Works uncover Atherstone historic secret garden

[dutchman]

Routine repairs to an ageing wall near the North Warwickshire Borough Council offices in Atherstone have revealed a hidden secret from the past.



As workmen removed coping stones from the top of the wall in Old Bank House gardens, they discovered a hidden 30 metre long chamber within the wall.

Experts confirmed this chamber is an early form of outside garden heating.

Fires would burn at the base of the hollow portion of the wall to transfer heat, protecting tender wall plants.

This form of heated garden wall is specific to a period of 18th and mid 19th century history. Richard Preston, the Borough Council's Heritage and Conservation Officer explained:

"Heated walls or hot walls were fashionable among the wealthy particularly in the north of the country and on large country estates.

"A heated wall is wider than a normal wall to accommodate the flues within and one fire grate could heat 40 feet of wall.

"Fires would be lit in early spring to protect the fruit blossom from frost. "

By 1840, heated walls became redundant with improved glasshouses and heating technology.

The heated wall in Old Bank House gardens is probably the same age as the building, constructed in around 1775.

The remedial work on the brickwork was necessary because the lime and sand mortar had deteriorated, making the wall unstable. As lime mortar cannot be used in cold weather, the work has now been postponed and the historical find will be temporarily covered over and protected for the future.

The repairs to the exterior of this extraordinary wall, noticeable by its pale new lime pointing, can be seen by anyone walking through to the North Warwickshire Borough Council offices or One Stop Shop. So, the secret of the garden is now public.