Wadhurst Castle (also known as Maplehurst)

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A mid 19th century pleasure ground and park providing a picturesque setting for a castellated villa, remodelled in the early 1840s.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Wadhurst Castle lies directly to the south of the B2099 Tunbridge Wells-Flimwell Road, approximately 11km east of Crowborough. The 58ha park lies on a ridge which runs south-east to north-west and forms part of the High Weald of Sussex, formed from rocks referred to as the Hastings Beds. The Castle and grounds are highly visible in the landscape, and make a significant contribution to the landscape character. The Castle occupies an elevated position, commanding extensive views south over parkland and low lying countryside. The parkland has been designed to be viewed primarily from the Castle and its terrace walk.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The main approach leads off from the B2099 at its junction point with the B2100. Turning south through an entrance lodge (designed by E B Lamb c1839, listed grade II) on the road, the serpentine entrance drive leads through an ornamental area planted with Wellingtonia, holm oak, Scots pine, Crypotmeria, beech and hornbeam and into an entrance forecourt on the north-west front of the Castle. A dwarf stonework wall encloses the entrance forecourt, probably part of Lamb's design, with two decorative garden gates surviving, although the main entrance gates no longer exist. In the early C20 the forecourt had a central island of grass planted with a single tree which no longer survives (1909, OS 25"; 1936 Sales Particulars).

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

Wadhurst Castle (listed grade II), was built c.1818-20 for James Louis West to replace the old farmhouse, and remodelled and extended to the west c 1839 by Edward Buckton Lamb, (1806-69). It was further enlarged in 1870 and after fire damage in 1933 was repaired by the architect owner A.C. Matthews.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

To the south-east of the Castle is a long terrace walk, which extends westwards to run parallel with the south-east side of the kitchen garden. This appears to be part of the an early garden layout associated with Lamb's design and was described as being 'adorned by little thousands of American and flowering shrubs' (Sales Particulars, 1835). South of the Terrace Walk is the Terrace Garden, bounded by a ha-ha on the park side and comprising a rectangular lawn surrounded on three sides by a gravel path and on the fourth by a grass bank. The Rose Garden, laid out 1909-25 is laid out with random stone paving with a central bed containing a sundial and is situated at the junction of the Terrace Garden and the Terrace Walk.

The Sunken Garden occupies a former quarry at the south-west end of the pleasure grounds. This formed a feature along a series of Wilderness Walks to the west and south-west of the Castle, laid out among rhododendrons and ornamental trees.

To the south-west of the kitchen garden is an area of lawn. By 1872 this was an orchard until in 1909 it was felled to make way for a tennis court and croquet lawn.

PARK

The park falls away to the south and is defined by Windmill Wood (outside the area here registered) on its western side, and a shelterbelt screening it from the public road (B2099) along its eastern boundary. The southern boundary adjoins Snape Wood which together with Birchetts Wood to its east are both Forestry Commission plantations on a ridge of higher ground, (lying outwith the Register boundary).

A deep, winding ravine which runs north-south and forms the main natural drainage system divides the park. Ravine Wood set out along this steep sided gill contains a stream dammed to form two ponds at the northern end of the wood. The northernmost ornamental pond is designed to be seen from the Castle, while the lower pond may have originated as part of the early Wealden iron industry but was then incorporated as an ornamental feature in the late C19.

Parallel to the west side of the ravine is Long Wood, a broadleaf deciduous woodland which subdivides the park and frames views southwards to the countryside beyond. Upper Park on the eastern side of the park has a pit, probably remaining from the excavation of iron ore as part of the Wealden iron industry

The park was originally separated from the enclosure fields of the surrounding farmland by parkland fencing, lengths of which survive. A series of small ponds in the park were, according to tradition, used as sheep-dips.

KITCHEN GARDEN

The brick-walled kitchen garden, contemporary with the initial building of the castellated house, stands in the pleasure grounds immediately to the west of the Castle. Ornamental stone entrances to it are situated in the south and east walls. On the south-east side are the remains of a castellated top to the entrance, which leads out onto the Terrace Walk. In the west corner are the remains of a greenhouse range, comprising double vinery and peach house.

REFERENCES

Printed material

Colson Stone Partnership, Wadhurst Castle. Historic Landscape Survey and Restoration Plan (1994)

Anon, Wadhurst Castle, formerly called Maplehurst, undated manuscript, c.1830 (East Sussex Record Office)

Sale catalogue, 1838, 1925, 1931, 1936, 1939 (East Sussex Record Office)

Maps

Tithe map, 1849 (East Sussex Record Office)

Description written: March 1994

Revised: June 2000