Monument record TQ 74 NE 139 - Wierton Place

DESCRIPTION
The previous house was a brick mock-Jacobean small country house built in 1869. There is a terrace to the south of the house with typical Victorian gravel paths, urns, yuccas, and ornamental trees including a dead ash. A small area of parkland remains to the east and the south of the house, grazed by cattle. There are clumps of mature horse chestnut and beech.

Park railings line the driveway leading from the lodge and stone entrance gates, to the house towards the west. Areas of rhododendrons, ash, cypresses, box, beech and acacias are also enclosed by the park railings. Victorian gardens included woodland walkways and shrub borders near the house, but these are now gone.

However, to the north of the house, beyond the car park, is a rectangular walled garden backed by a spectacular and quite beautiful Victorian conservatory. This is remarkable not only in its enormous size, but also because of its graceful design and the fine wrought iron work and tiled floors. This is currently in poor condition, but could be restored to its former glory.

The complex of barns, coach house and stables, were sold off and the estate was split up about 15 years ago when the Country Club took over. The orchards to the west of the house now belong to a local farmer. There was considerable storm damage to the gardens and house.

HISTORY
Site timeline
1987: There was considerable storm damage to the gardens and house.

Features
railings
Park railings line the driveway leading from the lodge and stone entrance gates, to the house towards the west.

terrace
There is a terrace to the south of the house with typical Victorian gravel paths, urns, yuccas, and ornamental trees including a dead ash.

Conservatory
Feature created: 1869
There is a spectacular and quite beautiful Victorian conservatory. This is remarkable not only in its enormous size, but also because of its graceful design and the fine wrought iron work and tiled floors. This is currently in poor condition, but could be restored to its former glory.

Plantings
Victorian gardens included woodland walkways and shrub borders near the house, but these are now gone.
Planted: 1869 to 2008
(1-2)

A survey of the site in 2011 highlighted the presence of a number of historic features. These included a ha-ha made of coarse ragstone which is may potentially predate the Victorian house. Other features included a walled enclosure which once enclosed a service yard directly associated with the main house, a carriage arch between the main house and the walled garden, and a walled boundary enclosing the former coach house and stables at the site. The carriage-way arch may be contemporary with a rebuilding of the main house in 1857, due to similarities between the stone dressings of both structures.
A series of urns and park fencing at the site at interpreted (3) as Victorian features, whilst the landscaping, formed of a series of embankments and plateaux are suggested (3) to be Georgian features, possibly predating the construction of the main house.
Studies of historic mapping show that the walled garden appeared to have existed prior to the construction of the early 1900s greenhouse. The garden wall is also suggested (3) to potentially predate the 1857 phase of construction at the main house, due to differences in brickwork. (3)

<1> Parks and Gardens Data Services Limited (PGDS), 2005, Parks and Gardens UK (www.parksandgardens.org) (Website). SKE16061.

<2> Kent County Council, 1996, The historic parks and gardens of Kent (Kent Gardens Compendium) (Unpublished document). SKE12972.

<3> 2011, Wierton Place, Boughton Monchelsea: extract of planning application (Unpublished document). SKE59011.