Heathcote

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A formal garden designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens during the years 1906(11 as an integral part of the design of the house. Gertrude Jekyll was responsible for the planting scheme (Brown 1982, 186(8).

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Heathcote is situated c 1km west of the centre of Ilkley in a residential area. The c 1.6ha site is on the south side of Kings Road on land which slopes down to the east and south. The north boundary is formed by the outer stone walls of service buildings and a courtyard (listed grade I) on the south side of Kings Road. On the south side of the site the boundary is formed by the north side of Grove Road where the remains of cast-iron fencing survives immediately behind a late C20 fence. The garden is divided from neighbouring gardens to the east and west by C20 fences.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The main entrance to Heathcote is from Kings Road where stone gate piers with ornamental cast-iron gates (listed grade I) lead to a forecourt immediately to the north of the house. On the south side of the site stone gate piers and an ornamental cast-iron gate (listed grade I) on the north side of Grove Road lead directly into the garden.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

Heathcote (listed grade I) was built 1906-8 by Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) for J T Hemingway in Italianate style. Some 20m north-west of the house there are garages, and a game larder, now (1997) used for storage, is situated south of the garages in the garage courtyard. On the east side of the courtyard there is a glasshouse and between this and the garage an arched opening leads to an enclosed area between the garages and the west wall of the main courtyard where there is a glasshouse and a small building (listed grade I) in use (1997) as an office. This reflects the arrangement shown on the 1934 OS map when there was another, free-standing, glasshouse in the garage yard. A pair of service cottages (listed grade I), with a private garden on its south side, is situated c 30m to the north-east alongside Kings Road, mirroring the position of the garage.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

The design of house and gardens was conceived of as a whole, and the layout of the gardens relates to the plan form and axial arrangements of the house. The design is strongly formal but not completely symmetrical, and the strong classical elements of the house with its square pavilion-like wings are softened by the use of curves in the layout of the garden.

There are four main elements: an oval courtyard north of the house; narrow enclosed areas to the east and west with bowed southern ends which project forward of the line of a terrace mirroring the projecting wings of the house; the terrace on the south front with formal canals at its base, and a sweeping oval lawn south of this which is enclosed by curving borders.

The north front of the house has a central entrance with semicircular stone steps leading down to an oval walled courtyard (listed grade I) with a central circular fountain. On the north side is the entrance from Kings Road, and on the east and west sides gate piers and gates lead off, those to the west to the garage yard and those to the east into a former garden area shown with formal beds on a photograph of 1910 (CL) and now (1997) a car park. This is divided from the precincts of the service cottages to the north by a stone wall which has been reduced in height in the late C20. The area is enclosed on the east side by a beech hedge and at its south end there is a stone wall which is bowed outwards and overlooks the lawn on the south front. On the east side, c 30m south-east of the house, there is a stone apsidal garden shelter (listed grade I). Steps, aligned with the garden shelter, lead up to a paved terrace which runs along the south front of the house.

On the west side of the house the terraced walk continues and there is an apsidal garden shelter (listed grade I) with detached stone columns flanking the apse which are linked by a timber pergola. This is aligned with the garden shelter on the east side of the garden, and the area to the west of the house mirrors that to the east, with a wall bowed outwards at it south end, but it is on the same level as the terrace whereas that to the east is at a lower level. The western area is laid out with geometrical beds and its north end is divided from the garage yard by a stone wall with a gateway.

The house is built on a modified H plan with a central block flanked by wings projecting at the angles, of which those on the north side project further to the east and west than those on the south side. The south side has paving along the house front which is bowed inwards towards the central block and steps down to an axial terraced walk. On each of the east and west sides a beech hedge runs south from the line of the two northern wings forming a narrow garden area on each side of the south front. These areas are laid out with central paths which are flanked by rockeries which are probably of mid or late C20 date.

The terraced walk has a stone parapet and retaining wall and three projecting balconies with decorative cast-iron railings. The central balcony is supported by rusticated stone piers and on each side of it, midway between the flanking balconies. The terrace surface is strongly textured and a geometrical pattern is formed by alternating areas of flat slabs and blocks of closely set narrow stone slabs laid on end.

Steps on each side of the terrace lead down in three stages, of which the final stage descends between stone piers as a semicircular flight which is aligned with the outer balconies of the terrace. The steps lead to a paved area with geometrical beds which is flanked by canals running south from the terrace retaining wall (all terrace structures listed together at grade I). These project into a terraced oval lawn with a path around its circumference which has, at its south end, steps (listed grade I) down to a path which leads to the entrance from Grove Road. The area on each side and below the oval lawn is grassed and bordered by curving beds which mirror the curve of the lawn. On the west side of the lawn there is a retaining wall supporting the bordering bed which gently loses height as it runs south down the slope, and between the bed and the edge of the garden there is a paved walk which runs from the Grove Road entrance north to the line of the terrace, from which point stone steps lead up to a garden area on the west side of the house.

REFERENCES

Country Life, 28 (9 July 1910), pp 54-65

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire The West Riding (1967), pp 278/9

P Dunster (ed), Edwin Lutyens (1979), pp 72/3

D O'Neill, Lutyens' Country Houses (1980), pp 94-8

J Brown, The Gardens of a Golden Afternoon (1982), pp 108/9, 186-8

Lutyens, Arts Council of Great Britain exhibition catalogue (1982), pp 108/9

Maps

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition surveyed 1906/7 1934 edition

Archival items

Microfiche copy of the Gertrude Jekyll planting scheme (NMR) [original held at College of Environmental Design Documents Collection, University of California, Berkeley]

Description written: February 1998

Register Inspector: CEH

Edited: November 1999