Landscape record TQ 54 SW 269 - Danemore Park historic park

Summary

Gardens and lawns laid out on the north and west sides of an early C19 house and set in parkland with mature oak and beech trees. The landscape architect Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe (1900-96) was commissioned to design a raised terrace garden in 1986 and the plans were implemented in 1991

Location

Grid reference Centred TQ 5439 4050 (738m by 695m)
Map sheet TQ54SW
County KENT
District TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT
Civil Parish SPELDHURST, TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT

Map

Type and Period (2)

Full Description

From the report:

" In 1778 the site now occupied by Danemore Park is shown as woodland with a few farm houses on the periphery (Hasted), but by the early decades of the C18 further tracts of land had been cleared and new houses built (Mudge, Greenwood). A house was probably first built on the site of Danemore Park in the 1830s (listed building description); the Tithe Map of 1840 shows a house on the present site set in an estate of 65ha comprising mixed woodland and pasture and a small garden area.
In 1861 a Geoffrey Adair and his family were in residence and the 1830s house had been enlarged to a mansion with a park, ornamental gardens, woodland walks and two kitchen gardens (Census; 1st edn OS map). A James Bowles Reeves owned the property in 1899 and he may have been responsible for building a lodge and stable block before selling to the Misses Langemore who were in residence in 1918 (Kelly’s Directory; 2nd edn OS map). The garden appears to have remained unchanged from 1860 until 1929 when a rhododendron walk extending north-west from the mansion is shown on the 3rd edn OS map. This was probably under Edwin John King’s ownership who was in occupation in 1927 (Kelly’s Directory).
During World War Two Danemore Park was requisitioned by the Civil Defence, immediately following which it was bought by a Sir Hubert Pitman who sold off some of the land. When he died in 1986, the ornamental gardens and the kitchen gardens had been laid to lawn and the lodge and further land had been sold (Kent Compendium). "

The current owners asked Geoffrey Jellicoe to redesign the terraces on the north and north-west sides of the mansion. The property remains in single private ownership.(1)


<1> Barbara Simms, 2009, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough: Danemore Park (Unpublished document). SKE16327.

Sources/Archives (1)

  • <1> Unpublished document: Barbara Simms. 2009. The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough: Danemore Park.

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Protected Status/Designation

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Record last edited

Oct 11 2013 4:04PM