Excavations in the gardens of Dartington Hall, Devon;

Fifth interim report, 1997

by Christopher K Currie

Summary statement

  1. Introduction
  2. Summary statement of previous work by Gardens ArchaeologyProject
  3. Excavation results
    1. Excavation strategy
    2. Trench 17
    3. Trench 18
    4. Trench 19
  4. Discussion
  5. Conclusions
  6. Finds
  7. Acknowledgements
  8. Bibliography
    1. Original sources
    2. Secondary sources

Summary statement

During training excavations at Dartington Hall, Devon in July 1997 three further trenches were excavated under the direction of C K Currie for CKC Archaeology (Gardens Archaeology Project). These included a trench on the north side of the Best Lawn to determine if the wall found on the alignment of that shown in Archdeacon Froude's watercolour continued in that direction (trench 17), a further trench (trench 18) near the site of the building known as the 'tower', and a trench to investigate the west side of a wall previously found on the Bowling Green (trench 19).

The expected wall was not found in trench 17, although there was a linear cut on its suspected alignment. If this has been interpreted correctly as a robber trench, it would seem that the wall shown on Archdeacon Froude's watercolour of c. 1800 could have been of differing heights and thickness in the north and south parts of the lawn. Certainly the features found seem to suggest a date of c. 1700. Other structural features on the Best Lawn suggest the South Courtyard was of more than one phase, a suggestion made by evidence in previous years. The idea of a multi-phased courtyard would certainly help to resolve the differences between Platt (1962) and Emery (1975) in their previous attempts at analysing the remains.

The wall on the east side of the Bowling Green may have been a contemporary of Archdeacon Froude's wall on the other side of the Best Lawn. Two curious features found cut into the wall were provisionally interpreted as a drainage channel and a possible plant pit. Further work would be needed to confirm these theories.

Important note Please note that the trench location maps for all interims before this year are incorrect. This is due to a calculation error for the position of the 150/300 grid peg. All trenches are approximately 4m further east than they should be. To correct all trenches should be moved approximately 4m further to the west. Future reports will display trenches based on corrected co-ordinates, and will contain this note.

1.0 Introduction

Dartington Hall stands on high ground above the River Dart, to the north of Totnes, in the County of Devon (NGR SX 798 628). The Hall has been described by Pevsner as the 'most spectacular medieval mansion of Devon' (1952, 99). It was the principal seat of John Holand, half-brother to Richard II, and has had a chequered history. Additions to the present structure were made under the ownership of the Champernowne family in the 16th century and again in Georgian times. Further remodelling of the Elizabethan living rooms were carried out in the 19th century under Henry Champernowne (Hussey 1938, 232). The estate declined as a result of the agricultural depression of the later 19th century. The buildings of the Hall were much neglected when purchased by the Elmhirsts in 1925. It was under Dorothy Elmhirst's direction that the gardens were laid out in their present form.

During the Second World War (1939-45) German bombing of Exeter was thought to have caused the destruction of many of the estate archives, then deposited in the County Record Office. This has caused a number of problems for the future management of the gardens, as it was thought not possible to determine what form the earlier gardens had taken from archival sources. To enable a better understanding of the garden, and as an aid to future management decisions for the continuing evolution of the gardens, it was decided to carry out an archaeological excavation over a number of seasons.

It was decided to fund these excavations by running an annual training excavation in conjuncture with the Dartington Hall Centre. It is hoped to combine the annual excavation reports into a more definitive document at the end of the project, scheduled for the year 2000. An outline of the proposals has been presented to the Trustees and the County Archaeological Officer in the form of a project design (Currie 1993), written to specifications for such work laid down in The management of archaeological projects (English Heritage, revised edition, 1991).

2.0 Summary of the project's previous work

Previous work in 1991, and 1993-1996 inclusive has deduced a number of points about the archaeological remains within the gardens.

A combination of archaeological excavation and historical research seems to confirm that the Dartington terraces are unlikely to be associated with a medieval tiltyard. All the recognised authorities now seem to agree that they were made as garden features in the post-medieval period (Platt 1962, Emery 1975, 151-2). Nevertheless, the evidence as to exactly when they were built is not conclusive, and further work is needed to resolve this problem. Historical research discovered that the terraces had once ended at the level of the first terrace up from the present Tiltyard floor. In the 19th century a formal garden existed here called the 'Dutch Garden' and the 'Rose Garden'. The Twelve Apostles can be seen on early photographs as part of these gardens (Snell 1989, 19, 22). This garden was destroyed under Dorothy Elmhirst's direction, who cut out the present floor level, reducing the lowest level of the terraces by a further 2m.

Two large stone-built conduits were located under the terraces. These were associated with water control and supply. The uppermost of these was associated with a stone-built conduit house at the top of the southern terraces. It is possible it once supplied the Hall with drinking water, but the original conduit was cut off by the building of the terraces. Later a pipe was inserted to take water to the feature known as the Swans, and the old entrance to the stone conduit was covered over.

The second conduit took a small stream, fed by springs at the head of the valley, under the former Dutch Garden. When the new floor of the Tiltyard was cut out after 1927, this feature was left at a higher level.

Of the non-garden features found on the private lawn, it can be concluded that there is more than one phase of building in the area known as the south court. Generally the 1993 excavations confirmed Platt's earlier dating (Platt 1962), but showed the situation to be more complex than he envisaged. The exact dating for the construction of the south court can only be conjectured at present, but it is possible that a building on the site of part of the earlier court was still in existence in 1839, possibly as a garden building. Until 1995 this author considered that this structure coincided with Platt's 'tower', a building found in 1962, but recently a more careful study of the evidence has suggested that this might now be questioned.

In 1994, part of the plan of the 'tower' was revealed. This appears to have been a late medieval or early post-medieval building. Further excavation is needed to clarify points about this building, but it may have had a basement or cellar beneath it, only part of which was excavated. Work in 1996 located a post-medieval stone wall just to the east of the 'tower'. This was thought to be the stone wall shown on a watercolour by Archdeacon Froude c. 1800.

A substantial stone wall was discovered at the east end of the present Bowling Green, but it was not possible to date it in 1994 beyond the fact that it seemed to cut across medieval horizons. A piece of local coarseware pottery was found mortared into the wall in 1995, suggesting a post-medieval date, although this needs to be confirmed. Work in 1996 revealed a number of pits against the west side of the wall. These were interpreted as planting pits, possibly for fruit trees trained against the wall.

Excavations on the first terrace of the Tiltyard failed to locate traces of the Dutch Garden. Although this is clearly shown on earlier photographs, it must now be assumed that all evidence for it was removed during the earth-moving activities required to create the present layout of the Tiltyard.

3.0 Excavation results for 1997

3.1 Excavation strategy

The trenches excavated in 1997 continue the numbered sequence began in 1991. Three trenches were excavated this year beginning with trench 17, and finishing with trench 19. The strategy was based on the continuing need to resolve unanswered questions concerning the evolution of the garden.

Two main themes continued to be explored. The first of these was to recover further data on the structure known as the 'tower', and its relationship with the later post-medieval wall shown by Archdeacon Froude's watercolour of c. 1800. The second of these related to the wall discovered on the Bowling Green. There was a need to determine more about the planting pits revealed here in 1996.

3.2 Trench 17

A trench 4m by 1m was excavated to try to discover if the wall shown on Archdeacon Froude's watercolour of c. 1800 continued towards the present Georgian wing of the Hall. No trace was found of this wall in situ. However, a linear trench (262), 0.55m wide, was found on the approximate alignment of that wall. This contained a matrix that contained moderate amounts of rubble, although there was very little of this material to the west of this cut. There was a higher concentration of rubble (265) immediately to the east of the cut, extending approximately from the level from which the cut was made. No further features were found. Although undisturbed soils were not reached, it was decided to stop excavating at a level just below the conjecture bottom of the cut 262. All that was found down to this level were successive dump layers (eg 264, 279) containing varying quantities of slatey rubble.

3.3 Trench 18

This was excavated on the Best Lawn near the site of a building known as the 'tower'. This year's trench was sited to reveal the line of the east wall of that structure, and to examine its relationship with the wall shown on Archdeacon Froude's watercolour of c. 1800. It was 4m by 2.8m.

Much of this trench had been disturbed by a previous trench excavated by Colin Platt in 1962 (268). This contained large quantities of redeposited oyster shell. These were not collected as they had already been removed from their context and thrown away in 1962. Platt's trench did not extend to any great depth, being about 0.6m deep. It would seem he exposed foundations, but did not excavate further.

Where Platt had not disturbed the upper layers, the lawn was found to comprise a layer of clay loam build up about 0.25m thick (271). This overlay a rubble dump. The rubble dump seems to have been levelled off very slightly above the level of the surviving walls of the late medieval south courtyard. This is between 0.25 and 0.3m below the present lawn.

Three sets of structural remains were revealed this year. The oldest of these seemed to be the corner of a local stone-built structure known as the 'tower' (272). This was butted by a very thick stone wall of similar build (273). The way in which the uppermost stones of 272 overhung 273 suggests that the 'tower' was the older structure. Structure 273 was aligned E-W. Butting against it was another wall (274). This was of a different type of construction, being very roughly coursed. At times the stones within the core of the wall were unmortared. This structure only survived to a height of about 0.25m, whereas the other two structures survived to much greater depths. This is known from previous excavations. The lower levels of this trench were not excavated, but were reburied for excavation in a future season.

On the east side of structure 274, two cuts were found within the soil. These included a linear cut (284) alongside part of 274. This contained an ashy fill full of fine slatey material (285). To the east of this was a much larger cut feature (287), that contained many large lumps of building stone within other rubble (288). Neither feature was excavated on this occasion.

3.4 Trench 19

A trench 3m by 2.5m was excavated to examine the west side of a wall found at the east end of the Bowling Green. It was hoped to find planting pits here. These did not materialise. Instead the wall (259) contained two curious features. The first was an irregular-shaped alcove, 0.4m by 0.35m, on the east side of the wall (filled by 270). The second was a crudely made cutting under the wall (277), the excavated portion being 0.6m wide by 0.4m high. Neither could be fully explained, although 277 may have been a connection with an underground channel rumoured to be to the east of the wall. The foundations of wall 259 were stepped at a depth of 0.34m, with the step built flush against the edge of the construction cut. This was cut into a dump layer (269), which, in turn, overlay another dump layer (278). These represented build-up levels for the Bowling Green terrace.

4.0 Discussion

If the 1996 excavation gave hope that further information about the earlier gardens at Dartington could now be readily found, this year was disappointing. The wall thought to be that shown by Archdeacon Froude's watercolour of c. 1800 was found to stop against what was thought to be a massive late medieval feature. This poses the question whether the structure found was this wall.

An explanation is that the structure 273 was so massive and hard to remove that the builders of the Archdeacon's wall may not have attempted to construct new foundations at this point, but may have sited their wall on top of these earlier foundations. When the wall 274 was demolished, it was removed to a level lower than that of the top of 273. As a consequence no trace remains of the conjectured portion of the Archdeacon's wall that crossed this part of the garden.

The question of the Archdeacon's wall is further confused by the fact that it was not found in trench 17 to the north. Instead a linear cut was found on the postulated alignment of the wall. This was much narrower than the wall found south of 273. Nevertheless, the evidence that was found suggests the cut may have contained a structure of some sort. This suggestion is based on the higher concentration of rubble within the cut, and to the immediate east of it, than elsewhere.

Although the question of the Archdeacon's wall must be treated cautiously, the present evidence suggests it may have existed on the conjectured alignment. It would seem to have comprised a much thicker wall in the south part of the garden than in the north. This may be the result of differing heights. The dating evidence for these features seems to point to a date of c. 1700, suggesting it was made as part of the creation of formal gardens at Dartington.

The discovery of structure 273 is of interest as it clearly demonstrates a considerable structure post-dating the building of the tower. In previous years another structure had been found adjacent to the 'tower'. Although it was considered that this structure may have post-dated the 'tower', the evidence was not as clear cut as with 273, which seems to undoubtedly post-date the 'tower'. This is of great interest to the previous debate on the date of the south courtyard at Dartington. Emery had considered that the courtyard dated largely to the late 14th century, whilst Platt argued it seemed to date from the early Tudor period. Structural fragments found in 1996 also suggested an early Tudor date. It now seems possible to suggest that the courtyard was of two, possibly more, phases. One of these phases could have been late 14th century, the other early Tudor. Architectural fragments of Tudor date may have resulted from a restructuring of the courtyard rather than a new build.

The wall at the east end of the Bowling Green failed to come up with any further planting pits on the west side. Instead two curious features in the wall were found. It is uncertain if they were original features, or whether they were cut into the wall as insertions. The 'tunnel' under the wall may have been connected with the structure reputed to run parallel with the east side of this wall extending from the kitchens. There have been a number of fanciful interpretations of this feature; the suggestion that it was a 'secret' tunnel being the most popular. This is unlikely. Most so-called 'secret' tunnels turn out to be drainage culverts, which were built on a very large scale under most medieval buildings. They were frequently of sufficient size for a man to crawl down, hence the wrongful association with 'secret' tunnels.

That this tunnel exits into fresh air in the side of a garden terrace need not deter the idea it was for drainage. Firstly the 'tunnel' seems to pre-date the construction of the terraces. Secondly, it can be clearly shown that similar water conduits of considerable size were cut off from the rest of their length by the cutting of the terraces. This can be shown from the tunnel discovered in 1993 leading from the conduit house on the top of the southern terraces. Thirdly, in earlier times there would have been a need for a large drain under the kitchens to remove waste from that area. The 'tunnel' is an obvious candidate. In early times it probably drained water from the kitchen out to the stream in the valley below.

The 'tunnel' under the wall in trench 19 is not of sufficient height to allow a man to pass through it. The only explanation that can be put forward at present is the idea that it enabled water to drain from the Bowling Green into the postulated drainage culvert on the east side of the wall. An exact explanation can not be made for the alcove like feature on the east side of the wall. It is possible it may have been made to contain a plant, although this would not have been the favoured side for planting. It does, however, receive an amount of morning sunshine.

5.0 Conclusions

The expected wall was not found in trench 17, although there was a linear cut on its suspected alignment. If this has been interpreted correctly as a robber trench, it would seem that the wall shown on Archdeacon Froude's watercolour of c. 1800 could have been of differing heights and thickness in the north and south parts of the lawn. Certainly the features found seem to suggest a date of c. 1700. Other structural features on the Best Lawn suggest the South Courtyard was of more than one phase, a suggestion made by evidence in previous years. The idea of a multi-phased courtyard would certainly help to resolve the differences between Platt (1962) and Emery (1975) in their previous attempts at analysing the remains.

The wall on the east side of the Bowling Green may have been a contemporary of Archdeacon Froude's wall on the other side of the Best Lawn. Two curious features found cut into the wall were provisionally interpreted as a drainage channel and a possible plant pit. Further work would be needed to confirm these theories.

6.0 Finds

A smaller number of finds were made this year. Nevertheless, they continued to add to the extremely fine assemblage collected to date. As there is a possibility that excavations might continue in future years, it has been decided to leave a full assessment of the finds until the end of the project (proposed to end in the year 2000).

7.0 Acknowledgements

The Trustees of Dartington Hall are gratefully acknowledged for their permission to excavate and continuing support. The author would like to thank the following for their continued assistance, and for the cheerful welcome that is always given to the team: Graham Gammin and his garden staff, particularly Graham himself, Neil and Alan, who frequently discuss the findings with the author and freely offer their personal knowledge of the garden; the staff of Dartington Centre who provide the food and accommodation; the staff of the White Hart for the midday refreshments, and the many other staff and friends of the Hall too numerous to mention separately, whose good company makes the occasion so enjoyable.

Anthony Emery is thanked for making a personal visit to this year's excavation, and for the useful discussion he contributed.

Finally the author would like to thank the County Archaeologist, Simon Timms, for his continuing support and advice.

8.0 Bibliography

8.1 Original Sources

At Dartington Hall:

Ordnance survey map 1:2500 scale 1904 edition.

Tithe Map of Dartington, 1839 in archive room.

Photograph of Dutch Garden in Tiltyard, undated but with pencil notes on back suggesting c. 1864, in toilet on first floor of private wing.

Photograph of Dutch Garden in Tiltyard, undated but probably c. 1900, in bar of White Hart; reproduced on page 19 of Snell 1989.

8.2 Secondary Sources

C K Currie, Excavations in the gardens of Dartington Hall, Devon, 1993, unpublished report to the Trustees of Dartington Hall gardens, 1993

C K Currie, Excavations in the gardens of Dartington Hall, Devon: second interim report, 1994, unpublished report to the Trustees of Dartington Hall gardens, 1994

C K Currie, Excavations in the gardens of Dartington Hall, Devon: second interim report, 1995, unpublished report to the Trustees of Dartington Hall gardens, 1995

A Emery, 'Dartington Hall, Devonshire', M J Swanton (ed.), Studies in medieval domestic architecture, London, 1975, 134-152.

C Hussey, 'Dartington Hall, Devon part 1', Country Life, 27th August 1938.

C Hussey, 'Dartington Hall, Devon part 2', Country Life, 3rd September 1938.

N Pevsner, The buildings of England: South Devon, Harmondsworth, 1952.

C Platt, 'Excavations at Dartington Hall, 1962', Archaeological Journal, 119, (1962), 208-224.

R Snell, From the bare stem. Making Dorothy Elmhirst's garden at Dartington Hall, Exeter, 1989.