Lordington

Lordington is now a hamlet of residential and agricultural buildings situated to the south-west of the village of Walderton in the parish of Stoughton. Lordington House and Lordington Park are the principal buildings. The mill house and original farm buildings have been converted to residential use. In addition there is Lordington Farm and associated buildings and cottages. The buildings are part of a Conservation Area designated in 1973.

Lordington is situated at map reference SU783097, close to the River Ems on ground rising from 30 metres up to 65 metres. The landscape setting is quite intimate and pastoral. Views from the north-east around to the south are restricted by the sloping ground, with the ruins of Racton Monument on the wooded skyline to the south-west. The main focus is the gently winding river valley towards Walderton and spectacular views of the downs to the east.

Lordington House, surrounded by its 17th-century, listed walled gardens and bowling green, is set just above the fish pond (an enlarged part of the River Ems) and the flint and brick former watermill. Geoffrey Jellicoe described Lordington House (on a visit he made to advise on the gardens in February 1963) as 'a most interesting fragment of what must have been a considerable seventeenth century formal landscape. The existing house and gardens are beautifully set and retain their original geometric flavour. The shape of the fishpond and its relationship to the long lines of the garden above, are entirely consistent with the period. It is unusual to find a comprehensive landscape of the seventeenth century that has not been "landscaped" in the eighteenth century, or romanticised in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.'

An equally important feature of this formal landscape is the short avenue of lime trees (Tilia euclora) leading away from the view point gate, in the north wall of the compartment around the house. These trees were planted in 1973 to replace ancient elms felled due to Dutch Elm Disease.

To the south of Lordington House is Lordington Park (built between 1818 and 1880) which is situated within a parkland setting. The scattered parkland trees of lime, oak, ash and horse chestnut are singly placed, with one clump of cedars. One ash (with some evidence of bracket fungi) and a horse chestnut (with some die-back) to the south-east of the house are of a considerable size and age. All these tress are covered by a Tree Preservation Order which came about as a result of some ash trees being felled alongside the road because of fears of public liability.

Other features of local landscape importance are the belt of trees to the south-west of Lordington which link the bridleway and farm track (formally Monument Lane and Newbarn Lane), Lordington Copse (a large block of ancient semi-natural woodland, which is classified a Site of Nature Conservation Importance), and a mixed woodland strip of ash, oak and willow standards with elder and hazel coppice which follows the west bank of the River Ems.

The land which encompasses the landscape setting of Lordington House and Lordington Park is divided between five different landowners.

From studying maps of 1778, 1818, 1880 and comparing them with 1997 aerial photographs and on-site observations, the following historic features can be identified.

For the older Lordington House, the River Ems winding through the valley watermeadows to the mill and the fish pond are important features to the approach and setting of the house and walled gardens. This view has probably changed little since 1778. Equally the wooded skyline created by Lordington Copse and seen through the gate in the north wall is important.

The avenue of elms referred to in 1869 are shown on the 1880 map as a remnant avenue leading north-east away from the walled garden. Judging from the height of the elm trees, as shown in a photograph dating from before 1973, they must have been several hundred years old and may well have been contemporary with the re-building of the house in 1623.

One landscape feature that is now missing is the tree-lined path which is shown on the 1880 map running along the valley, above the river, from Lordington to Walderton. The footpath still exists but it now goes through open fields.

The parkland to the south is unlikely to be part of the landscape of Lordington House. There is no reference to it in the field names of the 1818 estate map. Parkland is shown on the 1880 map and is more likely to be linked to the building and landscaping of Lordington Park.

The belt of trees to the south-west of Lordington is evident on the 1778 map. This feature has most likely been retained because it is on a steep slope that has little agricultural use.

Racton Monument, whilst it was built as a eye catcher for the neighbouring Stansted Estate, it is a prominent feature also of Lordington.

For the conservation of the 17th-century landscape of Lordington House it is the maintenance of the immediate landscape to the north of the walled garden and east down to the road that is critical. Fortunately the current owner has, over time, acquired the land around the house piecemeal, so bringing it into protective ownership. Subsequent owners may wish to make changes, although as part of this area comes within the conservation area change would be restricted. It is important to retain the avenue and the open water meadows.

Conserving the parkland trees and pasture is important to the setting of Lordington Park. Fortunately its current use as pony paddocks, with split chestnut rail fences, does not detract too much from the overall parkland setting. Provided the trees can be protected from browsing horses it does have the advantage of providing shade for them. Some new tree planting in the parkland has taken place and as the existing trees are protected by a Tree Preservation Order they are likely to be replaced. Replacement should retain the existing species mix.

A blanket Tree Preservation Order without any regard for the context of this historic landscape and its conservation merit does not always produce the desired result. Permission was refused for the removal of an overgrown Lawson cypress hedge, to the west of the approach to Lordington House, which is quite out of character with the 17th-century landscape. The replacement of this hedge with native species would considerably enhance the landscape setting of Lordington Park.