Record Details

NHER Number:52764
Type of record:Monument
Name:Walled garden, Dunham Lodge, Little Dunham

Summary

A Grade II listed walled garden dating from c.1790 of unusual semicircular plan. The walls are of brick with limestone copings, divided into bays by pilasters. The walls enclose precisely one acre of ground.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 8765 1256
Map Sheet:TF81SE
Parish:LITTLE DUNHAM, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK

Full description

February 2009. Statement of significance.
The walled garden is situated towards the southern edge of the park, and was built circa 1790. The garden is highly unusual due to its semicircular plan, designed to maximise exposure to the sun. The brick- built walls are uncommonly tall and have imported flat limestone copings. They enclose precisely one acre of ground. The walls are divided into bays by pilasters, and the garden is accessed through a pair of openings at the base of the semicircle which were formerly gated and surmounted by arches. The arches were butressed by swept walls projecting from the straight base wall. On the central axis against the wall are the remains of a lean-to greenhouse, accommodated by slightly taller walling and heated by a boiler in a lean-to shed behind. This greenhouse was part of the original design. A pair of short walls, not bonded to the main walls but built of the same brick, project into the garden dividing off beds, presumably for exotic fruit. A pattern of paths following the curve of the main wall and dividing the garden into quarters is shown on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map and aerial photographs from 1946. Despite having been abandoned for approximately 30 years, the walls are all intact and survive well. The only real damage is the total collapse of the greenhouse.
See (S1) for further details.
H. White (NLA), 5 May 2009.

24 March 2009. Building Survey.
Survey of greenhouse and stove ahead of proposed development.
The greenhouse is of pensive type, which rests on sleeper walls composed of twentieth-century brickwork and topped with machine-made roofing tiles. The northern ends of the side walls are of nineteenth-century brickwork. The sides of the building above the footings are glass and wooden glazing bars, with a window in the west wall and a door in the east wall. The principle rafters are supported on wooden posts set in from the line of the front wall, which suggests the presence of large opening windows in the south wall, but this area is now destroyed. The interior contains raised planting beds, edged in nineteenth-century brick, along the west and south sides and the south end of the east side. There is also an off-centre freestanding bed to the south. The north end of the east side contains a heated brick structure, now collapsed. It is fed by a flue through the rear wall from the stove. There are marks suggesting that another flue continued along the north wall but this area has been dug over at some point and any structures removed. The west side planting bed is connected to the central bay by a feature resembling the top of a half buried tunnel, which suggests that all the beds were once connected by hot air flues. Outside the west wall iron pipes are visible below the ground surface, possibly indicating a drainage system. A number of ornate iron shelf brackets are present, but may not be original.
The stove is also of pentise form, with external walls of flint applied over an interior face of random brickwork. A window of two casements is located in the western wall. There is a central double door, the central jamb of which is composed of soft red brick and may indicate that the doorway has been widened. The east wall contains a window in a brick casing but the sill is of concrete and may represent a later insertion. Against the south wall is a chimney of soft red brick, not attached to the wall. Between the chimney and the door is a crude recess and above it a range of wooden pegs resembling small harness pegs.
See report (S2) for further details. The results of this survey are also summarised in (S3).
H. White (NLA), 11 June 2009.

Monument Types

  • WALLED GARDEN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • Listed Building

Sources and further reading

---Map: Ordnance Survey. 1883. First edition six inch map.
---Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 3G/TUD/UK/100 5288-9 30-MAR-1946 (NHER TF 8712A-C).
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Unpublished Document: Heywood, S. 2009. Statement of Significance, The Walled Garden, Dunham Lodge, Little Dunham.. February.
<S2>Unpublished Contractor Report: Birks, C. 2009. Report on an Historic Building Recording at the Walled Garden, Dunham Estate, Little Dunham, Norfolk. Chris Birks Archaeological Services. CB174R.
<S3>Article in Serial: Gurney, D. and Hoggett, R. 2010. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk in 2009. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLVI Pt I pp 135-147. p 142.

Related records

4202Part of: Dunham Lodge (Building)
44325Part of: Gardener's Cottage, Dunham Lodge (Building)
MNO5383Related to: Garden Wall 250 metres S of Dunham Lodge LITTLE DUNHAM (Revoked)
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