The Deepdene (also known as Deepdene Terrace)

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 The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list

LOCATION, SETTING, LANDFORM, BOUNDARIES, AREA

The 40ha site of the Deepdene lies c 0.6km south-east of the centre of Dorking, on an elevated site which offers extensive views to the north of Box Hill and Denbies vineyard, and to the south over the Weald towards the South Downs. From Deepdene House, which occupies the former mansion site, lawns slope northwards down to the A24. The road truncates the north-west corner of the estate, beyond which lies the area of Cotmandene which was taken into the grounds in the 1790s but is outside the area here registered. The public road, Chart Lane, which originally ran only 30m from the C18 house, was diverted further to the west c 1810; the road is still bounded by the early C19 estate wall. To the east of the site is low-density residential development in what was formerly part of the Deepdene pleasure grounds. Cutting into the hillside to the south-east of the house site is a steep-sided dene, a dry valley running north-west/south-east at right angles to the Greensand ridge which marks the southern boundary of the pre-1814 estate.

Beyond this lies Chart Park. Below the tree-lined terrace that runs along the top of the ridge, the land falls away to the south in a series of hollows, bounded to the west by a belt of trees along the roadside, and to the east by the wooded rise known as Chart Wood; the latter now forms the grounds to a series of large private houses and is not part of the registered area, although a tall Scots pine growing here provides an important eye-catcher. The land flattens out to the south, beyond the stream and the east-west trackway known as New Road. To the west, outside the registered area, is Glory Wood, once part of the estate but now cut off by the A24. The southern tip of the estate, a triangle of land between Chart Lane South and Punchbowl Lane, is now an arable field.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The main access to the site is from the north off the A24, Deepdene Avenue, c 500m south of its junction with the A25 to the east of Dorking. In the 1930s a new bypass was proposed for Dorking; opened in 1934, this followed the line of the old carriage drive from Deepdene Station before curving westwards to cut a swathe through the grounds, passing within 100m of the north-west front of the house, then a hotel. Two lodges remain, both outside the boundary of the site here registered. Middle Lodge is situated c 100m north of the former house site, at the junction of Deepdene Drive with Deepdene Avenue and was built for Henry Hope in the mid C19. White Lodge (formerly Ladygate Lodge, listed at Grade II) is situated c 550m north-east of the former house site, at the corner of Punchbowl Lane and Ladygate Road. Designed by William Atkinson, it was built for Thomas Hope in the early C19.

Access to Chart Park was via two drives: one, from the west, branched off the Dorking road near the present clubhouse, while the other (presumably the main carriage drive) approached in a long curve from the east, giving views across the garden front of the house before sweeping round to the entrance front behind. The New Road was cut across the estate in the 1840s, supplementing a network of earlier tracks.

PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS

The mansion known as Deepdene was constructed for Charles Howard between 1769 and 1775 to a design by William Gowen (Harris 1996). The house was substantially altered by William Atkinson (c 1773-1839) for Thomas Hope in the early C19 and was possibly the earliest example in England of a villa house in Italianate style. In c 1843 it was enlarged and largely rebuilt, still in the Italianate style, for Hope's son. The architect was probably W H Ashpitel (1776-1852) (Lees-Milne 1982). The house was demolished in 1969, and its site is now occupied by Deepdene House, a modern office building designed by E C Percy and completed in 1971.

The former stables lay c 100m to the north-east of the house and were also demolished in 1969. Built c 1818, these replaced an earlier stable block of the 1770s.

The main house on the Chart Park estate stood immediately below and to the south-east of the Terrace, with the stables further south near the present golf course car park. Originally built in 1671, the house was enlarged and remodelled as a Gothick villa in the second half of the C18 under the ownership of Henry Talbot. His architect may have been Sanderson Miller (1716-80) or Henry Keene (1726-76); later modifications were carried out by Ashpitel. Both house and stable block were demolished by Thomas Hope c 1814.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

When Charles Howard acquired the estate in 1652 he immediately set about creating gardens on the site. These were commented on by Evelyn in 1655 (de Beer 1955). By the time Aubrey visited in c 1673 the landscaping was well advanced. Howard's garden included terraces for growing fruit on the sides of the dene as well as a series of platforms and ramps in the base and a sunken walk shown on Aubrey's plan. Howard established a ride at mid height around the dene and this remained constant through later periods. By the late C19 the hillsides were traversed by a network of paths and rides. In the late C19/early C20 the base of the dene was lawned and ornamented with statues and parterres while the slopes were planted with a variety of trees and shrubs including a notable collection of rhododendrons and azaleas (Country Life 1899; Gardeners' Chronicle 1900).

On the north-west and west of Deepdene House, lawns sweep down to Deepdene Avenue. The hillside to the south of the office block is covered with trees and rhododendrons and the earlier woodland walks are now (2012) impenetrable. The dene consists of a narrow, steep-sided amphitheatre over 200m long which rises steeply to the Greensand ridge at its southern end. It is now used as a car park at its northern end adjacent to the office block. A brick-built icehouse set into the hillside to the north-east has lost its elegant portico. At the southern end of the car park, steps lead up to a raised flat area of open grass c 35m long; access beyond this is now (2012) impeded by dense undergrowth. Field survey in 1996 identified platforms and ramps from Charles Howard's C17 garden and later features, as well as paths and possible parterres (Cazenove 1996). The sides of the dene are covered by dense rhododendrons and trees but the horseshoe-shaped path which runs around the dene at mid height can still be traced. This is shown on Aubrey's plan of 1673, as well as details of planting within the garden in the C17. On the west side of the dene are the remains of a tower with an outer facing of flint which dates from Thomas Hope's ownership in the early C19. Nearby are C17 caves which were modified during the Second World War. Similar caves survive on the opposite side of the dene. The base of the dene has anti-tank obstacles (dragon's teeth), also from the Second World War. At the southern end of the dene are the remains of a grotto, probably on the site of the ill-fated tunnel through the hillside. The grotto is recorded in an C18 painting by Samuel Hieronymous Grimm (reproduced in Cazenove 1996), but has since been altered. Above it, steps lead up to the Terrace; the steps have been restored, but the view north is impeded by tree growth within the once open dene.

PARK

The Terrace runs from west to east along the top of the ridge, at right angles to the dene and some 400m south-east of the former house site. It now forms part of the Greensand Way footpath through Surrey and Kent. During the 1990s an avenue of beech trees was planted to replace an earlier one, the last remaining trees having been felled by the storm of 1987. Keane (1849) records the avenue as being 160 yards (c 147m) long. At the top of the steps leading up from the dene is the site of Thomas Hope's temple, demolished in 1955. To the south and east there are long views across the Weald towards the South Downs.

Beyond the Terrace is Chart Park, the majority of which is now used as a golf course. As Aubrey's plan (1673) records, the falling ground immediately below the ridge was the site of Howard's original vineyard. Chart Park house stood here, at the head of a broad hollow which is now the main fairway. Further south, the New Road follows a small stream running east-south-east towards the site of the vanished Chart Farm, which lay beyond the small round pool within a grove of oak trees. The track runs east to Punchbowl Lane while the stream flows into a large triangular pond, now wholly obscured by scrub, with a clump of mature oaks alongside. Back at the western end of New Road, a smaller track climbs the southern spur of the ridge, in whose slope are the remains of an ice-house. Above, in an excavated hollow looking south-west towards distant Leith Hill, is the Hope Mausoleum (Grade II*): an austere Neoclassical structure set deep into the hillside with retaining walls forming a processional dromos. Around it are conifers (larch and Scots pine), and a veteran pollard oak stands on the wooded slope to the west. Still further south is the low-lying area known as Wet Grove, now (2012) arable land; from here there are important views looking north towards the Terrace.

KITCHEN GARDEN

The site of the Deepdene kitchen gardens lies 300m north-west of the house site, in the area now known as Deepdene Gardens (outside the boundary of the registered site). Originally some 2.5ha in extent, remnants of the external garden walls still stand adjacent to properties in Moores Road and internal garden walls still exist between dwellings. Estate cottages are also identifiable.

The kitchen gardens associated with Chart Park lay about 350m south-east of the house, on the eastern boundary of the estate near the present riding stables. The latter, outside the designated area, occupy the site of the earlier estate kennels. There is a pair of former estate cottages here, and another cottage stands on the western boundary opposite Chart Close; these are likewise excluded from the designated area.

Date first registered: 01-Jun-1989

Date of most recent amendment: 19-Jun-2012

Reasons for Designation

The Deepdene is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: a designed landscape with its origins in the late C17, developed in the early C19 under the ownership of the Regency novelist, garden writer, collector and man of taste Thomas Hope; later associated with Benjamin Disraeli, who wrote part of his celebrated novel 'Coningsby' while a guest of the Hope family;

* Design interest: despite the loss of the main house and parts of the wider estate to C20 development, the Deepdene's dense planting and dramatic topography still give a strong sense of its original form;

* Architectural interest: Chart Park, in the southern part of the registered area, contains the Grade II* listed Hope mausoleum.

Selected Sources

Book Reference - Author: Aubrey - Title: Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey - Date: 1718-1719 - Page References: pp 162-5, 211

Book Reference - Author: Camden, W - Title: Britannia - Date: 1772 - Page References: p 185 - Type: ILLUSTRATION

Book Reference - Author: Doris and Edith Mercer - Title: Chart Park Dorking A vanished Surrey Mansion - Date: 1993

Book Reference - Author: Loudon, John Claudius - Title: Encyclopaedia of Gardening - Date: 1822 - Page References: p 1228

Book Reference - Author: Keane, William - Title: The Beauties of Surrey - Date: 1849

Book Reference - Author: de Beer, E S (ed) - Title: The Diary of John Evelyn - Date: 1955

Book Reference - Author: Watkins, David - Title: Thomas Hope 1769-1831 and the Neo-Classical Idea - Date: 1968 - Page References: pp 158-92, 250-4

Book Reference - Author: Neale, John Preston - Title: An Account of the Deepdene in Surrey - Date: 1826

Book Reference - Author: Harris, John - Title: The Artist and the Country House: a history of country house and garden view painting in Britain 1540-1870 - Date: 1979 - Page References: p 326

Book Reference - Author: Lees-Milne, James - Title: Country House - Date: 1982

Book Reference - Author: Mercer, D and Jackson, A - Title: The Deepdene, Dorking - Date: 1996

Book Reference - Author: Harris, John - Title: The Artist and the Country House, from the C15 to the present day (exhibition catalogue) - Date: 1996 - Page References: p 74

Article Reference - Title: Country Life, 5 - Date: 20 May 1899 - Page References: pp 624-9

Map Reference - Title: Sketch Plan of the Deepdene - Date: 1673 - Source: Bodleian Library

Map Reference - Title: Plan of the Deepdene - Date: 1825 - Source: Minet Library, Lambeth Archives

Book Reference - Author: Ackermann, Rudolph - Title: Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Vol 1 - Date: 1823 - Page References: pp 312-13, plates 31 & 32

Other Reference - Description: Restoration and Management Plan: Deepdene, Dorking, Surrey (3 Vols), Cazenove Architects Co-operative, 1996

Other Reference - Description: Canter, James. The Deepdene, Surrey: Seen in a Prospect over Dorking 1773 or 1783 (MCC, Lords) [reproduced in Harris 1996]

Other Reference - Description: Britton, J, Illustrations of the Deepdene, Seat of T Hoper Esq 1825-6 (Minet Library, Lambeth Archives)

Book Reference - Author: Gendall, W W - Title: Views of Country Seats II - Date: 1830 - Page References: p 23-7

Article Reference - Date: 20 January 1900 - Journal Title: Gardeners' Chronicle and Supplement - Page References: p 42