Summary

Late C17 terrace wall and steps including a brick vaulted chamber.

Description

Terrace wall, flight of garden steps and vaulted chamber. Late C17 origins with later alterations.

MATERIALS
Brick with finely dressed sandstone steps.

DESCRIPTION
The terrace wall revets the broad, level middle terrace to the south (rear) of York House. Although this terrace clearly extended westwards as far as the original western wall to York House garden (See NHLE 1220777), that portion to the west of the wall (NHLE 1202752) defining the garden to the rear of The Cloisters was rebuilt in 2012.

The vaulted chamber, constructed of C17 brick, lies just east of the wall to Cloisters' garden. Its rear wall is not keyed into either the side walls or the vault, with the vault appearing to continue for an unknown distance under the middle terrace lawn. The front wall (built of thicker C18 brick) retains a round arched window opening and evidence of a doorway. Much of the rest of the early brickwork of the terrace wall to the rear of York House is covered by later, C19 brickwork, mainly that relating to the two projecting platforms flanking the principal stairs. These stairs are similar in design to those 15m to the north (NHLE 1290844) and align, with them, with the central axis of York House. The stairs are arranged with eight steps flanked by very low chamfered parapets down to a landing with eight further steps beyond. The nosings of the steps are moulded.

History

The terrace and its principal flight of steps are part of the garden design for York House (see NHLE 1290865) which is thought to have been laid out for Sir William Strickland sometime after his marriage in 1684. The steps are considered to be contemporary with another flight of steps about 15m to the north (see NHLE 1290844). The terrace wall is pierced by a vaulted chamber about 15m west of the principal flight of steps. This chamber was converted into a grotto or garden room with the addition of a front wall with a window, probably in the later C18. The western end of the terrace wall is believed to have been taken down in the early C19, possibly to supply some of the bricks for the construction of a new garden wall (see NHLE 1202752) built to divide off a garden for a villa built for the hotel manager between 1809 and 1823 (The Cloisters - now part of the Talbot Hotel NHLE 1202751). Probably later in the C19 there were further alterations to the terrace wall including the construction of a pair of projecting platforms either side of the original stairs and the insertion of a new narrow flight adjacent to The Cloisters' garden wall.

Reasons for Listing

The late C17 terrace wall, flight of garden steps and vaulted chamber are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Garden design: as structural components of a C17 garden design for York House;
* Group Value: with the Grade II* listed York House along with the other associated listed garden structures.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26571019

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)