Building record 179/7 - Walled Garden and site Townsend House, Welsh Row

<1> Hall J, 1883, A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich or Wich-Malbank in the County Palatine of Chester, /123-4 (Book). SCH80.

A substantial brick mansion built in 1580 for Richard Wilbraham. By 1810 the house was dilapidated. King James I stayed here in 1617. A stone archway from the garden was moved to the gardens at Dorfold Hall. The house and gardens were sold in 1824, to Messrs. Brooke and Quain, who converted it to a brewery. It was converted again, into a clothing factory in 1855, by George Harlock & Co and new house built at that time.

<2> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, 3/441 1882 (Book). SCH1389.

in 1819, Ormerod described remains of 'a lofty and spacious ediface of brick, with large bay windows. Surrounded with numerous outbuildings of timber and plaister, and gardens with high walls of brick, ornamented with stone carvings of armorial bearings, and grotesque devices'

<3> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Report). SCH1934.

Twice damaged by fire, was replaced in C19 and site is now occupied by a modern garage. The garden is occupied by the Police Station and other buildings, but part of the original boundary wall behind Nos. 82-96 Welsh Row survive. This is in brick, standing 3m high, with a stone cornice and stone coping

<4> Lysons D & Lysons S, 1806-22, Magna Britannia, /710 (Book). SCH2066.

House described as being in a state of dilapidation (1810)

<5> Bryant, A., 1831, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2114.

Marked on Bryant as 'Townend House Brewery'

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1851, Nantwich Board of Health Map, /Sheet 1 1851 (Maps and Plans). SCH2431.

Marked on OS town plan as 'Townsend House Brewery'. The OS town plan shows the gardens as stretching right down to the road, with a small gate through to the standing walled section

<7> 1794, Plan of the Township of Nantwich, LUN 4639/1/1 (Maps and Plans). SCH2663.

Also marked on a 1794 plan of Nantwich as 'Town End House'

<8> Cheshire County Council, 1974, County Treasures Record, 7/IA.071 0 1984 (Y) (Index). SCH1000.

Bott gives the NGR as SJ 645 527, and lists the Brewery as 'Near Townsend House', but none of the maps consulted showed anything at this reference

<9> Ordnance Survey, 1881-2, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 6 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, /56 1882 (Maps and Plans). SCH2474.

<10> Gifford and Partners, 1997, Report on an Archaeological Watching Brief at Welsh Row, Nantwich, Cheshire., R2175 (Client Report). SCH4044.

Watching brief during development in 1996-97 discovered 2 large sandstone blocks which may have formed part of the back wall of Townsend House

<11> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

The walled garden was laid out in the grounds of Townsend House, a substantial high-status property, built for Richard Wilbraham between 1575 and 1580. In 1612, the house passed to Richard’s grandson, Thomas Wilbraham, who proceeded to alter and enlarge the house, possibly in anticipation of a visit by King James I in 1617. Between 1622 and 1638, Thomas undertook extensive works to enhance the garden, establishing an upper and lower garden, a mount, an orchard, an arbour, and a banqueting house. Records held at the Cheshire County Records Office includes an inventory of the materials purchased for the work, including the quantities of bricks required for the construction of the garden walls; consequently, although the garden walls have been accepted as dating to the time of the completion of Townsend House in 1580, in all probability they date to the early C17.

Townsend House was twice destroyed by fire and reconstructed, and by 1818 part of it had become a brewery. During the early-C19 a terrace of ten houses was built on the eastern side of King’s Lane attached to the north elevation of Townsend House; the garden wall that ran the length of these properties formed the western wall of the walled garden. A map produced in 1851 at a scale of 1:528, depicts the extent and layout of the garden at this time. In 1855, the house became a clothing factory and by 1876, the southern garden was occupied by a police station and magistrates’ court, with associated cells and yards. A portion of the gardens remained in between the cells and the southern wall of the walled garden, and a police house was built on this land sometime during the mid-C20. The use of Townsend House continued to evolve during the C20 and by 1906 it had become a shoe and boot manufactory. The house was occupied until 1965 when it was demolished to make way for the re-building of an adjacent commercial garage and petrol station. This in turn was demolished and the site was cleared for the building of the King’s Court housing development in 1997.

During the early-C20, a single-storey double-pile timber-framed summerhouse / dwelling was built within the walled garden towards its north-western corner; this house was associated with a green house and a number of lean-to buildings that were built against the north and south walls of the walled garden. During the mid-C20, a rectangular-plan single-storey steel-framed shed was built within the walled garden towards the north-eastern corner. The garden remained in cultivation until the mid-1970s before it was abandoned and used by a farmer for grazing livestock, a use that came to an end c2001, ahead of a housing development being built on the adjacent farmland known as Kingsley Fields.

<12> University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 2002, Interim Report on the Archaeological Investigation of Land to the Rear of Welsh Row, Malbank (Client Report). SCH4419.

Late in 2001, an archaeological assessment was made at Kingsley Fields by The University of Manchester, in advance of the development. Two 1m square test pits were also dug within the walled garden as part of the assessment, producing an abundance of C18 - early C20 pottery, glass fragments, pipe clay, and two medieval pottery sherds in the garden soil.

<13> Malcolm Reid BA, An Archaeological Investigation Within the Garden of Townsend House, Nantwich, Cheshire (Client Report). SCH5029.

In 2006/7 investigation was undertaken to examine the area to the south of the walled garden and was centred on the intersection of the southern (east-west) garden wall and the adjoining (contemporary) north-south wall. The investigation comprised an analysis of the upstanding walls and the excavation of four small trenches next to the walls.

Conclusions
This small investigation determined that the walled garden had originally extended into the area now occupied by Kings Court, probably forming an L-shaped enclosure.
An examination of the upstanding remains of the north-south wall has shown that part of an early seventeenth century doorway survives in situ. This doorway, together with the vertical nature of the wall faces (the lack of a stepped base incorporating dressed sandstone blocks) on this and the adjoining east-west wall seems to imply the existence of a former integral structure. If this suggestion is correct, the building would have benefited from being close to the house and from having a south-facing aspect. Its location suggests it may have been the banqueting house recorded in the contemporary documents.

This investigation has also demonstrated that there have been numerous alterations to the western end of the east-west wall and to the north-south wall. Pottery recovered from the excavation has indicated that part of the east-west wall was rebuilt sometime after the mid eighteenth century, probably to support the greenhouse or conservatory depicted on the Ordnance Survey map of 1851. It is possible that originally there was an entranceway at this point, providing access between the walled garden and the associated area of the garden to the south.

It is apparent from an examination of the 1794 map by Fenna and the Ordnance Survey map of 1851 that the north-south wall abutting the intersection of the north-south and east-west walls of the walled garden was constructed sometime between the dates of these two maps. It functioned as the communal boundary to a row of terraced houses at the northern end of King's Lane.

<14> Nantwich Museum, 2018, Nantwich Walled Garden & Townsend House (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH9257.

Booklet exploring the history of the garden, house and the Wilbraham family who lived there