened in the Victorian stables in 2005. Most of the cost of the conversion was funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. [15] The house was used as the Emergency Call Centre for the Somerset Area of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service with a running cost in 2011 of £675,000 per year. [16] The fire service moved out in 2012 and restoration work was then undertaken. [17]

The house today appears an assemblage of several architectural styles popular during the Victorian era. While the overall design and air could be described as Italianate, also present in the same entrance facade are examples of high Victorian Gothic, such as an Italianate seigneurial tower confused in design with a campanile tower. [2] This tower complete with a glazed loggia is crowned by a French-style mansard roof with oversized chimneys masquerading as Renaissance ornament. The centrepiece of the same facade is a porte-cochère designed in a heavy neoclassical style. [18]

Watermill and dynamo house

Watermill and dynamo house Geograph 2900300 Hestercombe Gardens - watermill.jpg
Watermill and dynamo house

In the 18th century a watermill was installed and used to power a sawmill, grind corn and crush apples. There is some evidence that there has been a mill on the site since the late 14th century. [19] The overshot waterwheel, which was 11 feet (3.4 m) in diameter and 4 feet (1.2 m) wide overall, [20] was replaced in 1895, [21] when the attached barn and workshops were expanded. [19] and generated electricity for the estate, which was stored in glass batteries. The waterwheel had deteriorated by the 1980s. [22]

From the 1950s until 2009 the buildings were used as a barn for animals and agricultural machinery. It has since been restored and had a biomass boiler installed. During the restoration an unexplained series of unusual pipework was discovered in the floor of the building. [23] The building now acts as a visitor centre, [19] which includes access to the dynamo room where acetylene gas was produced along with a thermalume generator which produced gas from petrol and air. [24]

Gardens

Hestercombe House
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Hestercombe Gardens (6097257589).jpg
Location Somerset
Grid reference ST242287
InterestBiological
Area0.08 hectare (8,600 sq ft)
Notification 2000

When the house and gardens were inherited by Coplestone Warre Bampfylde (1720–91) in the 18th century, a Georgian landscape garden was laid out, containing ponds, a grand cascade, a gothic alcove, a Tuscan temple arbour (1786), [25] and a folly mausoleum. [26] Bampfylde was an amateur architect of talent and a friend and adviser to Henry Hoare who laid out the gardens at Stourhead. Bampfylde also designed a Doric temple for the grounds, which was built around 1786, [27] [25] with an ashlar tetrastyle prostyle fronted by Tuscan columns and a large modillioned pediment. [28] A Victorian formal parterre was added near the house by Henry Hall in the 1870s. [29]

Plan of the Edwardian garden Hestercombe Plan Lutyens Houses and Gardens 1913 Page185.jpg
Plan of the Edwardian garden

The Edwardian garden was laid out by Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens between 1904 and 1906 for the Hon E.W.B. Portman, [31] [32] resulting in a garden "remarkable for the bold, concise pattern of its layout, and for the minute attention to detail everywhere to be seen in the variety and imaginative handling of contrasting materials, whether cobble, tile, flint, or thinly coursed local stone". [33] Jekyll and Lutyens were leading participants of the Arts and Crafts movement. Jekyll is remembered for her outstanding designs and subtle, painterly approach to the arrangement of the gardens she created, particularly her "hardy flower borders". [34] Jekyll was one of the first of her profession to take into account the colour, texture, and experience of gardens as the prominent authorities in her designs, and she was a lifelong fan of plants of all genres. Her theory of how to design with colour was influenced by painter J. M. W. Turner and by impressionism, and by the theoretical colour wheel. Their collaborative style was first developed at Herstercombe and described by the garden writer and designer Penelope Hobhouse as:

The collaboration between the architect Edwin Lutyens and gardener Gertrude Jekyll became the Edwardian symbol of good taste, the epitome of excellence for a generation on the brink of extinction. Architectural and planting expertise worked together to produce aesthetic and horticultural compositions, and although few survive in their original state their influence is still felt in countless gardens. [35]

The "Great Plat" combined the patterned features of a parterre with the hardy herbaceous planting espoused by Miss Jekyll. [32] [36] Lutyens also designed the orangery about 50 m east of the main house between 1904 and 1909, [37] which is now Grade I listed, [38] as are the garden walls, paving and steps on the south front of the house. [39] On either side of the Great Plat are raised terraces with brick water channels. In his 2018 BBC series Paradise Gardens, Monty Don suggested that the garden had many features of the traditional Islamic Paradise Garden. [40]

The eastern area is laid out as a Dutch garden laid out with perennial plants such as Large white flowering Yucca gloriosa as groups used vertical elements alternate with purple colored flowering dwarf Lavender ( Lavandula ), catmint ( Nepeta ) or silvery colored Zieste ( Stachys ), Cotton lavender ( Santolina ), China Rose ( Rosa chinensis ) or Fuchsia ( Fuchsia magellanica ). [41]

Since October 2003, the landscape and gardens, extending to over 100 acres (0.40 km2), have been managed by the Hestercombe Gardens Trust, [42] a registered charity set up to restore and preserve the site with a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £3.7M. [43] The gardens featured on BBC TV's Gardens Through Time series, [44] and cover more than 40 acres (160,000 m2), with three different styles of garden ranging from woodland walks to lakes and ponds to formal gardens. The Georgian landscape, Victorian shrubbery and terrace and the formal Edwardian gardens combine to create biodiversity and interest for visitors. The site is used by lesser horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros) as both a breeding and wintering roost site. Numbers of lesser horseshoes at this site are only exceeded by one other site in southwest England. The bats use roofspaces in a former stable block as a maternity site. [45] It has been designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). [46]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantock Hills</span> Range of hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England

The Quantock Hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England, consist of heathland, oak woodlands, ancient parklands and agricultural land. They were England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, designated in 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gertrude Jekyll</span> British garden designer and writer

Gertrude Jekyll was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote over 1000 articles for magazines such as Country Life and William Robinson's The Garden. Jekyll has been described as "a premier influence in garden design" by British and American gardening enthusiasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheddon Fitzpaine</span> Human settlement in England

Cheddon Fitzpaine is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the Quantock Hills 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Taunton. The village is situated near the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, and the River Tone and has a population of 1,929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston St Mary</span> Human settlement in England

Kingston St Mary is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated at the southern end of the Quantock Hills 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Taunton. The village has a population of 921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Bagborough</span> Human settlement in England

West Bagborough is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Taunton. In 2011, the village had a population of 358.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Monkton</span> Human settlement in England

West Monkton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north east of Taunton. The parish includes the hamlets of Monkton Heathfield, Bathpool, and Burlinch and the western parts of Coombe and Walford, and had a population of 2,787 at the 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thurloxton</span> Human settlement in England

Thurloxton is a village and civil parish 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Taunton, and 5 miles south-west of Bridgwater on the south-eastern slopes of the Quantock Hills in the county of Somerset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coplestone Warre Bampfylde</span> English painter

Coplestone Warre Bampfylde (1720–1791) was a British landowner, garden designer and artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grade I listed buildings in Somerset</span> Buildings of exceptional interest in Somerset

The Grade I listed buildings in Somerset, England, demonstrate the history and diversity of its architecture. The ceremonial county of Somerset consists of a non-metropolitan county, administered by Somerset County Council, which is divided into five districts, and two unitary authorities. The districts of Somerset are West Somerset, South Somerset, Taunton Deane, Mendip and Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the breakup of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were once part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.

Taunton Deane is a local government district with borough status in the English county of Somerset. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance; Grade I structures are those considered to be "buildings of exceptional interest". Listing was begun by a provision in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. Once listed, severe restrictions are imposed on the modifications allowed to a building's structure or its fittings. In England, the authority for listing under the Planning Act 1990 rests with Historic England, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; local authorities have a responsibility to regulate and enforce the planning regulations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Kingston St Mary</span> Church in Somerset, England

The Church of St Mary in Kingston St Mary, Somerset, England, dates from the 13th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warre baronets</span> Extinct baronetcy in the Baronetage of England

The Warre Baronetcy, of Hestercombe in the County of Somerset, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 2 June 1673 for Francis Warre, subsequently Member of Parliament for Bridgwater and Taunton. He was the only son of Sir John Warre, of Hestercombe House, Taunton, Somerset, a Knight of the Shire for Somerset. Sir Francis had no surviving male issue and the title became extinct on his death in 1718. His daughter and heiress, Margaret, married John Bampfylde. Their son, Coplestone Warre Bampfylde, succeeded to the family estates.;

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munstead Wood</span>

Munstead Wood is a Grade I listed house and garden in Munstead Heath, Busbridge, on the boundary of the town of Godalming in Surrey, England, 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of the town centre. The garden was created by garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, and became widely known through her books and prolific articles in magazines such as Country Life. The Arts and Crafts style house, in which Jekyll lived from 1897 to 1932, was designed by architect Edwin Lutyens to complement the garden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orchards, Surrey</span>

Orchards is an Arts and Crafts style house in Bramley in Surrey, England. It is on Bramley's boundary with Busbridge and 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of Godalming town centre. Described by English Heritage as the first major work of architect Edwin Lutyens, it is a Grade I listed building. The gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The property is privately owned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathcote, Ilkley</span>

Heathcote is a Neoclassical-style villa in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England. Designed by architect Edwin Lutyens, it was his first comprehensive use of that style, making it the precursor of his later public buildings in Edwardian Baroque style and those of New Delhi. It was completed in 1908.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mells Park</span> Country estate in Somerset, England

Mells Park is a country estate of 140 hectares near Mells, Somerset, England. It originated as a 17th-century deer park, probably created by the Horner family, who had been the owners of Mells Manor from 1543. The Horners expanded the park and planted extensive woodlands, resulting in a large collection of mature trees, especially 18th-century plantings of oak, lime and beech. The park is Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It contains Park House, also known as Mells Park House, a Grade II* listed building, built in 1925 in neoclassical style by the architect Edwin Lutyens, replacing an 18th-century house of the same name. It is c. 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Mells Manor House, which does not lie within the park.

Sir Francis Warre, 1st Baronet, of Hestercombe House, Kingston, Somerset, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between.1685 and 1715.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pednor House</span>

Pednor House is a house near Chartridge parish of Buckinghamshire. It has been listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England since November 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hestercombe Gardens</span> Garden complex situated in Somerset, England

Hestercombe Gardens is a garden complex situated on the grounds of Hestercombe House in the southwestern English county of Somerset. The entire garden complex comprises three individual gardens from different stylistic periods. Notably, the Edwardian Garden from the early 20th century holds national significance as the first collaborative effort between gardener and artist Gertrude Jekyll and architect Edwin Lutyens. Today, Hestercombe Gardens stands as one of the most important listed gardens of the 20th century and is under the ownership of the Hestercombe Garden Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hoo, Willingdon and Jevington</span> House in Willingdon and Jevington, East Sussex

The Hoo is an Neoclassical country house in Willingdon, in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1902 for Alexander Wedderburn, a wealthy lawyer. Considered one of Lutyens' best houses, it is a Grade I listed building. The gardens, which had input from Gertrude Jekyll, are designated at Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.

References

  1. 1 2 Historic England. "Hestercombe (1000437)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Hestercombe House (1060513)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  3. "Hestercombe Gardens" (PDF). European Garden Heritage network. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  4. "Somerset". GardenVist.com. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  5. "Quantock Hills" (PDF). Quantock Hills AONB. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  6. "Hestercombe Gardens". Swandown. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  7. Historic England. "Hestercombe House (1060513)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  8. Rice 2005, p. 35.
  9. Hugo 1874, p. 28.
  10. "Buildings". Hestercombe House. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  11. "Hestercombe, Taunton, England". Parks & Gardens UK. Parks and Gardens Data Services Ltd.
  12. 1 2 Wakefield 1994, p. 101.
  13. "Gardens". Herstercombe House. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  14. "The restoration of the Formal Garden at Hestercombe 1973 to 1980 Part 1 – In the hands of the Fire Service". Parks and Gardens UK. Parks and Gardens Data Services. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  15. "Hestercombe Gardens Trust Update". Garden History Society. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  16. "Hestercombe House fire control could move to Exeter". This is the westcountry. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  17. "Philip White — Hestercombe's restoration man". Country Gardener. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  18. Marsh, Michael (6 March 2012). "Photos show history of Hestercombe House as summer handover nears". Somerset County Gazette. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  19. 1 2 3 "Hestercombe Watermill". Mills archive. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  20. "Hestercombe House". Bulletin 111 – News and Notes. Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society. Archived from the original on 4 May 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  21. "Restoration at Hestercombe". Quantock Eco. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  22. Historic England. "Barn complex including pumping house and waterwheel (1308064)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  23. Murless, Brian; Warren, Derrick (2009). "Hestercombe sawmill, electric power and a mystery" (PDF). Industrial Archeology News. 150: 12. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  24. "Watermill and barn". Hestercombe. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  25. 1 2 Colvin 2008, p. ?.
  26. Historic England. "The Mausoleum in the grounds of Hester combe House (1060461)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  27. Bond 1998, p. 87.
  28. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1390976)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  29. "Hestercombe, Taunton, England". Parks & Gardens UK. Parks and Gardens Data Services Limited (PGDS). Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  30. 1 2 Weaver, Lawrence (1913). Houses and Gardens by E.L. Lutyens. London: Country Life. pp. 140–157. OCLC   1111173438.
  31. Historic England. "Garden walls, paving and steps on the south front of Hestercombe House (1060514)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  32. 1 2 Brown 1982, pp. 15, 78, 83–85, 179, 184, 186.
  33. Goode et al. 2001.
  34. Bisgrove 1992, pp. 90–96.
  35. Hobhouse 2002, p. 403.
  36. Bisgrove 1992, p. 161.
  37. Waite 1964, p. 46.
  38. Historic England. "Orangery (1175994)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  39. Historic England. "Garden, walls, paving and steps on South front of Hestercombe House (1060514)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  40. "Monty Don's Paradise Gardens - BBC Two". BBC. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  41. "Gertrude Jekyll and Hestercombe". English Heritage. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  42. "HESTERCOMBE GARDENS TRUST LIMITED, registered charity no. 1060000". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  43. "Hestercombe Garden's Philip White awarded MBE for services to heritage garden restoration". Somerset Life. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  44. "Episode 23". Gardeners World. BBC. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  45. "Hestercombe House" (PDF). SSSI Citation sheet. English Nature. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  46. "Hestercombe House". Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 25 April 2011.

Bibliography