Monument record 426/0/9 - C18th Walled Kitchen Garden

{1} 1st edition OS map shows a central circular pond with walkways emanating from it and two rectangular ponds at its southern end.

{2} Walls. Mid C18. Brick, part with ashlar coping. Forming complete circuit of former kitchen gardens to Stanford Hall (Leicestershire).

{3} The five new houses were positioned to minimise their possible impact upon the archaeological remains. They were built using a pile and ring-beam construction which together with sewers and other services formed the only significant impact on earlier remains. Elsewhere removal of topsoil was limited to 0.3m depth.
In August 1998 the entrance into the walled garden was widened to 8m. Examination of the entranceway and the wall fabric suggests the walled garden was of two builds. The original brick wall appears to have been 21 courses high with a small doorway. The doorway was later widened leaving a stub of the original wallling at ground level. The widening created an uneven break which was later patched up with new brick work. The remains of iron gate pivots sugests there was a large gate. The height of the wall was also increased by a further 18 courses topped with a limestone coping. Both buildings of the wall reused some old bricks from previous buildings. Rubble was seen beside the wall in places and thought to be associated with the wall construction.
No features were exposed by the roadlaying or piling. Trenches for services exposed the boundations of the boundary wall on both the south and the north side of the site. Two drains exposed during construction work were comprised of thin mortared bricks or stones with stone capping, similar to those identified by trial trenching. No significant finds were recovered, and there was no firm evidence for the former presence of the early manor house on this site, however it should be noted that the development trenches were restricted to less than 1m depth and did not penetrate the natural subsoil. Any archaeological remains within the rest of the site will have survived in situ.

{4} Stanford Hall was built by Sir Roger Cave between 1697 and 1700 (Pevsner, 1973, p.410). The stables were built by Sir Thomas Cave in 1737 during extensive works which appear to have included the addition of a kitchen garden. The park was probably laid out in the late C17th and C18th.
The earliest detailed plan of the kitchen garden is the OS First Edition 25 Inch Survey, 1884. This shows a central circular pond with walkways emanating from it and two rectangular ponds at its southern end. The OS suggests that the latter may have originated as a moat, however they are more likely to have been manorial fishponds if they do pre-date the walled garden.
The garden was used as a commercial nursery (the Harry Mackintosh Stanford Park Nurseries) for a time after World War II. By 1981 it had become neglected and is said to have been deep ploughed. The evidence of the trial trenching however would suggest that this was no deeper than about 0.3m
When subject to geophysical survey the garden was in a poor state and overgrown. The north-west corner contained remains of cold frames, greenhouses and a derelict shed. A number of metal objects were strewn across the site which may have had an effect on the survey results.
Resistivity detected a number of linear anomalies which can be confidently identified as the remains of former pathways, as recorded by early OS mapping. Linear anomalies in the north-west of the site were also thought to be the remains of pathways. A sub-circular anomaly within the south-east quadrant of the walled garden was verified by subsequent trenching. A further linear anomaly running parallel to the north-south path through the site was identified as a probably water pipe feeding ponds within the walled garden.
Magnetometer survey was less successful, but vaguely identified several east-west running anomalies.
Trench 1: the only archaeological feature identified was a possible garden bedding trench. No finds.
Trench 2: a series of shallow scoops from which a sherd of C16th-C17th pottery was recovered.
Trenches 3+4: fragements of brick were found, overlaying decaying vegetable matter. No features were identified.
Trench 5: a complex of C18th and C19th brick foundations were revealed, aligned north-west to south-east. These lay opposite a door in the west wall of the garden and constitute a path which was detected by earlier geophysical survey. A further possible foundation was identified, along with a stone-lined drain, running north-south.
Trench 6: two C19th ceramic land drains were identified, along with a single pit-like feature. There were no finds.
Trench 7: two paths of sand and gravel, and a third of unmortared bricks laid on edge. A stone-built drain was also revealed, along with a further C19th land drain. Finds of late C17th to early C18th date were recovered.
It should be noted that no indications of the presence of a medieval manor house, or any other form of medieval feature were recovered from the area of the walled garden.

<1> , 1884, First Edition OS Mapping, (unchecked) (Map). SNN43953.

<2> 1984, Survey of walled garden, Stanford Hall, (unchecked) (Drawing). SNN106440.

<3> JACKSON D., 1999, An Archaeological Watching Brief at Stanford on Avon, Northamptonshire, (checked) (Report). SNN47196.

<4> Shaw M.; Soden I.; Masters P., 1995, Stanford-On-Avon, Northamptonshire, Archaeological Evaluation, p.3+7-11 (checked) (Report). SNN43941.

Record last edited

Jun 5 2014 9:04AM