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Summary

Former walled garden at Tetcott, surviving as sound brick wall on the east, and vulnerable cob, stone and slate wall of several phases on the west, with southern boundary removed. May have 18th century origins.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Site of Old Tetcott House, 18th century stables listed Grade II and The Wilderness, a 19th century 'pocket' park created from earlier Tudor and 17th century gardens and landscaping

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WALLED GARDEN (XVIII to XIX - 1701 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

A rectangular enclosure is depicted.

Knight, S., 2013-2015, Land Management Case Work, 22-April-2014 (Personal Comment). SDV351543.

A cob and stone wall, parts in poor condition, remains on the west side of the former walled garden.

Nicholas Pearson Partnership LLP, 2014, TETCOTT WILDERNESS, HIGHER LEVEL STEWARDSHIP MANAGEMENT PLANS, 2014, 19-20 (Report - non-specific). SDV358107.

On the 1837 map, the cob and stone wall southwest of the stables formed the western boundary wall of the Church Yard Garden – a productive garden located adjacent to the church yard. No further alterations to the wall were recorded on the historic OS maps until 1977, when altered and extended outbuildings formed a continuous row of structures along the northern boundary of Churchyard Garden resulting in a slight realignment of the western wall’s northern tip. A new, small fenced enclosure had also been erected at the southwest end of the wall, to protect a septic tank.
Since 1988, the southern wall of the Churchyard Garden has collapsed and been removed, and the garden now forms part of the adjacent grazed field. The eastern wall continues to function as the boundary to the churchyard, the western wall is not functional, excepting a short section at the northern end which forms the eastern boundary of the Reeve House garden. The wall consists of a wider stone foundation course with narrow slate coping. Above this, the wall displays at least five phases of rebuilding work and is in a vulnerable condition, with two breaches. The original structure appears to have been cob, with a slate and turf coping, but most of the cob has now been replaced or faced in stone, and much of the coping has been replaced in concrete. The end of the wall which used to join with the lost southern walled garden wall is collapsing. The septic tank enclosure is overgrown with vegetation threatening the stability of the adjacent wall. A detailed photograph record and repair proposals can be found in appendix 6.
The wall forms part of the pre 1837 walled gardens around Tetcott Barton and the fine, red-brick eastern garden wall suggests that the Churchyard Garden had, at least, eighteenth century origins. Its condition and twentieth century patch repairs have eroded its evidential and aesthetic value, and the structure’s historic integrity as a walled garden wall has been compromised by the loss of the southern walled garden wall.
Management proposals include: conserve and stabilise the wall using a contractor with experience in cob wall repair; remove plants growing in the wall and carefully cut back the vegetation and filled ground in the septic tank enclosure, relocate the septic tank to an adjacent below-ground location away from the wall, or remove surrounding spoil, retain shallow rooting plants along the surviving historic coping as a sustainable ‘soft cap’; maintain as a historic landscape feature, monitoring the structure for livestock or other damage, and controlling ivy and weed growth.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6770 - TETCOTT WILDERNESS HIGHER LEVEL STEWARDSHIP MANAGEMENT PLANS, 2014 (Ref: TET.154)

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