| Identification and description | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Woodlands Vale Estate | ||||
| Location |
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| Localisation | Latitude: 50.721321 Longitude: -1.1302998 National Grid Reference: SZ6148991660 Map: Download a full scale map (PDF) |
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| Overview | Heritage Category: Park and Garden Grade: II List Entry Number: 1406522 Date first listed: 20-Jun-2012 Statutory Address 1: Woodlands Vale Estate, Calthorpe Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight |
In 1829 Charles Coach, the son of a coal and timber merchant, obtained about 14 acres
of land, including a wood, in the Parish of St Helens. An area of the wood was cleared
and Woodlands House was built on the north side of the road between Thornton Cross
and Bullen Cross. Charles Coach lived there until 1838 when he sold the estate to
John Percival, a banker from Northampton. He died at Woodlands in 1852 and a few years
later his widow sold the estate to Thomas Fowke, son of Rear Admiral George Fowke
of Sible Hedingham, Essex. The First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1866 shows a detached
house of irregular plan called Woodlands surrounded by a wooded area and with an area
of parkland stretching only as far to the east as Lady's Bridge. A sales catalogue
states that Thomas Fowke had the house rebuilt in stone on a ground scale.
In 1869 the freehold of the estate was bought by Colonel Somerset John Gough Calthorpe
(1831-1912), son of the 4th Lord Calthorpe of Edgbaston, Birmingham. He had been an
aide-de-camp to Lord Raglan during the Crimean War. In time he achieved the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel and he inherited his father's title in 1910. The architect Samuel
Sanders Teulon (1812-1873) had already built Elvetham Hall, Hampshire for his father
in 1859-62, and in 1870 Colonel Calthorpe employed him to enlarge the existing house
he had bought on the outskirts of Ryde. As part of the improvements Teulon added canted
bays and a circular tower under a conical roof. He also added a nine bay round-arched
screen wall to the north-west and a detached Gothic-derived summer house of 1874,
designed by him although it was completed after his death. In 1880 a three-arched
loggia was added to the house by Tarring and Wilkinson and extensive balustrading
and a pergola were added to the garden by E Erskine in 1889. In 1893 Calthorpe employed
a local architect Stephen Salter to add a porte-cochere to the main house and the
following year Salter replaced the existing conservatory by a billiard room and added
some detached stables to the south-west of the house.
By the 1897 Ordnance Survey map the name of the house had changed to Woodlands Vale,
formal gardens are shown laid out to the north-east of the house with terracing, paths,
a large cruciform-shaped pond and a curved ha-ha wall to the north-west and south-east
sides of the house, separating the gardens from the parkland beyond. Woodlands Vale
Farm, a home farm, and a water tower are shown for the first time on the south western
boundary of the park and shelter belts have been planted in the park.
Between 1897 and 1909, the date of the third edition Ordnance Survey map, Calthorpe
had moved Calthorpe Road further south in an elliptical shape to provide a grander
entrance and Salter's 1900-1 lodge is shown at the north western end of this. Clumps
of trees are shown for the first time near the south boundary at Lady's Bridge and
the formal garden layout has acquired further paths and a flight of steps with Japanese
lanterns, dated 1903 by Davy and Salter, is shown for the first time.
The Seventh Lord Calthorpe died in 1912 and Woodlands Vale passed to his second son,
Rear Admiral the Hon. Somerset Arthur George Calthorpe. A 'water temple' to the pool
was demolished in 1923. On his death in 1937 the house passed to his younger sister,
the Hon. Mrs Wilson-Heathcote. The 25 inch 1939 Ordnance Survey map shows a rectangular-shaped
area cleared of trees and bordered by paths to the west of the house (possibly a croquet
lawn) and to the east of the Pleasure Grounds circular ornamental clumps of trees
are shown in the parkland for the first time.
The 25 inch 1946-7 Ordnance Survey map shows the shelter belt of trees dividing Woodlands
Vale from Springfield at its north eastern end partially removed, suggesting that
Woodlands Vale had more recently acquired this land. Mrs Wilson-Heathcote died in
1956 and her husband two years later. The house and grounds were sold to a Mr A Ball
whose widow sold the house, gardens and pleasure grounds to the present owner. The
parkland and subsidiary estate buildings are now in separate ownership.
Woodlands Vale was listed at Grade II as part of the Ryde listing resurvey in 1972
but upgraded to Grade II* in 2005 including the attached rose arches, forecourt balustrades,
terrace walling, alcove, pergola, steps, planters and ornamental pond.
LOCATION, SETTING, LANDFORM, BOUNDARIES, AND AREA The Woodlands Vale estate is located
to the east of Ryde in the Civil Parish of Nettlestone and Seaview and comprises 29.4
hectares (72.66 acres). It forms an irregular shape, fuller to the south-west and
south-east, narrowing to the north-west with an elliptical curve at the south-west
side. It is bounded on the south-west by Calthorpe Road, on the north-west by the
western part of Puckpool Hill, to the south-west by part of Oakhill Road and to the
north-east by Springvale Road. The land slopes from the south-west to the north-east
affording views from the main house over parkland to the Solent and Palmerston's Spitbank
Fort.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES The main entrance is no longer through Salter's 1900-1 Woodlands
Vale Lodge (Grade II) but is situated further north along the earlier road alignment
of Calthorpe Road. The entrance drive skirts Garden Cottage and passes through the
pleasure grounds to the north-west of the house. The drive rejoins the original carriage
drive near the former stables of 1894 and the Coach House and proceeds in a north-easterly
direction to the main house, terminating in a gravelled courtyard with entrance piers
supporting ornamental glass and iron lamps and an arcaded wall with banded brick arches
and terracotta finials of circa 1889 separating the courtyard from the gardens.
There is a back entrance into the parkland along the north-east boundary in Springvale
Road.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING Woodlands Vale, principally by Samuel Sanders Teulon and Stephen
Salter, is listed at Grade II*, including Teulon's rose arches attached to the north-east
of the house and other garden features linked to the house.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The formal gardens with their hard landscaping are situated
mainly to the north-east of Woodlands Vale. The main layout of the gardens dates from
the 1870s and 1880s with Japanese garden features added circa 1900. The garden has
a strongly architectural structure with a series of terraces leading the eye down
to the formal cruciform-shaped pool at the bottom of the garden and beyond to views
across the parkland to the Solent and Spitbank Fort beyond. A gravel terrace runs
beside the north-east elevation of the house with a Gothic-style garden building built
1874 to a design by Teulon at the north-west end (Grade II). Below the gravel terrace
at the north-west end is a pet cemetery. Steps descend from the centre of the gravel
terrace on either side of an arched grotto to a central grass terrace divided by a
gravel path with two brick multi-angled planters. (Until the 1990s a 1884 statue of
a lion by J Stiff and Sons London occupied a plinth on the north-west side of the
central terrace).To the north-west of the house a gravel terrace opens onto another
grass terrace - The Seabreeze Terrace - which overlooks the central grass terrace.
A garden store dated 1889 is built beneath steps leading down from Seabreeze Terrace.
From the central terrace a further set of steps descend to a semi-circular area of
lawn with a central path leading to three linked formal pools with two fountains (the
'water temple' in the central pool was demolished in 1923). Along the north-east edge
of the central terrace runs a pergola supported on brick columns with a garden shelter
at the north-west end. From the west end of the pergola three flights of steps lead
down a pathway running south-east. Each flight of steps is decorated with ceramic
lanterns in Japanese style dated 1903. Beside the bottom set of steps is a wooden
Japanese arch with three flat lintel beams. The steps and arch are listed Grade II.
The path terminates in a gateway with brick piers and terracotta finials giving access
to the park. From this point a grass path runs north-east alongside the edge of the
park. Halfway along the path is a wooden open-fronted garden shelter of circa 1900
(Grade II). At the end of the path another gateway with brick piers and terracotta
finials gives access to the park and steps with brick piers and terracotta finials
lead back to the garden. A ha-ha separates the garden from the park.
The principal view is from the house and gardens across the falling parkland to the
north-east which provides borrowed views over the Solent to Spitbank Fort. There are
also views from the house and gardens over the parkland to the east and south-east.
The entrance drive skirts Garden Cottage and passes through the pleasure grounds to
the north-west of the house, which comprise lawns with a planting of specimen trees
and exotic species of coniferous and deciduous trees.
PARK The parkland is grazed. The south-western boundary of the park along Calthorpe
Road, expanded to the south by Calthorpe between 1897 and 1909, has a thick belt of
deciduous trees planted at that time to screen the main house from the road. The parkland
is bisected by a narrow stream running from south-west to north-east and there is
a small irregular pond towards the north-west. To the south-east of the house the
parkland retains clumps of trees shown on the 1909 OS map and shelter belts shown
on the 1898 map. Along Oakhill Road are the late C19 estate water tower, which has
been converted into a residence, and the home farm, Woodlands Vale Farm. To the north-east
of the house are further shelter belts masking houses beyond the estate boundaries
and clumps of trees. The north-east and north-west sides are bounded by stone walls
with brick curved coping. The shelter belt of trees along Puckpool Road is also part
of Colonel Calthorpe's improvements, shown on the 1909 Ordnance Survey map.
Woodlands Vale estate, principally laid out between 1870 and 1912 by Somerset John Gough Calthorpe (Seventh Baron Calthorpe from 1910).
This garden or other land is registered under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens by Historic England for its special historic interest.
The Woodlands Vale estate is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Design quality: the Woodlands Vale estate contains a good and representative example of a formal garden laid out between the 1870s and 1890s with the addition of some fashionable Japanese features in the first decade of the C20. It is considered to be in the top three Victorian and Edwardian parks and gardens in the Isle of Wight. * Designer: the rose arches and a summer house were designed by the distinguished architect Samuel Sanders Teulon. * Group Value: the main house and attached garden features are listed at Grade II* and the parkland is integral with the house and garden and provides views to the north-east and south-east with borrowed views of The Solent and Spitbank Fort to the north-east. It is one of the most complete surviving gentry estates on the Isle of Wight and one of the few remaining estates on the Isle of Wight with an open outlook to the sea.
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Lloyd, D W, The Buildings of England: Isle of Wight, (2006), 243-244
Other
Isle of Wight County Archaeology and Historic Environment Service, Monument Report on Woodlands Vale,