Tendring Hall Park

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A landscape park for which Humphry Repton produced a Red Book in 1791, containing remnants of a formal 18th-century landscape including a canal and an oak grove.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Tendring Hall Park is situated at the south-east corner of Stoke-by-Nayland village, midway between Sudbury and Manningtree on the Suffolk/Essex border. The site falls dramatically to the south from the north boundary, which is formed by the B1068, into the valley of the River Stour. The B1068 occupies the ridge which divides the Stour valley in the south from the Box valley in the north. The west boundary is formed by the B1087 Stoke-by-Nayland to Nayland road. Thus Tendring enjoys a picturesque river-valley setting with the park falling from the north ridge towards the valley floor and the valley slope to the south offering extensive views out across the countryside. The maturing planting in the northern part of the park has begun to obscure some of the views which were originally intended from the main drive southwards.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The main approach is from the north-west corner of the park, on the edge of Stoke-by-Nayland village, past a single-storey cream brick and slate lodge, through the northern plantations towards the site of the house. The line follows that proposed by Repton in 1791. The drive from the south-west corner of the park, suggested by Repton, no longer exists, the lodges having been demolished sometime after 1905. A further lodge and drive from the south-east corner of the park, also proposed by Repton, appears never to have been created. Remnants of the early C18 double oak avenue approach to the south of the old house survive in the park between Tendring Hall Farm and the kitchen garden.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

All that remains of John Soane's 1784 house is the main portico (listed grade II) which now stands alone in the park on the high ground to the north. It is constructed of red brick with four Ionic columns on the north-east front and semicircular arched window openings on the sides. Above is a stone plinth impost band with frieze and cornice. Some 200m to the south-east lie the ruins of the stable block.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

The flower gardens and terraces to the south-west of the house described so vividly by the Gardeners' Chronicle in 1879 are now derelict and lost under grass scattered with tree seedlings. The ha-ha boundary to the south-west is crumbling. The pleasure ground to the north-west of the house retains remnants of the yew, box and holly which once lined the walks beneath the trees. Part of the wall to the north-west and south-east remains but Repton's beautified cow shed (used as a summerhouse) has gone.

PARK

Tendring Park was created between the mid and late C18 by the gradual removal of field boundaries and the subsequent embellishment of the planting at the hands of Repton. It covers c 107ha on the valley slopes with a wooded northern section and an open park to the south. The woods along the slopes to the north are edged with a thick boundary plantation, recorded by Repton as planted in 1790 and subsequently thickened in places at his suggestion. It is a mixed plantation of conifers and deciduous species, the oldest being oak and sweet chestnut. The whole is cut through with rides, mainly created in the early C20 when further planting was undertaken in this area. A cricket ground laid out in the 1920s occupies land along the north boundary which was known as the Bowling Alley Field in 1723 (estate map). East of the cricket ground is The Grove, a feature recorded on the 1723 estate map which continues to be managed as an open oak plantation, much of it recently replanted. Beside the western tip of The Grove, and c 100m north of the kitchen garden is an C18 octagonal red-brick dovecote (listed grade II). The park is open to the south as it slopes down to the river and fine views of it are enjoyed from the site of the former house. To the east the plantations continue down the slope to enclose the park along this boundary. Planting is scattered with some mature clumps, mainly in the south and the south-west, some very old sweet chestnut pollards and the remains of the early C18 oak avenue to the south. Other planting is recent (1990s). In the south-west corner stands a late C18 stuccoed Temple (listed grade II) at the end of a long, formal canal dating from before 1723 (estate map). Repton's proposals to alter the Temple and Canal were not carried out and they remain as originally built. The Temple has a square centre block with slate roof, a canted bay to the west and two sloping roof wings to north and south.

KITCHEN GARDEN

The kitchen garden with its red-brick wall sits almost centrally on the site, c 280m south-east of the house portico. It comprises a single compartment with a breach in the wall to the west and east. It is currently (1998) planted with Norway Spruce trees and used for pheasant rearing. Inside is a central, circular dipping well and the remains of the brick bases of glasshouses and hot beds. The productive ground is much reduced. The 1723 map shows an enclosure on this site with an adjacent hop ground to the east and a formal canal to the south. By 1840 (Tithe map) the kitchen garden was walled and this, together with the supporting grounds, remained until at least 1927 (OS 6" map) although by then the canal had been removed.

REFERENCES

H Repton, Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1803)

W White, Directory of Suffolk (1844), pp 45, 568; (1874), p 194

Charles Martin Torlesse, Some Account of Stoke-by-Nayland (1877) [copy in West Suffolk Record Office: STO65]

Gardeners' Chronicle, (20 September 1879), pp 303-4

Barker, West Suffolk Illustrated (1907), p 333

D Stroud, Humphry Repton (1962)

Eric Sandon, Suffolk Houses. A study of domestic architecture (1977), p 122

Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses: Vol III, East Anglia (1981), p 265

G Carter et al, Humphry Repton (1982), p 162

Maps

Kendall, Estate survey, 1723 (private collection) [copy in West Suffolk Record Office: HA108/10/1/1]

C & J Greenwood, Map of the County Suffolk, 1824 (586/18), (West Suffolk Record Office)

Tithe map, 1840 (T113/2), (West Suffolk Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1891; 2nd edition published 1905; 3rd edition published 1927

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1904

Archival items

Humphry Repton, Red Book for Tendring Park, 1791 (private collection)

Early 20th-century photographs (K 920/30/3), (West Suffolk Record Office)

The Rowley family papers, including deeds of purchase, are held at the West Suffolk Record Office (HA108/2/3).

Description written: December 1998

Edited: December 1999