Clevedon Court

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):

Early 18th-century terraced gardens, with mid-19th-century ornamental woodland, around a 14th-century and later country house.

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Clevedon Court stands 1.5km east of the seaside town of Clevedon, at the foot of the western end of a ridge of hills that runs some 17km east to the Avon Gorge near Bristol. Clevedon Court Garden and the woodland pleasure grounds cover c 80ha. The registered site is bounded to the north by Nortons Wood Lane [not on my map; I suspect the boundaries have been altered but the map hasn't been up-dated], to the north-east by a track on the east side of Court Hill, to the south-east by the edge of a motorway cutting and fence-lines, to the south by Tickenham Road, and to the west by the rear of properties in the neighbouring residential area. The house stands at the foot of a steep south-facing and heavily wooded ridge, Court Hill, which rises to the north. To the south are the low-lying levels of Clevedon, Nailsea, and Kenn Moors, and 12km in the distance, the Mendip Hills. Apart from the M5 motorway, which runs north-east/south-west past the southern boundary of the site, passing some 300m south of the house, the setting is rural to the north, south, and east. Some 400m to the west is the suburban development at the eastern edge of East Clevedon.

Entrances and Approaches

The principal approach is from the Clevedon to Tickenham road, 50m south of the house. The short straight drive enters past a mid C19 Tudor-style lodge (listed grade II) and turns west into a forecourt in front of the principal, south front. A pedestrian entrance adjacent to a small car park is located 600m north-west of the house on All Saints Lane. This has a wooden gate and wooden steps leading up to Court Wood and The Warren, giving access to the network of walks on the ridge.

Principal Building

Clevedon Court (listed grade I) was built in the early C14 for Sir John de Clevedon, and is 'one of the most valuable relics of early domestic architecture in England' (listed building description). Alterations and a new west wing were built c 1570 for John Wake. In the early C18 Sir Abraham Elton II carried out major renovations. The west front was rebuilt in 1761-88 and again in 1862 and throughout the C19 there was a series of minor alterations, all preserving its picturesque irregularity.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

The main garden is located on the north side of the house, and is bounded by Court Wood some 80m to the north. Immediately outside the north front is a narrow flagged area bounded by a stone wall, 2m high, which retains the main lawn. Stone steps lead up to this lawn which slopes northwards and has an inverted D-shaped gravel path containing a stone fountain, formerly the centrepiece of an 1850s parterre (CL 1899). On the east side of the lawn a crenellated wall runs north to a crenellated tower (listed grade II*), some 30m north of the house, part of the mid C13 development at Clevedon Court. The straight side of the D runs east/west across the upper part of the lawn, beyond which the slope continues to a red-brick retaining wall of the first terrace, known as the Pretty Terrace. This terrace may have been used as a bowling green in the early C18. At the east end of the terrace, some 40m north-east of the house, is a stone-built summerhouse with a round-arched door to the terrace. At the west end of the terrace, some 50m north-west of the house, is a free-standing octagonal summerhouse, the Octagon (1760s, listed grade II), with sash windows and a pyramidal roof behind a cornice and parapet. Both buildings date from the time of Sir Abraham Elton IV, probably the 1760s, and were recorded in drawings by his son-in-law, Oldfield Bowles, in 1788 (guidebook 1968). To the north, the Pretty Terrace has herbaceous borders at the foot of the rubble-stone wall (possibly C18, listed grade II) retaining the top terrace, known as the Esmond terrace [cap T surely if this is a proper name] after the novel Henry Esmond (1852), parts of which Thackeray wrote on the terrace. The flat pilaster buttresses of the wall appear to be the same as those shown in the 1721 painting. The Esmond terrace comprises a grassed walk some 3m wide, on the north side of which Court Wood descends via a steep bank.

South of the house is a forecourt, which extends south for some 25m to a stone retaining wall, below which is a lawn with specimen trees. Immediately west of the house is a lawn from which there are extensive views westward along the wooded foot of the hill towards Clevedon. The views were opened up by the removal of early C18 enclosures by Sir Abraham Elton IV in the 1760s. In a field c 100m south of the house, on the south side of Tickenham Road and outside the site here registered [included on my map], is a pond and earthwork remains of three more ponds, presumably part of the C13-C14 phase of landscaping at Clevedon.

Other Land

North and north-east of the gardens the land rises into dense woodland, comprising Court Wood and Norton's Wood, dating from the mid C19. The woods are overgrown but management by The Wildlife Trust since the 1990s has cleared many paths and features which were previously obscured. A main ridge-top track runs east/west from 1.5km north-east of the house to the pedestrian entrance 600m north-west of the house. There are many subsidiary walks branching from the main track, taking in viewpoints and other features of interest. From the northern terrace of the gardens is a zig-zag walk, a branch from which follows a former drive to a stone bridge leading to a picturesque former quarry 350m north-east of the house.

There are two more stone bridges at path intersections in this general area and remains of stone walls and stone edging alongside some of the paths. Paths also lead to the north-west of the house to take advantage of views to the west, over Clevedon to the sea. One path leads through Double Rocks, a natural outcrop, on the west-facing slope of Court Hill and further north, over the crest of the ridge to Conygar Quarry. The paths contain a number of simple stone seats at viewing points, often sheltered by plantings of holm oak.

A wide range of mature specimen trees are scattered through the predominantly holm oak woodland, including Wellingtonia, red oak, Monterey and Austrian pines, Lebanon cedar, and Araucaria, beech, hornbeam, and oak. The understorey contains Portuguese laurel, yew, and holly. These trees and shrubs chiefly date from Sir Arthur Elton's period (1850s-83). In one season, he planted 3000 Austrian pines and countless Bhutan pines. To the north of the ridge is a collection of rhododendrons collected by Sir Arthur and planted in acid soil on the opposite side of paths to lime-loving plants and beech trees, to demonstrate his knowledge and understanding of local geology and soil conditions. The Warren on the top of Court Hill, formerly retained as a sheep walk with wide views in all directions, now contains forestry plantations and scrub-growth from c 1970s.

Collinson in 1791 referred to the slopes being 'wildly scar[r]ed with craggy rocks, intermixed with fine herbage' and illustrations of the early C19 show them as bare downland, although possibly with some woodland planting immediately north of the garden (Pearson Assocs 1992). Under the direction of Mary Stewart, the second wife of the Rev Sir Abraham Elton V, the hillside was first planted in 1823-42 when the complex series of drives and paths was laid out. At the western end of the ridge is the site of Wake's Tower, shown in the 1721 painting, which probably originated as a watch tower guarding the Bristol Channel. In c 1738 the Elton family replaced it with a summerhouse, which had 'gone to ruin' by the time it was visited by Collinson in 1791.

The site of the tower remained a key viewing point in Lady Mary's design. Further paths continued to be developed in the mid C19. After the construction of St Andrew's church in 1860, the Eltons walked to church along the Church Path, which was lined with Arbutus. A number of the paths, originally surfaced with stone chippings, were covered in turf in the second half of the C19 by Sir Arthur Hallam Elton to make them into rides for his children's ponies. A series of photographs by W H Barton in the Elton Collection records Lady Mary's walks in the 1880s and postcards from the turn of the century showing views across Clevedon to Court Hill are captioned 'Little Switzerland', a testament to the picturesque effect achieved by the Eltons.

Kitchen Garden

The kitchen garden, 120m east of the house, was developed with housing in the mid to late C20 and is outside the site here registered. Glasshouses in the slip garden north of the main garden owned by the National Trust were demolished in the 1990s.

Additional Research

Clevedon Court is built at the foot of a densely wooded slope. The house is approached along a metalled drive which runs from a road bordering the south of the property. To the west of the house there is a lawn. To the south of this the garden is informally planted with mixed trees and shrubs.

To the north of the house is a terraced garden. This is supported by large retaining walls and linked by flights of steps. To the west, north and east of the terraced garden is a large area of mixed ornamental woodland. There are areas of parkland to the west of the lawn and on the south side of the Tickenham Road. The latter area is now under separate ownership.

Clevedon Court is in the care of the National Trust. The gardens and woodland are well-maintained.