Billesley Manor gardens

Description of this historic site

Gardens dating to the Imperial period, including the county's best surviving topiary garden of this period. The gardens are attached to Billesley Manor.

Notes about this historic site

1 The gardens form part of the grounds of a Medieval and Post Medieval site, of which remains include earthworks, the Post Medieval house, dovecote, barns and the Grade I Listed church. The topiary garden was created c1913; a formal garden which also existed has been lost. The house is now a hotel.
Recommended for inclusion on the Local List.

2 When the Billesley Manor site was sold in 1880 it was a working farm and there were no gardens of any significance. The house was bought in the early 20th century by Charles Hanbury Tracy, and a programme of restoration initiated. Between 1906 and 1934 gardens were also developed. These included features such as a thatched summer house, a stone flagged terrace, a stone pergola, several lawns, fish and lily ponds, a sunken garden, a rose garden and a topiary garden, all in the vernacular style. Many of these features have been lost to neglect or building extensions, but the topiary garden survives and is considered to be probably the best remaining example in the county. Recommended for inclusion on the Local List. Includes photograph of topiary garden (p108-109).

3 The OS 1:10560 1886 Sht Warks 43NE shows the house and grounds before the development of the early 20th century gardens.
4 The OS 1:10560 1924 Sht Warks 43NE shows many of the garden features and the earlier extent of the garden noted above.

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