Felbridge & District History Group

Felbridge has had its fair share of horticulturalists, gardeners, plants-men and eminent garden designers who have left their legacy, not only in the local area but also further afield and in the world of horticulture.  Initially Felbridge, as a gentleman’s estate, was embellished according the ideas of John Evelyn and his use of trees as planted by members of the Evelyn family in and around their estate of FelbridgePark.  In 1855, when the estate of Felbridge was purchased by the Gatty family, they too embarked upon the planting and re-planting of trees using local plants-men and nurserymen to supply their needs.  In 1911, the Felbridge estate was put up for public auction, this break-up and sale provided an opportunity for private individuals to purchase sections of the former estate, thus fruit growing became one of the predominant uses of the newly purchased lands.  By 1920, horticultural businesses like the Felbridge Fruit Farm, based at Hedgecourt Farm, Hogger’s Nursery on the Copthorne Road, Felbridge Nurseries on Crawley Down Road and the Women’s Farm and Garden Association (formerly the Women’s Farm and Garden Union) in the Wiremill area, had been established, along with several market gardens, perhaps the best known run by the Poupart family who still have connections with Covent Garden Market to this day.  It is also known that several garden designers have either lived in the Felbridge area or been employed to create designs for a number of gardens of Felbridge. 

The first handout in the series covered the horticultural legacy and creation of a ‘Park’ in the 18^th century by the Evelyn family of Felbridge House and its continued expansion by the Gatty family after their purchase of the estate in 1855.  The Gatty legacy was supplemented by accounts made by George Gatty on a whole range of horticultural notes from the fruit trees he had planted to the rose garden he created.  Also, from George Gatty’s notes, it was possible to determine the suppliers of many of the plants used for the replanting of the Felbridge estate and the gardeners employed to realise the horticultural ideas in the creation of the Pleasure Grounds of Felbridge Place by its sale in 1911.  Finally, the handout highlighted the horticultural legacy left by both the Evelyn and Gatty families that can still be seen in Felbridge to this day.

The second handout in the series covered how the ideas of the influential and eminent gardener William Robinson of Gravetye, were put into practise by garden designer and landscape architect Sylvia Crowe who once lived at Felmere off Copthorne Road and in the creation of the garden of Miriam Markham at Hawthorns, Crawley Down Road, the widow of Ernest Markham, Head Gardener to William Robinson.

This handout, the third in the series, covers two garden designers.  The first part will cover Gertrude Jekyll who designed three gardens in Felbridge, although not all of them were implemented.  The second part will cover Ralph Hancock who lived at Gatehouse Farm, Newchapel in the mid to late 1930’s and created at least two known gardens in the locality, as well as operating a wrought-iron works at Lingfield, supplying decorative iron-work to houses in the area. 

Gertrude Jekyll

It was whilst researching Edwin Lutyens and his designs for Felbridge Place (for further information see Handout, Lutyens’ Grand Design for Felbridge, SJC 07/03) that we discovered that Gertrude Jekyll had designed gardens for at least three properties in the Felbridge area.

This first part of the document outlines the life of Gertrude Jekyll, her ideas on designing and creating a garden and general information on some of the known Jekyll gardens designed during her 56-year career as a garden designer.  Attention will then be turned to the three known local properties – Newchapel House, Golands House and Felbridge House (not all of which were implemented in Felbridge), and finally an Appendix that lists some of her known Garden Design Legacies, as well as her Publication List.    

Life of Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll was born on 2^nd November 1843, at 2, Grafton Street, Mayfair, London, one of seven children of Edward Joseph Hill Jekyll and his wife Julia née Hamersley.  Edward had been in the Grenadier Guards but retired early through ill health.  In 1848, the Jekyll family moved from their London home to Bramley House near Guildford in Surrey, which they leased from Lord Egremont of Petworth (for further information see Handout, Felbridge Place Revisited, JIC/SJC 03/22).  Bramley House had been built in the early 1800’s and was set in extensive grounds.  It is here that Gertrude developed a love of nature, wandering the countryside, viewing the cottage gardens and learning many of the country crafts still practised in the local area.  She was fascinated by the flora, lanes, heaths and woods around Surrey, which she often painted and later, photographed.  Not brought-up within the normal constraints for a young woman of the era, by the age of seventeen, Gertrude was described as ‘an intelligent, cultured young woman, with a mind of her own, an interest in almost everyone and everything, with a good sense of humour.  She was dauntless in the face of opposition to anything she particularly wanted to do’.  Thus, Gertrude was allowed to attend the Kensington School of Art, where she studied for two years, living in London, away from the Jekyll family.  Whilst at Kensington she discovered the works of Turner and it is to him (along with the ideas of a later friend, Hercules Brabazon Brabazon) that she is said to have later attributed her sense of colour in the gardens she designed and planted.  Gertrude had become quite an accomplished artist as by 1865 she had a painting hung by the RoyalAcademy at Burlington House in Mayfair, an unusual feat for a woman of that era.

During this time in London, Gertrude spent much her time moving in the circle of some of the most eminent artistic acquaintances and intellectuals of the era, like Classicists Sir Charles and Mary Newton; writer, philosopher and art critic John Ruskin; designer, poet, artist, architectural conservationist and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris; painters George Frederick Watts and Hercules Brabazon Brabazon; and music lovers Jacques and Léonie Blumenthal.  Gertrude also travelled extensively in Europe and Algeria where she sketched and painted.

In 1868, the Jekyll family moved to a house called Wargrave Hill at Wargrave, Berkshire, where they stayed until the death of Gertrude’s father in 1878.  On the death of Edward Jekyll, the family decided to move back to the Bramley area, living temporarily in a house called Sommerpool whilst a new house was built for them which they called Munstead House on Munstead Heath Road, Busbridge, near Godalming in Surrey.  It is at this property that Gertrude designed a garden for her mother, the first of over 400 that she would create during her lifetime.  It was also from Munstead House that Gertrude established herself as a gifted craftswoman, working largely in silver repoussé work and embroidery; taking several commissions.  She also became a leading figure involved with the improvement of the breeding of plant species, particularly many old cottage garden favourites she had seen in gardens whilst exploring the local area in her youth.  Plants such as the primrose (Primula vulgari), which she managed to breed as the Munstead strain of bunch-flowered primrose, Lent Hellebores or Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis), Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascene ‘Miss Jekyll’), Columbine  (Aquilegia ‘Munstead White’), Poppies (Papaver ‘Munstead Cream Pink’), white Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea albiflora) and Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia 'Munstead').

From the 1880’s the gardens at Munstead House began to attract other gardeners who were keen to view the gardens and/or discuss gardening and plants with Gertrude.  The garden also attracted artists who wanted to paint views of the gardens or individual plants.  In 1881, Gertrude wrote her first gardening article for The Garden, the illustrated gardening journal that had been launched in 1871 by William Robinson of Gravetye, West Hoathly, Sussex (for further information see Handout, Garden Designers Horticulturalists and Plants-men of Felbridge, Part 2, Sylvia Crow and the Markhams at Hawthorns, SJC 07/21).  This was the first of over a 1,000 articles that Gertrude would publish during her life.  In 1882-3, William Robinson asked Gertrude if she’d collaborate with him in publishing his book The English Flower Garden.  In 1885, Gertrude discovered photography and it has been stated that several of her photographs are believed to have been used to illustrate Robinson’s The English Flower Garden, although probably not the initial print run that was published in 1883.

It has been written that Gertrude received her first commission for a garden design in 1884, a small garden at Sutton, Ashley Road, Bowdon near Manchester, for one Mr R Okell.  However, the Reef Point Collection of Jekyll designs held by the University of California, records that alongside garden designs for the Jekyll family, there is a garden design dated 1877 for Scanlands at Robertsbridge in Sussex.  This design was commissioned by Mme. Barbara Leigh-Smith Bodichon (an English educationalist, artist, and women’s rights activist), and would make Scanlands the first commissioned design, outside of Gertrude’s immediate family, that she created.  In 1884, Gertrude purchased a 15-acre, triangular piece of land opposite Munstead House, which she called Munstead Wood, with the intention of having her own house built there and creating her own garden.  In 1889, Gertrude met Edwin Lutyens, a young and aspiring architect, who had studied at South Kensington School of Art, and had established his own architectural practice in 1888 (for further information see Handout, Lutyens’ Grand Design for Felbridge, SJC 07/03).  Despite the large age difference and life experiences, the couple collaborated on a vast number of architectural and garden designs over the next forty three years.

For some years Gertrude had been troubled with her eyes and had become quite short-sighted but in 1891, Gertrude was diagnosed with myopia (nearsightedness).  This is a fairly a common vision condition in which you can see objects near to you clearly, but objects farther away are blurry.  It occurs when the shape of your eye causes light rays to bend (refract) incorrectly, focusing images in front of your retina instead of on your retina; there was no cure and Gertrude would have to live with the condition for the rest of her life.  Gertrude was advised to give up all her ‘close work’, the craftwork, particularly embroidery, and painting that was so much part of her life.  Fortunately, Gertrude had gardening in her life, which did not require such close scrutiny as her craftwork and painting.  

In 1895, Gertrude’s mother died and her brother Herbert and his family took over Munstead House so Gertrude decided it was time to leave the Jekyll family home.  However, with no finished house at her own property of Munstead Wood, Lutyens built ‘The Hut’ within the grounds in which Gertrude lived until the completion of the house, in 1896.  Within a year, Gertrude had established a plant nursery at Munstead Wood that would continue until her death.  Despite her myopia, Gertrude published her first book, Wood and Garden, in 1899, illustrated with 71 photographs taken by Gertrude herself.  This book, along with Home and Garden, published in 1900, describe the creation of her new house and garden at Munstead Wood.  A further fifteen books would be published by Gertrude during the lifetime, mostly on gardening but also on subjects as diverse as Old West Surrey, published in 1904 and Old English Household Life, published in 1925.  Her writing ran alongside her gardening and collaboration garden designs done with Edwin Lutyens, including three designs for gardens in Felbridge – Newchapel House, Newchapel, Golands House, Newchapel, and Felbridge Place, Felbridge (for further information see below).  However, not all her designs were confined to Britain and some can be found on the Continent and America, although Gertrude never visited the sites and the designs were all done remotely at Munstead Wood.  Presumably off the back of the American garden designs, Gertrude received several awards from The Garden Club of America and The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, both dedicated to developing the public's enjoyment, knowledge and love of gardening and encouraging the science and practice of horticulture.  Meanwhile in Britain, Gertrude was the first woman to receive the Victoria Medal of Honour of the Royal Horticultural Society, awarded to her in 1897.

Always an avid collector of everyday items and craftworks, in 1907, Gertrude decided to rationalise her collection and gave the majority of her vast assortment of ‘good British examples of local craftsmanship in building, agriculture and domestic arts’ to the Surrey Archaeological Society, now housed at the Godalming Museum, and her European, Algerian and Oriental items were donated to the Victoria & Albert Museum.  Between 1921 and 1924, Gertrude, along with Edwin Lutyens and over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftsmen and manufacturers of the early 20^th century, worked on the Queen Mary’s Dolls House, which is the largest, and considered to be, the most beautiful and most famous dolls' house ever made; Gertrude’s contribution was the design of the garden.  Gertrude also continued to write and, well into her late eighties, had 43 articles published in the journal Gardening Illustrated, just between 1929 and 1932.

Gertrude Jekyll died, aged eighty-nine, on 8^th December 1932, she never married but seemed to have had a good rapport with children, particularly her nieces and nephews who called her ‘Aunt Bumps’.  Gertrude was buried in the churchyard at St John the Baptist at Busbridge, Godalming, and her good friend Edwin Lutyens designed a memorial to commemorate Gertrude and the Jekyll family that stands in the churchyard, his memorial to Gertrude reads: ‘Artist, Gardener, Craftswoman’.

Jekyll Gardens

Gertrude Jekyll is known to have created over 400 gardens during her lifetime, mostly in Britain, but she did also design nine gardens outside Britain and seven war cemeteries in France in collaboration with Edwin Lutyens in 1917 and one in collaboration with Sir Herbert Baker in 1925.  One garden design outside of Britain was in Hungary at Oroszvar, Moson, Megye, in 1913 and one was in Yugoslavia in Belgrade in 1928.  Four were in France including:  Bois des Moutiers, Varengeville-sur-Mer, Normandy, in 1898, to complement a house designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens; Le Chateau de Tresserve, Aix-les-Bains, in 1902; Versailles (Parc de Sports), Paris, in 1924; and finally, the gardens to complement the Trouville Hospitals in Trouville, in 1917.  War Cemeteries in France include: Auchonvillers Military Cemetery, Corbie la Neuville British Cemetery, Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, Fienvillers British Cemetery and Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension, all in Somme, in 1917, Hersin Communal Cemetery Extension in Hersin-Coupigny, and Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery in Sautly, again, both in 1917, and finally, the gardens to complement the South African War Memorial, Delville Woods, Longueval, in 1925.  The three in America were: Elmhurst in Ohio in 1914, Cotswold Cottage in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1925, and Glebe House in Litchfield Hills, Woodbury, Connecticut, in 1926.

As well as Bois des Moutiers, Gertrude created over 100 gardens with her close friend, Edwin Lutyens.  The couple complimented each others designs, with Gertrude’s planting schemes gently clothing and softening Lutyens’ structured, geometric gardens that included ingeniously linked compartments filled with pergolas, rills and pools, circular steps and sunken gardens (see Newchapel House and Felbridge Place below), incorporating the use of local materials.

Of the 400+ gardens that Gertrude created (see Appendix for some of the properties) the most well known is her home garden at Munstead Wood where she lived between 1897 and her death in 1932.  Both the house designed by Edwin Lutyens and the gardens are Grade I listed.  Here Gertrude experimented with planting and colour, incorporating and consolidating her own ideas on garden design, as well as establishing a plant breeding programme and nursery.  The property is now privately owned but the gardens are open for private tours by appointment. 

The wealth of Gertrude’s garden designs has been preserved in several archives.  One is the Reef Point Collection that was passed to the Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.  The Reef Point Collection was acquired by the American garden designer Beatrix Farrand, wife of Max Farand, in the late 1940’s.  This collection is made up of several thousand letters, photographs and drawings relating to 236 properties where Jekyll worked.  It includes full colour plans and drawings, photographs, illustrations, writing and documents, much of which is now digitised.  A second archive of some 2,500 drawings and documents was acquired by the Surrey History Centre in 1997 and The Gardens Trust has now digitised 88 of the Surrey gardens.  There is also a large collection of Gertrude Jekyll material and memorabilia held at GodalmingMuseum and the Victoria and AlbertMuseum.

Jekyll Garden Ideas

One of the foremost ideas on gardening for Gertrude was in the use of plants in a ‘painterly way’, drawing on her knowledge of the use of colour that she had learnt as an artist.  She was one of the first professional gardeners/garden designers to take into account the colour and texture of gardens along with the personal experience of being within the garden.  Her understanding of colour theory introduced the idea of grouping plants in drifts of colours, carefully blending colours and planting diagonal swathes of perennials with complementary colour combinations.  This technique is best observed in her hardy flower borders where she uses radiant colour in an Impressionistic style.  She was also not afraid to use single colour borders or juxtaposition colours to enhance the visual experience.

Gertrude transformed the nature of gardens through her sensitive designs and use of structural details, together with her knowledge of planting based on experience and the recognition that consideration of exposure, soil type and microclimate should be taken into account when planting.  She was also a strong advocator in the use of native plants, particularly ‘cottage garden’ plants, many of which she collected and bred solely for their preservation. 

In a world dominated by men, Gertrude Jekyll could be said to have paved the way for future women gardeners and plants-women to be accepted as professionals. 

Local Designs

Gertrude Jekyll designed three local Felbridge gardens, although not all were implemented in Felbridge.  Designs for gardens at local properties that Jekyll designed include: Newchapel House, Golands House (later known as Stratfords) and Felbridge Place (formerly FelbridgePark and now the site of WhittingtonCollege).

Newchapel House, West Park Road, Newchapel, Surrey

Newchapel House, now the site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had been purchased in 1915 by Henry Willis Rudd, backer of the Lewis gun during World War I (for further information see Handouts, The Downfall of Henry Willis Rudd, SJC 11/02 and Felbridge Remembers their World War I Heroes, Pt. 2, SJC 09/16), it being once part of the Felbridge Place estate.  The main structure of the house potentially dated to date 16^th century, which had been adapted and enlarged in the intervening years acting as the house for a farm known variously as Godstone Chappel Farm, Chappel Farm and Newchapel Farm, and in the 19^th century, an inn known as the Evelyn Arms, before reverting to a dwelling known variously as New Chapel or Newchapel House.  By 1913, Newchapel House was in the ownership of brothers Andrew Duncan Macneil and William Mackinnon Macneil (for further information see Handout, Felbridge Remembers their World War I Heroes, Pt. 3, JIC/ SJC 07/17) and it is around this time that architect Charles William Bowles was employed to turn the farmhouse at Newchapel Farm into the Newchapel House we see today (for further information see Handout, Newchapel House, SJC 11/02).

In 1916, Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll were commissioned by the Rudd’s to create the gardens for Newchapel House, the garden designs for which form part of the Reef Point Collection in California.  In total there are twenty-four surviving garden designs for Newchapel House, plus five plant lists, dating to between 1916 and 1918.  The plans include an over-all design for the intended gardens extending southward for the width of the house complex, plus individual, more detailed plans for a pond area, the terrace, a rose garden, a sunken garden, a sunken lawn, the bank against the main London road (A22), the borders near the main entrance to the property and the service area and back yard, together with copious notes of the planting scheme and quantities of plants required.  There are also separate lists of planting and quantities required for the herbaceous plants for the border to the sunken garden, for the shrubs and plants for the bank adjacent to the main London road, for the shrubs and plants ‘by the entrance’ and for irises for the pond area.  The main entrance at the time was off the London road (A22), across the front of the house, with a tradesmen’s entrance off the West Park Road, under the Gatehouse, designed by Edwin Lutyens, to the west of the house.

Herbaceous plants for Sunken Garden borders

List of shrubs and plants ‘by the entrance’

List of Shrubs and Plants for the bank adjacent to the road

List of Irises for the pond area

Studying the plans for the gardens at Newchapel House and comparing them with contemporary photographs, it would appear that all the gardens south of the house were implemented.  One of the earliest known set of photographs is from the Lutyens archive held by RIBA. There are two early photographs, possibly 1916, within the set.  One shows a newly planted yew hedge to the south side of the house adjacent to a grassed area and then the retaining north wall and side walls of the sunken lawn. To the west of the retaining wall the ground does not appear to have yet been landscaped.  The other photograph shows the west-end view of the house adjacent to one of the service area gardens, again there is a newly planted yew hedge on the south side of the house and a freshly planted border between the service area and the end of the house that resembles little more than bare stems.  Later photographs in the archive show the yew hedge in a mature, well-clipped state with planted borders where the previous photograph showed bare mud.  Stone steps have been set to ascend from the grassed terrace to the sunken lawn with a pair of well-clipped shrubs by the piers either side of the steps on the terrace.  Another view, looking north, back at the rear of the house, shows mature planted beds south of the sunken lawn and another view is of the rectangular sunken garden situated to the east of the house. This has a matured clipped hedge surrounding a grassed area with dry-stone walling planted with an assortment of trailing plants on the north and east side, a stone path to south side adjacent to a planted border and a sundial placed centrally on the lawn (the west end is not shown in the photograph).  There is also a view from the tennis court looking towards the rear of the house and Gatehouse.  The tennis court was situated some distance south of the Gatehouse, being screened by hedging on its north side but with a view of the large flower beds in the grassed area south of the sunken lawn.

The sale catalogue for Newchapel House dating to 1924, has two photographs of the gardens.  The first is a general view looking east across the rear of the house.  This shows the edge of the rose garden on the south side and the stone walling and terrace across the rear of the house.  The second photograph is of the circular rose garden, bounded by well clipped yew hedging, with a view of the rear of the house beyond.  The rose garden is planted with roses and there is a circular pergola at the centre of the garden.  The pergola must be a slightly later addition as it does not appear in the proposed plans of 1916.  There is also a postcard, dated to the 1940’s, that has an aerial view of the rear of the house showing the circular rose garden on the west and the sunken lawn to the east.  There appears to be two square beds at the north end of the rose garden, between the circular clipped yew hedge and what was called ‘evergreen trees as hedge’ on the plans, screening the service area of the property; these two square beds do not appear on the original plans but potentially appear in the early set of photographs.  Sadly there are no contemporary photographs of the ‘lake’ area at the southern end of the property as proposed by Jekyll and Lutyens, where the stream entered on the east side of the lake and exited on the west, or the iris beds that flanked either side of the path that skirted the southeast end of the lake. 

In 1924, Newchapel House was put up for auction and at the time of sale the ornamental grounds surrounding the house included a tennis lawn and sunken Bowling Green (two items that also feature in the garden plans for Golands House, see below), neither of which feature in the surviving Reef Point Collection of plans for Newchapel House.  The rose garden enclosed by a yew hedge was still there as were ‘rock gardens and a small ornamental lake’.  The sale catalogue states that ‘herbaceous borders were planted with a variety of flowering and other shrubs and there were several rhododendron beds’.  There was a broad grass walk ‘some 30ft (9m) wide bordered by rhododendron and ornamental trees extending for about 150ft (4.5m) towards the woods forming a picturesque vista’.  The extent of the gardens was given as about 4½ acres in addition to which some 4 acres had only been partially planted.

In 1953, the then owner, Mrs Kate Pears, sold the property to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the site of their LondonTemple.  The house was retained and the first and second floors were converted into a series of small apartments for staff.  This was done with the minimum impact upon the structure of the building; the same cannot be said for a large part of the Jekyll garden.  The site chosen for the construction of the Temple was south of the house and sunken lawn and slightly north and west of the stream that dissected the lake.  Being that the area was quite damp, it was felt necessary to drain the ‘lake’ (described as the lily pond at the time) to avoid the footings and foundations becoming water-logged (for further information see Handout, Newchapel House, SJC 11/02).  The construction later of a new entrance, car parking facilities, accommodation complex and other buildings to the west of the main house and Gatehouse have also removed the Jekyll planted scheme in that area.

Today elements of the Jekyll garden layout can still be seen including some of the yew hedging and several of the trees, original to the site before the Jekyll garden, as well as some of her proposed ornamental trees that have now grown to maturity.  The grassed area to the south of the house is still there leading to the stone steps and the retaining wall of the sunken lawn is still in situ although the stone wall on the west side and the borders on the east and west sides have made way for gently, grassed slopes down into the sunken lawn area.  However, the rose garden is no longer there, nor is the sunken garden, both now turned over to lawn.  There is a lake to the south of the Temple structure that emulates the shape of the lake in the Jekyll designs, with paths that skirt round the edges of it and there are planted borders, but sadly not the mass of irises, although there are one or two more recently panted clumps of Siberian iris (Iris sibirica), one of the species that appears on the Jekyll plant lists.  There are also still walkways bordered by some of the rhododendrons and ornamental trees that appear on the Jekyll plans, along with some more recently planted rhododendrons and azaleas, extending southward towards the woods, which appear to be the result of the Jekyll planting of numerous native species of trees. 

Golands House, London Road, Newchapel, Surrey

Golands House, later known as Stratfords, is located within what is now the Hobbs Barracks Industrial Estate at the northern end of Felbridge and south of Newchapel House.  The area that has now become the industrial estate was purchased by William Oswald Carver in 1911, who sold it to Charles Rowe Colville a year later, being purchased in 1913 by brothers, Andrew Duncan Macneil and William MacKinnon Macneil (see above).  Andrew was responsible for extending the house at New Chapel Farm, Newchapel, and residing there until 1915, when he sold it to Henry Willis Rudd, the backer of the Lewes gun, who also purchased much of the Felbridge Place estate (for further information see Handout, Hobbs Barracks, DHW 01/03).  It has not yet been established whether the Macneil brothers or Henry Willis Rudd was responsible for the construction of Golands House, but it is known that in 1920, Rudd commissioned Gertrude Jekyll to design a garden for the property, which was implemented. 

The designs for the garden at Golands House, like those for Newchapel House, now form part of the Reef Point Collection held by the University of California.  There are eight surviving designs dating to 1920.  The plans include a rough over-all design and a detailed over-all design for the intended garden, plus more detailed plans of individual aspects such as the proposed planting round the lawn, the borders either side of the terrace to the west of the house, the rose garden and the border of shrubs between the rose garden and pond.

The over-all plan shows what was described as ‘the front of the house’ facing in a southeastly direction with a paved terrace running across the entire width of the garden, in front of the house.  At the northeast end of the terrace there is a small ornamental pond and directly in front the house is a formal rose garden accessed by steps leading down from the terrace.  Further southeast of the rose garden there are more steps, flanked by borders of shrubs, leading down two more levels to another ornamental pond.  From here a path leads southwest, between beds of rhododendrons, to a tennis court and then up to a rectangular lawn with rounded ends listed as a ‘Bowling Green’.  This area is bounded by more beds of rhododendrons and shrubs.  Up some more steps and you arrive at a summerhouse and flower borders with a shrubbery behind and Goland Wood beyond.

A photograph, dating to the sale of the property in 1924, shows that the hard landscaping had been implemented and that planting had recently taken place.  The details in the sale catalogue, as part of the Newchapel House & Felbridge Place Estates, describes the gardens for Golands House as: ‘In front of the house and extending to the side is a newly formed well laid out ornamental garden with lawns and flower beds, whilst in the rear there is woodland and meadow land … the whole covering 11.4 acres’. 

Golands House was purchased by Emily Frances Emma Henstock in 1924, together with the surrounding area amounting to just short of forty-five acres and it remained in her ownership until it was purchased by Mary Stratford, Lady Sanderson, wife of Sir John Sanderson, hence the derivation of the current name of the house, all the while it served as a private house and garden.  However, in 1938, with the threat of war on the horizon, there was a pressing need for more barrack accommodation and the War Office (as the Ministry of Defence was then called), acquired Stratfords and its associated land at Newchapel from Mary Stratford for the purpose of constructing Hobbs Barracks (for further information see Handout, Hobbs Barracks, DHW 01/03), although the property was not purchased by the War Office until 1940, after the initial building work of the barracks had been completed.

Despite the construction of the barrack blocks, Stratfords the house, was retained as accommodation for the higher echelons of the military but the garden did not fare so well, with a large walk-through air-raid shelter being constructed within the grounds.  Today the paved terrace survives with steps down, but instead of leading to a formal rose garden they lead to a lawn with a large flower bed in the centre.  The lawned area, previously the formal rose garden, is however still flanked by two borders of what are now well-established shrubs and trees.  The southwest of the house is now laid to lawn and instead of the woods beyond it is now a hedge with industrial units beyond.

Felbridge Place, London Road, Felbridge, Surrey

Felbridge Place, now the site of WhittingtonCollege, was formerly FelbridgePark, which had been created by Edward Evelyn during the first half of the 18^th century.  In 1751, the property was inherited by Edward’s son James who extended and embellished the parkland and commissioned a new mansion house in 1763 (for further information see Handout, Felbridge Place Revisited, SJC/JIC 03/22).  In 1855, FelbridgePark was sold to the Gatty family who continued to embellish the parkland and eventually changed its name to Felbridge Place.  In 1911, Felbridge Place was put up for sale by relations of the Gatty family and it was purchased by Emma Harvey, wife of property developer Percy Portway Harvey of the East Grinstead Estate Company Ltd (for further information see Handout, Breakup and Sale of the Felbridge Estate, 1911, SJC 01/11).  In 1916, after a succession of short-term owners, Henry Willis Rudd purchased Felbridge Place with the intention of turning it into a gentleman’s country estate and, whilst living at Newchapel House (see above), employed Edwin Lutyens to design a new mansion house and Gertrude Jekyll to design the gardens for said new house at Felbridge.  The Rudd wealth was based on the British Government paying for Lewis guns supplied by Rudd during World War I.  Unfortunately, the British Government reneged on their agreement and as such, Henry Willis Rudd went bankrupt and was forced to sell his property in the Felbridge area (for further information see Handout, The Downfall of Henry Wllis Rudd, SJC 11/02).

However, in 1916 Gertrude Jekyll had been commissioned to design the gardens for proposed re-imagined Felbridge Place and there are seven surviving plans held in the Reef Point Collection in the University of California, together with several letters of correspondence from Edwin Lutyens describing, with text and rough sketches, various aspects of Felbridge Place as it was in 1916.  The garden plans for Felbridge Place are far more vague and less detailed than the surviving plans for Newchapel House and Golands House and quite difficult to put into context as the proposed house, for which the gardens were designed, was never built.  One of the plans in the Reef Point Collection is titled the ‘east garden’; there is a plan of a garden that may have been a water rill leading to an ornamental circular pool, with proposed planting; a plan showing a circular flower bed or pool with radiating paths leading from it, the location just give as Felbridge ‘New House’; two plans, both untitled, with very little information on them; a hand-drawn map depicting the old carriage way from South Lodge on Copthorne Road to the old mansion house; and a plan detailing general ‘planting to screen the road beyond’, probably the main London road (A22).  The plans do not have the detailed planting notes and none of the plans were implemented at Felbridge Place.  However, also in the Reef Point Collection, there is one plan for Gledstone Hall, West Marton near Skipton, North Yorkshire, dated 1925 (implemented in 1927), and this design, coupled with contemporary photographs, show that there are very similar features in the proposed designs for the mansion house and gardens of Felbridge Place and the finished house and gardens of Gledstone Hall.  It is tempting to think that Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll re-used their abandoned designs for the mansion house and gardens at Felbridge Place as a basis for the new commission and, with subtle differences and some-what scaled down in size, saw them to fruition at Gledstone Hall. 

The garden design for Gledstone Hall was completed and the contemporary photographs give a clear impression of how the gardens at Felbridge Place may have looked if they too had been implemented.  The gardens at Gledstone Hall were designed in the Italian style with a long sunken garden between retaining sandstone walls, and a 128ft/38.4m formal canal running down the centre that stretches away to the south, ending with a reflection pool.  The plans for Felbridge Place include a very similar scheme.  At Felbridge a 101ft 6ins/30.5m canal of water would have extended to the northeast of the new house, being viewed from the dining room window, ending with a circular reflection pool backed by a semi-circular colonnaded wall.  At Felbridge Place, a Garden House was to have been located the left of the feature and an orangery to the right.  The colonnaded wall and the two buildings were so placed as to hide a glass-roofed garage for seven cars and the gardeners’ yard and sheds.  Like Gledstone Hall, the canal was to have been set in sunken gardens running in line with the wall extending from the service wing. 

Extending to the southwest, on the other side of the new mansion house at Felbridge Place, was to have been a series of terraced lawns and borders leading to another circular pool with paths radiating from it.  The garden to the south of the property was to have been laid to lawn with parkland-type planting including the retention of some of the ornamental trees that had previously been planted by the Evelyn and Gatty families (for further information see Handouts, Handout, Garden Designers, Horticulturalists and Plants-men of Felbridge, Part 1, The Horticultural Legacy of the Evelyn and Gatty families, SJC 05/19 and Felbridge Place Revisited, JIC/SJC 03/22), with the addition of firs and many native trees, interspersed with clumps of azaleas and rhododendrons, culminating with a tennis court.  The garden and grounds to the north of the property were also to have been laid to lawn with parkland-type planting. 

Sadly, Felbridge Place without its proposed gardens by Gertrude Jekyll or the new Lutyens’ mansion house was put up for auction in 1924, along with the remainder of the Rudd’s Felbridge estate, including New Chapel House and Golands House with their recently laid out, Gertrude Jekyll gardens (for further information see Handout Lutyens’ Grand Design for Felbridge, SJC 07/03).

Appendix

Garden Design Legacies of Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll created over 400 gardens, mostly in Britain, one in Hungary, one in Yugoslavia, four in France, as well as eight war cemeteries in France in collaboration with Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker, and three gardens in America.  The following is a list of some of the gardens that she created, with dates where known:

Books & Publications

(There are also numerous other books published using her ideas and thoughts on garden design, either as anthologies or notes that she had already written/published, as well as biographies on her life)

Ralph Hancock

When Ralph Hancock first came to our attention as an eminent garden designer who had once lived in the local area it was back in the mid 2000’s, and, at the time, information on the man and his work was sparse.  However, in the intervening years his importance within garden design, in particular rooftop garden design, has begun to be appreciated and there is now an active hunt for lost gardens that he created, a website dedicated to his life and works has been established, and since 2012, he has had a Commemorative Green Plaque erected at The Roof Gardens in Knightsbridge, formerly the rooftop gardens of Derry and Toms, 99, High Street (see Hancock Appendix).  The Green Plaque is an alternative to the Blue Plaque scheme after the English Heritage committee felt it was not appropriate to recognise a Landscape Gardener with a Blue Plaque.

This part of the document outlines the life of Ralph Hancock, including the transition to becoming a ‘gardener’, followed by his ideas on designing and creating a garden and general information on some of the known Hancock gardens designed during his 25-year career.  Attention will then be turned to the two known local properties – Gatehouse Farm, which was his country retreat from London in the late 1930’s, and Oat Barns, a commission presumably acquired during his residency in the area, and finally, an Appendix that lists his currently known Garden Design Legacies, including those that were carried out and those which were not implemented, Companies that he founded, as well as his Publication List.     

Life of Ralph Hancock

Clarence Henry Ralph Hancock (known as Ralph) was born on 2^nd July 1893, the eldest of three sons of Clarence Hancock and his wife Clara Adelaide née Thomas of 20, Keppoch Street, Roath, Cardiff, South Wales.  Clarence Hancock senior worked for a firm of auctioneers called Evans and Hughes, with offices in Borough Chambers, Wharton Street, Cardiff, which by 1899 had become Evans and Hancock.  Presumably Clarence Hancock senior had replaced Hughes in the partnership.  In 1900, the senior partner, Evans, retired and Clarence Hancock senior took on the business still trading as Evans & Hancock; he was later joined by Edward, one of his sons.

Ralph was educated at RoathParkSchool in Pen-y-Wain Road, Roath, Cardiff, which had been opened in 1895, before advancing to the MunicipalSecondary School, formerly named CardiffHigherSchool when founded in 1885, in HowardGardens.  Around the time of his leaving, the school was re-named as the HowardGardensMunicipalSchool and is today known as the HowardianHigh School.  The school had initially been founded to prepare pupils for the new University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire that had opened in 1883, by providing a longer period of education for children up to the age of 13, with a wider curriculum.  Thus it is safe to say that Ralph had received a good education.  It is not clear what Ralph did on leaving school, which would have been around 1906, perhaps he went on to the University College, but more likely he went to work with his father as in 1914, when he enlists for World War I, he gives his occupation as an accountant, working for Evans and Hancock.   At the time of his enlistment he was living at Brentwood, 48, Westbourne Road, Penarth.

Ralph’s army papers give a description of him, aged 21 years and 1 month in 1914, 5 foot 8 inches tall, with good vision and physical development.  He joined the 2^nd Welsh Brigade as Private, no.1107, and on 18^th December 1915 was appointed 2^nd Lieutenant, no.2118, Royal Field Artillery.  Ralph served until September 1916, when he received the Silver War Badge, which was awarded to service personnel who had been honourably discharged due to wounds or sickness from military service during World War I.  Re-joining civilian life, Ralph was employed as a clerk at Cardiff Docks by October 1916.  

On 17^th September 1917, Ralph married Hilda Muriel Ellis (known as Muriel), by license, at All Saints Church, Penarth.  Muriel had been born on 1^st May 1897 in Edmonton, Middlesex, the daughter of Harold Bramley Ellis and his wife Gertrude.  At her marriage Muriel gave her age as 21, not her correct age of 19.  Muriel’s father was a clothing manufacturer of Letchworth, Hertfordshire, and at the time of their marriage, Ralph was living at Westbourne Road, Penarth, and Muriel was living in Letchworth, so it is unclear how they met.  After their marriage, Ralph and Muriel moved to Augusta Road, Penarth, naming their house Letchworth.  It was here that Ralph and Muriel saw the birth of their first child, Clarence Neville Bramley Hancock (known as Bramley), born on 14^th April 1918.

In June 1918, Ralph commenced work as a marine insurance broker at Cardiff Docks and in 1920 he is recorded as a marine and general insurance broker of James Street, Cardiff, probably employed at Martin & Hancock Commission Agents.  On 3^rd April 1920, Ralph and Muriel saw the birth of their second child, Denys Hallen Hancock, at Letchworth, Augusta Road.  A year later, Ralph was declared bankrupt, which he attributed to a slump in shipping and ‘extravagant living’.  In 1922, the case was reported at length in the local newspaper, giving his new address as 1, Pavilion Place, Porthcawl.  

In 1923, Ralph made a career change and he and his family moved to a cottage called The Island at Shapwick, Somerset, where he took up employment as a gardener for the Griffiths family at Shapwick House.  The move may have been prompted by the death of his father in November 1923 and there is some evidence that Ralph may have known the Griffiths family from the Cardiff area.  It was whilst at Shapwick that Ralph designed a garden frame for intensely propagating seedlings.  The frame contained three compartments (tanks) of water, with a heater beneath the frame, which provided warm water for the first tank that progressively got cooler until it reached the last tank.  Once the seedlings had got used to the cold they were moved into open soil.  His invention was patented as GB 21809A on 3^rd July 1924.  By the end of 1924, the Hancock family had moved to 28, Princes Parade, Finchley, before moving to Letchworth, 27, Downside Road, Sutton, Surrey, in 1925.  Also in 1925, Ralph set up the Country Service Association Ltd. with business partner Eric Pittard of Cardiff, with offices at 22, Maddox Street, Mayfair, London.

Country Service Association Ltd offered their members, for a fee, the ability to buy a wide range of goods and products at a reduced rate from a catalogue by mail order.  In October 1925, Ralph Hancock is reported in the publication The Truth as managing director of Country Service Association Ltd, with Major-General Sir William Donovan KCB as chairman; there was no mention of Eric Pittard.  Although the mail order side of Country Services Ltd appears to have been not very successful, the company gave Ralph a platform from which to exploit his ideas on garden design and in 1926 he became a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society.  Perhaps one of his first publically viewed garden designs was in 1927 when he created a rock garden and lake at the Ideal Home Exhibition, an advert for which appeared in the publication The Chemist and Druggist of 12^th March 1927, inviting ‘members of the drug trade and their friends visiting the Ideal Home Exhibition’ to visit ‘the ‘C.S.A.’ [Country Services Association] House in the New Hall (Stand 40)’ to view ‘the rock garden and lake in front of the house that were constructed by the Country Service Association, Ltd. of Westmoreland House, Regent Street, London’.  This show garden gave rise to perhaps one of Ralph’s first commissions, when he was asked to design a rock, water and iris garden for Princess Victoria at her home at Coppins, Ivor, Buckinghamshire.  Ralph was reported to be extremely proud of the garden he created at Coppins and, in gratitude, Princess Victoria presented to him ‘a little diamond and sapphire tie pin’.  The commission also gave him a huge amount of credibility for future garden designs and commissions.  [For further information on Ralph’s gardens see HancockGardens below] 

Returning to family life, the Hancock family were joined in the summer of 1928 by a daughter, Sheila Muriel Hancock, before the family moved to 19, Chepstow Road, East Croydon.  Three years later Ralph, his wife Muriel and daughter Sheila were bound for America and between 1931 and 1936, made several trips across the Atlantic before returning to Britain in 1935, settling at 110, Sloane Street, London; the two boys were at boarding school and joined the rest of the family when they could.  Unfortunately it has not yet been established as to why Ralph decided to go to America, although it was to lead to one of his most famous and lasting legacies.

On arrival in America, Ralph settled at 44, Oakwood Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey, moving later to North Mountain Avenue [or possibly Upper Mountain Avenue], Montclair.  On arrival, Ralph published an illustrated booklet called EnglishGardens in America, which opens with a letter written on behalf of Princess Victoria, expressing her great pleasure of the gardens at Coppins and wishing him every success in America.  This was followed by a text [abridged below] where Ralph writes: 

‘During the last few years I have designed and constructed in England, anywhere from thirty to fifty complete gardens per year, and from this experience I have come to the conclusion that the best results are obtained by leaving proposed garden work in the hands of a first class landscape man.  It is my firm conviction that the man who designs the garden should also execute the work, as he alone is able correctly to interpret his own ideas…. I shall be pleased to render advice and quote for work without charge.  I have photographs of all types of gardens which may be helpful in conveying my ideas’.

As well as the publication of the booklet, Ralph founded a new company called English Gardens Incorporated and set up a show garden off Oak Wood Avenue, near Erie Station, Montclair.  His promotional activity appears to have been very successful.  This, coupled with several horticultural successes he achieved with his garden designs, including a water garden at the 12^th Annual International Flower Show at the Grand Central Palace in New York, where he won 2^nd prize in the open class, along with several awards, including the Presidents Cup at the Massachusetts Horticulture Show in 1933, garden design commissions soon followed.

Two early commissions were for Lydia Duff Gray Hubbard’s garden at 155, Wildwood Avenue, Upper Montclair, New Jersey, and John Joshua Newberry’s garden at 95, Wildwood Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, between 1930 and 1933 (see Hancock Appendix).  However, Ralph’s most ambitious American commission was for John D and Nelson Rockefeller between 1933 and 1935 – the Garden of Nations to adorn the roof tops of the Rockefeller Centre in New York. 

Unfortunately, there are probably many more garden designed by Ralph Hancock in America but sadly their identities have been lost in the intervening years and are only now being re-discovered.

By 1936, the Hancock family had returned to Britain moving to 110, Sloane Street, Chelsea.  On returning to Britain, Ralph founded Ralph Hancock Ltd in 1936 that lasted until at least 1941, and by 1945 was known as Ralph Hancock & Son Ltd, Ralph having been joined by his eldest son Bramley.  The first garden design commission that Ralph took when back in Britain was in 1936 when he was commissioned to create rooftop gardens for the department store Derry & Toms at 99, High Street, Kensington, which were completed by 1938.  1936 was a busy year for Ralph, as he published a book called When I Make a Garden and purchased Gatehouse Farm at Newchapel, Surrey, as a country retreat from London, which included the old farmhouse, a pair of cottages and some land (see below) and in June 1937, Country Service Association Ltd, the company he had founded in 1925, was officially wound up.

With the threat of war on the horizon, the entrepreneurial Ralph Hancock, founded a new company specialising in air raid shelters, known variously as Bomb and Gas Proof Shelter Co, National Bomb and Gas Proof Shelters Ltd, and British Air-Raid Shelters Ltd.  There is reason to believe that Ralph’s son Bramley was working with him by this date as the 1939 Register records Ralph as ‘Landscape Architect Builder’ and Bramley as ‘Builder’s foreman, Manager’, both living at Gatehouse Farm, whilst Muriel and daughter Sheila were at 110, Sloane Street.  The aim of the ‘Bomb and Gas Shelter Company’ (the company name recorded against Ralph’s name in the 1939 Register) was to design, market and install igloo-shaped bomb and gas shelters, but with no experience of building underground the company failed, ironically just as World War II was declared in September 1939, resulting in moving home to Paygate, West Park Road, Newchapel, by January 1941 and another bankruptcy hearing in March 1941, which Ralph attributed principally to the war.  At least one igloo shelter was constructed as the newspaper article detailing the bankruptcy case states that a contributing factor was the fact that the shelter had cost £1,500 to waterproof.   The location of the shelter’s construction was not recorded but as the Hancock family were at Gatehouse Farm at this date, that the company was registered to that address and Gatehouse Farm had the space and some extremely wet areas, could the shelter have possibly been constructed at that location, and if so where?

Paygate, the property that Ralph had moved to by March 1941, is situated on the south side of West Park Road (B2028) between the roundabout at Newchapel and Haskins Garden Centre at Snowhill.  The property was a new build for Blunden Shadbolt sometime between 1936 and 1941, using reclaimed materials and traditional building methods to create a house that deceives one into thinking it has stood for several centuries.  Like many of Blunden Shadbolt’s buildings there has been much conjecture about the age of Paygate.  Until recently it was believed to have been an old Tudor cottage that had been extended and modernised over the years but now it has been recognised as a Shadbolt design, built c1937, which has in turn been extended since the death of Blunden in 1949.  In 1936, the plot was part of the West Park Estate owned by Alfred Palmer, of Huntley & Palmer biscuit fame, and was put up for auction on his death (for further information see Handout, West Park Estate, SJC 04/99).  The West Park Estate sale catalogue particulars indicates that the plot on which Paygate was built formed Lot 39, described as ‘Two Accommodation Pasture Fields’ amounting to 5a 0r 19p; there is no mention of any dwellings in this Lot in 1936.

Paygate was built out of reclaimed materials with exposed timber framing, in-filled with Blunden Shadbolt’s characteristic use of old bricks laid in decorative, herringbone and irregular bonds; the bottom sections left un-painted with the in-fill above the mid-rail rendered and painted white.  The roof is clad with seven rows of Horsham slabs graduating ever smaller as they spread up the roof, topped off with red clay tiles to the ridge.  The front elevation has a cross-wing on the east end with main front door under and several dormer windows.  The rear elevation has a continuation of the cross-wing projection, a catslide roof and more dormer windows; all the windows being leaded lights.  The interior has a wealth of exposed beams, solid wood doors and floors and a brick beehive cowl fireplace.  Originally built as a four bedroom dwelling, in 2004 the main structure of the house was sympathetically extended to the west making it now a three bedroom dwelling with en-suite and dressing-room for the master bedroom, with a separate bathroom and large landing (for further information see Handout, Blunden Shadbolt’s Legacy to Felbridge and the surrounding area, JIC/SJC 09/15).  It is unknown as to whether Ralph designed a garden for Paygate but in the 2004 sales particulars there are photographs that show a back and side terrace of York-stone paving with shallow steps leading down to the lawn, reminiscent of designs by Ralph.

In the bankruptcy hearing of March 1941, it was also reported that in October 1939 Ralph had purchased a plot of land and two cottages at Horne in Surrey for £450.  He had paid a deposit of £50, using company money, with the balance to be paid at the end of the war.  He explained that he had converted the two cottages as a single dwelling and carried out improvements at a cost to himself of between £400 and £500 and he estimated that the enlarged cottage would now be worth about £600.  The exact location of this dwelling has not yet been established or whether Ralph’s improvements included a garden design.

World War II was to prove emotionally costly for the Hancock family.  Ralph was served with re-activation as 2^nd Lieutenant into the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in September 1940, being sent to Africa but was shortly invalided out the Corps.  His son Bramley served as an Artillery Officer and Denys served in the Royal Tank Regiment.  Muriel drove ambulances and 11-year old Sheila was sent to America to stay with friends of the family.  Bramley was wounded in action but survived, but sadly Denys never returned, being killed in action in Africa in November 1941.  At the end of the war in 1945, the Hancock family, having regrouped, were living at 11, William Street, Westminster, moving to 11, Trevor Square, Knightsbridge, by 1946, which would remain Ralph’s London residence until his death in 1950.

Between 1946 and 1948, Ralph, with offices at 4, Park Mansions Arcade, Knightsbridge, received a variety of municipal and civic garden design commissions from all over Britain, particularly in the North of England.  Family members recall that he spent quite a lot of time in Yorkshire sourcing stone.  However, not all these garden designs were implemented (see Hancock Appendix).  It would appear that post-war priorities had shifted and unfortunately for Ralph, emphasis, coupled with a shortage of local authority money, meant that the rebuilding of war-damaged properties took priority over the beautification of the developments.  However, at least four implemented private gardens have been identified from this era,  St Quentin's House, Llanblethian, near Cowbridge, Glamorgan; Bigbury House, Bigbury, Harbledown, near Canterbury, Kent; Twyn-yr-Hydd within Margam Park, near Port Talbot, S Wales; and Hyning (now Hyning Monastery), Warton, near Carnforth, Lancashire (see Hancock Appendix).  In 1949, Ralph and/or Bramley expanded the business with the purchase of Wells (Merstham) Ltd, a long established landscape garden company operating from Redhill, Surrey, and around the same date, established an ironworks in Crowhurst Road, Lingfield, Surrey, with showrooms at The Barn, Crowhurst Road, which operated as Ralph Hancock Industries Ltd, producing ornamental wrought-iron for both the garden and in the home.  Alongside this and the post-war commissions, Ralph designed and implemented a show garden opposite Baredown Hotel, London Road, Hook near Basingstoke, Hampshire, to advertise their work and continued to design show gardens for the Chelsea Flower Show and Ideal Home Exhibition (see Hancock Appendix). 

In 1950, Ralph purchased a cottage at Chailey Green, near Lewes in Sussex as a country retreat from London and set about designing a garden for it.  Sadly Ralph would not live to see the implementation of this garden design as he died on 30^th August 1950; after his death, his son Bramley completed his vision for the garden.

Hancock Gardens

Ralph Hancock, by his own admission in English Gardens in America published in 1930, had made between 30 and 50 gardens a year.  Over a career spanning twenty five years and allowing for a 6-year hiatus during World War II, he could have potentially designed between 570 and 950 gardens in his life time.  Sadly, unlike Gertrude Jekyll, he did not leave an archive of designs (or if he did, it has not yet been found) or even a list of gardens or people he worked for.  There are pictures of some of the gardens he worked on in his book When I Make a Garden but the whereabouts of each garden, with the exception of the Rockefeller rooftop gardens, is not recorded.  Thus in the intervening 70+ years the whereabouts of the majority of his gardens have been sadly lost.  However, with the concerted effort of his descendents and growing band of enthusiasts, some of these lost gardens are now being sort out.

All known Hancock gardens incorporate designed landscaping and planting and he had a fairly good knowledge of plants and understanding as to where and how they would best grow, for example he advocates the use of lime stone for alpine planting as the stone holds moisture that the plants need to survive.  Particular plant favourites seem to be roses, alpines, ferns, lilies, irises and large specimen shrubs and trees, such as Magnolias, Camellias and Acers, to name but a few.  Landscaping was also as important as the planting and the most characteristic features of Hancock gardens include: the use of limestone rock, Cotswold dry-stone walling, York-stone paving with herringbone brickwork, water as either pools, streams or fountains, columns/pillars, stone arches and wrought-iron as either gates, railings or as a purely decorative feature in a garden.  He specialised in rock gardens, walled gardens, sunken gardens, intimate corners and garden problems such as odd shaped gardens or gardens on a slope.  Another facet was his interest in the creation of gardens from different countries, ie: Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian, Japanese and English (in America).  The best examples of these gardens can still be seen at the Rockefeller Centre in New York, created between 1933 and 1935 and the RoofTopGarden, formerly the Derry & TomsGarden in Knightsbridge High Street, created in 1936.

Hancock attributed gardeners like William Robinson (for further information see Handout, Garden Designers, Horticulturalists and Plants-men of Felbridge, Part 2, Sylvia Crowe and the Markham garden at Hawthorns, Crawley Down Road, SJC 03/20) and Gertrude Jekyll (see above) as influential to his garden design and planting.  However, I believe one of his greatest influences could be found near his home town, at Margam Park, Neath near Port Talbot in S Wales – the ruined Cistercian Abbey with its abundance of arches and circular windows giving romantic, tantalizing glimpses of framed views beyond, much used in his rooftop English/Tudor Gardens of the Rockefeller Centre in New York and Derry & Toms at Kensington. 

Hancock Garden Ideas

Particularly fine examples of his principles in garden design can be found in several private, Hancock gardens that have now recently been indentified, including: 

Local Designs

It is known that at least two garden designs were implemented in the local area as well as a pair of large wrought-iron gates and set of railing for a local property and potentially the gardens as well.

Gatehouse Farm, Eastbourne Road, Newchapel, Surrey

In September 1936, Gatehouse Farm at Newchapel, Surrey, was put up for auction as part of the West Park Estate on the death of Alfred Palmer, of Huntley & Palmer biscuit fame (for further information see Handout, West Park Estate, SJC 04/99) and was purchased by Ralph Hancock as a country retreat from London.  The description given in the sales brochure was as follows:

Area: 121a 0r 1p

Tenants: Mrs Smeed and Mr Edward Unwins Gillate (with Lowlands Farm)

Tenancies: Yearly, 29^th September.  Little Gatehouse Wood and other Woodlands are in hand

            Rents: £98 0s 0d (apportioned) and

                       £  5 0s 0d (apportioned) respectively. 

Tithe Rent Charge, Present value –

Parish of Godstone (Det.) £12 5s 0d 

A Valuable Dairy and Mixed Holding

fronting both sides of the main East Grinstead-Eastbourne Road close to New Chapel Corner about three miles from East Grinstead, one mile from Blindley Heath and 1 ½ miles from Lingfield. 

The Fine Old Farm Residence

stands well back from the main road and is reputed to be one of the oldest buildings on the Estate.  Its original construction was of brick and half timbering and wide beamed eaves support a Horsham stone slab roof.  Parts of the house have been encased with brick walls and it is entered through a brick PORCH.  The Accommodation comprises: SITTING ROOM with register fireplace and cupboard; DINING ROOM,  a large apartment which is practically in its original condition with a ceiling of massive oak beams, fireplace deeply recessed and also supported by an oak beam, and containing an iron hearth-plate and back both of which bear the date 1661.  At the back of the open flue are quaint cubby holes; Office and Store Room; Scullery with brick floor and having open fireplace, copper, sink and back staircase; Larder, and Back Entrance.  Below is a Cellar with a brick floor and Spring of Water.

On the Upper Floor are Six Bedrooms, three of which open from the Main Landing which has an old oak-turned balustrading, and several of the rooms have oak flooring while most of them display large quantities of oak beams in the walls and ceilings.

Well Water Supply (Tenants’ Pump)                                                                Cesspool Drainage

Two Outside timber and tiled Coal and Wood Sheds.

The Farm Buildings

are mainly of timber and tile construction but include a modern brick and tiled Cow House for 12 with channelled floor; Cooling Room, fitted with semi rotary pump, and a Workshop; Barn with Two-bays and cement run-way; Open Shed and Yard; Three-bay lean-to Cart Shed; Four-stall Stable with Loft and Chaff place; Four-brick and tiled Pigsties; Barn with Two bays and wood run-way; lean-to Fatting Shed; Four-bay open lean-to Shed; large Waggon House with Granary over, and a Pony Stable. 

The Land

Includes six useful Pastures of about 4½ acres and a further 11 acres in Nos. 28 and 43 have been sown down by the tenant.  The Land on the west side of the main road is wholly arable in useful level enclosures, all of which are within easy distance from the main farm buildings.  Little Gate House Wood and the Shaw on the north-west boundary of the Lot contain some very useful oak timber.

The Lot is intersected by the main road for nearly a mile and will have a future development value, Companies Water and Electricity Mains being available at Newchapel Corner.

Note – the tenant claims the fire hearth plate and back

Gatehouse Farmhouse was originally built as a high-status hall house, probably in the 15^th century, of which only a cross-wing, jettied on two sides, remains.  The open hall and one floored end were replaced by a three-bay floored structure and the smoke bay was replaced by a large multiple stack to left of centre, with two hearths on each floor, possibly in 1626 as there is a date plaque with that date and the initials T.S. on a stone surround.  A two-bay face wing was added at the rear in the late 17^th century, possibly as a kitchen making the footprint ‘L’ shaped.  The roof has three side-purlins supporting a Horsham slab roof, an unusual style for this part of the country but more common across the county boundary in Sussex.  It is timber-framed on a rendered plinth with brick infill below, rendered infill on the first floor to exposed framing of thin scantling with diamond bracing.  There is a gabled porch to left of centre.  Gatehouse Farmhouse was Grade II listed as no. 1280913 on 25^th April 1984.

One can only speculate on what brought Gatehouse Farm to the attention of Ralph Hancock. One theory could be that he was made aware of the property whilst undertaking work at Oat Barns (see below), only a about a mile from Gatehouse Farm.  Perhaps this was the catalyst for his own idea of a country retreat away from London.  According to the Hancock family, Ralph had purchased a ‘derelict 16^th century farmhouse, which was in a very dilapidated state and set about restoring the property to its former glory.  He travelled the country finding suitable oak timbers and stone to turn what had been a simple farmhouse into a mock-Tudor home fit for a successful landscape architect.  Ralph installed a mock-Tudor summer house and Tudor-style herringbone brick pathways, and he also installed the walls to the front and side of the house.  As well as refurbishing the family home, Ralph also designed and built one of his trademark gardens using many of the features that have become familiar, including: herringbone brick paths, a sunken garden, a rockery and even a Tudor style summer house’.  During the ownership of Gatehouse Farm, Ralph took up pig keeping for a short period of time which is presumably the farming activity that he had been engaged in as reported in the bankruptcy case in March 1941.

Ralph includes three photographs of Gatehouse Farm and its garden in his 1950 edition of When I Make a Garden.  One shows the front garden of a very pristine house with York-stone and herringbone brickwork path.  There are a few small species trees planted into the brick-work, a raised bed and an ornamental sundial.  He captions this photograph with: ‘A simple treatment has been adopted for this lovely half-timbered farmhouse and care has been taken to obscure none of its beauty.  The garden is a spacious yet unassuming complement to the house…’  The second photograph shows a low cottage to the left of the farmhouse, probably one or more of the outbuildings having been converted as a dwelling.  It has flower beds against the house and a low picket fence surrounds the property.  Of this Ralph wrote: ‘For the farm cottage a more intimate design has been carried out; again plantings and fences are in keeping with the period and are low to permit an unrestricted view of the cottage’.  The third and final photograph is taken from the back garden with the back of farmhouse to the right and a wall extending to the left with inserted iron-work.  Of this Ralph writes: ‘Again, ornamentation is restrained in making a fitting complement to an old tree-sheltered, half-timbered house.  The wrought-iron grille is exquisite’.    

In 1999 and 2000, the property was on the market described as ‘a picturesque Grade II listed four-bedroom detached house which enjoys the benefits of a swimming pool [probably added by Pamela Hamilton who purchased the property from Ralph Hancock in 1941], a stable yard and grounds extending to six acres.   The house has recently undergone a considerable programme of refurbishment and redecoration.  There are many fine period features including a wealth of exposed, substantial oak timbers.  Gatehouse Farmhouse has attractive gardens including a revolving summerhouse, lawns, edges and border.  Beyond the rear garden and swimming pool is a stable yard built on the site of an old tennis court’.  A second set of sale details describe the gardens as formal, ‘situated to the south of the main house, including a delightful pond and orchard…’  When Hancock family members visited in 2007, Ralph's trademark herringbone brick path was still visible, although in need of some attention.  The planting still looked much as it did when the Hancock family lived at Gatehouse Farm, albeit very mature by 2007.  The rear garden still had many of his trademark features, including the mock-Tudor summer house, but the sunken garden he had created had disappeared, leaving a dark depression on the lawn.  The Hancock family reported that in May 2015, the then owners of Gatehouse Farmhouse had contacted them stating that they were embarking upon the restoration of the house and the garden.  They had already undertaken a total restoration of the overgrown and leaking rockery, taking it back to its original look when built in the late 1930's and were hoping to reinstate the lost sunken garden.

On our visit in April 2022, the sunken garden had been replanted as a formal parterre garden, outlined with box hedging, constructed within the original constraints of the sunken garden with a central circular paved feature with a sun dial and a small ornamental pond at the southern end, opposite a set of steps that lead up to a large wrought-iron gate.  This gate was originally located at Red Tiles, once part of Oat Barns (see below), and when the new owner of Red Tiles wanted to sell it, the owner of Gatehouse Farmhouse purchased it and re-hung it as a feature at the end of the sunken garden.  Leading from the gate is a set of steps up to a piece of statuary set within a circular feature against a semi-circular screening of shrubs.  Whether intentional or not, this is very reminiscent of Hancock’s treatment for staging garden ornament or statuary to add interest to the garden.  The restored rockery with its water-run down to a small pond has begun to fill out and look established.  The York-stone and herringbone brickwork courtyard in front of the house still retains a few species trees and shrubs such as Acers and Camellias planted in feature, brick outlined beds, and in the border in front of the house can be found a Wisteria that drapes itself over the porch and clumps of Iris.  The brick garden wall extending westward of the house on its east end, has a wrought-iron gate set in a small arch near the house wall and a larger, open arch about two thirds of the way forward that gives tantalizing glimpses of the garden beyond.

Not only did Ralph Hancock design and create a garden at Gatehouse Farm, he also undertook several engineering feats.  Situated next to a pond to the east of the farmhouse that was once part of Gatehouse Farm (now within the grounds of the British Wildlife Centre), there is a brick-built and clay tiled pump house that was built by Hancock to feed water from that pond into the larger pond at the front of the property, which had a tendency to dry out during the summer months.  He also installed a series of clay water drainage pipes in the western side of the sunken garden to carry water away, probably also to the front pond, as this area had been part of an ‘L’ shaped pond in 1936 and did not fit in with his garden scheme in that area.  If Hancock did construct his igloo bomb and gas shelter at Gatehouse Farm it is not surprising that it cost him £1,500 to make it waterproof, as parts of the property are very wet!         

Oat Barns, Newchapel Road, Lingfield, Surrey

Oat Barns (aka Oatbarns), formerly known as Mitchels/Mitchells in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s, was built as a high status hall house of four bays and has been dendro-dated to 1476/77.  The one-bay open hall has evidence of a gallery across the hall linking the two floored ends.  It is timber-framed with a rendered plinth, rendered brick cladding below and tile hung above.  It has a Horsham slab roof with a rear ridge stack to the left end and an offset end stack to the right.  Oat Barns was Grade II listed, no. 1377568, on 25^th April 1984.  In 1999, sales particulars describe the property as a ‘very appealing 15^th century house… has bags of character with its high, heavily beamed ceilings… attractive fireplaces, the most notable being the exquisite carved marble surround with a genuine Charles I fireback…  The gardens of around an acre are a delight, with a great variety of trees and shrubs…’  Another description of the gardens states: ‘The delightful grounds feature screening trees and laurels, flowerbeds, lawns, old well head with grille and attractive maple tree, heathers, borders and rhododendrons’. 

Oat Barns is about a mile from Gatehouse Farmhouse and there is a colour image of the west end of the house in the 1950 edition of When I Make a Garden.  Adjacent to the large chimney stack there is flower bed and in front of that is a circular York-stone and herringbone brickwork feature with a sun dial set in it, with a York-stone and herringbone brickwork walkway leading to it, bordered on its north side by another flower bed.  The end of the house has a pinky-red rose rambling up the chimney stack and across the tile hanging and the flower bed and border are filled with pinky-red shrub roses.  Interspersed in the York-stone and herringbone brickwork paths are small clumps of low growing plants.  Off to the right-hand side of the photograph, on the south side of the house, there is a topiary tree, strategically placed next to a pathway.   The garden was commissioned, probably in the late 1930’s, by Charles Francis, an American and Director of British Home Stores who lived in London, and purchased Oat Barns as a country retreat in about 1935.  It is known that Charles Francis had an interest in ferns, which may have been an influencing factor in commissioning Ralph as he too appreciated the use of ferns in his garden designs writing in his book When I Make A Garden: ‘We have far too long neglected the hardy fern.  For the woodland’s fringe or the lake-side the delicate tracery of their fronds is a delight from early spring until the autumn frosts’.  Over the years the garden at Oat Barns fell into disarray and the York-stone and herringbone brickwork pathways were in need of re-laying but since 2004, the current owner has embarked upon restoring the gardens to their former glory. 

On our visit in April 2022, the York-stone and herringbone brick paths have been lifted and re-laid and the encroaching hedge, of at least 4 feet (1.2m) thick, has been cut back to reveal the remains of the Hancock garden.  Passing through west gate, made to an original Hancock Industries design, it can be seen that the stone sundial is missing, having been damaged and pending repair.  The encroaching hedge, adjacent to the York-stone and herringbone brickwork path leading from the west gate, although now cut back, had obliterated the rose border and the rose bed and climbing rose against the west end of the house are no longer there.  However, the piece of topiary is still in situ, although broader in circumference than in the photograph in Ralph’s book.  The front or south side of the house has a magnificent Wisteria climbing along the wall and the current owner has planted Irises in the flower border against the house, unaware that they were one of Hancock’s favourite plants.  The York-stone and herringbone brickwork path leading from the south side of the house to a large pair of wrought-iron gates against the Newchapel Road, is flanked by dry-stone walling and flower beds.  Over the years, the soil has begun to push the walling outward toward the path and the walling is now in need of stabilising before it collapses.  To the east of the south gate there is a beech tree and there would have been one to the west for symmetry but that had been taken down before the current owner’s time.

The grassed area extending east of the path has several specimen trees planted in it, a white flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) possibly White Lady, a Weeping Beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Pendula'), several Acers with either pale green or deep red leaves and Camellias.  At the far, east end of the garden is large wrought-iron hatch gate.  This is flanked on the left side by ornamental Fir trees although the one on the right is missing, again removed before the current owner’s arrival.  The hatch gate leads to a low, stone slab bridge supported by steel or iron supports and what would have been another gate adjacent to the Newchapel Road, although this has currently been removed and is in storage.  On the north side of the house there is a lovely red-leaved Acer around which the current owner has planted a stepped, clipped yew hedge, making a feature of the old tree, much as Hancock would have approved.  Leaving the grounds of Oat Barns and entering the grounds of Snuff Cottage (once the gardener’s cottage), there is a gated pond area that was originally part of the Oat Barns estate.  The north bank of the pond is walled and buttressed in brick whilst the south side has a more natural appearance planted with native water and woodland plants and trees.  The gate features four frogs in silhouette along the bottom with five upright bars formed to create bulrushes, each bar with a single clustered spikelet and pair of narrow up-right leaves.  Of the six wrought-iron gates associated with Oat Barns (including the north gate that has now be erected in the gardens at Gatehouse Farmhouse), none are the same as each other and only the west gate can be identified as a Hancock gate, appearing in the Hancock Industries wrought-iron catalogue as pattern no.4322, which at the time of its publication (1950) cost £21, although all the other gates do contain many features illustrated in the catalogue.

Gates at Lake House, Lake View, Dormans Park, nr. East Grinstead, Sussex

Alongside the garden design business, Ralph Hancock also established Ralph Hancock Industries Ltd, an ironworks in Crowhurst Road, Lingfield, Surrey, which produced ornamental wrought-iron that Ralph so loved to incorporate in his garden deigns.  The showroom was at The Barn, Crowhurst Road, where future clients could see examples of the decorative wrought-iron made by Hancock Industries and pieces of wrought-iron collected by Ralph that were for sale or that could provide inspiration for commissioned pieces.  A catalogue for Hancock Industries, published in about 1950, opens with the following: 

Ironwork illustrated on the following pages shew the scope of designs available from Hancock Industries.  If you are interested in wrought ion for any purpose from a pair of tongs to the finest entrance gates we can help.

The reader will no doubt appreciate that the variations of design and style in this age-old craft are legion.  At all times we are pleased to carry out customer’s own designs or modify those shewn in this catalogue.  If necessary we are prepared to submit sketches, with quotation for any ironwork not illustrated.

In the hands of skilled smiths, wrought-iron combines structural strength with delicate beauty.  We offer original masterpieces of the past.  But we also have the skill to copy, or adapt beautiful antique work to modern purposes and the artistry to create graceful new designs…

We particularly specialise in period reproduction.  At our BasingstokeShowGardens and Lingfield Works, we have what is probably the largest collection of antique ironwork.  Much has been collected by Mr Ralph Hancock during his travels in the U.S.A., on the continent and in French and Spanish North Africa during the past twenty years.  From this collection it is possible to select a panel or series of motifs, which we can build into an attractive and unique piece of ironwork, be it a pair of gates, cover for a radiator or any other article of utility.

Our long experience covers the use of ornamental metalwork in conjunction with glass and high quality joinery work.

Skilled teams of erectors enable us to carry out work in any part of the country.

In the catalogue there is a photograph of two pairs of large wrought-iron gates and railings that the company had just installed at LakeHouse, Lakeview, DormansPark.  The photograph shows two pairs of gates, with brick pilasters, 14ft wide and 9ft high, together with 30ft of ornamental railing, 3ft high set on a 2ft 6ins high brick wall.  In the catalogue the gates are listed as design no. 4340, pair of gates 10ft x 6ft at a cost of £185; Rail gate 2ft 6ins high at the cost of £2 8/- per foot run.  At the back of the catalogue, there are testimonials given by recipients of Hancock wrought-ironwork from around the world, including a statement from ‘J.S.T JP of East Grinstead’, which states: ‘The gates are truly beautiful’.     

J.S.T. JP was John Stanleigh Turner JP of LakeHouse who had commissioned the gates that appeared in the catalogue just prior to its publication.  John S Turner had moved to LakeHouse in DormansPark just after World War II.  The house had been built as part of the Bellaggio Estate (later known as DormansPark) at the end of the 19^th century and was originally known as House by the Lake as it overlooked the lake within the estate.  The house has recently been renovated and photographs of the property show that the Hancock wrought-iron gates and railings are still in situ.  Photographs of the garden show a shallow, sunken, round pond with a statue or fountain at its centre, accessed off shallow steps leading from a terraced area at the back of the house, reminiscent of Hancock garden designs.  Aerial photographs also hint at a possible landscaped garden under what is today a large expanse of lawn; perhaps another lost Hancock garden?         

Post Script

After Ralph Hancock’s death in 1950, Bramley continued the landscape garden business of Hancock & Son Ltd, implementing many garden designs that his father had produced prior to his death and regularly exhibiting at the Chelsea Flower Show and the Ideal Home Exhibition through the 1950’s and into the 1960’s. 

Appendix

Bibliography