Awbridge Danes

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

Pleasure grounds, follies, and a park laid out on a new site to complement a gothic mansion of c 1820 by the architect William Garbett.

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Awbridge Danes lies 5km north-west of Romsey and 1km south of Awbridge village, on the east side of Danes Road. The grounds slope eastwards down towards the River Test, the 57ha site being formed along the valley of a tributary of the Test which joins the river some 2km to the north-east at Timsbury.

The site is bounded on all sides by woodland, which has increased considerably in relation to the original extent of open parkland.

Entrances and Approaches

A short drive leads directly eastwards off Danes Road up to the principal entrance on the north-east front. A short length of drive leads off to the walled service court, offices, stables, and a circular dovecote situated on the north-west side of the house. A lower drive leads in from Coombe Lane to the east, past the hamlet of Lower Ratley and around the south of Awbridge Danes Lake, then across the park to Dunwood Hill Bottom.

The original entrance drive led in from Danes Road (some 50m north of the entrance to Danes Farm) to a carriage circle on the south-west front of the house. A spur led north off this drive and through an ornamental gothic arch directly into the walled courtyard. This arrangement had been altered by the 1850s (Estate map, 1859).

To the south-west on the junction of Danes Lane and Old Salisbury Lane stands the Round House (early C19, listed grade II), a picturesque pair of cottages, now combined into one, which marked the southernmost point of the Awbridge estate (Tilbrook, 1825), outside the area here registered.

Principal Building

Awbridge Danes House (listed grade II*) was built by William Garbett in the Neo-Gothic style in 1825, for the Rev Thomas Heathcote Tragett. Shortly after the 1820s, an additional bay was added to the north end, and an aviary to the south.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

An early C20 brick terrace along the south-east front leads to the lawn. At the northern end of the terrace is a pergola, and to the south is a brick-built alcove. The eastern edge of the lawn is lined by a high conifer hedge (1990s) which obstructs the views to be had from the house and terrace.

To the south-west of the service courtyard, which lies on the west of the house, is a folly (early C19, described as a shrine, listed grade II), built into a high mount. Steps lead up to a central platform with a stone seat backed by a stone wall. Central to the wall is a stone arch with a large single keystone, carved as a bust of a man with scrolled initials over and below a crown.

The pleasure grounds were separated from the park by a low park railing which remains in part. This enclosed an area of lawn curving around the south-west and north-east fronts.

Park

The parkland, now reduced in extent from the 30ha shown on the map of 1859, lies immediately to the south-east of the house and slopes down to the 3.5ha lake. The lake is broadly crescent-shaped, formed at the confluence of two streams, one flowing from the west and the other from the north with a sluice at its southern corner from where the water issues out towards Coombe Lane. It may have been formed out of a series of public sandpits quarried on Awbridge Common (Marriage Settlement, 1844). The northern arm of the lake lies in thick woodland with an underplanting of laurel and holly. The southern part, once relatively open parkland and described in 1859 (Estate map) as `Broomy Ground', is now also wooded.

Rides lead through the woodland to and around the lake. The remains of a boathouse, rebuilt as a loggia in 1925 (listed grade II), stand on the east shore of the northernmost arm of the lake. William Garbett, whose drawings survive in the RIBA drawings collection, designed the original boathouse, built in 1822. It consisted of a Doric temple with portico over three rusticated arches springing from piers, with flanking walls running back to rusticated end piers. This underlying section formed the boathouse, which is located on a very picturesque spot with views southwards along the length of the lake.

Kitchen Garden

The rectangular walled kitchen garden and gardener's cottage were built as an integral part of the early C19 scheme. The walled garden stands, screened by a plantation, on the west side of Danes Road and was reached by a drive opposite the main entrance drive to Awbridge Danes House. The gardener's cottage has been demolished and a new house (late C20) erected within the walled garden.

Maps

• Thomas Milne, Hampshire or the County of Southampton, 1" to 1 mile, 1791
• Awbridge, The Property of Reverend TH [Tragett], Drawn by T Tilbrook, Horningsham, 1825 (187 M84/13/1,2), (Hampshire Record Office)
• C and J Greenwood, A Map of the County of Southampton, 1" to 1 mile, 1826
• Estate map accompanying Proceeds of Sale document, 1859 (16M57/127), (Hampshire Record Office)
• Awbridge Danes Estate Sale plan, 1923
• OS 6" to 1 mile:
• 1st edition published 1872
• 2nd edition published 1911
• OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1867

Illustrations

• William Garbett, Pen and monochrome wash, Doric temple and boathouse on Awbridge Danes Water (RIBA drawings collection)

Archival items

• Settlement on the Marriage of the Revd Thomas Heathcote Tragett and Miss Louisa Lane, 1844 (16M57/119), (Hampshire Record Office)
• Apportionment by the Reverend Thomas Heathcote Tragett & Mrs Tragett of the proceeds of Sale and Exchange of Hereditaments, 1859 (16M57/127), (Hampshire Record Office)
• Awbridge Danes Estate Sale particulars, Knight, Frank and Rutley, 1923 (copy on EH file)

Description rewritten: September 2000

Register Inspector: KC

Edited: January 2004