Gardens at Witley Court

One hundred years ago, Witley Court was one of England’s great country houses, grand and palatial, and surrounded by spectacular landscaped gardens. Then in 1937, disaster struck with a devastating fire and the house and vast gardens fell into a long decline. Today, however, Witley’s fortunes have turned, with a long term restoration programme to bring the magnificent gardens back to life.

Witley Court is surrounded by some of the most spectacular landscaped gardens in the region. Highlights of the gardens include:

• The restored Perseus and Andromeda Fountain. The fountain's main block rises to a height of 26 feet and is made of a single block of stone weighing 20 tonnes. The central jet is said to have reached up to 120ft high.
• Ornamental walks with many rhododendrons, camellias, magnolias and specimen trees particularly North American conifers.
• The South Parterre Gardens, which are undergoing restoration which is due to be finished in the near future.
• The spectacularly restored East Parterre garden, with its colourful planting and ornate design
• The Flora Fountain in the East Parterre Garden.
• The Wilderness Garden (restored as part of the English Heritage Contemporary Heritage Garden Project), with its newly laid paths through the woodland glades.

A previous Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 1996 allowed the completion of a new visitor centre and car park as well as funding the restoration of the North Park.

Witley also has a lake, stream, woodland walks and meadow areas containing wild flowers.

In 1846 when William Humble Ward came into his inheritance, a golden age of opulence began at Witley Court which was to last until 1920 when the court was sold by the Dudley family. Before this the land surrounding the house had been a deer park, laid out in the English landscape manner advocated by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown and his followers. When this style, with its acres of greensward, lost its appeal in the late 18th century, Lord Foley (Thomas VII), who owned the property from 1793-1833, asked George Stanley Repton to establish terracing and balustrading in the immediate environs of the house, with flower beds and simple parterres.

As part of Lord Ward's grand transformation of the mansion, it was decided to call in William Andrews Nesfield, who was the leading landscape designer of the day, to lay out a sumptuous pleasure ground which would be a suitable accompaniment to the newly extended and refurbished Italianate mansion. Nesfield later referred to the formal gardens at Witley Court as his 'monster' work. They were the wonder of the age - a regiment of miniature clipped box hedges, immaculate lawns and dazzling flowerbeds were dramatised by the colossal fountains with a central soaring column of water.

In 1937 the house was severely damaged by fire; later its fixtures and fittings were systematically stripped and sold, leaving the house an empty shell. Today, however, Witley's fortunes are once again on the rise. Decay has been arrested and a long-term restoration programme is restoring the historic gardens and landscapes.

Witley Court is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building with work by John Nash and Samuel Dukes. The site includes 16 other connected Grade II listed buildings and a magnificent Grade 1 listed church attributed to James Gibbs.

The landscape and gardens are Grade II* on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

The damp hollow in the north west corner of the wilderness garden holds a population of the uncommon sedge 'Carex strigosa', Witley is also home to another uncommon sedge 'Carex vesicaria' located in the wilderness at the front entrance. Many native species of trees can be seen in the woodlands at Witley and other trees of interest include the Chestnut Oak (Quercus prinus). Rhododendrons provide a blaze of colour from May to July and exotic species such as 'Gunnera maniculata' and 'Rheum palmatum' grow on the front pool bank.

The ponds and woodland are important habitats supporting a wide range of plants and animals including kingfishers, spotted flycatchers and brown hawker dragonflies. Six species of bat feed on the site, five of which are known to roost there. A nationally scarce Rove beetle is also found on the site.  For more information on endangered wildlife and habitats visit the Natural England web page.

Find out more about visiting Witley Court & Gardens.

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