Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Garden Temple, Dunorlan Park, Royal Tunbridge Wells

Monument Types

• OCTAGONAL TEMPLE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1854 AD? to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Listing Text:

872/1/10048 PEMBURY ROAD
05-MAR-09 Grecian Temple, Dunorlan Park

GV II
Garden temple. Constructed between 1854 and 1864 by the firm of James Pulham for Henry Reed.

MATERIALS: Constructed of yellow brick and probably Pulhamite, rendered.
PLAN: Octagonal domed structure set on three octagonal steps.

EXTERIOR: Two rear sides have exposed yellow brick set on edge. The other six sides are thought to be constructed of Pulhamite artificial rock. The ribbed dome has an elaborate metal finial. Below, six sides have a parapet with rosette decoration, with entablature below supported on Tuscan half-columns. Between these are round-headed arches with keystones with leaf decoration and pilasters. The plinth has three octagonal steps.

INTERIOR: This was originally painted with an intricate design based on the decoration of the ancient Greeks of which some elements survive. The dome has a modillion cornice and the remains of a trompe l'oeil frieze of anthemions. The walls have a painted decoration in Roman style in Pompeian red. In the centre of the floor is a moulded circular stone plinth, the centrepiece af an original circular encaustic tiled floor. An inscription on the empty plinth records that the plinth held a statue, 'The Dancing girl' by William Theep which was presented to the Borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells by Alderman RM Burslem, JP in July 1951.

HISTORY: In 1823, John Ward, who was a partner of Decimus Burton in the development of the villas in Calverley Park, bought Calverley Farm, which included the site of a chalybeate spring. He constructed a lake on the farm for recreational purposes. In 1854 the farm was sold to Henry Reed who had made his fortune in Tasmania. He demolished the farmhouse and built a new house, Dunorlan, in Italianate style. The grounds were laid out by the Scottish landscape gardener Robert Martock (1811-1890) and James Pulham, a leading garden designer and manufacturer of garden ornaments, was commissioned to provide Pulhamite rockwork, a Pulhamite cascade, a Pulhamite and terracotta fountain and he probably extended and re-shaped the lake. Unusually these structures also included a Pulhamite Grecian temple. The firm completed the scheme in 1864 and the temple is clearly shown on the 1867 Ordnance Survey map. In 1874 Henry Reed sold Dunorlan to the Collins family, in whose ownership it remained until 1945 when Tunbridge Wells Borough Council purchased the site. The main house, Dunorlan, was badly damaged by a fire in 1946 and demiolished in 1958. In 2003-04 a major restoration of Dunorlan Park took place following a Heritage Lottery Fund award of £2.1m.

SOURCES:
"Durability Guarenteed. Pulhamite rockwork - Its conservation and repair: English Heritage. 2008. P24.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
* The Grecian Temple, Dunorlan Park is a good quality domed octagonal garden temple with Tuscan half-columns constructed between 1854 and 1864 by James Pulham for Henry Reed.
* It is substantially intact except for some of the original internal painting scheme which it is planned to restore.
* Garden temples by James Pulham, a leading Victorian garden designer and manufacturer of garden ornaments, are very rare.
* It forms the focal point at the northen end of a cedar avenue, the fountain forming the focal point at the southern end.
* The Grecian Temple forms part of a series of garden structures at Dunorlan, all constructed by James Pulham between 1854 and 1864 and situated within Dunorlan Park, which is Grade II on the Register of Parks and Gardens.

English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading

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