Walled Garden and attached structures at Cressing Temple

Summary

A late sixteenth-century walled garden with attached outbuildings from the eighteenth century and twentieth century. The wall was originally constructed as part of the Great House of the Smyth family.

Reasons for Designation

The Walled Garden and attached structures at Cressing Temple are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a multi-phased walled garden with exceptionally, post-medieval fabric dating to the late-C16;
* for the clearly legible phases of evolution that can be read in the fabric of the walls and attached structures.

Historic interest:
* as the earliest surviving post-medieval structure above ground at Cressing Temple;
* for their origin as part of the late-Tudor Great House which replaced the preceptory of the Knights Hospitaller.

Group value:
* for the contribution it makes to the exceptional group of listed and scheduled assets at Cressing Temple; including the scheduled monument of the same name, the Grade I listed Barley Barn and Grade I Wheat Barn, the Grade II* listed Granary, and the Grade II listed Farmhouse.

History

Cressing Temple had been established as a ‘preceptory’ for the crusading Knights Templar in 1137. The Templars were suppressed in 1308 and the land passed to the Knights Hospitaller. Their Order was dissolved in England in the Reformation and in 1540 the site passed via the Crown to Sir William Huse. It was then sold to the Smyth family who oversaw its remodelling in the late-C16.

The late-Tudor reinvention of Cressing Temple saw the construction of a ‘Greate House’ which incorporated some of the earlier medieval structures. While the house was eventually demolished (sometime between 1637 and 1758) the walled garden built to serve the house survives.

The walled garden dates to around 1550-1600. It is roughly rectangular in plan, except for the angled south-west corner were it is likely to have connected to the Great House. Large parts of the east and west sides have been rebuilt along their original orientation, but the west wall retains much of its original height.

Attached to the west of the walled garden is a pair of gabled storage buildings and a lower pavilion. The northern gabled building is likely to have been constructed in the early-C18, reusing some C17 timbers. The southern gabled building was constructed in the C20 to match its neighbour, possibly replacing or enlarging an earlier structure on the same site. North of this pair is a single-storey pavilion likely to date to the early-C20.

The original layout of the garden is not known, though it is likely to have been a formal pleasure garden for the Great House. After the house’s demolition it became a kitchen garden. Under the ownership of Frank Cullen in 1903 it was partly lawned and a brick terrace created. Since the 1990s, under the ownership of Essex County Council, a Tudor garden has been reimagined here, with the creation of knot gardens, water features, walkways and other independent structures.

Details

A late-C16 walled garden with attached outbuildings from the C18 and C20. The wall was originally constructed as part of the Great House of the Smyth family.

MATERIALS

The wall is constructed of red brick laid in a variety of bonds.

DESCRIPTION

The layout of the wall is roughly rectangular in plan, with an oblique corner at the south-west, and a rounded south-east corner. The garden measures roughly 65 metres north-south and 40 metres east-west.

Most of the eastern side was rebuilt in the C18. The oblique length at the south-west was rebuilt in the C19.

There are doorways on the west and south sides, each with jambs and 3-centred arched heads that have ovolo mouldings. A further doorway on the north side has chamfered jambs and arch.

The western part of the wall includes some sections which retain their full original height, reaching up to around 3 metres and culminating in a cogged brick cornice.

Attached to the west side of the garden are a pair of two-storey, gabled storage buildings and a single-storey hipped roof pavilion. The two storey buildings are weatherboarded at first floor with taking in doors facing west, and brick built at ground floor with large wooden gates. The brick-built pavilion has three-light lead-latticed wooden windows either side of a central oak doorway.

The interior of the northernmost gabled building has a substantial roof structure with arch-braced tie beams and side purlins, likely relocated here in the C18.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

116398

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Robey, TS, Cressing Temple in Current Archaeology, Vol. 135, (1993), 84-87
RCHME, , An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex: Volume 3, (1922)
Andrews, D, Cressing Temple: a Templar and Hospitaller manor in Essex, (2020)

Other
Essex Archaeology and History (Transactions of the Essex Society of Archaeology and History, 3rd Series), vols. 11-14, 20-31, and 34
Medieval Archaeology (journal), vols 25, 39-41, 47
The Essex Journal, vols. 17, 21, 22, 27 (2)
Vernacular Architecture (journal), vols. 21, 24 and 28

End of official list entry

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