Ladykirk (also known as Whytrosik and Lady Kirk)⁴¹⁶⁵

Detailed Description

http://portal.historic-scotland.gov.uk/hes/web/f?p=PORTAL:DESIGNATIONS:0

Type of Site

A parkland landscape established in the second half of the 18th century with a major phase of mid 19th century architectural development. The original Georgian mansion is no longer present, although other notable key structures, including the stables and riding school by George Tattersall, gateway and lodges, and walled garden, remain in good condition and in use.

Location and Setting

Occupying a flat shelf of ground above the River Tweed, the policies of Ladykirk are located in the extreme south east of the Berwickshire Merse. The Northumbrian village of Norham lies 1.2 miles (2km) to the north east on the other side of the meandering river. Coldstream, 5 miles (8km) upstream, is the nearest town within the Scottish Borders. While the agricultural estate of Ladykirk extends over a much larger area of open farmland, the designed landscape itself is clearly defined by a continuous rubble wall that encloses a total of 175ha (432ac). In this region, locally intimate views along the Tweed corridor are enriched by the abundant broadleaf cover of the Ladykirk parks and woodlands, which extend down to the river bank. Bounded by the Tweed to the south and east, Ladykirk adjoins the Milne Graden estate to the south-west while a minor road through the hamlet of Upsettlington defines the northern extent of the designed landscape.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

The principal, late 18th-century mansion was damaged by flooding in the earlier 20th century and was demolished during the 1950s and 60s. A replacement house with Lorimer-type bellcast gables was built in 1965-6 in the north-west corner of the 18th-century walled garden. At the main entrance to the policies, the west lodge is a fine classical composition designed by William Elliott c.1799 and is based on Robert Adam's entrance for Syon House. With the original cast-iron gates and railings still in place, the ensemble comprises a high arched gateway surmounted with a coade-stone Percy lion, linked by colonnades to single-storey lodges that feature niches on their principal fronts. The Ladykirk stables and riding school are exemplars of Victorian Palladianism. Designed by George Tattersall in 1845, the costly project involved the construction of a U-plan complex of two-storey stables with adjoining rectangular two-storey riding school with large entrance porch. Other mid to later 19th-century features include the classical-style North Lodge c.1850, an East Lodge, 1875, a two-storey Butler's House by the entrance to the new house, and a Tudor-style Gardener's Cottage c.1846, immediately to the west of the walled garden. To the south, a mausoleum built in the early 19th century for William Robertson was never used. An egg-shaped, semi-subterranean ice-house with passage entrance, designed c.1849, is located above the river bank, where the rubble policy wall, that encloses the designed landscape, incorporates archways, grills and lowered portions to accommodate the ebb and flow of Tweed floodwaters. Curiously, another ice-house is marked nearby on the 2nd edition OS map (published 1900, OS 25'). In the park to the north-east, the remains of Sibyl's Well feature a stone inscribed with the words, 'Sybill's Well and end of the Bloody Headrig', (a minor burn).

Drives and Approaches

Three approach drives still converge on the site of the old Ladykirk House, pulled down after flooding in the mid-20th century. The west entrance, with its tall lion gateway is by far the most impressive. From here, the principal drive, lined by a fine display of daffodils, Rhododendron and Azaleas, curves through a long woodland strip. The shorter, north approach from Upsettlington leads past the stables and riding school before entering the main park. The east drive is no longer in use and is mostly grassed over, although stone gatepiers and cast-iron gates still mark the old entry point from the outer, to the inner parkland around the site of the former house.

Paths and Walks

Mown grass paths lead from the walled garden through the parks. A woodland walk that encircles the grassy slope to the south of the old house site is known as 'Lady's walk' on account of the tradition of gentle strolls that began and ended at the house. Sycamore, sweet chestnut and oak with an understory of Rhododendrons, Azaleas and laurel flank this path and form an attractive and secluded woodland setting with occasional views extending out towards the parks and along the meandering river.

Parkland

An abundant parkland landscape featuring a good age range of trees stretches over the flat ground from the site of the old mansion. Individual specimens include oak, sycamore, horse and sweet chestnut and lime. Some champion trees, including a majestic sweet chestnut, are survivors from initial planting work during the 1700s, while some veteran beech have only recently succumbed. Two grassy mounds within the inner park constitute the scheduled remains of two Bronze Age barrows, or burial mounds. A further mound has been interpreted as the base for a 19th-century folly that was never built (NMRS, NT84NE 32). Sunken ditches that trace the boundary of the inner parks and the long, curving west drive ensure uninterrupted views across the policies towards fields still in use for grazing. Important components of the broader parkland panorama are circular clumps and roundels of trees that punctuate views of the outer parks. Some former clumps are in the process of being replanted, while others retain mature specimens.

Woodland

Surviving estate records indicate that major campaigns of planting were undertaken during the later 18th century. Among the proposed schemes of works are notes to order 21,000 trees and hedging plants in 1766, and to plant a further 6,800 'firs and best grey wood', mostly from the estate nursery, in 1780 (NLS, MS.998). Today, the historic structure of the plantations remains largely intact. Although the design does not feature large swathes of woodlands, a complete perimeter shelterbelt composed mainly of sycamore, Scots pine and beech enclose the outer parks and extends down some of the field divisions. Sinuous strips of mixed deciduous trees with some yew line the long west drive and the route of the Lady's walk to the south of the former mansion site. The woodland canopy within these strips is managed so that attractive shrubs and flowers thrive along the thoroughfares.

Walled Garden

This large, immaculately-maintained garden is located just above the River Tweed and is enclosed on three sides by rubble and brick-lined walls. A curving, low south wall affords views across the river towards the Northumbrian countryside. Initiated in the second half of the 18th century, depicted on Blackadder's map of 1779, and probably either rebuilt or modified in 1783, the garden presents a curious mixture of old and new features. Today, it forms the immediate setting for the principal house, built in the north-east corner in the 1960s. Divided into smaller areas by beech and yew hedging, the garden also features a tennis court, lawns and several arrangements of ornamental shrubs. Kitchen produce is cultivated in the north-west corner from beds, fruit trees and small greenhouses erected in the 1990s to replace an older structure on the south-facing wall. Clues to the garden's past remain evident however. Parch-marks on aerial photographs reveal the course of intersecting paths that served to divide the garden into quadrants until the later 20th century. A potting range extends along the exterior of the north wall, while a hollow space within this wall belies a former Victorian heating system. Carved key-stones over a blocked up archway in the south-east corner feature William Robertson's initials and the date 1783.