Identification and description | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | NASHDOM ABBEY | ||||
Location |
|
||||
Localisation | Latitude: 51.548704 Longitude: -0.67431232 National Grid Reference: SU 92019 84145 Map: Download a full scale map (PDF) |
||||
label.localisation | [51.5499268385495,-0.673185485680372], [51.5498108390387,-0.6732130035717], [51.5497416903085,-0.67323600003005], [51.5495777043666,-0.673232808502415], [51.5494967613905,-0.673225067000022], [51.5493277836433,-0.673204266556402], [51.5492240230358,-0.673180170206222], [51.5491405259579,-0.673153306717565], [51.5490010253597,-0.673112770158519], [51.5488970427857,-0.673095286123352], [51.5488380873619,-0.673086155417359], [51.5487759204764,-0.673091223294869], [51.5487293200176,-0.673098001675412], [51.5486400227767,-0.673110074696298], [51.5484742669475,-0.673185753201677], [51.5482355988948,-0.673288776257641], [51.5480134126725,-0.673372685432104], [51.5478178493573,-0.673454810083634], [51.547724380481,-0.67347330589941], [51.5475372733321,-0.673496111030605], [51.5473448405508,-0.673526656736796], [51.5471389864173,-0.673566274429994], [51.5469923940474,-0.673582463742579], [51.5467657342959,-0.673588823367218], [51.5466312912542,-0.6735907999263], [51.5463037873912,-0.673520036984695], [51.5462325505641,-0.673501499885059], [51.5461126750252,-0.673487621922059], [51.5459016910517,-0.673473552230071], [51.5458880126035,-0.673478968702422], [51.5461240283302,-0.673654365863015], [51.5462930537498,-0.673767694648832], [51.5464574980006,-0.673894180219208], [51.5469081084731,-0.674234574780505], [51.5471280976569,-0.67439867718154], [51.5474474706045,-0.674638868374251], [51.5477603681052,-0.674863069365992], [51.5477918174529,-0.674877010546925], [51.54812084715,-0.675039192282943], [51.5483962851122,-0.675171145954759], [51.5487274607729,-0.675327515043997], [51.5490253348118,-0.67547076247559], [51.5492013738917,-0.675486260627033], [51.5494091736293,-0.675498673240772], [51.5496942439592,-0.67551214505222], [51.5498935912398,-0.675149364036975], [51.5498878002665,-0.675115898314302], [51.54999711829,-0.674913096968927], [51.5501516183422,-0.674638454107416], [51.5503358716255,-0.674303277030553], [51.5503517974541,-0.67385691506131], [51.5503721800171,-0.673446206419572], [51.5503865380974,-0.673027682395505], [51.5503715377102,-0.673030700505682], [51.5503104987448,-0.67307587477609], [51.5502356737991,-0.673098661823164], [51.5501570279417,-0.673142184641127], [51.5501212868829,-0.673151892429445], [51.5500254963818,-0.67317420738615], [51.5499268385495,-0.673185485680372] | ||||
Overview | Heritage Category: Park and Garden Grade: II List Entry Number: 1000606 Date first listed: 30-Aug-1987 |
An early C20 house and formal garden by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with adjacent woodland.
HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
Nashdom was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Prince Alexis Dolgorouki and his wife,
on a previously undeveloped field surrounded by woodland. The house and surrounding
formal garden were built c 1905-9. The site was sold c 1926 and became the Anglican
Benedictine monastery of Nashdom Abbey, until sold again c 1986 and left empty, subsequently
being developed into flats (1997).
DESCRIPTION
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Nashdom lies 1km north-west of Burnham,
on a triangle of land bounded by roads: to the west Taplow Common Road, to the east
Rose Lane, and to the north a connecting lane, Nashdom Lane, at the southern edge
of the Dropmore estate (qv). The 4ha site is on largely level land, with a slight
rise from south to north, and a sharp drop at the south-west side of the house and
upper garden terrace. The setting is largely woodland and agricultural land, with
the Dropmore estate to the north and the junction of Taplow Common Road and Nashdom
Lane prominent in the immediate setting to the north-west.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES The main entrance is from the west end of Nashdom Lane. A
parallel spur off Nashdom Lane runs along the north-west front, along the bottom of
the massive north-west wall of the house, in the middle of which is the main colonnaded
entrance loggia, backed by an apsidal courtyard with the remains of a circular feature
(? fountain and pool) in the centre surrounded by stone paving. The main door and
entrance hall are at the north end of the loggia; to the south is a matching service
entrance. A gatehouse (?Lutyens c 1912, listed grade II) lies at the north-east corner
of the site where Nashdom Lane meets Rose Lane, 100m north-east of the house. It is
built of whitewashed brick, consisting of a single block whose centre is a carriage
entrance and whose outer wings lie at an angle of 45 degrees to it. Immediately behind
it, to the south-west, blocking the view from the gatehouse to the garden to the south-west,
is the single-storey, L-shaped stable (?Lutyens c 1912, listed grade II), in similar
style to the gatehouse and also of whitewashed brick. A further, disused drive (now
a path through the wood), once flanked by a C19 chestnut avenue (now gone), enters
at the southern tip of the site. In the C19 it gave access from Hitcham Park to the
south, extending a straight avenue through that park northwards to Nashdom Lane, across
Taplow Common Road (OS 1882; 1899; 1924), although there is now no access from the
road at this end of Nashdom. The drive terminates at the north end, south of the rose
garden, in an alcove (Lutyens c 1912, listed grade II) with banded courses of tiles
in brickwork and an arch with a keystone and broken pediment, designed to disguise
the generator room behind.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING Nashdom house (Lutyens c 1905(9, listed grade II*) lies on the
northern boundary of the site. It is a large, imposing house in bare neo-Regency style,
with a severe, north-west entrance front overlooking the adjacent road which looks
'shockingly urban on the country lane' (Pevsner and Williamson 1994). The south-east
garden front is softened by bow windows and the extensive use of green-painted shutters
at the many windows, these being also employed on the south-west front overlooking
the lower portion of the garden. A 1960s' extension to the north-east has been demolished
(1997), with the intention to replace it with another extension in similar style to
the Lutyens original.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The gardens lie adjacent to the south-west and south-east
fronts, extending north-east towards the stable and gatehouse. There are two main
divisions. A straight path (originally paved with York stone) below the south-east,
garden front leads north-eastwards to the circular rose garden (Lutyens c 1912, listed
grade II), the interior of which is derelict (1997), enclosed by a 4m high curved
brick wall (originally with a pergola around the circumference and paths of York stone,
now gone). Beyond the garden front lies the open east lawn, the western edge of which
is defined by a level, balustraded terrace (also originally paved with York stone)
which runs at right angles from the south corner of the house, along the top of a
massive retaining wall. Below this to the west is a long drop to the second main division:
the lower, west lawn, now a car park, reached from the terrace by a double flight
of grand stone staircases. The outer, southern edges of the lawns merge into the woodland
to the south, with banks of rhododendrons breaking up the boundary.
The mixed woodland pleasure grounds to the south retain their central drive, although
none of the chestnut avenue survives. The trees at the southern end are relatively
young, but those at the north are mature, with mature rhododendrons underplanted in
some areas. An early to mid C20 concrete-lined winding rill runs south on the west
side of the drive, emerging, via a concrete cascade, into a concrete-lined pool, now
much overgrown and unused. A small cemetery used by the Abbey also lies in the woodland,
adjacent to the Taplow Common Road.
REFERENCES
Country Life, 32 (31 August 1912), pp 292-8 L Weaver, Houses and gardens by E L Lutyens
(1913), pp 238-46 J Brown, Gardens of a golden afternoon (1982), pp 120, 159, 168,
186 N Pevsner and E Williamson, The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (1994),
pp 210-11
Maps OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1882 OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published
1899 1925 edition
Description written: 1997 Register Inspector: SR Edited: September 2000
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.