Landscape record 0454608000 - Gardens at Danesfield House

1893 sales particulars describe the mansion 'approached by two carriage drives, each with substantial lodge at entrance, is surrounded by extremely picturesque grounds of the most varied and enjoyable character, adorned with magnificent trees and shrubs, and admitting of lovely views, and is seated in a finely wooded park forming a plateau over 100 feet above the Thames, and affording a grand prospect of its course'. Includes a plan of the grounds and a photo of the south (garden) front of the house from the southwest (B7).
Gardens are terraced down to the Thames with steps and balustrades (Grade II). The formal gardens seen today are Italianate gardens laid out by Mr. Hornby Lewis, post 1910. The gardens also contain an ornamental fountain (B14).
Evaluation trial trenching carried out by Oxford Archaeology in April 2016 identified variations in the depth of the natural, 0.25-0.57m, sugggsting that terraces had been created by cutting into the hillside. Construction and subsequent demolition of RAF Nissan huts in the 20th century was recorded in Trenches 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. Evidence of previous garden activity were indicated by 5 planting pits, within Trenches 10 and 11, representing a former line of bushes. Chalk foundations and flower beds within Trench 9 are indicative of a disused walled garden. These features are all shown on aerial photographs. See report for detail (B13).
Pulhamite rockwork and garden ornaments installed between 1901-1903 for R W Hudson (B15).

The formal terraced gardens are thought to have been laid out between 1901-1903 for Robert William Hudson and were restored in 1989. Claude Hitching has identified some of the garden features as likely to be the work of the landscape gardening company James Pulham and Son, probably James Pulham III (1845-1920), although there is no known contemporary documentation. These Pulhamite features include a parterre with a fountain as its centrepiece, an Italian water garden with balustrading and wall fountain, a garden seat and an Italianate conservatory, and the Rock Garden which is laid out with artificial cement-lined streams with cascades and pools (B17).
This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence (B18).