Summary
A pair of identical garden lodges and gate piers, built in the early-C17 by Sir Walter Deveruex, and a garden wall of later date, situated c25m to the south-east of Leigh Court (formerly Leigh Court Farmhouse).
Reasons for Designation
The garden lodges, gate piers and garden wall at Leigh Court (formerly Leigh Court Farmhouse) are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the lodges create a visually impressive gateway to the garden court of the now demolished Leigh Court manor house;
* Intactness: they retain a significant amount of early-C17 fabric;
* Group value: they have strong group value with Leigh Court Barn (Scheduled and listed Grade I), the Church of St Edburga (listed Grade I) and Leigh Court (listed Grade II).
History
In 1617 the manor of Leigh was acquired by Sir Walter Devereux (1578-1657/8), 2nd Baronet of Castle Bromwich, who became the fifth Viscount Hereford in 1646. Devereux subsequently built a new manor house, the now demolished Leigh Court, which is believed to have stood to the north-east of Leigh Court Barn (Scheduled and listed Grade I). At the same time, Devereux constructed a walled garden with a pair of identical entrance lodges on a site to the south-east of his manor house. Following the demolition of the manor house, which is believed to have been destroyed by fire, the garden and lodges became part of the estate of Leigh Court Farmhouse (now Leigh Court).
Details
MATERIALS: the garden lodges are constructed from brick with stone dressing, clay tile roofs and brick stacks. The gate piers are of stone and the garden wall is of brick.
PLAN: the garden lodges, which form the north-west entrance to the walled garden, are square on plan, standing 3.2m apart, on either side of wooden entrance gates hung on stone piers.
EXTERIOR: of an identical Tudor style, the garden lodges are of a single storey with stone quoins, a continuous stone entablature and large, stone-coped, parapets hiding pyramidal roofs. The parapet of each lodge rises in the centre on each side to form a shaped gable; the gables on the north-west and south-east elevations each contain a sundial tablet. On the south-east (garden) elevation of each lodge there is a single, three-light, double-chamfered, mullioned window. The elevations facing the garden entrance each have a moulded doorway and an attached gate pier with a stone cap at the same level as the entablature. To the south-west elevation of the south-west lodge there is a brick stack; the stack to the north-east lodge has now been removed.
INTERIOR: the interiors of both lodges have C19/C20 blue brick floors and small amounts of C20 and early-C21 brick patching. The south-west lodge, which retains its brick fireplace, has now been ceiled, whilst the north-east, which has had its fireplace removed, is still open to the roof.
WALLED GARDEN: the entrance lodges gave access to a walled garden which is enclosed by a brick wall standing about 2m high. Enclosing a garden which is roughly rectangular on plan, the north-west section of walling, which faces Leigh Court, has a segmental-arched doorway and a tall, octagonal pier with a stone cap. The upper courses of walling in this area were rebuilt in the C20. On the south-east side of the garden, directly opposite the north-east entrance, there is a gateway which provides access to a further garden (not of special interest).
