MEM25381 - 19th Century landscape gardens at Heddon Hall (Monument)

The early 19th Century saw the building of the Rectory (now Heddon Hall), secluded with its walled garden, fishponds and avenues of trees. It resembles a country squire’s house, which many rural clergy were then considered. The house dates to c. 1820 to 1930. [1] Heddon Hall has formal and picturesque gardens, rock garden, parkland and lakes, covering an area of 14 hectares. [2] The Parsonage and its gardens is depicted and labelled on the Parracombe Tithe Map. The landscaped area includes a series of fishponds (MDE10875) and several areas of gardens and paths, as well as a large area (labelled 240) which the Apportionment describes as "Bay Close Meadow". The Apportionment lists the whole site as Glebe land, owned and occupied by the Reverend John Pyke. [3] The gardens are similarly shown on the 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. [4] The 25 inch 2nd Edition map shows a levelled area centred at SS 6725 4504, to the south of the main house, with steps leading to it from the north. It is not clear if this area is raised or is a depression. [5] Much of the landscaped gardens appears to be similarly extant on the 2022 MasterMap data, including the rectangular area first shown on the 25 inch 2nd Edition map. [6] Churchtown is defined on the west side by the extensive grounds of Heddon Hall, the former rectory with associated service buildings to the north and east which look out towards the south across a landscaped garden. The landscaped grounds of Heddon Hall, constitute a significant private green space. To the rear of the hall is a secluded walled garden (MEM23494) and the grounds to the front include fishponds (MDE10875) and specimen trees. The extensive grounds of Heddon Hall mark the western extent of Churchtown. Later dwellings at Prisonford are detached, set back and regularly spaced along Church Lane and due to the presence of the grounds to Heddon Hall are mainly on the south side of the road leading to Churchtown. [7]