Munstead Wood, Godalming, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Historically the site now occupied by Munstead Wood was part of the former open common of Munstead Heath, comprising typical Surrey heathland on poor acid soil. Early maps show the general form of the common, and document progressive encroachment on it by roads and enclosed plots through the early and mid-19th century. The large, elongated triangle that became Munstead Wood appears as two closes totalling about six hectares on the Godalming Tithe award map of 1844. The unnamed close to the north-west is thought to have been in arable cultivation, while the larger one to the south-east shown with scattered coniferous tree symbols is named 'Munstead Heath' and described as 'firs and rough'. In 1872 (OS) the eastern end of the site was still dense pine woodland.

Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), the artist and craftswoman who in later life became famous as a garden designer and author, moved to the newly erected Munstead House (listed grade II) with her mother in 1878. In 1882 she purchased the roughly six hectares of Munstead Wood which lay across the road from Munstead House to the west and began to lay out the garden for her future home. Her meeting with the young architect Edwin (later Sir Edwin) Lutyens (1869- 1944) took place at nearby Littleworth Cross (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register), near Farnham in 1889, at the home of Harry Mangles, the rhododendron hybridiser. Lutyens had been working for the firm of Ernest George and Peto for two years and was engaged in designing domestic buildings for Mangles. Miss Jekyll recognised a kindred spirit in Lutyens, who also loved the local materials, buildings, and landscape of south-west Surrey, and it was the start of a collaboration that was to continue until her death. Miss Jekyll commissioned Lutyens to design her own home, Munstead Wood, following the construction of the Hut in 1894-5, a cottage designed by Lutyens for Miss Jekyll on her plot of land. After the death of her mother in 1895, Gertrude's brother Herbert and his family moved to Munstead House and the completion of Munstead Wood became more urgent. The 2nd edition OS map published in 1897 shows the Hut, the stables (called the Quadrangle after 1948), and the potting shed, together with rides running east into the woodland. Munstead Wood itself was constructed between 1896 and 1897. Lutyens also designed a cottage for Miss Jekyll's Swiss Head Gardener, now called Munstead Orchard, which was built in 1894-1895.

Miss Jekyll lived at Munstead Wood and continued to develop the garden until her death in 1932. Her nephew, Francis, lived on at the property after her death, during which time he wrote her biography, making use of her papers and drawings. The property was owned by the Jekyll family until 1948. Since that time the site has been subdivided into six individual, privately owned properties: Munstead Wood, Munstead Wood Hut, the Quadrangle, Munstead Wood Cottage (formerly the potting shed), Munstead Orchard, and a new house, Heath Lane House. The majority of Miss Jekyll's garden still belongs to Munstead Wood and a programme of restoration has been carried out by the present (1999) owners in the 1990s. A separate programme of restoration was carried out by the owners of Munstead Wood Hut in the late 1990s.