Llanblethian, Crossways

Crossways is a large house outside the main village. Catherine Jones lived in the house from 1786 to 1821, and was instrumental in maintaining the fruit garden. Ann Thomas of Hill House wrote to Mrs Jones at her new residence in Bath in 1831:

‘the garden has been very productive of fruit. I have had a dozen and a half fine peaches from there, upwards of one thousand taken off green from the trees'.

Ralph Thurstan Bassett inherited the property in 1877. It was probably he who laid out the grounds as they are described in a 1905 sale catalogue:

‘The gardens and grounds are tastefully laid out with lawns, comprising tennis and croquet lawns, flower gardens, and shrubberies. The productive kitchen garden, which is the original garden connected with the old House before it was rebuilt, and the paths of which are edged with box, lies in a very sheltered position, and is well stocked with fruit trees, and has two small greenhouses, and two 4-light glass frames, which are heated from a stokehole adjoining. The drainage system is on the most modern lines, and is perfect. There is also a pretty piece of ornamental water abundantly supplied with goldfish, a dove cot, and many other attractive additions of this description'.

There are photographs taken by Edwin Miles in the early-1900s. These show pergolas not mentioned in the catalogue. The house was enlarged and updated by Owen William between 1917 and 1924, and the pergolas may have been a garden addition under this ownership. The house was sold in 1924, and by 1930 it was an orthopaedic hospital. Now the house is in private ownership again, and there are remnants of the garden intact. These include mature trees and shrubs. The lake has been in-filled and the area now has woodland instead.

Type

Garden

Purpose

Ornamental

Principal Building

Domestic / Residential

Survival

Part: standing remains