Crowe Hall

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):

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Crowe Hall, an irregular hillside site of c 3ha, occupies the west-facing slope immediately above St Thomas à Becket's church and Widcombe Manor (qv) in the south-eastern outskirts of Bath. To the south-west its boundary is formed by Church Lane and to the north by Widcombe Hill. To the east the site is enclosed by fields. Crowe Hall's position on a hillside offers exceptional views across the valley to Prior Park (qv) to the south and over Bath to the west.

Entrances and Approaches

The site is entered off Widcombe Hill road to the north. Here a set of cast and wrought-iron gates, hung between ashlar piers surmounted by vases topped with pineapple leaves (listed grade II), gives access to a short drive that leads to the east front of the Hall.

Principal Building

Crowe Hall is a classical villa (listed grade II) built of Bath stone and is situated in the north part of the site. Since it was rebuilt in the early C19, it has been continuously remodelled, in particular under the ownership of Henry Tugwell in the early 1870s. In 1926 the west front was completely rebuilt following a fire which destroyed a large portion of the Hall including the conservatory. The orangery attached to its west end dates from the 1880s.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

Opposite the levelled area to the east front of the Hall is a bank which is set with local stone boulders to form a rock garden, with a wall-fountain in the centre. The rock garden was created by William Carmichael in the late C19 (Laurie 1989). The statue of Neptune, bought from a sale at Brownsea Island, is a later addition (late C20). The rising land to the east is informally laid out as a meadow with a hard tennis court, replacing an earlier grass court, set into the hillside.

The main garden area is entered via a gate through the screen wall which extends south from the Hall. The gate opens onto the top, stone-paved terrace. To the south steps lead down to a level lawn set with a small formal pool. The raised walk along its eastern edge replaces rockwork of the 1870s by Carmichael. The main terrace of this garden is pre 1885, but the simple layout of grass and pool dates from the late 1930s and occupies the site of the flower garden designed by Carmichael, which took the form of a series of twelve grass terraces with flower beds and a fountain (ibid).

The top terrace and formal gardens are supported by substantial retaining walls. To the south, paths wind down the steep slope, through the Victorian grotto, rockery, and water garden. Several roughly parallel paths form woodland walks along the hillside above the churchyard. The uppermost, overhung by old plantings of yew, leads to the late C18 coach house (listed grade II) c 90m to the south-east of the Hall and an area of mid C20 gardening, and to the Gothic Cottage (listed grade II), standing c 180m south-east of the Hall in the far south corner of the site, built in 1854 to house the head gardener.

Kitchen Garden

Below the balustraded terrace on the west front of the Hall, a long straight walk leads to the walled and terraced kitchen garden, which occupies the north-west end of the site between Church Street and the high wall which borders Widcombe Hill. Part of the kitchen garden is occupied by a private dwelling introduced in the late C20. Some of the once extensive ranges of glasshouses remain, one of them bearing the date 1852.

Additional Research

The garden of Crowe Hall is placed on a steep site. From different parts of the garden there are views over the trees to Prior Park, Widcombe and the city of Bath.

The main entrance to the garden is from Widcombe Hill. The drive curves round to the house. To the north, the garden is bounded by a high wall running along Widcombe Hill.

The main area of the garden in the south and west consists of a series of terraces and small secluded gardens. The lower terraces are wooded. There is a vast retaining wall running north-west to south-east. A series of paths runs along the length of the terraces. In the eastern part of the garden is a large meadow.

Some features of the garden, most notably the lawns and beds nearest the house, are well-maintained. However, lack of sufficient gardening staff means that much of the garden is untended.

Description rewritten: September 2001

Amended: October 2001

Edited: July 2021