NPS 0373B, Part 2

2.5. Wixenford Bottom and Farm History Like Pomphlett Barton, Wixenford was owned by the Dukes of Bedford until the early nineteenth century but had been acquired by the Earl of Morley before 1841 when it is recorded in his freehold on the Plymstock tithe award. Although it may not have been secured immediately, in the negotiations of 1805-06, Lord Boringdon showed a particular desire to secure Wixenford as well as Pomphlett Barton, as part of his efforts to secure the complete visual envelope of Saltram, and because of the access the valley affords into the heart of the Saltram landscape (DRO, L1258M/SS/C/DL101). The planting has been identified as c1770 (NPA, 1999, 42). A narrow band of tree- planting along the road between the farm and the eastern end of the creek which became Chelson Meadow is recorded as early as 1785 [see Fig.16]. By 1809, it appears to have been planted with two more substantial strips of woodland on either side of its valley [Fig.26]. The 1869 Ordnance Survey appears to show tree- plantingalong both the centre and on the slopes although the 1881 OS does not make such a distinction. The 1869 OS also indicates a drive running down the centre, lined with trees. It certainly shows a drive on the north side of the valley running along the edge of the plantation and the open fields. This is shown to be a metalled surface on the 1881 OS. The 1907 OS indicates both the metalled drive and a less formal drive along the edge of the stream in the bottom of the valley, the two drives meeting at the northern end of the valley, where a wall crosses the valley, with a gate to allow the drive through [Fig.27]. The ridge south of Wixenford Farm, was never parkland or managed as parkland, remaining part of the land leased to the tenant of Wixenford Farm after it was acquired by Lord Boringdon in the early nineteenth century. However, it forms the skyline of the view from a number of sensitive points within the registered park. In addition, the Beech plantation on the south of Colesdown Hill adjacent to the road into Wixenford Bottom, is a designed skyline feature in views from Saltram House. Wixenford Brake was probably planted around 1770, and the field boundaries are largely unchanged since 1786 (NPA 1990, 42). The plantation to the east of Wixenford Brake is relatively recent and foreshortens the views from the house shown on the 1869 Ordnance Survey. Bickham Farm was removed some time after 1786 and although woodland on the upper slopes of Bickham Meadows had been lost by 1840, the field boundaries were little altered (NPA 1999, 40). East of this, Barn Park was probably also remodelled from narrow strip fields and the access lane to Bickham Farm by John Parker III after 1809; the strip fields or burgage plots had been ploughed up by 1840 (NPA 1999, 41) The Setting of Saltram Park, Part Two, The Parks Agency, January 2007 21 The Belt was designed by John Parker III, and was being planted in 1801 when he described it and drew a sketch plan of it in a letter to Anne Robinson (BL Add MS 48218, f.96v). Wixenford Quarry has been identified as part of the essential setting of the designed landscape in NPA 1999, fig.1: its visual relationship is shown in Fig.29. Character The eastern end of the valley around Wixenford Farm is now dominated by a sprawl of light-industrial use. However, this is contained to the west by bunding, below which the wooded slopes survive. There are one or two clumps of laurel in the woodland on the south side indicating an ornamental or game-cover role, while beside the drive on the north side a pair of Pines and a large dead Oak remain from the ornamental planting associated with the drive [Fig.28]. At the western end where the valley meets Chelson Meadow, flood alleviation earthworks and ditching have created a small formal area out of keeping with the eighteenth-century landscape. The farm buildings are listed and retain a good deal of their historic interest and character. The farmland in the triangle between Wixenford Bottom, Colesdown Hill and the Belt is important in views north to the house from Colesdown Hill, the view painted by William Tomkins in 1778. The southern part is well-maintained as grazing land, but the northern slopes down to the Belt are semi-derelict and encroached upon by scrub. While the southern slopes are invisible from within the existing registered parkland, the northern slopes are prominent in views from the Belt. Recommendation Because of its role in the early nineteenth-century circuit and views, it is recommended that the drive and plantation in Wixenford Bottom be included within the registered boundary; failing this, it should be demarcated as part of the essential setting of the boundary as it currently stands. We agree with the recommendation by NPA (NPA, 1999, Fig. 1) that the northern part of the farmland between Wixenford Bottom and the Belt be considered essential setting. The Setting of Saltram Park, Part Two, The Parks Agency, January 2007 22 Fig.26. Wixenford Bottom, from the 1st edition Ordnance Survey, 1809. Fig.27. Wixenford Bottom, from the Ordnance Survey, 1907. Fig.28. Wixenford Bottom,oak beside the upper carriage drive. Fig. 29. Wixenford Quarry in the foreground of the view from the edge of Pomphlett Plantation to Saltram; the Castle is plainly visible against the backdrop of Saltram Wood. The Setting of Saltram Park, Part Two, The Parks Agency, January 2007 23 Amados Hill History No evidence for the origins of this name has come to light in the archives, nor indeed is there any use of the name in the estate papers examined. The 1785 OSD shows the north slope below Hardwick Plantation divided into three fields, one much larger than the others. These descend to a hedgerow beyond which there are a number of smaller enclosures [see Fig.7]. By 1809 this lower area is named Underwood, and the three upper fields have been amalgamated to form a substantial open slope which survives to this day [see Fig.8]. Given the importance of this land in views from the Triumphal Arch (1783), the hedgerows were probably removed closer to 1785 than 1809. By 1869 it is named Amados Hill [Fig.30]. Although there is no evidence that it was ever planted up as parkland, the amalgamation may have been inspired by a desire to create a suitable foreground to views from the woodland edge path in Hardwick Plantation. Twentieth-century residential development has occupied all the small fields to the north but has preserved the original hedge-line and the residential properties’ boundaries are in several places marked not only by mature hedgerow Oaks but also by fragments of Devon bank [Fig.31]. Character The long strip of open grassland, now dotted with gorse but otherwise treeless, is dominated by the hanging woodland of Hardwick Plantation, in which a number of ature trees, principally Beech, are an important element. The skyline still shows the effects of the 1990 storms with a number of mature close-grown trees now exposed. The presence of the hedgerow Oaks at the foot of Amados Hill gives the landscape a mature semi-parkland character [Fig.32] which is especially evident in the views towards Saltram from the Triumphal Arch [Fig.33]. Despite the loss of similar pasture land west of Hardwick Plantation to the A38, Amados Hill still plays a significant role in creating a visual link between Hardwick and the parkland around the house when viewed from the north. The field is also visually prominent in wider views [see e.g. Fig.12]. Recommendation For these visual reasons, and as an integral part of the late eighteenth-century landscape improvements, it is recommended that Amados Hill should be included within the Register boundary. Failing this, it should be demarcated as part of the essential setting of the boundary as it currently stands. The Setting of Saltram Park, Part Two, The Parks Agency, January 2007 24 Fig.30. Amados Hill, from the 6” to 1 mile Ordnance Survey, 1869. Fig.31. Amados Hill, looking east from Merafield Farm, along the northern boundary. Fig.32. Amados Hill, looking east. Fig.33. Amados Hill and Hardwick Plantation, from the Triumphal Arch. The Setting of Saltram Park, Part Two, The Parks Agency, January 2007 25 2.6 Boringdon or Triumphal Arch and Plantation History Standing on the south-facing hillside at Boringdon, some 2.5km north of Saltram House, the ‘Triumphal Arch’ was designed by Robert Adam in 1782 and built the following year [Fig.34]. The Arch was Adam’s final commission at Saltram, and was designed as an eyecatcher in a particular view from Saltram House, as Anne Robinson made clear in a letter to her brother of 6 July 1783: ‘the Arch Mr Parker is building is a very fine object from the Eating room windows and as a keepers lodge and entrance into the Park has its use. I believe you saw Mr. Adam’s design for it.’ (BL Add MS 48218 f.62). It also served as a focal-point or eye-catcher viewed from numerous locations within the designed landscape (see Significant Views below). The Boringdon estate had been acquired by the Parker family in 1583, although they had already been renting the property for at least twenty years2. In the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century the mediaeval house at Boringdon was rebuilt, and presumably at the same period a large deer park was enclosed on high ground to the north-west of the house.

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