Medieval landscaped gardens at Woodham Walter Hall (EHER 47422)

The site of a high status mansion, abandoned since its demolition in the late 17th century, with extensive and unusually well preserved earthworks of ponds, moats and other features from various phases of medieval and Tudor landscaping.

July 1962. Field survey. The moat is considerably more extensive than shown on the 1922 Ordnance Survey 25" map. It was near-rectangular in plan and waterfilled by means of a large pond-bay across the stream which forms the east side of the moat. In the centre of the south side there is an outwork consisting of a small near-rectangular island, surrounded by a new-dry moat which is similar to the probable bridge pieces at the NE entrance of the Upper Bailey at Pleshey Castle (EHER 1127). Immediately SE of this feature are two fish ponds, one wet, the other dry. The SW corner of the moat has been filled in, probably for ornamental gardening, but its course remains faintly visible. The moat is now dry and though heavily overgrown is in fair condition. <1> October 1976. Field survey The remains of Woodham Walter Hall and the moat surrounding it are as described by <1> above. Associated with the earthworks are three pond bays (A - TL 8140 0616, B - TL 8138 0643, C - TL 8130 0653) constructed to maintain the water level of the moat and to supply water to a probable mill site at TL 8124 0653, (EHER 7784?). A leat has also been dug along the east side of the natural valley in which the earthworks lie. Published 1:2500 survey revised. <2> 1979. Field survey and desktop assessment. A series of maps refer the squarish earthwork in the SW part of the moat (EHER 81854) as a possible formal garden, superseding the moat. <3> - <7> 1987-1988. Level 3 field survey. The Hall (EHER 7781) is a focus to an extremely well preserved contemporary complex of associated formal garden remains (EHER 47422) which occupy the valley. These include at least two very large ponds retained by massive earthen dams (see EHER 47422) and a number of smaller ponds or sunken compartments. A walled privy garden lies adjacent to the south side of the hall; only the foundations of the wall are visible, but faint traces of a possible parterre with a cruciform pattern around a central depression were identified in the interior. The platform on which the Hall is situated forms an integral part of the ornamental layout and has previously been mis-interpreted as a water-filled moat. A full descriptive report and large scale survey (1:1000 scale) are held in the National Monuments Record archive, from which this summary is derived. <8> March 1999. Level 1 field survey. In late March 1999, RCHME carried out a Level 1 survey of the site as part of a training course for Essex Gardens Trust. Since the previous RCHME survey, detailed documentary research has been carried out by Mrs Pat Ryan; a copy of this work is held in the NMR archive (<9>). The building was analysed in greater detail by RCHME and the earlier interpretation of the earthworks was re-assessed; the Monarch record was also revised on the basis of the documentary research. The associated formal gardens comprise several very large rectangular ponds retained by massive 'pond bays' and a number of smaller ponds and sunken compartments, as recorded in detail by <1>. For the most part, these survive extremely well as earthworks although ploughing around the outskirts of the main earthwork complex has clearly all but erased a number of slighter garden earthworks. Again, most of the elements are consistent with a mid 16th century origin. Although the earlier RCHME survey concluded that the moat-like arrangement was dry, and essentially formed a setting for the gardens, there is some evidence that there may be more than one phase of development (contrary to <8>). Fishponds were apparently in existence in the 13th and 14th centuries, and a late 12th or early 13th century moat on the same site seems likely. The pond bay which lies immediately to the north of the moat may initially have retained water in the moat and adjoining pond, possibly prior to the 16th century. The smaller garden compartments and ponds within the moat and pond may have been later modifications, probably of 16th century date but possibly in the early 17th century under the ownership of the Fytch family. The square walled garden (the walls surviving only as foundations), with traces of a parterre of cruciform shape, appears to overlie the SW corner of the moat (as suggested by <1>) , and may also be a 17th century addition. <10> <11> June 2010. Scheduled Ancient Monument. The remains of Woodham Walter Hall: an early 16th century house, house platform and associated garden earthworks. Slight earthworks on the house platform to the east of the house indicate a formal garden of terraces and walkways, before the bank slopes down to the lower gardens and the valley bottom, where low earthworks indicate further terraces and walks. At the south-west corner of the house platform is a walled garden. The wall of the house would have formed its north side, and brick foundations survive on the other three sides, with a scatter of brick rubble at the south-west corner visible in the arable field. The layout of the garden was formal, with diagonally crossing paths meeting at a central oval hollow. On the south side a breach in the wall indicates access to gardens in the arable field to the south; this area is not included in the scheduling. Further earthworks to the north, east and south-east of the house platform suggest more informal landscaping, in which the management of water and water features played an important role. The stream, which now runs along the valley bottom, was diverted from its course and directed along the east slope of the valley, retained by a clay bank. Two dams controlled its flow to create a large expanse of water measuring about 80mx180m immediately to the north of the house platform. The first dam is 170m long and 30m across at its widest point and 4m high; the second, about 80m to the north, measures 150m long and 21m wide and 5.5m high; both dams are now breached where the stream passes. These dams afforded both access and vistas across the site; the view from the north dam would have afforded a particularly fine prospect of the house, seen across a stretch of water. Further views across the valley from both east and west were provided by prospect mounds, one forming an island in the ditch to the south of the house platform, with probable access from the south-east corner of the walled garden. About 70m to the north on the east side of the valley, at the east end of the south dam, is a second mound, with a stream curving around its east, south and west sides. Gardens have a long history in England and those of medieval and early post-medieval date take a variety of forms including significant water-management or elaborately shaped flower beds. Such sites were often provided with raised walkways or prospect mounds which provided vantage points from which the garden design and layout could be seen and fully appreciated. The main access route appears to have been from the west, along a road visible on aerial photographs as a pale cropmark running in a straight line from the road that joins Woodham Walter village to the Maldon road. The road enters the south dam which here forms a bank, and after about 90m the bank turns back on itself to form a projection into the ditch to the north of the house platform. The end of this spur is the most likely location for a bridge to the house platform, although no physical evidence for this survives. The north dam is breached at its west end by a possible overflow leat which would have filled the shallow bay to the north of the dam, creating a second expanse of water. An early 19th century house, Falconers Lodge (EHER 7783), stood on the north dam until its recent demolition; other structures to the north have also been demolished. Smaller water features include two ponds oriented north to south terraced into the slight slope of the west side of the valley to the south of the house platform. The larger south pond is filled with water. Slight features in the ditch north of the house platform are also interpreted as a string of small connected ponds running west to east along the ditch bottom, which could have been viewed from the windows of the house directly above. The scheduled area of the house and its immediate garden landscaping lay at the centre of a deer park (EHER 81853), and seem to have formed part of a wider managed landscape. It seems most likely that the house was built and the gardens landscaped as a single event by either the first Earl of Sussex, Robert Radcliffe, or his son (see EHER 7781 for details on the ownership of the manor). Whilst gardens were probably a common accompaniment to high status houses of 16th century and later date, continued occupation of houses and related use and re-modelling of gardens in response to changing fashions means that early remains rarely survive undisturbed. Woodham Walter Hall is an early 16th century house and garden that seems to have been created as an integrated designed landscape. Its scale and complexity exemplify the ostentation of the new social and political elite, with the continuing rise in the fortunes of the Radcliffe family resulting in their eventually relinquishing the house in favour of the grander New Hall, Boreham (EHER 6040). This relatively brief period of occupation means that the garden retains its early 16th century form; a rare and intact survival from this period, it illustrates the development of the garden aesthetic between the medieval and the post-medieval period. Fragments of more detailed information may also survive, for example garden furniture such as statuary, as well as remains relating to the construction of garden features and to the management of water courses. There may also be surviving evidence of earlier occupation and landscaping. Lower lying areas will hold waterlogged deposits containing palaeobotanical evidence, providing information on the natural and cultivated environment. <12> October-December 2011. Watching brief. A watching brief during the removal of unauthorised dumped material confirmed the pre-dumping ground level was restored and the bank of the medieval dam was exposed. No dating evidence was retrieved from the earthwork dam apart from peg tile. It is thought to have been constructed at the same time as the hall (EHER 7871) in the late 15th or early 16th century. <13> February 2024. Test pitting. Test-pitting in 2024 investigating the impact of the landscaping and dumping. The earliest recorded deposits were located immediately above the natural material and consisted of silts of 0.20m to 0.40m thickness. The silt is likely to have formed as water-lain material at the base of the former mere associated with Woodham Walter Hall. Above the silts there was evidence for major earth movements of recent date. <14> LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM AND SETTING. The site is about 0.75km southeast of the village of Woodham Walter, just north of the old road from Maldon to London, and immediately south of the drive to Falconer’s Lodge which is built on the northernmost dams. The house platform, moats and the surrounding pond earthworks occupy about 10 hectares. The original park (EHER 81853) was extensive and covered the majority of the southern half of the parish (where the park pale and the parish boundary were concurrent). A small stream runs from south to north in a shallow valley near the eastern edge of the site of the mansion. The house platform slopes gently downwards from west to east. ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES There may have been an entrance from the old Maldon to London road. There is no surviving evidence of this, apart from the existence of a public right of way running north from the road to the east of the site of the mansion and its garden. The main entrance was probably from Oak Farm Road to the west, running along the line of the present drive to Falconer’s Lodge, and continuing along the top of the northern dam. This dam is flat-topped and about 10 meters wide, much wider than would have been necessary for retaining water. This raised causeway would have provided approaching visitors with an impressive view of the mansion across the lake, as well as a reflection of the house on the surface of the water. On reaching the end of the north dam, the approach route would have turned south along the east side of the valley, and then west to reach a bridge across the moat onto the house platform, probably through a gatehouse. GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The RCHM survey shows a very complex arrangement of major and minor earthworks, dating from the mediaeval and Tudor designed landscape and gardens. Some of the minor earthworks may relate to dumped debris from the demolition of the mansion, or to agricultural or industrial activities since the abandonment of the house. The dams, forming the approach route described above, retained a large lake north of the house platform. There is a large breach in the north dam, and the lake bed is now largely dry. An irregularity of the lake’s southern bank suggests that it may originally have been divided into two compartments, but there are no other features to confirm this. The house platform is surrounded by a moat which is deeper on the west side due to the gentle downward slope of the site to the east. There is no surviving bank to retain the moat on the east side of the platform, indicating that the shallow valley on this side of the house platform would have had to have been flooded to form a second lake. Without this, it would have been impossible to retain water in the moat. There are substantial banks on the east side of the shallow valley which would have been sufficient to retain this lake. It is not clear if the complex of minor features on the valley floor relate to a later formal garden layout (in which case the lake, as well as the interconnected moats, would have to have been drained by breaching the dam), or to activities (such as brick making) after the site was abandoned. Some of the features have a symmetry which is suggestive of a designed layout, while others probably reflect agricultural activities, tree removal and attempts to drain or improve the marshy valley floor. Though it has been suggested that a series of smaller ponds were constructed after the drainage of the main lake, the surviving scarps appear to be too slight to support this idea. The moat has some additional features. It widens on the south side to make room for an oval island. There are no surviving features here to indicate a bridge, though fragments of stone, bricks and roof tiles have been found on the island itself suggesting that there may have been a building here. At a corresponding point on the north side, the moat was also widened to take a central causeway, probably leading to the bridge onto the house platform. There is a significant narrowing of both sides of the moat at this point, and brickwork (probably the bridge abutments) has been exposed in the past by burrowing animals. Viewed from the mansion, this causeway, with water on either side, would have had the appearance of a second island. At a later date, the southwest corner of the moat was filled in to provide a secluded sunken privy garden, about 40 meters square, probably with a two-tiered raised terrace running round the inside edge. The RCHM survey showed faint vestiges of a geometrical pattern suggesting a formal layout; these were damaged by the attempts in 1973 to plough the area. The finding of brick footings show that this garden was surrounded by a wall on its west and south sides. The RCHM survey report suggested that garden features had extended to the south of the present site, possibly as far as the old Maldon to London road. PARK Several dams, probably mediaeval in date, have been noted in valleys north, south and west of the site of the mansion; it is not clear if these were fish ponds, or connected with water mills, or a system for water storage to enable the moat and the associated lakes to be topped up during dry periods. The present very small stream running through the site seems inadequate to keep the substantial lakes and moat topped up during the summer months. There is evidence of other, now largely dry, artificially cut channels running in from the east side of the site. These may represent attempts to improve the water simply in order to keep the moats and lakes well filled, or to feed specific features. In the 20th century, much of the former park was planted as orchards, and a golf course was laid out on part of the old Red Deer Park. The orchards have now been grubbed up, and the area returned to agriculture. <15>