Glenfall House, (also known as Gutterfall), Charlton Kings, England
Record Id: 6874
Much of the charm of Glenfall is due to its setting. Although only one and a half miles from the centre of Cheltenham, it is completely rural. In 1826 Griffiths described it as "a most romantic spot" and added. "Though not on an extensive scale, this truly fascinating retreat combines within its precincts the local charms of hill, vale, wood and water. Nature seems to reign here in her primeval simplicity and beauty and the soft sound of the waters from the miniature cataract, formed by rude rocks, breaking upon the stillness of the solitude, has the most imposing and soothing effect. The views from the lawn in front of the tasteful cottage residence, are luxuriant beyond description."
Since then both the house and gardens have been considerably extended. The major change took place in the early 1920s when Arthur Mitchell engaged the architect Sidney Barnsley. He, with his brother Ernest, and Ernest Gimson had lived in the Cotswolds from the turn of the century and had workshops at the Daneway near Sapperton. William Morris, who had had a tremendous influence on this younger generation of architects by his writings, lectures and practical work, was the father figure of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The craftsmanship that emerged from the Daneway workshop became renowned, and served to encourage the important role of nature in design and the revival of traditional crafts and vernacular building.
Much of Glenfall's garden is architectural, with a classical series of terraces to the west. A keystone to an arched alcove has the date 1922 confirming the period of building; and as Sidney Barnsley was engaged at that time for work on the house, it is logical to suppose that he also designed the garden terraces. However, the younger architect Norman Jewson, also working at the Daneway Workshops, is known to have designed the ironwork for the Glenfall Lodge and gateways and certainly was responsible for several garden designs in the Cotswolds. Unfortunately we have no written proof for Glenfall and we are left in a dilemma as to whether Sidney Barnsley or Norman Jewson is responsible in this instance. Comparing Glenfall's terraces and the shape of its rose beds with, say the terraced gardens and pool at Cotswold Farm, Duntisbourne Abbots, we find similar shapes in each. Norman Jewson is known to have designed the garden at Cotswold Farm around 1926, so it might be deemed reasonable to suppose it was he who designed Glenfall's in 1920. This is borne out more confidently when one finds he and Sidney Barnsley often worked together, Norman Jewson on the leadwork and gardens and Sidney Barnsley on the house alterations and plasterwork, for example, at both Painswick Lodge and Cotswold Farm.
Other gardens recorded as Norman Jewson's design are at Rendcomb Aycote House 1930, Chipping Campden Gainsborough 1929-34, and close to Glenfall itself, Battledown Manor in 1900. It is likely that here at Glenfall we have another of Norman Jewson's gardens, executed in the early 1920s. Indeed after Sidney Barnsley died unexpectedly in 1926 much of his unfinished work was completed by Norman Jewson.
The garden we see today is only marginally altered. The coppices in the Glen, the caged fruit garden and paddock to the south east relinquished to the local farmer and a hard tennis court has been introduced into the lower terrace, breaking the symmetry of the rose garden.
The pastures which bound the property on either side speak of its earlier history as ridges and furrows have not been disturbed by later ploughing. They lie in a coombe which is rich in springs and wells and, an unusual feature for the Cotswolds, is the substantial waterfall in the glen. The survey of 1617 mentions 'Le Guther' and later The Gutter and the Gutterfall are called the Ham Brook and Glenfall respectively. Names for meadows such as The Hearne, Little Hearne, and Gutter Hearne suggests the presence of herons amongst the damp pastures still familiar.
By 1827 some of the springs that fed the Ham Brook were capped and piped to the covered reservoirs at Hewletts. By ensuring that the water is always uncontaminated there is no need for any water treatment before supply. In compensation Glenfall was entitled to 120 gallons per day of water free of charge from the first connection on the pipe to the reservoir. This affects the amount of water in the Ham Brook so the waterfalls are not so spectacular now.
The first mention of a house, probably simple timber framed, is in 1765, and the first mention of a garden is in 1808, by which time a new brick house had been built by Charles Higgs. In 1819 the property was surrendered to Edward Iggulden of Deal and the first use of the new name Glenfall appears. Iggulden was the owner for about nine years and his improvements are described by Griffiths in 1826 as "pleasing attractions of a place which even in its less cultivated state was extremely beautiful". Today it is still possible to descend by crumbling steps, from the side of a bridge of natural stone rather than the wooden palings shown in earlier pictures.
Edward Iggulden's only child, Mary Elizabeth, married John Molyneux. Thus the estate passed to the Molyneux family whom were the owners from 1828 to about 1868. They were followed by the Willis family until 1920. Many of the fine estate trees date from this period as they are 100 - 130 years old, but the Ordnance Survey maps of 1882 and 1921 show only minor changes in the garden boundary and the natural embankment in the sloping land. From this we can conclude that up until 1920 the garden design was of a landscape style. This is the date when Arthur Mitchell bought the property and both Sidney Barnsley and Norman Jewson were engaged. The date 1922 in the keystone of the alcove arch on the lower terrace points, to the fact that the building of the stonework terraces was nearing completion. A stone bridge a quarter mile upstream has a keystone with the date 1923. The terrace walls are of Cotswold stone, the work of one man, possibly Tom Denley of Brockhampton, as he was renowned locally for his workmanship. The stone came from Arthur Mitchell's own land - a fact confirmed by his son Lawrence born in 1921 in the house and still living nearby in Puckham.
References
Charlton Kings Local History Society Bulletin xii, 1984, pages 10-17
Site timeline
1617: A survey mentions "Le Guther".
1682: John Holder was the tenant of Gutterfall.
1717: A close called "The Log" is added to the farm.
1733: John Holder died, his daughter Mary claimed messuage and lands, but was not of age. She married John Tombs, yeoman of Charlton Kings.
1765: William Holder, son of Mary Holder and John Tombs, claimed the farm as heir and sold it to Daniel Quarington, a Gloucester distiller. The Gutterfall is described as being a simple timber-framed farmhouse.
1772: The farm passed to Charles Higgs the elder.
1776: Edward Iggulden was born.
1784: Gutterfall, The Log and Mill Furlong settled on Giles Greenway, husband of Jane (nee Higgs).
1799 to 1808: Charles Higgs rebuilt the Gutterfall farmhouse in brick, in the typical lay-out of the period, with a central door and passage for rooms downstairs and four chambers above. The tenants of Gutterfall included Mary Perry, William Robinson and the Reverend Thomas Pruen.
1799: Charles Higgs (junior) inherited Gutterfall, Little Log, Broad Acre (a coppice taken out of it), Gutter Herne, Five Lands, Little Hern, Upper and Lower Coppices.
1811: There was a direct link to Ham along an approach from the south.
1817: The house was called Glenfall.
1819 to 1826: Landscaping was undertaken at Glenfall by Edward Iggulden.
1819: Charles Higgs (junior) came of age and sold Glenfall to Edward Iggulden, a brewer from Deal in Kent (an East India Company Merchant) for £2,700. The freehold lands comprised Cheltenham Leasows with coppice adjoining, Petty Breaches, Upper and Lower Gorses with coppice adjoining called Gorse Coppice. Whilst the copyhold lands comprised the house, barns, Home Ground, and Broad Acre (formerly two fields), Gutter Herne, Five Lands, Little Herne, Upper Gutterfall Coppice, Lower Gutterfall Coppice, and a coppice in part of Broad Acre and Little Lower Log with coppice adjoining.
1824 to 1827: Water diverted from the springs supplying Ham Brook to Cheltenham Water Company resulted in a deceased flow of water over the waterfall.
1824: The house was called "Glenfall Cottage". The park included Home Ground, Broad Acre and White Field. Plans were made to tap the springs east of Northfield Farm.
1825: The Herne was acquired by William Burrows.
1828: Edward Iggulden rented Glenfall to Lieutenant General Thomas Molyneux.
1840 to 1845: The coppices in the Lower and Upper Glens were replanted. A line of elms grew beside the road to Glenfall. A lodge stood at the entrance by the waterfall.
1840: Thomas Molyneux died. Glenfall passes to John Molyneux and his wife, Mary Elizabeth (nee Iggulden).
1847: Edward Iggulden acquired Little Iron Moors and Freemans Ground.
1852: Lower Iron Moors was acquired in exchange for Little Log. This enabled a new lodge which could be built at the western entrance of the estate.
1852: John Molyneux and Edward Iggulden died. Under Iggulden's will (dated 1847) his daughter Mary Elizabeth Molyneux inherited.
1855 to 1882: Two clumps of Scots Pine were planted in Iron Moors. Trees lining the approach from the lodge to the drive and in the Home Ground were planted. A clump of trees was planted in The Herne on a prominent knoll. The garden was extended to three terraces and was divided from the garden to the south of the house by a wall.
1858: The Hearne was bought by Mary Elizabeth Molyneux.
1874: Miss Emily Rachel Mackay married Captain Horace Willis of the Royal Artillery at Petham, Canterbury.
1875 to 1890: The gardens were laid out with lawns and tennis courts. There was a large walled kitchen garden planted with fruit trees. A shrubbery was planted beside the approach.
1875: Broad Acre and White Fields bought by Mary Elizabeth Molyneux from Sir William Russell. The path across White Fields was made leading from the south gate by Glenfall Farm to the knoll viewpoint above Glenfall.
1889: Mary Elizabeth Molyneux died. Under her will (dated 1882) Glenfall Farm adjacent to the Glenfall estate and comprising White Fields and The Herne was inherited in equal shares by William Charles Francis Molyneux and Ellen May Molyneux.
1890: Glenfall estate was bought for £7,597 15s 0d by Emily Rachel Willis.
1893: Mill Place and Mill Meadow (and other fields adjacent to the Glenfall Estate) bought by the trustees of the marriage settlement of Emily Rachel Willis from the estate of Mary Rodway. Shrubs were planted in the Lower Glen on the west side of the Ham Brook on Mill Piece.
1900: Corsican pine clumps planted at Glenfall.
1904: Lilly Holts and Drylands bought by the trustees of the marriage settlement of Emily Willis from Charles Edward Gray Hathwell of Radford House, Worcestershire.
1909: Glenfall Estate and Glenfall Farm sold to Thomas Rowland Drake Wright for £12,030.
05/07/1909: Emily Rachel Willis died.
1915 to 1921: Pines were planted beside the approach between the Lodge and the bridge. Trees were also planted around the final bend of the approach. The gardens were extended beyond the line of the terraces to include the Broad Walk and the orchard, and a ha-ha made to separate them from Home Ground. The line of the south approach was altered to run round the orchard.
1920 to 1929: Glenfall was bought by Arthur Mitchell, the owner of Mitchell and Butler's Breweries of Birmingham. He employed initially Sidney Barnsley and then Norman Jewson of the Gloucestershire Arts and Crafts Movement to extend the drawing room, dining room and library, the latter with paneling and bookcases designed by Sidney Barnsley and executed by Peter Waals. Waals also fashioned items of Arts and Crafts furniture, to Barnsley's design, especially for the house. Norman Jewson, also of the Gloucestershire Arts and Crafts Movement, constructed decorative ironwork, stone wall terraces, arbours and wall features in the gardens. Water was pumped from the Lower Glen below the waterfall to a header tank on the roof of the house to supply, by gravity, the pond, fountain and other features.
1922: The stone bridge in the Upper Glen and the summer house in the garden were constructed.
1929: The ballroom cum picture gallery, with a sprung floor, designed by Healing and Overbury was built and the north wing was added to the house.
1935: The 'hard' tennis court was made on the south-west rose garden and lawn.
1945 to 1953: The ha-ha to the south of the approach east of the lodge was constructed and Robinias planted besides the approach. The garage to the east of the house was built and the wall dividing the gardens to the south from the terraces to the west was removed.
1965: On the death of Arthur Mitchell, Glenfall House was sold to Martin Crabbe of the Restoration Society. The superb Arts and Crafts furniture was sold, some of the items being acquired by Cheltenham Museum where they are on display. The top story of the house was removed to create a magnificent hall and staircase.
1980: The house and part of the grounds were bought by the Community of St Peter the Apostle.
1991 to 27/06/1992: Glenfall House was gifted to the Diocese of Gloucester by the Sisters of the Community of St Peter the Apostle. Its refurbishment, between November 1991 and June 1992, as a Conference and Retreat Centre was made possible by a bequest from Miss Dinah Albright of Bromesberrow Place.
People associated with this site
Landscape Architect: Norman Jewson
Features
gate lodge
Octogonal regency lodge
Designation status: English Heritage Listed Building Designation Grade II Designation Reference Images of England 474042
garden terrace
Feature created: 1920 to 1923
Creator: Norman Jewson
Double flight of angled steps down a drop of 2.3 meters to the rose garden with pergola and alcove.
pergola
Feature created: 1920 to 2000
Creator: Norman Jewson
On the rose garden terrace. Wood replaced with smaller cross section
steps
Feature created: 1920 to 1922
Creator: Norman Jewson
Double flight of angled steps down a drop of 2.3 meters to the rose garden. Within the arms of the steps is an ornamental pool with shelled fountain in its back wall.
alcove
Feature created: 1922
Creator: Norman Jewson
Built into a higher terrace. The alcove functions as a shelter for bench seating
sculpture
stable block
dingle
Ham Brook in woodland north of Glenfall House. Had significant waterflow prior to the capping of the springs and the diversion of the water to reservoirs in 1820.
brook
Ham Brook to north of Glenfall House. Insignificant flows now due to capping of springs.
waterfall
Under the drive's bridge. Was a tourist attraction prior to the capping of the springs.
kitchen garden
East of the yew hedge.
Plantings
In 1844 Buckman listed the following plants in Glenfall’s shady and damp valley:
Adoxa Moschatellina
Aira Cœspitosa
Alchemilla Vulgaris
Anemone Nemorosa
Calamagrostis Epigejos
Cardamine Hirsuta
Chrysosplenium Oppositifolium
Lathyrus Sylvestris
Luzula Pilosa
Melica Uniflora
Millium Effusum
Oxalis Acetosella
Paris Quadrifolia
Polysticum Aspidium.Sm aculeatum
Polysticum Aspidium.Sm angulare
Polysticum Lastrœa dilitata
Polysticum Scolopendrium vulgare
Ranunclus Auricomas
Tordylium Maximum
Valeriana Dioica
Veronica Montana
Vicia Sylvatica
Viola Hirta
Planted: 1844
© Copyright Parks and Gardens Data Services Ltd. 2007