Vinery at The Grove, Somerby, Leicestershire

Summary

Vinery built in 1914 to the design of Messenger and Company Ltd.

Description

Vinery built in 1914 to the design of Messenger and Company Ltd.

MATERIALS: red brick laid in English bond, glazed timber frame, and partial roof covering of red clay pantiles.

PLAN: the vinery is built against the south side of the boundary wall to The Grove and has a long rectangular plan comprising an open timber frame shed, a glass roofed potting shed, an intermediate house, and a vinery.

EXTERIOR: the four-bay, three-quarter span vinery has a sloping roof consisting of vertical wooden bars infilled with large, overlapped scalloped glass panes which channel rainwater away from the glazing bars. On the left (west) side, an open shed with hipped, pantile-clad roof is supported by timber posts. The front wall of the second bay (the potting shed) is red brick with a single course of vitrified brick along the bottom, and is pierced by a two-light sliding sash window. The longer third and fourth bays (the intermediate house and vinery respectively) have a brick plinth with the same vitrified brick detailing, upon which rests a series of twelve-light, bottom-opening windows, operated by the firm’s patented spring lever system. In the middle of these two bays a glazed, gabled porch rises above the roof slope and terminates in a finial (which may be a later addition). The door has a lower recessed panel of vertical timbers and four large lights above.

The east wall is formed by the wall of the adjoining service building which contains a milk separating room with a metalled ceiling. The rear wall is formed by the roughly squared and coursed ironstone boundary wall, above which rises four courses of red brick to provide the necessary height. The rear slope of the west bay is covered in pantiles and has a red brick chimney stack.

INTERIOR: this retains a high proportion of the original mechanisms for ventilation, heating and watering. The ventilation system allows for the upper lights in the roof to be raised and lowered using a long rod connected to the opening lights and operated by a lever which is stamped with the manufacturer’s name. The potting shed is partitioned longitudinally by a brick wall (not up to ceiling height) and contains a sunken area for the boiler which is not in situ but has been retained. This is a No. 44 Quorn boiler which retains its original damper mechanism. In the third bay there are cast iron heating pipes in the centre and sunken pipes under a grille. This bay also contains an underground water storage tank with a water pump (still working) and cast iron water butt which has an attached butt in the third bay. The doors are the same as the external door and retain brass upright handles stamped with ‘MESSENGER & CO. LTD HORTICULTURAL BUILDINGS LOUGHBOROUGH’.

The third and fourth bays have soil beds along the front and rear; that along the front of the fourth bay is raised and has heating pipes fixed on the low brick wall. These two bays also have narrow iron rods running roughly parallel to the roof, fixed on decorative brackets, for training vines. The rear wall of the fourth bay retains the original vine wire anchoring points with stretchers.

History

It is not known when The Grove was built but the spine beams (later boxed-in) in the reception rooms, together with the survival of a window mullion in the cellar, indicates a probable date of the C17 or earlier. The house has since been substantially remodelled in the late C18/ early C19, and again in the late C19/ early C20. In the latter part of the C19, The Grove was occupied by Major Augustus 'Sugar' Candy, 9th Royal Lancers (d. 1911), whose daughter Kathleen Candy (1872-1955), later the Duchess of Newcastle, was a renowned dog breeder. From c.1910 until after the Second World War, The Grove was occupied by the Hames family, the leading trainers/ providers of hunting horses whose nationally important clients included members of the Royal Family. In 1911-12 a large stable complex was built on the other side of the road to the east of the house. This is now in separate ownership and was converted into residential dwellings c.2003. Horses trained at The Grove are featured in paintings by renowned sporting artists including Munnings, Alden, Nightingale and Palmer.

The first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1885 shows the large plot of land in which the house occupies the north-east corner with wooded pleasure grounds to the south and west. Along the northern boundary is a series of service and outbuildings, including a dairy, milk separating room and stable (which have all since been altered). Adjoined to this range on the west, the map shows a long rectangular building with the same footprint as the current vinery. This was the previous glasshouse on the site which was replaced in 1914 by a vinery designed and manufactured by Messenger and Company, one of the leading glasshouse manufacturers of the later C19 and C20. Thomas Goode Messenger had established a plumbing and glazing business in Loughborough High Street, Leicestershire, and went on to form Messenger and Company Ltd in 1858, specialising in horticultural buildings. Within ten years the company was so successful that larger premises, including an iron foundry, were established on the outskirts of Loughborough, taking advantage of the adjacent railway by having its own siding. The company later moved into the heating trade and closed down in 1980. The Messenger Archives are deposited at Leicestershire Records Office and include the component list for the vinery at The Grove dated 12 June 1914. The brickwork and associated groundwork was undertaken by the local building firm Nicholls Bros of Oakham who were on site at the time undertaking other building work. The vinery was restored in 2014, involving the replacement of some rotten wood in the frame and glass panes along the front and in the gabled entrance. The database established during a national survey of Messenger structures consisting of c.12,000 client orders shows that out of the c.4,000 orders which relate to horticultural structures, the estimated survival rate is less than 5%.

Reasons for Listing

The early C20 Messenger vinery at The Grove is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: it is a very good example of an early C20 glasshouse designed and built by Messenger and Company Ltd, one of the most successful and highly regarded glasshouse manufacturers of the C19 and early C20;
* Degree of survival: it is exceptionally well-preserved, retaining its ventilation, watering and heating systems, including the Quorn boiler (although no longer in situ) which is one of only two such boilers known to survive;
* Rarity: it is a rare survival of a vinery on a small domestic scale, and a rare extant Messenger glasshouse as only about 5% of those erected are thought to survive;
* Historic context: it forms part of a small estate, described in White’s 'History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland' (1846) as ‘a neat mansion with tasteful grounds’. The house, outbuildings and garden, though not designated, form a characterful historical context for the vinery.

External Links

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