Gardens associated with Marine Villas and Cottages Ornés
In addition to the relatively large-scale landscape parks described above, many smaller gardens were created on the Island from the late C18. These gardens were associated particularly with cottages ornés and marine villas which started to be built close to the coast mostly from the 1790s and often as ‘second homes’ for seasonal occupation.
The distinction between the cottage orné and the marine villa was by no means clear- cut in Georgian England where ‘the national genius for casting a romantic cloak over picturesque scenes confused the villa and the ornamented cottage’. However, cottages ornés were particularly associated with the picturesque style which favoured rustic cottages and striking scenery over the grand buildings and serene beauty of landscape parks.
The landscape theorist William Gilpin declared that ‘picturesque beauty implied roughness in texture and ruggedness in delineation’. With regard to the Isle of Wight landscape in general, Gilpin does not appear to have been overly impressed. He recorded that ‘we ... found ourselves rather disappointed in the chief object of our pursuit, which was the picturesque beauty of its scenery’ (Gilpin 1798). However, the picturesque quality of the Island’s landscape was widely recognised by other travel writers, visitors and seasonal residents.
There are many references to the Isle of Wight as the ‘Garden of England’ or ‘Garden Isle’ in late C18 and C19 topographical books and guides e.g. Worsley (1781, 11), Tomkins (1796, 1) Cooke (1808,10), Horsey (1826), Sheridan (1833, 19), Adams (1856). This concept of the ‘Garden Isle’ relates to the variety of the Island’s topography and the richness of its scenery as a whole rather than to specific ornamental gardens.
Political events as well as aesthetic theory contributed to the Island’s popularity in the late C18. England was at war with France at this time and the Continent was no longer accessible for the fashionable ‘Grand Tour’. The Island therefore became a favoured place for visits by the wealthy as well as for owners of second homes.
The popularity of the Island continued to grow during the early C19 and many more coastal villas with associated gardens were built at this time. Numerous travel guides and topographical accounts of the Island were published from the later C18 and many paintings and engravings were made of Island scenery. These sources provide good evidence for the gardens of cottages ornés and marine villas. Particularly useful evidence is provided by the engravings of George Brannon (who published successive editions of ‘Vectis Scenery’ from 1821) although Brannon often employed a considerable amount of artistic licence.
Today the Isle of Wight is considered to be ‘a crucial area for the study of the Picturesque’, particularly the Undercliff, and has been the subject of academic studies. However, the physical survival of Picturesque gardens is fragmentary, being affected by coastal erosion in the Undercliff and also by later residential development, particularly around Ryde. Elite villas and their associated gardens were being built in Ryde from the early years of the C19 but many were built slightly later in the C19 and were associated with the development of Ryde as a seaside resort. They have therefore been described in the Town, Suburban, Village and Coastal Gardens tab but there is a considerable overlap between the two categories. Many of the earliest Ryde villas and cottages ornés were owned by elite members of society, as were those in the Undercliff, although later villas were associated with middle class visitors taking seaside holidays
The craggy inner cliff and irregular coastline of the Isle of Wight Undercliff provided a perfect backdrop for the picturesque gardens associated with cottages ornés. Rocky outcrops within these gardens could be incorporated within the overall garden design and the south-facing grounds benefitted from sea views and a mild climate. Running water was often a feature of these gardens.
One of the most significant gardens in the Undercliff was that of Sea Cottage or Marine Villa at St Lawrence. The house was built by Sir Richard Worsley in 1792- 3 and adjoined an existing small house. (Several of the Undercliff cottages ornés incorporated existing vernacular cottages.) In no way did the new building resemble a cottage, being classical in style but it was enlarged in Neo-Tudor style during the early C19. The new garden made by Sir Richard was classical in style rather than picturesque.
A C19 account claimed that the garden at Sea Cottage/Marine Villa included a ‘pavilion based on the temple of Minerva at Athens’, another temple ‘called the seat of Virgil’ and ‘a Grecian greenhouse copied from the temple of Neptune at Corinth’. The vineyard laid out at Sea Cottage also reinforced the classical theme.
Other features within the grounds included a ‘mimic fort’ and a water feature later known as St Lawrence Well.
Some physical evidence of the garden survives at Sea Cottage/ Marine Villa including vineyard terraces. The house built by Sir Richard Worsley in 1792- 3 and the pre-existing cottage adjoining it (now known as ‘The Cottage St Lawrence Well’ and ‘The Cottage’) both survive and are jointly listed (LB II*).
Immediately to the east of Sea Cottage was Captain Pelham’s Cottage, built by The Hon. Dudley Pelham R.N. in 1839 and considered to be ‘the best example of a romantic Early Victorian villa on the Island’. In the early C20 this property (LB II*) was the home of the poet Alfred Noyes who renamed the house Lisle Combe and wrote about the garden. The garden survives at Lisle Combe but the layout and planting is probably mainly of C20 origin. The remains of a wooden and stone summerhouse in the form of a Tetrastyle Doric temple (LB II) now lie within the grounds of Lisle Combe but this structure formerly lay within the grounds of Sea Cottage/Marine Villa.
At Old Park, situated to the west of Sea Cottage, a farm house was converted to a cottage orné by Thomas Haddon from c.1820.
Contemporary accounts of the grounds at Old Park refer to the establishment of a vineyard within walled gardens and to ornamental features which included a dairy, a lake and a waterfall.
In the later C19 the estate was greatly developed by William Spindler, who built a sea wall and esplanade, planted over a million trees, extended the kitchen garden and erected two large glasshouses, one being an orchid house.
Garden elements from the time of Thomas Haddon and William Spindler survive at Old Park today, including the walled gardens and the lake (LL). However, the grounds are now split between three properties with the principal house operating as a hotel (LB II). A second property known as ‘Haddon Lake House’ contains one of the walled gardens and the lake, and a third property contains a house built on the foundations of the orchid house.
Another early cottage orné in the Undercliff was at Mirables where a plan of 1791 provides evidence for the grounds. The present house (LB II) has C17 origins but was greatly extended in the C19 and is now mainly Victorian in character.
A contemporary topographical account (Cooke 1808) records a lawn, boat- house, shrubbery, serpentine walks including walks under the cliff, a ‘crystal stream’ and a ‘neat dairy’.
Some surviving garden remains at Mirables have been recorded by the Isle of Wight Gardens Trust.
The Orchard (LB II), a property adjacent to Mirables, was remodelled and developed from c.1813 for Sir James Willoughby Gordon.
Contemporary engravings record terraced gardens with urns and there is documentary evidence for a bath house on the shore. Many sketches of the garden were made by J M W Turner and Sir David Wilkie R.A.
It is not known whether significant garden remains survive at The Orchard.
Puckaster Cottage (now Puckaster House) was designed before 1824 by the architect Robert Lugar, a specialist in picturesque cottages, and the planting of the garden was described by Lugar in his 1828 book, Villa Architecture.
The garden at Puckaster is situated at Niton Undercliff and the inner cliff forms a backdrop to the north. Huge fragments of natural rock occur in the garden. The original part of the house faces south towards the sea and beyond the house the garden spills down the hillside with steps leading through rustic stone arches towards the seaward cliff and Puckaster Cove.
Puckaster House (LB II) and garden (LL) survive to the present day although the garden has been subject to some later modification. Nevertheless, it is a significant example of an Isle of Wight picturesque seaside garden and one of the few examples of this garden type to survive in good condition.
Steephill Cottage, near Ventnor, was one of the earliest examples of a cottage orné on the Island, built about 1770. It had highly picturesque grounds including springs and cascades and also a viewpoint within a rocky niche known as ‘The Devil's Seat’ which was illustrated by the painter Charles Tompkins in 1809 (McInnes 1993, 48-49). This rock still survives at the present day.
The cottage at Steephill was replaced in 1831-2 by Steephill Castle, an imposing building completely different in style from the cottages ornés found elsewhere in the Undercliff.
Gardens at Steephill Castle were laid out by the landscape gardener W B Page of Southampton who also worked at St John’s House and Whippingham Rectory.. The Steephill Castle gardens included pleasure grounds, lawns, shrubberies and a kitchen garden with greenhouses, vine houses and pine (i.e. pineapple) beds. These gardens were visited and praised by Joseph Paxton.
Steephill Castle was demolished in the 1960s but the walls of its early C20 walled garden survive.
Luccombe Chine House, between Bonchurch and Shanklin and set just above the Landslip, was originally a cottage orné set just above the Landslip that was built in the 1830s.
A Brannon print of Luccombe from 1839 shows a natural stream plunging to the beach below and a castellated stone tower in an elevated position. The tower (LB II) was restored or rebuilt in the C20 and the grounds (LL), now subject to coastal erosion, may also have been extensively modified at this time.
The cottage orné was rebuilt in the early C20 following a fire.
The late C18 coastal garden of John Wilkes at Sandown is hard to classify in terms of garden styles.
Sandham Cottage stood in an isolated position on an open heath since the development of Sandown as a coastal resort did not start until the mid C19. This modest property was occupied by the sometime radical politician and journalist John Wilkes from 1788. The garden seems to have looked back to a mid C18 tradition in having elements of a ferme ornée on a very small scale. There was a menagerie, views over Sandown Bay and a grass walk with a sheltered seat. Wilkes supplied Sir Richard Worsley with plants for Sea Cottage. Sadly, Sandham Cottage and its grounds have not survived.
Certain designed landscapes outside the Undercliff utilised the more rugged features of the Island’s scenery to picturesque effect.
The Hermitage, a property nestling under the eastern flank of St Catherine’s Down, enjoyed a location as picturesque as the Undercliff villas. It was built at the end of the C18 by Michael Hoy, a merchant trading with Russia. Hoy built a monument on the highest point of the down behind the house which not only commemorated the Czar’s visit to England in 1814 after the Allied defeat of Napoleon but also incorporated St Catherine’s Down into the designed landscape of the Hermitage.
An engraving by George Brannon shows the grounds of the Hermitage embowered in trees – a peaceful setting that contrasts with his somewhat exaggerated depiction of the Hoy Monument set in rugged downland grandeur behind the house. The Hermitage was rebuilt in 1895 but the wooded grounds with a walled kitchen garden survive (LL).
The commercial potential of picturesque landscapes was recognised at an early date and led to the exploitation of Shanklin Chine and Blackgang Chine.
Shanklin Chine (LL) is an important example of a natural feature exemplifying the ideas of the picturesque movement. In 1817 William Colenutt built the thatched ‘Fisherman’s Cottage’ on the beach and then excavated a path through the chine and opened it to the public. George Brannon’s engraving of 1821 shows visitors being conducted down the chine by Colenutt. Today, Shanklin Chine is still open to the public and features a waterfall, winding steps and rustic bridges.
The wild and broken landscape to the south-east of Blackgang, near the southern tip of the Island, was known to early visitors who visited Spring Cottage to partake of the health-giving properties of the chalybeate spring.
The picturesque quality of Blackgang Chine was exploited commercially from 1843 when the chine was first opened to the public by Alexander Dabell. Victorians travelled from far and wide to view the spectacular gorge that cut some 500 foot deep into the cliff face. Other attractions were added to the site at a later date.
By the early C20 Blackgang had become a major tourist attraction and remains so until the present day although the original chine has now almost completely eroded away. Erosion has also destroyed C19 houses and their gardens that were built to the south-east of the chine beside the old Blackgang – Niton Road, including Southland House and Southview House.
A few cottages ornés were built in rural locations along the northern coast of the Island, for instance at Binstead.
Binstead Cottage (LB II), later known as Binstead Parsonage and post-1835 as Binstead Lodge, was a thatched cottage-style villa to the south-west of Binstead Church, first mentioned as early as 1762. In the early C19 Binstead Cottage and its garden was widely admired for its rustic beauty and scenic position, and was reproduced in many engravings. In the 1860s this cottage became the lodge for Binstead House (and survives to the present day) but the grounds were absorbed into those of the larger property.
Nearby Binstead House (LB II), now known as ‘The Keys’, lies to the north of the church and is on the site of an earlier cottage orné and 'marine residence' built shortly before 1808 by the Fleming family. The original property was damaged by fire in 1851 and was remodelled or rebuilt soon afterwards. C19 features of the grounds included a terraced garden and informal tree-lined pleasure grounds overlooking the Solent, a sea lodge, a saltwater bathing pond and a bathing house. Some of these features survive today.
In addition to the relatively large-scale landscape parks described above, many smaller gardens were created on the Island from the late C18. These gardens were associated particularly with cottages ornés and marine villas which started to be built close to the coast mostly from the 1790s and often as ‘second homes’ for seasonal occupation.
The distinction between the cottage orné and the marine villa was by no means clear- cut in Georgian England where ‘the national genius for casting a romantic cloak over picturesque scenes confused the villa and the ornamented cottage’. However, cottages ornés were particularly associated with the picturesque style which favoured rustic cottages and striking scenery over the grand buildings and serene beauty of landscape parks.
The landscape theorist William Gilpin declared that ‘picturesque beauty implied roughness in texture and ruggedness in delineation’. With regard to the Isle of Wight landscape in general, Gilpin does not appear to have been overly impressed. He recorded that ‘we ... found ourselves rather disappointed in the chief object of our pursuit, which was the picturesque beauty of its scenery’ (Gilpin 1798). However, the picturesque quality of the Island’s landscape was widely recognised by other travel writers, visitors and seasonal residents.
There are many references to the Isle of Wight as the ‘Garden of England’ or ‘Garden Isle’ in late C18 and C19 topographical books and guides e.g. Worsley (1781, 11), Tomkins (1796, 1) Cooke (1808,10), Horsey (1826), Sheridan (1833, 19), Adams (1856). This concept of the ‘Garden Isle’ relates to the variety of the Island’s topography and the richness of its scenery as a whole rather than to specific ornamental gardens.
Political events as well as aesthetic theory contributed to the Island’s popularity in the late C18. England was at war with France at this time and the Continent was no longer accessible for the fashionable ‘Grand Tour’. The Island therefore became a favoured place for visits by the wealthy as well as for owners of second homes.
The popularity of the Island continued to grow during the early C19 and many more coastal villas with associated gardens were built at this time. Numerous travel guides and topographical accounts of the Island were published from the later C18 and many paintings and engravings were made of Island scenery. These sources provide good evidence for the gardens of cottages ornés and marine villas. Particularly useful evidence is provided by the engravings of George Brannon (who published successive editions of ‘Vectis Scenery’ from 1821) although Brannon often employed a considerable amount of artistic licence.
Today the Isle of Wight is considered to be ‘a crucial area for the study of the Picturesque’, particularly the Undercliff, and has been the subject of academic studies. However, the physical survival of Picturesque gardens is fragmentary, being affected by coastal erosion in the Undercliff and also by later residential development, particularly around Ryde. Elite villas and their associated gardens were being built in Ryde from the early years of the C19 but many were built slightly later in the C19 and were associated with the development of Ryde as a seaside resort. They have therefore been described in the Town, Suburban, Village and Coastal Gardens tab but there is a considerable overlap between the two categories. Many of the earliest Ryde villas and cottages ornés were owned by elite members of society, as were those in the Undercliff, although later villas were associated with middle class visitors taking seaside holidays
The craggy inner cliff and irregular coastline of the Isle of Wight Undercliff provided a perfect backdrop for the picturesque gardens associated with cottages ornés. Rocky outcrops within these gardens could be incorporated within the overall garden design and the south-facing grounds benefitted from sea views and a mild climate. Running water was often a feature of these gardens.
One of the most significant gardens in the Undercliff was that of Sea Cottage or Marine Villa at St Lawrence. The house was built by Sir Richard Worsley in 1792- 3 and adjoined an existing small house. (Several of the Undercliff cottages ornés incorporated existing vernacular cottages.) In no way did the new building resemble a cottage, being classical in style but it was enlarged in Neo-Tudor style during the early C19. The new garden made by Sir Richard was classical in style rather than picturesque.
A C19 account claimed that the garden at Sea Cottage/Marine Villa included a ‘pavilion based on the temple of Minerva at Athens’, another temple ‘called the seat of Virgil’ and ‘a Grecian greenhouse copied from the temple of Neptune at Corinth’. The vineyard laid out at Sea Cottage also reinforced the classical theme.
Other features within the grounds included a ‘mimic fort’ and a water feature later known as St Lawrence Well.
Some physical evidence of the garden survives at Sea Cottage/ Marine Villa including vineyard terraces. The house built by Sir Richard Worsley in 1792- 3 and the pre-existing cottage adjoining it (now known as ‘The Cottage St Lawrence Well’ and ‘The Cottage’) both survive and are jointly listed (LB II*).
Immediately to the east of Sea Cottage was Captain Pelham’s Cottage, built by The Hon. Dudley Pelham R.N. in 1839 and considered to be ‘the best example of a romantic Early Victorian villa on the Island’. In the early C20 this property (LB II*) was the home of the poet Alfred Noyes who renamed the house Lisle Combe and wrote about the garden. The garden survives at Lisle Combe but the layout and planting is probably mainly of C20 origin. The remains of a wooden and stone summerhouse in the form of a Tetrastyle Doric temple (LB II) now lie within the grounds of Lisle Combe but this structure formerly lay within the grounds of Sea Cottage/Marine Villa.
At Old Park, situated to the west of Sea Cottage, a farm house was converted to a cottage orné by Thomas Haddon from c.1820.
Contemporary accounts of the grounds at Old Park refer to the establishment of a vineyard within walled gardens and to ornamental features which included a dairy, a lake and a waterfall.
In the later C19 the estate was greatly developed by William Spindler, who built a sea wall and esplanade, planted over a million trees, extended the kitchen garden and erected two large glasshouses, one being an orchid house.
Garden elements from the time of Thomas Haddon and William Spindler survive at Old Park today, including the walled gardens and the lake (LL). However, the grounds are now split between three properties with the principal house operating as a hotel (LB II). A second property known as ‘Haddon Lake House’ contains one of the walled gardens and the lake, and a third property contains a house built on the foundations of the orchid house.
Another early cottage orné in the Undercliff was at Mirables where a plan of 1791 provides evidence for the grounds. The present house (LB II) has C17 origins but was greatly extended in the C19 and is now mainly Victorian in character.
A contemporary topographical account (Cooke 1808) records a lawn, boat- house, shrubbery, serpentine walks including walks under the cliff, a ‘crystal stream’ and a ‘neat dairy’.
Some surviving garden remains at Mirables have been recorded by the Isle of Wight Gardens Trust.
The Orchard (LB II), a property adjacent to Mirables, was remodelled and developed from c.1813 for Sir James Willoughby Gordon.
Contemporary engravings record terraced gardens with urns and there is documentary evidence for a bath house on the shore. Many sketches of the garden were made by J M W Turner and Sir David Wilkie R.A.
It is not known whether significant garden remains survive at The Orchard.
Puckaster Cottage (now Puckaster House) was designed before 1824 by the architect Robert Lugar, a specialist in picturesque cottages, and the planting of the garden was described by Lugar in his 1828 book, Villa Architecture.
The garden at Puckaster is situated at Niton Undercliff and the inner cliff forms a backdrop to the north. Huge fragments of natural rock occur in the garden. The original part of the house faces south towards the sea and beyond the house the garden spills down the hillside with steps leading through rustic stone arches towards the seaward cliff and Puckaster Cove.
Puckaster House (LB II) and garden (LL) survive to the present day although the garden has been subject to some later modification. Nevertheless, it is a significant example of an Isle of Wight picturesque seaside garden and one of the few examples of this garden type to survive in good condition.
Steephill Cottage, near Ventnor, was one of the earliest examples of a cottage orné on the Island, built about 1770. It had highly picturesque grounds including springs and cascades and also a viewpoint within a rocky niche known as ‘The Devil's Seat’ which was illustrated by the painter Charles Tompkins in 1809 (McInnes 1993, 48-49). This rock still survives at the present day.
The cottage at Steephill was replaced in 1831-2 by Steephill Castle, an imposing building completely different in style from the cottages ornés found elsewhere in the Undercliff.
Gardens at Steephill Castle were laid out by the landscape gardener W B Page of Southampton who also worked at St John’s House and Whippingham Rectory.. The Steephill Castle gardens included pleasure grounds, lawns, shrubberies and a kitchen garden with greenhouses, vine houses and pine (i.e. pineapple) beds. These gardens were visited and praised by Joseph Paxton.
Steephill Castle was demolished in the 1960s but the walls of its early C20 walled garden survive.
Luccombe Chine House, between Bonchurch and Shanklin and set just above the Landslip, was originally a cottage orné set just above the Landslip that was built in the 1830s.
A Brannon print of Luccombe from 1839 shows a natural stream plunging to the beach below and a castellated stone tower in an elevated position. The tower (LB II) was restored or rebuilt in the C20 and the grounds (LL), now subject to coastal erosion, may also have been extensively modified at this time.
The cottage orné was rebuilt in the early C20 following a fire.
The late C18 coastal garden of John Wilkes at Sandown is hard to classify in terms of garden styles.
Sandham Cottage stood in an isolated position on an open heath since the development of Sandown as a coastal resort did not start until the mid C19. This modest property was occupied by the sometime radical politician and journalist John Wilkes from 1788. The garden seems to have looked back to a mid C18 tradition in having elements of a ferme ornée on a very small scale. There was a menagerie, views over Sandown Bay and a grass walk with a sheltered seat. Wilkes supplied Sir Richard Worsley with plants for Sea Cottage. Sadly, Sandham Cottage and its grounds have not survived.
Certain designed landscapes outside the Undercliff utilised the more rugged features of the Island’s scenery to picturesque effect.
The Hermitage, a property nestling under the eastern flank of St Catherine’s Down, enjoyed a location as picturesque as the Undercliff villas. It was built at the end of the C18 by Michael Hoy, a merchant trading with Russia. Hoy built a monument on the highest point of the down behind the house which not only commemorated the Czar’s visit to England in 1814 after the Allied defeat of Napoleon but also incorporated St Catherine’s Down into the designed landscape of the Hermitage.
An engraving by George Brannon shows the grounds of the Hermitage embowered in trees – a peaceful setting that contrasts with his somewhat exaggerated depiction of the Hoy Monument set in rugged downland grandeur behind the house. The Hermitage was rebuilt in 1895 but the wooded grounds with a walled kitchen garden survive (LL).
The commercial potential of picturesque landscapes was recognised at an early date and led to the exploitation of Shanklin Chine and Blackgang Chine.
Shanklin Chine (LL) is an important example of a natural feature exemplifying the ideas of the picturesque movement. In 1817 William Colenutt built the thatched ‘Fisherman’s Cottage’ on the beach and then excavated a path through the chine and opened it to the public. George Brannon’s engraving of 1821 shows visitors being conducted down the chine by Colenutt. Today, Shanklin Chine is still open to the public and features a waterfall, winding steps and rustic bridges.
The wild and broken landscape to the south-east of Blackgang, near the southern tip of the Island, was known to early visitors who visited Spring Cottage to partake of the health-giving properties of the chalybeate spring.
The picturesque quality of Blackgang Chine was exploited commercially from 1843 when the chine was first opened to the public by Alexander Dabell. Victorians travelled from far and wide to view the spectacular gorge that cut some 500 foot deep into the cliff face. Other attractions were added to the site at a later date.
By the early C20 Blackgang had become a major tourist attraction and remains so until the present day although the original chine has now almost completely eroded away. Erosion has also destroyed C19 houses and their gardens that were built to the south-east of the chine beside the old Blackgang – Niton Road, including Southland House and Southview House.
A few cottages ornés were built in rural locations along the northern coast of the Island, for instance at Binstead.
Binstead Cottage (LB II), later known as Binstead Parsonage and post-1835 as Binstead Lodge, was a thatched cottage-style villa to the south-west of Binstead Church, first mentioned as early as 1762. In the early C19 Binstead Cottage and its garden was widely admired for its rustic beauty and scenic position, and was reproduced in many engravings. In the 1860s this cottage became the lodge for Binstead House (and survives to the present day) but the grounds were absorbed into those of the larger property.
Nearby Binstead House (LB II), now known as ‘The Keys’, lies to the north of the church and is on the site of an earlier cottage orné and 'marine residence' built shortly before 1808 by the Fleming family. The original property was damaged by fire in 1851 and was remodelled or rebuilt soon afterwards. C19 features of the grounds included a terraced garden and informal tree-lined pleasure grounds overlooking the Solent, a sea lodge, a saltwater bathing pond and a bathing house. Some of these features survive today.