Netherbyres

http://portal.historic-scotland.gov.uk/hes/web/f?p=PORTAL:DESIGNATIONS:0

Type of Site

A compact, mid-18th century designed landscape that retains some features of its original structure, such as the walled garden and parkland areas. Substantial 19th-century modifications included the construction of the present house, the removal of a lake and formal garden and the establishment of new drives and woodland plantations.

Location and Setting

The small designed landscape of Netherbyres is located immediately to the south of the coastal town of Eyemouth and is set within the Lower Eye valley. Apart from the Eyemouth suburbs to the north of the policy wall, the surrounding landscape comprises gently-undulating agricultural land drained by the River Eye and its tributary, the Nettly Burn. These watercourses, which define the western and southern boundaries of the designed landscape, flow within fairly narrow, steep-sided valleys. Despite its valley setting, the proximity of Netherbyres to the east coast renders it exposed to fierce salt-laden winds. Managed perimeter woodlands around the north of the estate shelter the gardens and parks from the worst excesses of these winds, and restrict views out from the policies to the surrounding landscape. Current land use within the estate includes permanent grass and pasture in the smaller parkland plots and arable cultivation in the large field to the south. The designed landscape encompasses some 31ha (77ac). Apart from the River Eye and Nettly Burn, it is bounded by the A1107 to the east and north.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Netherbyres House is a Tudor-Jacobean-style gabled mansion designed by George Angus and built in 1834-35 for Samuel Brown. It was enlarged during the 1860s and a small wing added to the north side in the 1930s. Now forming an L-plan, the front and south-west sides are of coursed-cream sandstone, while the rear and north-east side are painted harl. The interior was converted for use as a residential home in the 1990s. A small wooden pavilion across the parking bay to the east was built by shipyard apprentices employed by the Furness family before the Second World War. The house and policies are enclosed by rubble boundary walls with cream sandstone gatepiers at the north and south entrances. To the east of the house, the elliptical-plan walled garden was devised and built c.1730s with further improvements c.1834. To the west of Netherbyres house, the 3-bay, sandstone rubble Coach House, fronted by a U-plan stable courtyard also dates to the 18th century with 19th-century additions and alterations. This building, now with lawns to front and back, and the former laundry, to the north west, were converted to residential use in the late 20th century. Further single-storey ancillary structures lie to the west of the coach-house. A late 20th-century house occupies the site of the former mid-19th century South Lodge.

Drives and Approaches

Cartographic evidence indicates two relatively straight drives leading into the policies from both north and south in the mid 18th century (Roy 1747-55, NAS RHP141751). The northern approach led past the walled garden on the right before a 90° angle turn led to a gentle descent towards the former house. The southern approach entered the policies along an old road via a bridge over the Nettly Burn before again, turning to lead to the former house. These approaches were evidently lined with trees, suggested by the remnant lines of trees depicted in the first edition Ordnance Survey (1855-7, OS 25') a line of decaying veteran elm stumps near the southern turning point towards the house, and two linear cropmarks visible in aerial photographs of the field to the south-west of the present approach. These marks probably denote the former field boundaries either side of the approach, and marked on Blackadder's survey map of 1818 (NAS RHP141751).

By the mid 19th century, these rather straight, rigid approaches had been replaced. Now, the south drive, bordered by mainly mixed deciduous planting, winds around the north edge of the park in an 'S' bend and leads to the coach house and main house. Another drive enters the estate from the A1107 to the north, leading past the north-west elevation of Netherbyres house before turning and connecting with the south drive. A further entrance via a tension bridge over the River Eye, built by Samuel Brown, was closed when the bridge was demolished in 1929 due to its dangerous condition.

Paths and Walks

Many of the woodland paths marked on the first and second Ordnance Survey maps are maintained (1855-7, OS 25'; 1896-8, OS 25').

Parkland

Located to the east of the south drive, the principal parkland area features veteran specimens of ash, oak, elm and holly, a small number of which could pre-date 1800. The large cereal fields in the southern half of the estate was subdivided into four parks in the early 19th century, and included House Park, Mid Park, East Bank and Crow Field (NAS RHP141751). These were partly amalgamated by the mid 19th century, with the large wooded roundel present by the time of the second Ordnance Survey (1896-8, OS 6'). This contains mainly hardwood species with a few conifer survivors, and is a prominent scenic component within the policies today.

Woodland

Perimeter woodland curves along the policy boundaries. Along the south, by the Nettly Burn, and the north-west, on the bank of the River Eye, mixed deciduous species predominate with some cypress trees serving to screen the Eyemouth suburbs from the house. Young trees planted among the older specimens in the Nettlyburn plantation will ensure the continued survival of this woodland area. To the south west of Netherbyres House, an ornamental wood is gradually reverting to mixed woodland. Horse chestnuts, and other hardwoods standing in the area between the walled garden and the north are interspersed with occasional conifers, probably planted towards the end of the 19th century. A more recent conifer belt edged with ash screens the A1107 along the eastern boundary.

Water Features

An 18th-century canal that extended south-east from the coach house is clearly visible in a photograph of the 1920s. It was mostly infilled during the 20th century, and now only remnants of its edging can now be seen.

A lake with sinuous edging located at the far end of the formal garden is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1855-7, OS 25'). A small island within the lake was aligned with the long central axis of the formal garden, which suggests that views from the house were deliberately focused towards this point. By 1900, the pond had been infilled. Partial re-digging and dredging in the 1930s and in the early 21st century have now succeeded in re-establishing a small pond within the woodland at this location.

The Gardens

Today, there are no significant formal gardens associated with Netherbyres House, apart from a simple terraced lawn that extends from the north-eastern elevation of the house. To the south-east, there is a long area of grass pasture with a good range of trees including copper beech, elm and maple. The first edition Ordnance Survey map, however, indicates that formerly, this was the site of a long, rectangular formal garden (1855-7, OS 25'). Evidence for its layout derive both from this map and the faint undulations that can still be seen on the lawn and grass pasture in this area, particularly in dry weather conditions. A central point, some 100m from the house, was enclosed by a curving path which formed an elliptical area, echoing the shape of the walled garden. This area was further subdivided by intersecting paths and featured symmetrical tree-planting. An urn from this garden is now sited in the walled garden. Meanwhile, the long path leading from the house formed a long central axis which may have served to focus views from the house towards the lake and its small island to the south-east. This garden was removed prior to 1900.

Walled Garden

This exceptionally rare, mathematically-laid out elliptical walled garden may have been inspired by J Worlidge's Art of Gardening (1682) which praised the concept of a circular garden as being '..very pleasant'The walls about such a Garden are very good for fruit, the Wind being not so severe against a Round, as against a streight Wall' (quoted in Mills 1986: 30). William Crow, mathematician and horticulturalist, almost certainly devised the garden during the 1730s. Measurements of the sun-catching portion equate very well with his description of a 300 foot peach wall and it is possible that a line of ash trees, partially surviving outside the wall to the south east, was planted along the ellipse's directrix (a straight line, perpendicular to the long axis of the ellipse, which helped to measure the precise curve of the wall).

Existing research on Samuel Brown's correspondence suggests that when he acquired the estate in the early 19th century, the walled garden had fallen into disrepair, and served more as an enclosure for fruit trees than a formal space. A veteran pear tree may be a survivor from this period (Col. Furness, pers.comm.). Two distinct phases of rubble-stone work visible on the exterior western curve also indicate that originally, this part of the wall was significantly lower, and perhaps allowed views in from the house. Brown built up the walls to a uniform height and added further red-brick lining along the interior.

The formal layout of the interior remains largely intact today and can also be attributed to the tenure of Brown. Perimeter walks and equally-spaced paths converge in the centre where a large, planted urn currently replaces the earlier centrepieces of a fountain, and before that, a pond.

The content of the walled garden is superbly managed. Despite the demolition of the Victorian glasshouse on the interior of the west-facing wall, and its replacement by a modern house, the impression of colour and symmetry within the walls remains striking. Fruit trees and flourishing 'Kiftsgate', white rambling rose, ascend the brick interior of the walls, beds stocked with roses and ornamental shrubs line the paths and form islands within the inner lawns. A large yew hedge running across the garden divides the ornamental section from a smaller area of vegetable plots, while dwarf box hedging and a box parterre adorn the south-eastern quadrant of the ellipse. A blue-green gazebo installed in the opening years of the 21st century is modelled on an example from the gardens at Tyninghame, near Dunbar.