Wassand Hall

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Wassand lies south of the B1244, less than 3 miles west of the coastal town of Hornsea, and approximately 11 miles east of Beverley and is 137 acres (55.5 hectares) not including Low Wood and the other plantations at the west end of Hornsea Mere.

The Croftings Drain and Low Wood Drain form the boundary to the north, and on the west a lane named Grundill Lane on 19th-century Ordnance Survey plans. To the north-east the parkland extends to the west side of Low Wood and Hornsea Mere, and on the east and south to boundary plantations including Fox Cover.

The grounds of Wassand Hall are low lying with drains to the north and west and the extensive Hornsea Mere on the east. The land is slightly undulating from between 5 m to 15 m AOD, rising north-east to south-west.

The bedrock is chalk (Rowe Chalk Formation); the superficial deposits are alluvium in the northern part of the park and boulder clay (Devensian Till) in the southern part.

The grounds of Wassand Hall are in a superb setting overlooking Hornsea Mere. Except immediately to the north-est where there is an area of permanent pasture, the well-wooded parkland and associated plantations are set in a wider landscape of open arable fields to the north, south and west. Wassand is in East Riding Landscape Character Type 18: Low Lying Drained Farmland (Holderness).

Entrances and Approaches

The 1809 map shows a road leading west from the old house at Wassand towards Sigglesthorne. When the new house was built and this area to the west was taken into the parkland a new, curving carriage drive was built north of the old road. In 1815 an attractive Gothic-style lodge (West Lodge, listed Grade II) was built at the north-east corner of the junction of this drive and Grundill Lane. (Pevsner & Neave, Yorkshire: York & ER, 674). Single-storey, with a timber veranda; tiled roof with overhanging eaves with decorative bargeboards. The pointed windows have intersecting glazing bars.

In 1830 a ‘new cottage on the Hornsea Road' was built by Charles Constable ‘in order to have my letter bag left there' (Popham ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3, Appx 2, p. 10). This may be a reference to East Lodge, listed Grade II (formerly called Hornsea Lodge), on the west side of the road that provides access to Wassand Hall from the Seaton-Hornsea Road, a little south of the junction, although it is said to have a datestone of 1846 inside (inf. given by tenants to Paul Glazzard, geograph.org.uk). It is single-storey, whitewashed, with a decorative fish-scale slate roof. The pointed windows with hoodmoulds have Gothick glazing bars. The road on which the lodge stands became the principal entrance to Wassand Hall.

Although not strictly part of the parkland landscape, the picturesque round cottage (Mushroom Cottage, listed Grade II) on the north side of the Seaton-Hornsea road, opposite the mere, is the first building Charles Constable records having built on inheriting the estate in 1812. (Popham ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3, 21)

Principal Buildings

Wassand Hall Listed Grade II*

The present hall, a two-storey five bay brick villa, was built for Charles Constable 1813-15, to the designs of Thomas Cundy. The house was altered by the Bridlington architect Francis Johnson 1947-8, who demolished the service wings and other unsightly Victorian additions, and remodelled the north front. (Pevsner & Neave, Yorkshire: York & ER, 674)

Stables Listed Grade II

The stable block with coach houses stands to the north of the hall, and was built at the same time, presumably to the designs of Thomas Cundy. White brick with ashlar dressings, with shallow pitched hipped roofs with overhanging eaves. The east wing has a square cupola with clock.

Loggia Not listed

The brick and pantile loggia north-east of the hall was designed by Francis Johnson who was employed by Sir Marmaduke Constable after World War 2 to carry out work at the hall. (Popham, ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3, 33)

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

There is no record of pleasure gardens associated with Wassand Hall, where the preference was for a parkland setting with vistas towards the mere. In the late-1950s the ‘simplicity and informality of the immediate surroundings of the house which consists of lawns and great trees' was noted. There were ‘few flowers near the house, the only concession in this respect being in front of the south elevation where a small number of large rose beds have been arranged in a symmetrical pattern upon the lawn'. (‘Wassand Hall', 42-3)

Kitchen Garden

In 1770 Marmaduke Constable recorded various improvements made at Wassand, included building the kitchen garden walls. A survey of 1809 shows the kitchen gardens in their present position, and the western section of the walls may date from this period. The eastern half of the walled kitchen garden was probably added in 1815. (Popham, ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3, 15, 27).

Since the Russells moved to Wassand in the 1990s the walled gardens have been restored. One section is used as a kitchen garden with vegetables and fruit trees; the other features pleached lime trees enclosing a central lawn with fountain, and has rose beds, borders, herbs etc.

Park

Open Parkland

The area of open parkland surrounding Wassand Hall shown on the 19th-century OS plans survives. Within this area the boundaries of the smaller park associated with the earlier house are defined by woodland belts. The perambulation through these woodland belts is thought to date from around 1820 (Popham, ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3, 29).

Plantations

The plantations remain more or less as shown on the OS plan of 1910 although Dutch Elm disease destroyed many trees on the estate in the later-20th century. A detailed tree survey carried out by Historic Landscape Management in 1997-8 is given as Appendix 4 in Popham ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3.

Water Features

Hornsea Mere

The mere lies north-east of Wassand Hall, and extends to the town of Hornsea. Some 2 miles in length and up to 0.75 mile in width, it is the largest freshwater lake in Yorkshire. It was acquired by the Constable family in the 16th century. (Popham, ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3, 6) Woodland planting is shown around the northern edge of the mere on the 1809 plan. When the park was extended in the early-19th century, after Charles Constable inherited the estate in 1812, the mere became an integral part of the landscape, which much additional planting around the perimeter carried out by the estate.

A picturesque ‘cottage ornee' was built on Lady Island, close to the northern bank of the mere, probably around 1820 (the date is commonly given as 1818 but this reference apparently refers to the building of an ice house elsewhere on the estate, rather than a ‘tea' house on the island). The building has long gone, but the foundations can still be traced. (Popham ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3, 28) This island is now attached to the bank. There is a larger island, Swan Island, at the eastern end of the mere.

For many years the peninsular at the eastern end of the mere, accessed from Hornsea, has been a tourist attraction with boating facilities and a café.

Serpentine pond

The serpentine pond west of the road leading from Wassand Hall to the Seaton-Hornsea road is shown on the 1809 plan. Popham suggests the pond was formed from a remnant of an ancient drainage system (Popham ‘Wassand Estate' v. 3, 19)

This report draws heavily on volume 3 of the detailed landscape management plan drawn up by John Popham for the trustees of Wassand estate following the death of Lady Strickland-Constable in 1995. (J. Popham, ‘Wassand Estate', v. 3), a copy of which has been deposited with the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service [ERALS] at the Treasure House in Beverley. Popham made extensive use of documentary material discovered at Wassand Hall in 1998 which was deposited with ERALS and which has been catalogued more fully in recent years.

Detailed description contributed by Yorkshire Gardens Trust 09/11/2014

Primary sources

• Family & estate papers of Strickland-Constable family of Wassand Hall (DDWS), deposited at ERALS
• ‘Wassand Hall', Georgian Society for E. Yorks v. 4 pt. I, 1958-61, 32-42.

Maps

• Plan of Wassand by R. Page, 1809 (reproduced in J. Popham, ‘Wassand Estate', v. 3, Map 5) Original at ERALS, DDWS/10/1/11
• Tuke's plan of Holderness, 1786
• Ordnance Survey maps published 1854-2012