Description

872/0/10052 PEMBURY ROAD
05-MAR-09 Terrace wall and steps of Dunorlan to
the south east of the former Dunorlan
house

II
Terrace wall and steps. Constructed in the 1850s-1860s by the firm of James Pulham for Henry Reed of Dunorlan.

MATERIALS: The base is of sandstone with stone and Pulhamite balustrading.

PLAN: Projecting curved centre with flights of curved steps and straight sides.

DESCRIPTION: The battered base of the terrace is about 10ft high, constructed of diagonally tooled sandstone with moulded cornice and the balustrading above is probably constructed of both stone and Pulhamite artificial rock. The projecting central section has a central moulded stone panel with scrollwork decoration flanked by balustrading with side shallow urns with gadrooning. From this section curved stone stairs lead to the lower level, terminating in cylindrical stone piers with battered bases and side walls with balustrading that also terminate in cylindrical piers. There is a further curved central section behind leading to straight sides, each with three sections of balustrading divided by stone piers, the end piers terminating in ball finials.

HISTORY:
In 1823, John Ward, a partner of Decimus Burton in the development of the villas in Calverley Park bought Calverley Park Farm which included the site of a chalybeate spring. He constructed a lake on the farm for recreational use. In 1854 the farm was sold to Henry Reed, a friend of William Booth, who had made his fortune in Tasmania. He demolished the farmhouse and built a new house, Dunorlan, in Italianate style. The grounds were laid out by the scottish landscape gardener Robert Martock (1811-1890) and James Pulham, and leading garden designer and manufacturer of garden ornaments, was commissioned to provide Pulhamite artifical rockwork, a Pulhamite cascade, a temple, a Pulhamite and terracotta fountain and probably extended and re-shaped the lake. The terrace wall is shown on the 1867 Ordnance Survey map. In 1874 Henry Reed sold Dunorlan to the Collins family in whose ownership it remained until 1945 when Tunbridge Wells Borough Council purchased the site. The main house, Dunorlan was badly damaged by a fire in 1946 and demolished in 1958. A later C20 house bearing the same name was built on the site of the 1850s house.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
* It was the terrace wall to the original 1850s Dunorlan from which the pleasure garden, lake and borrowed landscape could be viewed, and adjoins Dunorlan Park Grade II on the Register of Parks and Gardens.
* It is a little altered Italianate style sandstone stone and Pulhamite structure.
* It is one of a group of garden structures produced for Henry Reed at Dunorlan by the firm of James Pulham in the 1850s and 1860s.

Reasons for Listing

The terrace wall and steps of Dunorlan Park are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It was the 1850s terrace wall to the original Dunorlan from which the pleasure garden, lake and borrowed landscape could be viewed. Dunorlan Park is Grade II on the Register of Parks and Gardens.
* It is a little altered Italianate style sandstone, stone and Pulhamite structure.
* It is one of a group of garden structures produced for Henry Reed at Dunorlan by the firm of James Pulham in the 1850s-1860s.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672348

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey