Trip to Packwood House

Following on from Stephen Wass’s lecture on the archaeology of water features, we have an opportunity to see his work on the renovations of the lake at Packwood House.

Packwood House dates to the early 1600s and survived in its original form until the early C19th when its walls were covered with rendering as an attempt to preserve the timber framing. However, the greatest changes came when Packwood was bought by Alfred Ash in 1905. The family’s fortune from metal bashing in Birmingham was used to substantially remodel the house with a Great Hall created from a former barn and a Long Gallery built to connect it to the original house. These were used to house Ash’s collections of furniture, paintings and tapestries.

Much of the present garden has its origins in the formal areas dating to the 1670s when two walled gardens were created including the one to the front of the present main entrance. The southern part of the garden is best known for its avenue of clipped yew trees. Much debate still surrounds the date of planting and the purpose of the layout. The Sermon on the Mount tradition seems to have been a C19th concept and it is possible the layout reflects an earlier orchard. In any event, the gardens appear to have survived largely unchanged until Ash made improvements to the south east of the house and installed a sunken garden with herbaceous borders.

One feature, shown on a map of 1723 but of an earlier date is the Great Pool. The National Trust is three years into a four-year project to repair the brick splash wall to the dam. Archaeologist, Stephen Wass has been working closely with the contractors to investigate and record the structure of the dam and has also undertaken a broader study of the early use of water in the garden. Stephen will be leading the visit to show us the remains of the C17th water gardens and to update us on his findings.