Revesby Abbey

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

A mid-19th-century country house set beside the remains of mid-19th-century formal gardens surrounded by a late 18th-century park with its origins in a medieval deer park.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Revesby Abbey is located c 15km north of Boston in a rural setting on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. The c 125ha site is bounded to the south by the A155, to the west by a farm track known as Abbey Road, to the north by Terrance Lane and farmland, and to the east by agricultural land. The gently sloping ground falls slightly to the south and east and is entirely enclosed by boundary plantations, apart from a short section of the southern boundary.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The Abbey is currently (2001) entered via an estate track running east from Abbey Road along the south side of the walled garden. The track turns south at the eastern end of the walled garden to pass the stable yard and arrive at the east front of the Abbey. This is a temporary route which probably represents the C19 back drive to the stables. It currently (2001) allows access to the Abbey until a new drive is constructed from Abbey Road directly to the west front. When the Abbey was constructed the main C19 approach was from the south off the A155 where a single-storey lodge (listed grade II), known as the Front Lodge, was constructed in colour-washed red brick under a slate roof by William Burn in c 1848. The lodge stands beside elaborate gates hung on jewel-panelled piers, with side screens in cast iron (all listed grade II), also by William Burn for J B Stanhope. The drive, now (2001) under grass, ran north between an avenue of mature limes for c 300m then curved around the site of the old Abbey before entering the gravelled oval forecourt below the east front through a further set of iron gates.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

Revesby Abbey (listed grade I) is a large country house built of ashlar in the Jacobean style. The slate roofs have decorative gables, pinnacles, and ball finials. The E-plan house is entered from the east through a porch with arcaded balustrading, reached via a flight of steps. All the windows are chamfered cross mullions. The Abbey was built by William Burn for J B Stanhope in 1845, as was the stable yard attached to the north front. The house, which has been empty since the mid C20, is currently (2001) undergoing renovation.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

The remains of the mid C19 gardens lie to the south, west, and south-west of the Abbey. The remains of stone steps lead up from the east front forecourt to a terrace, now grass (2001), running immediately below the south front. The terrace is connected to the lawn below it by further fragments of steps. The lawn is flanked to east and west by tree and shrub planting and is bordered to the south by a partly surviving low boundary wall with upstanding piers. In the centre of the lawn is a circular fountain pool, the fountain no longer extant. In the C19 and early C20 this lawn was laid out as a formal garden, with flower beds.

The garden to the west of the Abbey is now (2001) very overgrown with sapling trees and shrubs. It contains the remains of a further flower garden, the stone border edges of which survive in places.

Beyond the west garden and running southwards all along the western boundary is the pleasure ground know as The Shrubbery. This mixed plantation of conifers and broadleaves contains much C20 planting and self-set trees, but amongst these are the remains of the more exotic pleasure-ground plantings, including mature specimens such as cut-leaved beech, cedar, and chusan palm. There is an understorey of yew and laurel, and yew-lined walks can be traced in places. One long gravel walk which runs north/south c 50m west of the Abbey partially survives lined with yews. Within the woodland c 100m to the south-west of the Abbey stands the remains of a rose garden, much of its elaborate ironwork hoops and central gazebo still in place although greatly overgrown by the surrounding trees. A circular feature is shown in this position in more open surroundings on the 1st edition OS 6" map (surveyed in 1887), suggesting that the rose garden is a feature contemporary with the building of the house. This map also shows The Shrubbery cut through with many serpentine paths, all of which have been lost.

PARK

Revesby Abbey sits in the north-west corner of the park, which extends to the south, south-east, and east. It is retained under grass and is well scattered with parkland trees of varying ages, some of great maturity and probably relics of the C18 park associated with the earlier Revesby Abbey, created on the site of the medieval deer park. There are heavily wooded areas along the northern (Abbey Plantation) and eastern (The Belt) boundaries, with the area where the two meet being called The Wilderness. These first appear on the OS 1st edition 6" map surveyed in 1887 and are therefore likely to be contemporary with the creation of the mid Victorian park. The park contains two small ponds: one close to the site of the old Abbey and the other in the south-east corner of the park. Some of the largest trees, including the remains of a lime avenue, survive just to the north of Front Lodge.

KITCHEN GARDEN

The walled kitchen gardens stands c 75m to the north-west of the Abbey. It is divided into two compartments, that to the south containing a tennis court and that to the north laid out as a herb and flower garden. The garden is Victorian, having been built in the 1840s at the same time as the Abbey. OS maps from the period show that in the 1880s it was divided into quarters and contained a range of glasshouses on the south-facing north wall.

REFERENCES

Lincolnshire Chronicle, 20 May 1842 (Lincolnshire Archives)

N Pevsner and J Harris, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (2nd edition 1989), p 610

H Thorold and J Yates, Lincolnshire A Shell Guide (1965), p 113

C Sturman (editor), Lincolnshire People and Places: Essays in memory of Terence R Leach (1937-1994) (1996), pp 73-7

H Thorold, Lincolnshire Houses (1999), p 78

Maps

Capt A Armstrong, Map of the County of Lincolnshire, 1779 (Lincolnshire Archives)

Tithe map for Revesby parish, 1837 (Lincolnshire Archives)

OS 1" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1824

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1887, published 1891; 2nd edition published 1906

Description written: November 2001

Edited: June 2002