Monument record MDO38515 - Gardens at Fontmell Parva, Child Okeford

The gardens at Fontmell Parva, a small house built around 1760 and enlarged in the Victorian period. The present gardens appear to be largely Victorian, though a pair of eighteenth-century gates give access to a walled garden to the west of the house, and elements of the present gardens may represent survivals from an earlier landscaping.

It is not known to what extent gardens associated with the original Restoration house survive; it seems likely that any formal gardens would have been swept away in the course of extensive additions and alterations in the nineteenth century. The south wing of the house was built around 1847, and the north wing added and alterations made between 1864 and 1869 by George Evans of Wimborne. <1> Newman and Pevsner <2> describe a walled garden at the back of the house, entered by way of 'unusually fine wrought-iron gates, with an overthrow and lyre-shaped panels at the sides' dating to the eighteenth century. The gate is embellished with the St Loe arms, and set centrally in ornamental wrought-iron railings <1>. The railings are set on a dwarf brick wall with ashlar copings and set between brick piers with stone finials, and form the eastern side of a walled garden which has brick walls on the other three sides. The front of the house is on the east and approached by a drive from the north east which divides to approach the Victorian stable yard and stables at the north-western corner of the house. In front of the house the drive expands to form a terrace separated from the park by estate railings. An arcaded open balustrade of nineteenth-century date runs along the southern edge of this area; a gap in the centre leads to steps to the lawn. This can be seen in an engraving by Le Keux published in Hutchins <3> and dated 1860, when the house was occupied by the Reverend Henry Tregonwell Bower. A postcard of around 1900 <4> shows a conservatory on the south front of the house. There is a large lawn to the south of the house and terrace, and the 1:25-inch Ordnance Survey map of 1901 <5> shows a walk running east-west along the south side of the house and balustrade, and turning to run north-south along the eastern side of the lawn to an oval area, tentatively identified as a viewing position by the Dorset Gardens Trust, though potential for views is relatively limited. The 1901 Ordnance survey map also shows an earthwork running along the southern edge of this oval area and continuing along the southern edge of the lawn; this may perhaps be a ha-ha. There is another stretch of balustrade, in similar style, to the north of the house with a gate leading to the stables. Brick gate piers are capped with stone. The gate and railings commented on by Pevsner and the RCHME are on the western side of the house and stables, dividing them from the large walled garden. The 1901 Ordnance Survey map shows paths dividing the garden into quarters, with a fountain at the centre. Digital Ordnance Survey maps available in 2010 show a less formal grassed area, presumably pasture, to the south of the walled garden and to the west and south of the lawns south of the house. There are hints of landscaping, in that modern maps show an irregular area of woodland running along the western edge, apparently serving as a shelter belt. Another block of woodland is situated to the south of the lawns and viewing position, with an open area between the two appearing to be contrived to give a view southwards from the house and create an impression of distance. Recent aerial photographs <6> appear to show the earthworks of a ditch running from the south-western corner of the walled garden southwards between the woodland and pasture; this may be another ha-ha. These photographs also show a tennis court to the west of the walled garden. Photographs in sale particulars from 2001 <7> suggest the drive has been modified slightly, with a circular gravelled area in front of the house. The gravelled area has stone kerbs. The house is approached by a short drive from the road to the east. The gate piers are brick with stone quoins and capping, and wrought iron pillars attached. There is woodland to the north and north west of the house. The visible trees are mostly quite young, but is seems likely that the woodland formed part of a landscaping scheme. Estate agent's particulars from 2008 <8> show a rustic stone waterfall 'head' coming off the Fontmell Brook. According to the Dorset Gardens Trust several mature trees have been noted in the area of woodland to the north of the house, and it may be that this area was part of a 'wilderness' type landscaping in the eighteenth century. To the east of the house Hill Bottom Plantation, Hazel Copse and Newbury Copse forma continuous line of woodland on Porter's Hill; the location and form of these suggest that they may have been plated to create a screen/shelter belt as part of the landscaping around the house and perhaps to create stronger views from the gardens. To the north east of the house, on the opposite site of the road and across from the main gates, are buildings called (on the modern Ordnance Survey map) The Coachman's House, Gardener's Cottage and (with Fontmell Farm between) The Dower House. A little further afield, beyond Porter's Hill to the east of the house, is Keeper's Cottage. It is to be supposed that all of these were at one time associated with Fontmell Parva House, being the home farm and ancillary buildings, but research is required to confirm this. Setting: Fontmell Parva is in a relatively flat location and the gardens self-contained, with either hedges or walls, though the house is highly visible from the road at the front. The woodland to the west and north east sides obscures views into the grounds. There is very limited potential for views out of the gardens. The viewing position tentatively identified by the Dorset Gardens Trust is situated to the south east of the house, and would have had views in the direction of the woodland on Porter's Hill. Context: The gardens are small-scale in keeping with the status and character of the 1670 house, which seems to have been a fairly modest hunting box typical of the period. Significance: The gardens at Fontmell Parva are, and appear always to have been, modest in scale and ambition. On present evidence they are not particularly notable in their own right. However, they provide a charming picturesque setting for a Grade II* listed building, and it is this association which gives the gardens their significance. The wrought iron gates and walls of the walled garden to the rear of the house are exceptional. The gardens did not develop at the same pace and with the same degree of grandeur as the house, though some embellishment has taken place. Consequently, there is a certain lack of balance between the two. However, several features of possibly eighteenth-century date such as the ha-ha, fountain head and the potential viewing platform, have been noted in the course of discussions with the Dorset Gardens Trust, and it may be that further documentary research and survey will reveal that earlier gardens survive to a greater extent than previously thought.

Record last edited

Aug 10 2016 4:40PM