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Summary

Langdon Court Hotel with a late-17th/early-18th century formal terraced garden and a walled kitchen garden with rectangular fishpond extending east. Some of the most substantial parkland features, such as the driveways, are visible on aerial photographs taken from 1946 onwards and visualisations of lidar data captured between 1998 and 2017.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1169143: GARDEN WALL, STEPS AND GATE PIERS IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF LANGDON COURT HOTEL
• Listed Building (II*) 1324841: LANGDON COURT HOTEL
• Listed Building (II*) 1169129: TWO PAIRS OF GATE PIERS ADJOINING SOUTH WEST AND SOUTH EAST OF LANGDON COURT HOTEL
• Registered Park or Garden (II) 1000695: LANGDON COURT HOTEL
• Registered Park or Garden (II) 1000695: LANGDON COURT HOTEL

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 762461
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX54NW/19/3
• Old Registered Parks and Gardens Ref (II): 1686

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• GARDEN (Early Medieval to XXI - 1066 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, Devon County Council RAF/CPE/UK/1890 FS 2123-2124 10-DEC-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Curvilinear earthwork ditches or trackways are visible.

Pevsner, N., 1952, The Buildings of England: South Devon, 306 (Monograph). SDV336217.

Harris, J., 1979, The Artist and the Country House, 131 (Monograph). SDV62542.

English Heritage, 1987, Langdon Court Hotel (Register of Parks and Gardens in England). SDV336379.

Langdon Court Hotel has late 17th/early 18th century formal terraced garden, within grounds of 2.8 hectares. Langdon Court Hotel incorporates medieval fabric, rebuilt 1577 for Vincent Calmady, remodelled 1707 for Josiah Calmady, altered and extended circa 1877. Walled kitchen garden 150 meters to north, with rectangular fishpond extending east for 100 meters from east side, both in separate ownership. Approach drives from west and south meeting on north side of house. Mainly wooded to the west and scattered mature trees to the east. The late 17th century/early 18th century garden is on the south side of the house, and its layout is much the same as in a post -1707 painting now in the city museum and art gallery, Plymouth. These terraces extend south from the house on rising ground, with central axial path and connecting steps. Enclosed by walls to east, west and south. The larger terrace has 17th century gate piers and gates also, stone-lined oval pool. Mature yews. Twin gazebos, early 18th century, stand at the junction of the north and south terraces. Remnants of 19th century or earlier planting of yew and box now much simplified.

Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, 1994, The garden buildings at Langdon Court, Wembury, 14-20 (Report - non-specific). SDV336376.

Environment Agency, 1998-2017, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: South Devon Coast to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5149 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 31-MAY-2017 (Cartographic). SDV361470.

Curvilinear earthwork ditches or trackways are visible.

NMR, 2000, SX54NW31 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV336380.

Department of Environment, 2003, Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (Devon) (Register of Parks and Gardens in England). SDV314512.

The Great Mew Stone, circa 1 kilometre out into Wembury Bay, is included in the registered site. This has an ornamental structure with a circular, conical roof and distinctive ocular-shaped windows, and other architectural details which echo those of the garden structure 80 metres south-east of the house.

Berry, N., 2006, Archaeological and Historic Landscape Survey of Wembury Point and The Mewstone, Wembury, Devon, 8 (Report - Survey). SDV345992.

The Mewstone was part of the manor of Langdon, and was used by the Langdon Estate as a rabbit warren. There is a small round building on the eastern, sheltered side, built of local stone with a corbelled roof of large slate slabs covered with smaller slates. The doorway and two distinctive oval windows are framed with granite. The style of the windows dates the building to the very late 17th or early 18th century and demonstrates close affiliations with other buildings on the Langdon Estate at this time. It is likely that the Calmadys had it built as a folly or retreat, possibly with designed views to a prospect tower on the mainland, shown in a painting of 1707. Adjoining the folly on the north side is a late 18th or early 19th century cottage, shown in prints of 1834 with a loggia or veranda along the east elevation. The style indicates a picturesque or 'Cottage Ornee' tradition and again strongly suggests the influence of Langdon Hall. Other details: Figures 6-9.

Carpenter, B. + Andrews, I., 2013, Interpreting Historic Maps, 23 (Article in Serial). SDV358467.

The tithe map shows garden features at Langdon Court.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4959 - Survey of Wembury Point and the Mewstone, Wembury, Devon
• EDV4960 - Building Recording of the Folly and Cottage, Great Mew Stone
• EDV7346 - Results of Historic Building Survey and Imapct Assessment - Langdon Court Hotel, Wembury (Ref: 150107)
• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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