Northcourt

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):

One of the earliest manor houses on the Isle of Wight, begun in 1615 for the Deputy Governor of the island, with surviving elements including a serpentine mount and walks from the 17th century, together with mid-18th- and early 19th-century gardens, parkland, and ornamental woodland in the Picturesque style.

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Northcourt House is situated on the north-west side of the village of Shorwell in a rural, inland part of the Isle of Wight. The B3399, which links Newport to the south-west coast road, runs through the site and the village, forming part of the south-east boundary of the gardens. Northcourt occupies c 17ha on a hilly site at the eastern end of a valley, known as Shorwell Shute, between two downs. It is bounded to east, west, and north by farmland, with the main body of the village lying to the south and south-east.

Entrances and Approaches

The boundary along the B3399 is formed by a low stone wall which is broken in two places, c 100m to the east of the House where the main drive exits the property, and c 100m to the north-east of the House where it enters. A single stone gate pier marks the north-east entrance. A curved gravel drive runs from here through boundary woodland planting to emerge at the gravelled forecourt below the north front of the House. A second drive runs west from the B3399 cutting across the north park to Northcourt Farm, the home farm added to the property by General Leith at the beginning of the C20 (now, 2002, in separate ownership).

Principal Building

Northcourt House (listed grade II) is a large two and a half-storey country house of irregular ground plan. It is constructed of stone under a tile roof, with stone mullion windows and red-brick chimney stacks. There are entrance doors on the north front overlooking the gravel drive, and on the east front overlooking the garden terraces. The building sits near the water supplies on the footprint of a monastic residence, occupied by the nuns of Lacock Abbey. The present house was begun by Sir John Leigh in 1615 and completed in 1629 by his son Barnaby. The north-west wing, possibly designed by Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944), was added in 1905 by General Robert Leith. Some 100m to the north of the House stands the stable block (listed grade II) which faces east onto the parkland. It was built in the early C19, probably for General Willoughby Gordon.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

The gardens at Northcourt lie mainly to the west, north, and east of the House, with extensive ornamental woodland occupying the land to the north-east. They contain several very mature trees including a c 500-year-old yew, and an avenue of limes dating from the mid to late C18. Below the east front lie terraced lawns which lead to a woodland garden laid out along the banks of a stream which rises at the Shor Well c 80m to the south-east of the House. The stream finds its source from a number of springs which pass through a brick-lined channel of late C19 construction, terminating in a sluice gate, designed to control the water level to create a cascade of c 7' (c 2m) (now, 2002, disused).

Overlooking the east lawn, at the source of the stream, stands a domed water-house known as the Bath House (listed grade II), probably erected by Elizabeth Bull in the late C18 or early C19. Immediately below the south front of the House is a small knot garden which is set beside a long walk running along the base of the rising ground, on the footprint of an Orangery demolished in 1934. Beyond it lie a croquet lawn and tennis lawn. The walk leads into two small areas of grass pasture, and beyond this the path turns south-east, crossing a small stone bridge over the stream to link into the woodland walk along the southern boundary.

To the west of the main south walk the land rises and is contained to the south of the House by substantial castellated retaining walls at the southern end of which stands a grass-covered mount, possibly of C17 origin, accessed by a serpentine path. Above the castellated wall is an upper grass terrace walk, above which is a path, planted in the late C20 with a wide variety of flowering shrubs and trees. The path runs north back towards the House, passing a small sunken water garden, now planted (late C20) with exotic species, and a recently planted (late C20) orchard. As it reaches the House, the ground slopes down to a lawn below the west front, on the north side of which is a small sunken garden dating from the early C20. Beyond this to the north-west is the walled garden and stables, set beside the remains of an ornamental grove of limes dating from the C18.

Beyond the parkland, to the north-east of the House, is The Dell, a further ornamental woodland, linked to a plantation on the east side of the B3399 by an Alpine Bridge (restored in the 1980s). In c 1800 Richard Bull erected a mausoleum (now lost) in The Dell to the memory of his other daughter, Catherine, who died in 1795. The other surviving feature of Elizabeth's work in The Dell is the knucklebone floor of a summerhouse. A walk runs through the woods on the east side of the road to a low mound known as Mount Ararat (now mainly hidden in the undergrowth) on which stand the vestigial remains of the Temple of the Sun which was erected by Elizabeth Bull in the late C18. Indeed the main structure of the gardens which survive at Northcourt can be attributed to Elizabeth and her work on the gardens from 1795 to 1809, although it is likely that the terracing and the mound are much earlier. The wealth of published material from the early part of the C19 suggests that Elizabeth Bull was very highly regarded and her gardens were well known.

Park

The diminutive (c 6ha) parkland lies to the north and north-west of the House and is now partly under arable. The area is enclosed by perimeter woodland, in the north-west corner of which stands the early C20 home farm buildings (now known as Northcourt Farm). A perimeter ride, dating from the late C18/early C19, partially survives through the woodland although the ornamental dairy which formed a feature along this ride no longer survives. The area immediately north of the House was replanted with parkland trees towards the end of the C20, while that to the south of The Dell contains several very mature parkland trees.

Kitchen Garden

The kitchen garden (listed grade II) lies c 40m to the north-west of the House, its east wall being formed by the back wall of the stable block. The high red-brick walls enclose a garden divided from north to south by a gravel path edged with box and flower borders. The ground is partially grassed, with fruit trees and bushes to the west and vegetable plots to the east. A small glasshouse stands in the north-west corner. A walled garden is shown in this position on the 1793 OS map and it is therefore likely that that the garden is of C18 origin, although its exact date of construction is not presently known. The glasshouses within it are of more recent construction with remnants of the boiler house to the rear.

Maps

• J Andrews, County map of the Isle of Wight, 1769
• OS 6" to 1 mile map of the Isle of Wight, 1793 (PRO)
• OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1861; 2nd edition 1898; 3rd edition 1909
• OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1862; 2nd edition 1898

Illustrations

Several illustrations of the property are held at the Isle of Wight Record Office, including:

• Watercolour of Northcourt, around 1760
• W Angus, North Court House in the Isle of Wight, the seat of Richard Bull Esq, 1796
• Series of sketches of the landscape dated around 1812
• J P Neale, Northcourt, 1822
• G Brannon, Northcourt, the seat of Mrs Bennet, 1824

Description written: August 2002

Amended: March 2003

Edited: June 2003, December 2021