Identification and description | |||||||||||||||||||
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Name | WOLTERTON HALL | ||||||||||||||||||
Location |
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Localisation | Latitude: 52.840403 Longitude: 1.2090959 National Grid Reference: TG 16230 31813 Map: Download a full scale map (PDF) |
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Overview | Heritage Category: Park and Garden Grade: II* List Entry Number: 1001022 Date first listed: 18-Sep-1987 |
An early C18 park and woodland designed as a collaboration between Thomas Ripley,
Charles Bridgeman, Horatio Walpole and others, surrounding an early C18 Palladian
mansion with mid C19 gardens laid out by William Sawrey Gilpin.
HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
The manor of Wolterton was held for much of the Middle Ages by the de Wolterton family.
The designed landscape has a long and complex history which began with the purchase
of the estate in 1722 by Horatio Walpole, brother of Sir Robert Walpole of Houghton
(first Prime Minister of England). Horatio began an immediate programme of updating
the Hall and grounds, the latter in the late geometric style with terraces and a large
canal. A fire in November 1724 however largely destroyed the Hall and all work on
the grounds was stopped. The following year the architect Thomas Ripley was commissioned
to design a replacement hall, choosing a new site c 60m to the north-west of the old
building. A garden plan to ornament the new hall, produced between 1724 and 1729,
has been attributed to Charles Bridgeman (Willis 1977) but closer inspection of the
estate accounts (Wolterton archive) reveals that the final design, recorded by the
surveyor James Corbridge in 1732, was the result of a collaboration between Joseph
Carpenter, Thomas Bayfield, Thomas Ripley, and Walpole himself, the latter two being
the chief designers. Carpenter preceded Charles Bridgeman as partner to Henry Wise
at the Brompton Park Nurseries but died in late 1726 and Bridgeman appears to have
subsequently given sporadic advice en route to Houghton or Gunton (qqv) where he was
working. The final formal layout included a lake, kitchen garden, sunken bowling green,
and southern vista framed by groves. Walpole died in 1757 and was succeeded by his
eldest son, also Horatio,who became first Earl of Orford in 1806. When the first Earl
died in 1807 a map produced in the same year showed that the formal landscape had
become softened by the addition of woodlands planted in a naturalistic style. Few
changes occurred during the period of the second Earl (1809-22) but with the succession
of the third Earl a new phase of activity commenced. George Stanley Repton was commissioned
to enlarge the Hall in 1828 and in 1829 the landscape gardener William Sawrey Gilpin
(1762-1843) designed an elaborate new parterre for the south front, new curved drives
and woodlands through the park, and exotic planting for an arboretum in Pleasure Ground
Plantation. Other Gilpin proposals were not implemented but the island he suggested
for the lake was finally added in 1880. During the mid C20 much of the park was put
under the plough then returned to grass in the mid 1980s. Many park trees have been
lost but two new avenues have been established this century, one running north from
the Hall and another south-east across the park. The site remains (1999) in private
ownership.
DESCRIPTION
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Wolterton Park is located c 3.5km north
of Blickling, itself c 19km north of Norwich in a rural part of Norfolk on the north
side of the River Bure valley. The site covers c 180ha and is bounded to the east
by the Fring Wood Farm to the Saracen's Head road, partly wooded on the park side
with open fields beyond. A brick park wall runs along the north boundary, edged by
two woodland plantations on the park side and again fields beyond. The Itteringham
to Matlask road forms the west boundary, and agricultural land lies to the south,
mostly screened by trees along the perimeter of the park. The ground has a gently
rolling character with a slight fall southwards towards the course of the Bure which
runs 1km to the south of the Hall. The Hall sits at the centre of the park looking
south over the lake and north over the park, with Blickling Folly just visible on
the skyline. There is also a shorter view north, defined by a new (C20) avenue. The
main views into the site are from the west, the Mannington road having good views
of the Hall and church. There are also glimpsed views of the Hall from the Itteringham
road and through the trees from the north drive.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES The main entrance is off the northern boundary, c 800m to
the north-east of the Hall, past the single North Lodge (listed grade II) built in
1914 of red brick and reused C18 stone dressings. The gently curving drive is lined
with recently planted trees; it passes through a second set of gates c 120m north-east
of the Hall where the park joins the pleasure ground, before arriving at the north
front. A secondary drive enters from the western boundary at Dairy Farm yard and cottages
(variously listed grade II and ranging in date from C17 to C19) and runs through the
Pleasure Ground plantations to the north front. There are two tracks from the north
front of the Hall: one leads to Oak Cottage, lying c 600m from the Hall on the east-south-east
boundary; the other runs south through the eastern half of the park past the C18 Keepers
Cottage (listed grade II) to Decoy Plantation.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING Wolterton Hall (listed grade I) is a large country house of brick
and stone under a slate roof. It is built in a rectangular plan in the Palladian style,
with later additions. The north, entrance front has three storeys and seven bays with
a central door flanked by pilasters. The original entrance was to the first floor
but the stairs were removed in the early C19 and the door became a window. To the
west is a four-bay, two-storey range terminating in a one-bay, three-storey pavilion
designed by Philip Hardwick. The south, garden front mirrors the north front with
the addition of an arcade and rusticated balustrade, and flights of stone steps up
to a first-floor terrace. The Hall is, externally, much as completed in 1741 by Thomas
Ripley for Horatio Walpole, except for the arcading along the south front, and the
wing to the east, which were added by Hardwick and George Stanley Repton for the third
Earl of Orford in 1828.
The east front faces a courtyard, entered on the east through an archway with flanking
lodges. The East Lodge (listed grade II) is of early C19 origin, the two single-storey
buildings constructed of brick and attached by a central arch. The stable block (listed
grade II) lies c 100m to the south-east. It is rectangular in plan with a central
courtyard, entered through a stone archway on the north wall with an octagonal wooden
clock tower on the ridge above. The stables were designed in c 1750 by Thomas Ripley
for Horatio Walpole.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The main garden terrace is to the south, entered from
first-floor level onto an arcaded terrace with flanking steps down to garden level.
Here a grass terrace is bordered to east and west by yew hedges with statues and urns.
Beyond the yew hedge to the west is a lawn with veteran plane trees, whilst beyond
the hedge to the east is a further enclosed compartment. A central axial gravel path
leads to a raised gravel terrace running for c 200m east/west across the garden, reached
by a short flight of steps. A second set of steps leads down to another grass plat
which is bordered to the south by the ha-ha. The east end of the raised terrace is
terminated by a stone seat, whilst at the west end steps lead down to another garden
level, formally a rose garden, with rotunda. The gardens are the remains of the work
of Gilpin. The formal bedding schemes added to the Gilpin terraces in the late C19
were grassed over the in 1940s.
PARK The park at Wolterton is all under grass in a rolling landscape, partly divided
by fences in places. It is scattered with individual trees and clumps of various ages
with a good proportion of C20 planting. The park landscape is punctuated by larger
belts and blocks of woodland, particularly scattered around the perimeter. The lake
lies 400m to the south of the Hall, running for c 400m in a north/south alignment.
It was created by 1730, the northern end probably incorporating the excavations for
the formal canal aligned on the old hall, work on which was stopped after the fire
of 1724. Dairy Cottages and the estate farm complex, built from the C17 onwards, lie
in the north-west corner of the park. The ruined circular tower of St Margaret's church
(listed grade II*) some 200m to north of the Hall forms a visual element in the landscape
scheme. New avenues have been planted to the north of the Hall, and to the south-east
during the later C20 and many clumps dating from the Gilpin period survive in the
west park.
To the west of the Hall the early C18 grove survives in outline and became Pleasure
Ground Plantation in the C19, under Gilpin's direction. It was largely replanted in
the early C20. A few of the original sweet chestnuts survive in here but none of the
original paths. The main lines of the early C18 formal layout can still be traced
across the park, divided from the gardens by the ha-ha which dates from the mid C18.
Although they have been much softened, the main early C18 north and south vistas also
survive.
KITCHEN GARDEN The 1.5ha walled kitchen gardens (listed grade II) lie c 100m to the
south-east of Hall. They are the largest early C18 walled gardens in Norfolk and have
a complex layout (Williamson 1998). The ground in the main compartment falls from
east to west and contains the remains of glasshouses and forcing houses in the south-west
quarter. The north wall incorporates the Gardener's Cottage and the old cucumber house.
The free-standing C19 Peach House conservatory (listed grade II) occupies a central
position. To the south is a second enclosure with older walls, and skirting this to
south and east another low wall of later date. To the west of the old kitchen gardens
are the remains of an orchard and to the east a range of modern farm buildings. The
area is currently (1999) being developed as a commercial organic market garden.
The walled gardens date from the early C18 and appear (Corbridge, 1732) to have been
designed as an integral part of the ornamental landscape, the drive around the lake
returning through the walled gardens to the Hall.
REFERENCES
Country Life, 24 (3 October 1908), pp 450(60; 122 (18 July 1957), pp 116-19; (25 July
1957), pp 166-9 N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: North-east Norfolk and Norwich
(1962), pp 347-8 P Willis, Charles Bridgeman (1977), pp 85, 185, pl 80b J Garden History
11, (1991), nos 1 and 2, pp 100-1 B Peters, A country house and its landscape 1722-1858,
(MA dissertation, UEA 1991) S Piebenga, William Sawrey Gilpin, (English Heritage designer
theme study 1993) T Williamson, The archaeology of the landscape park, BAR Brit Ser
268 (1998), pp 72-80, 286-91
Maps A Plan of Wolterton Hall and grounds (attributed to Charles Bridgeman), nd (c
1724-9), (Gough Collection, Bodleian Library, Oxford) James Corbridge, A map of Wolterton
Hall and Grounds, 1732 (private collection) Proposal for new planting of Wolterton
grounds (attributed to H Walpole), nd (c 1742), (private collection) W Faden, A new
topographical map of the county of Norfolk, 1797 (Norfolk Record Office) A Bryant,
Map of the county of Norfolk, 1826 (Norfolk Record Office)
OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1890 2nd edition published 1907 OS 25" to 1
mile: 2nd edition published 1906
Archival items Marginal elevation of Hall and grounds from Corbridge map, 1732 Thomas
Ripley, Design for a temple, c 1742 (private collection) The extensive Wolterton archive
is held in a private collection.
Description written: July 1999 Register Inspector: EMP Edited: March 2001
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.