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 name: Dewstow House
Designated28 October 1976
Reference no.23039
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: Dewstow 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. "Dewstow House – Caerwent – Monmouthshire – Wales". British Listed Buildings. 1976-10-28. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  4. "Dewstow House, Garden, Calidcot | Site Details". Coflein. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  5. "Grotto about 30m to the south east of Dewstow House – Caerwent – Monmouthshire – Wales". British Listed Buildings. 2000-03-29. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  6. "Grotto, Underground Garden and Bridge about 60m to west of Dewstow House – Caerwent – Monmouthshire – Wales". British Listed Buildings. 2000-03-29. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  7. "Terrace, Wall, Grotto and Underground Garden about 5m to north west of Dewstow House, Caerwent, Monmouthshire, Wales". British Listed Buildings. 2000-03-29. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  8. Attlee 2009, p. 94.
  9. "Digging Deep". Retrieved 2016-02-16.
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References
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