Introduction
Ashcombe Park is an early-19th-century house with a park, lawns and walled garden. The stone park walls date from the mid-19th century.
The house, built for William Sneyd between 1807 and 1811 by James Trubshaw Junior, is of stone-faced brick. It incorporates a Tuscan porte cochere (porch) reputedly moved from Belmont, another Sneyd house, with 19th-century additions.
The gates and piers are in good condition, and there is a stone-paved terrace with a stone-faced 19th-century conservatory. Steps lead down to a lawn, which is distinguished by a central, stone-kerbed fountain pond. The lawn is edged with shrub borders and perimeter walks, and an ice house planted up as rock garden is of particular note. A sequence of fish ponds south of house reputedly dates back to the 1860s, and there is also a substantial walled garden (contemporary with the house), incoporating a large, stone-lined well.
The parkland, surrounded by a stone wall, is believed to date back to 1807, although some of the mature trees may predate this, and it is known that the area was used as a deerpark in the earlier post-medieval period.
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
- History
The current building (known as Ashcombe Park House) overlies Botham Hall, a 16th-century manor house. The estate changed hands in the late-18th century, and by 1811, its new owners, the Sneyds, had built the present house, and presumably invested considerable time into the redesign of the gardens and parkland. Though the original estate incorporated a deer park, there have been no deer in the park since 1945.
- Associated People
- Features & Designations
Designations
Conservation Area
Features
- House (featured building)
- Earliest Date:
- Latest Date:
- Ornamental Fountain
- Fishpond
- Description: A sequence of fishponds.
- Earliest Date:
- Latest Date:
- Lawn
- Icehouse
- Gate
- Gate Piers
- Description: The gates and piers are in good condition.
- Terrace
- Description: There is a stone-paved terrace.
- Conservatory
- Description: There is a stone-faced 19th-century conservatory.
- Earliest Date:
- Latest Date:
- Pond
- Description: On the lawn is a a central, stone-kerbed fountain pond.
- Wall
- Description: The parkland is surrounded by a stone wall.
- Key Information
Type
Estate
Purpose
Ornamental
Principal Building
Domestic / Residential
Survival
Extant
Open to the public
Yes
Civil Parish
Cheddleton
- References
References
- Pevsner, N. {The Buildings of England: Staffordshire} (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), p.101. The Buildings of England: Staffordshire
- Morris. F.O. {A Series of Pictureseque Views of the Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland} (London, n.d.), p. 75. A Series of Picturesque Views of the Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland