Introduction
The site has the ruins of a former Cistercian Abbey. After the Dissolution it was one of the seats of Tracy family. The estate was slowly downgraded and only ruins were left by 1794.
The seat is in the Severn valley just at the edge of the Cotswolds. There was a walled formal garden with grass parterres and topiary on the west front of the house, and courtyard and service buildings to the south. The main garden lay to the rear and extended up onto the hillside. The design was elaborate and formal with several grass parterres with decoratively placed severely clipped trees. Beyond was a formal orchard and a fishpond. There was a vegetable garden outside the east wall of the main garden. The church (which survives) lies to the east of the house.
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
Telephone
01242 602398Access contact details
The site is open daily between April and October.
Directions
The road to Hailes Abbey is east of the B4632 appromiately 3 km. north of Winchcombe.
Owners
The National Trust
Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon, SN2 2NA
- History
There is no information on the history of the garden, and the date of its creation is not known. Its appearance suggests mid to late-18th-century formal English design for an aristocratic seat with house, church, garden and park. It was one of several seats of the family and fairly rapidy given up. The Buck engraving of 1732 shows that the garden had already disappeared by that time.
- Features & Designations
Style
Formal
Features
- Ruin (featured building)
- Earliest Date:
- Latest Date:
- Key Information
Type
Garden
Purpose
Ornamental
Principal Building
Heritage Site
Survival
Part: standing remains
Open to the public
Yes
- References
References
- Atkyns, R and others {The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire} (London: W. Bowyer for Robert Gosling,1712) The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire
- Kingsley, Ni {The Country Houses of Gloucestershire, Vol. I 1500-1660} (Cheltenham: Phillimore, 1989) p.88 The Country Houses of Gloucestershire, Vol. I 1500-1660
- Verey, D {The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds} (London: Penguin, 1970) The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds
- Alexander, K, Scruby, M and Lutley, W {The National Trust biological survey: Hailes Abbey, Gloucestershire} (1985) The National Trust biological survey: Hailes Abbey, Gloucestershire
Contributors
Martin McNicol