Dewstow House

Dewstow House, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales, is an earlier nineteenth century villa in a Neoclassical style. The house is notable as the site of "one of the strangest gardens in Wales."[1] The building itself is plain; described by architectural writer John Newman as a "simple three-bay villa",[2] it has extensive views over the Severn Estuary. It is a Grade II listed building.[3]

Dewstow House
TypeHouse
LocationCaerwent, Monmouthshire
Coordinates51.5958°N 2.7683°W / 51.5958; -2.7683
BuiltC.1800
Architectural style(s)Georgian
Governing bodyPrivately owned
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameDewstow House
Designated28 October 1976
Reference no.23039
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameDewstow Grottoes and Gardens
Designated29 March 2000
Reference no.23059
Location of Dewstow House in Wales

Within, and under, the grounds lies a "network of very rare and unusual underground gardens"[4] constructed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Comprising "underground passages and top-light chambers with artificial rock-work and stalactities,"[2] the garden structures have three separate Grade II* listings as a result of their importance.[5][6][7] After the death of the garden's creator, Harry Oakley, in 1940, the gardens were gradually abandoned.[8] In the 1960s, during the construction of the M4 motorway and the Severn Bridge, soil from these sites was used to fill in the grottoes and pools.[8]

The gardens were rediscovered, excavated and restored at the beginning of the twenty first century and are now open to the public.[9]

Notes
  1. Whittle 1992, p. 78.
  2. Newman 2000, p. 161.
  3. Cadw. "Dewstow House (Grade II) (23039)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  4. "Dewstow House Garden (266053)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  5. Cadw. "Grotto about 30m to the south east of Dewstow House (Grade II*) (23059)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  6. Cadw. "Grotto, Underground Garden and Bridge about 60m to west of Dewstow House (Grade II*) (23061)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  7. Cadw. "Terrace, Wall, Grotto and Underground Garden about 5m to north west of Dewstow House (Grade II*) (23060)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  8. Attlee 2009, p. 94.
  9. "Digging Deep". Retrieved 16 February 2016.

References
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