Landscape record TQ 73 SE 235 - St Ronan's historic park

Tongswood, now the site of St Ronan’s School, originated as a medieval estate in Hawkhurst and was owned by the Dunk family from at least 1512 until the early eighteenth century. Through inheritance and marriage it passed to the Earls of Halifax before a succession of tenants occupied the house during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. By 1840 the estate was owned by the Hon. Felix Tollemache and comprised a modest country house with pleasure grounds, a walled garden and associated farmland. Following ownership by Sackville Phelps and Major George Robert Stevenson, the estate was purchased by tea broker William Cotterill in 1865, who extensively rebuilt the mansion and created formal Italianate gardens, terraces and conservatories. The estate was further enlarged by the Goldsmid family and, after 1903, by Charles Eugene Gunther, who transformed Tongswood into one of England’s leading country estates, expanding it to over 800 acres and creating extensive formal gardens, a pinetum, rock garden and model farm. Following military requisition during the Second World War, the house and 260 acres were purchased in 1945 for St Ronan’s School, which relocated to the estate in 1946 and remains there today. Despite later development, much of Gunther’s early twentieth-century landscape design survives.


SITE DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

St Ronan’s is located some 23 km south-east of Tunbridge Wells, one and a
half kilometres east of Hawkhurst and about ½ km north of the junction between
Water Lane and the A268, part of an ancient ridge way which runs
northwest/southeast between Flimwell and Rye. Cranbrook is 6 kms to the
north. The area of historic interest covered in this site description is 146 acres
or 59 hectares (KLIS). Water Lane and Foxhole Lane form the north-western
and south-eastern site boundaries. To the southwest the site is bordered by
the farmland of Pipsden and to the north by Tongswood Home Farm (once
known as Tebbitts). The site lies in typically undulating Wealden countryside of
farmland interspersed with woods some of which are classified as ancient
woodland including the area of woodland to the southeast of the house known
as Tongs Wood. The house is built on the ridge with views southeast across a
shallow valley towards the ancient woodland on the hill beyond.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The main entrance to St Ronan’s is located on the east side of Water Lane. A
lodge (the date 1865 inscribed on the wall) stands on the north side of the
tarmacadam drive which can be seen on the 1st edition OS map (1862-1875).
The driveway runs for 300 metres eastwards towards the house finally forming
a circle round a magnificent Cedar of Lebanon reputedly planted in the 1780s
and clearly visible on the OS map of 1898. The drive runs through lawns with a
planting of mixed mature trees where there are parking areas. In 1840 this area,
called the Park, was pasture land (Tithe map) and by the end of C 19 an
avenue of lime trees had been planted along the driveway some of which
survive (OS map 1862-1875).

Another, now disused, entrance, approximately 100 metres east of Water Lane,
on the Hawkhurst to Rye road, is marked by a brick and stone lodge built after
1900, presumably as part of the improvements made to the estate by Charles
Gunther, which appears to have been the principal entrance to the estate and
the main driveway to the house from then until Pipsden was sold. This driveway
continues northwards through the present Pipsden housing estate before being
blocked off halfway along. It was originally about 800 metres long, planted with
mixed deciduous and conifer trees on either side and joined the present drive
200 metres west of the house (OS maps). The remaining northern section
provides access to the walled garden which is now a commercial nursery
garden in separate ownership.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

St Ronan’s (listed grade II) is of mid C19 date (Listing TQ 7630-7730 17/45)
and was extended 1904 - 6 by Messrs JT Davis, builders, of Hawkhurst. The
building is of red brick with some diapering in blue brick and ashlar details and
has an ornamental tiled roof with a large and ornate clock tower capped by a
cupola and weather vain. The eight bay main front has sashed, mullioned
windows and a classical porch in ‘Jacobethan’ style. The ballroom, added to the
south by 1910, is built in a similar style.

Some 30 metres to the north-west and set at an angle to the mansion, is a mid
C19 coach house (listed grade II) of red brick with an ornamental tiled roof.
Within its south side are domestic quarters. Behind this to the west and north is
the old dairy built of timber and plaster, the workshop and the ‘electric power
station’ (1910 Inland Revenue CKS Land Tax records IR 4/84 Hawkhurst)
Between the coach house and the mansion is a brick chapel which was brought
from the former school in Worthing and rebuilt here (School archive). The
chapel was originally built in 1904.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

The formal terraces are immediately adjacent to the south-west and south-east
sides of the mansion. The south-west terrace occupies an area excavated from
rising land to the south which is retained by a one metre brick wall with stone
capping and piers and consists of an enclosed sloping grass area and gravel
path 30 metres long. The larger, south-eastern terrace extends the whole length
of the house and comprises a level gravelled area about 15 metres wide and
retained by a similar wall with a stone capping. French windows open directly
onto the terrace from the library and ballroom.

A flight of stone steps at the northern end leads down to lawn below the terrace.
When originally built in the second half of the C19 there were two levels of
terracing, connected by central steps, but the lower of the two was removed
before 1930 (OS map 1932). From the terrace grassland extends eastwards,
sloping downhill to Tongs Wood and now forming playing fields for the school. It
was originally part of the extended pleasure grounds created by William Cotterill
before 1874 and subsequently removed by Charles Gunther before 1910. Some
idea of the extent and layout of this area showing the wooded walks and formal
beds can be seen in the sale details and photographs of the 1903 Auction
(Messrs Tuckett & Sons 1903).

At the northern end of the south-eastern terrace and 30 metres to the east is a
lake. In the mid C19 it comprised a small stretch of water with a pump house
and was gradually enlarged to form a small lake about 50 metres long with an
island by 1932 (OS map). A folly about 3m x 3m, made of rough hewn stone
and cement with an arched doorway and 2 arched windows overlooks the east
side of the lake. Still a largely open area in 1950, it became overgrown with
mature trees and scrub which is now being cleared (aerial photograph c.1950,
School archive).

At the junction of the two terraces a small plateau of grass provides a setting for
a fountain (currently, 2009, removed after vandalism and stored for renovation,
photo in school archives). From here stone steps from the main terrace
descend to grass below while the ground on the southern side of the plateau
slopes gently to more grass playing fields and the site of the C18 ‘partly walled’
pleasure grounds (Tithe map 1840) covering an area of approximately 20 sq m
but of which nothing visible remains.

A further, southward, exit from the fountain area is provided by a shallow, rising
flight of nine steps. Built of stone with a balustrade on each side and terminating
in roundels at the top step, this provides access to the rock garden created
1910-15 for Gunther by the firm of Backhouse of York at the cost of £4000 (IR
58/52893 NA). It was made from 2000 tons of sandstone carried from Wadhurst
in East Sussex and attracted national interest and compliments both for its
construction and planting. ‘The dominant idea of the designers was to produce
a miniature Switzerland’ (Architectural Review, vol LX111, no 375, 1928 pp43
7). ‘Outside the rockery is mown turf out of which the rocks rise gradually with
broad shelves for the accommodation of plants in groups.’ Nathaniel Lloyd’s
photographs show it as having been planted with small alpine plants described
in The Gardener's Chronicle (August 22 1925) as some of the finest of the
species. This article also states that
'some of the stones are arranged as big outcrops, others placed irregularly as
steps lead to crags above and down again into dells and along a winding valley
past a very natural looking cave'. Other plants detailed include ferns and dwarf
rhododendrons.

The size of the rocks gave the effect of mountainside and gorge and the
remains of one bridge and the cave still survive. Measuring about 80 metres x
40 metres, it is now overgrown with scrub and trees, largely self sown. The
rocks are all still in place and an aerial photo c.1950 (School archive) shows an
area instantly recognizable as the original garden.

To the south of the rock garden is an area known as the ‘children’s garden,’ a
grassed area surrounded by hedge. Running westwards for 75 metres, it
terminates at an angle to the eastern wall of the walled kitchen garden at a
wrought iron gate. Used now for educational purposes, it was originally laid out
as Mrs Gunther’s herbaceous borders backed by yew hedges, parts of which
survive (photo 1932 private collection). The hedges were cut back in 2003 and
are partly regenerating. South of the yew-enclosed garden was a rose garden
and big border of Michaelmas daisies, now gone (Gardeners Chronicle 1925;
vol 11; pp.150-3). Mr & Mrs Gunther travelled widely and brought back choice
specimens that were replanted into suitable habitats throughout the gardens.

PARK

Open parkland at present extends to the east and south of the mansion, and is
now used as playing fields for the school which occupy an area approximately
250 metres x 600 metres lying between the mansion and Tongs Wood (ancient
woodland) to the south-east. To the north school buildings and new sports
facilities occupy former parkland.

The earliest record of any park is on the tithe map (1840) which shows an eight
hectare area to the west between the mansion and Water Lane. The
enlargement of this to make the present park seems to have been a logical
development to create a designed landscape from the pasture surrounding the
mansion by incorporating the more distant arable lands, thus establishing the
whole area eastwards to Tongs Wood as grassland. The band of woodland
which now composes the northern boundary of the property formed a natural
background to the view from the mansion and a separation from the Home
Farm. To the south a belt of trees which extended westwards from Tongs Wood
appears to have been partly removed by 1910 thus enhancing the vista in that
direction (OS map1910).

At the eastern end of this belt and on the edge of Tongswood a dell marks the
area where a sub-tropical garden was created by the Gunthers. This was
described in the Gardeners Chronicle in 1925 as being planted with bamboos,
tree ferns, camellias and gunneras. Some of the original planting, such as palm
trees, can still be seen.

By 1913 the park extended to 200 acres (IR 58/52839 land valuation, NA) which
suggests that this must have included the land at Pipsden and the Tongs Wood,
an area of ancient woodland whose extent appears unaltered in the last 170
years and thus not included in the designed landscape. Originally composed of
native species and managed by traditional coppice and standard methods,
some conifers were added about 100 years ago together (possibly to
commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897) with an underplanting of
rhododendron (St Ronan’s Estate Management Plan). Many trees are identified
in the National Tree Register, a number of which are deemed ‘county
champions.’

To the north of the mansion C19 landscape features are still apparent, in
particular the woodland (one hectare) to the west and north of the bailiff’s house
(Orchard House) containing a large pond (0.2 hectare), originally a marl pit.
Nearby are the remains of an aviary built by Cotterill. The sale details of 1903
suggest that the woodland was a mixed conifer and deciduous planting with well
defined footpaths surrounding a small orchard but not continuous with the main
pleasure gardens. The roadway which ran north-westwards from the house (OS
map 1898) to the Home Farm no longer exists although the remains of an
avenue of horse chestnut trees planted about 100 years ago are still visible.
At the northern end of this avenue, the buildings of the Home Farm (Tongswood
Farm), although not included within the designated site boundary and now in
separate private ownership, are clearly visible. These include a C17 or earlier
timber framed and weather boarded house which has a tiled roof with catslide to
the rear (Listing TQ 7630-7730 17/454, grade II). Late C19 buildings consist of
a stable block, similarly constructed with the addition of a central dovecot turret,
spire and weather-vane, an open side barn for silage making, a stock yard and
two specially constructed roofed water tanks (photograph from The Courier
January 19, 2001). The whole was listed in 1996 as a ‘good model farm group
(Home Buyer, July 3, 1998 p. 46).

Eastwards from the Coach House (30m north-west of the mansion) the remains
of an avenue of oak trees extends about 250 metres into Tongs Wood and to
the north of this are four large Holm oaks. These trees date from after 1910 (OS
map). Some 200 metres to the south of the avenue is another pond, overgrown
with mixed coppiced woodland, and the remains of another marl pit.

To the west of the mansion lies the Pinetum created from the eight hectare area
shown as the park in the tithe map (1840). This area is planted with conifers of
varying ages, some dating from about 100 years ago, and some that are very
recently planted. At the edges of the Pinetum are deciduous trees, such as
silver birch, beech and the remains of the C19 lime avenue. A stone memorial
to the Gunther’s two sons, Charles and Norman and the estate workers of
Tongswood who fell in the First World War, is sited here, just to the north of the
walled kitchen garden.

KITCHEN GARDEN

The walled kitchen garden (Listing TQ 7630-7730 17/453, grade II) lies about
115m southwest of the house. Built between 1898 and 1910 it was probably
part of Charles Gunther’s extensive works. The walled garden is 92 metres x 70
metres, surrounded by a 3m high capped brick wall with regularly-spaced, flat
topped, brick, buttressed piers. Originally the garden was divided into four by
gravel paths which intersected in the centre where a fountain, which still exists,
is said to be complete but not in working order (pers. comm.). Of the original
four gates, only the three located in the centres of the southeast, northeast and
northwest walls remain, the fourth now blocked up. The original gates were
wrought iron (photograph in private collection) but now replaced with gates of
painted wood. After the Second World War the garden was leased to a
succession of market gardeners. The kitchen garden was laid out as much for
the growing of fruits including melons and peaches, as for cut flowers and stock
plants such as begonias and pelargoniums (Gardener’s Chronicle; 1925; vol 11
pp. 150-153). The glasshouses which date from 1898-1910 and included a
vinery, peach house, melon house, fern house and fruit and carnation houses,
have recently (2009) been restored and are owned and used by a commercial
nursery. At the entrance to the nursery on the north-west facing wall are the
potting sheds that are now used as offices and a museum.

Southeast of the walled garden bordered by the herbaceous walk is the site of
the Edwardian orchard of which a few trees still remain. (1)

<1> KENT GARDENS TRUST, 2012, Unlocking the West Kent Landscape, Conservation Management Plan, St Ronan’s, Hawkhurst (Unpublished document). SKE57566.