Jesmond, Jesmond Towers, lion pond

HER Number:
14798

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Jesmond, Jesmond Towers, lion pond

Place:
Jesmond

Map Sheet:
NZ26NE

Class:
Water Supply and Drainage

Site Type: Broad:
Pond

Site Type: Specific:
Ornamental Pond

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
First appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1898. Trees had been removed to provide an open aspect to the lawned terraces to the north. Steps led down to the woodland, and there was a circular garden to the east of the pond - this was a rose garden in the 1970s. The pond still exists but it is in poor condition and is overgrown. The pond has stone walls and a cascade, designed to resemble natural outcrops of bedrock. Ferns were planted around the rocks. In the late 1970s a butyl liner was introduced to clean out the pond. There is a large stone lion at the side of the pond, which faces northwards towards the Dene. The lion is over life-size and sites on a narrow block of stone. The crude nature of the carving shows that the statue was intended to impress at a distance rather than at close quarters.

Easting:
2554

Northing:
6713

Grid Reference:
NZ25546713

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Cyril Winskell and AJT Environmental Consultants, 2010, Conservation Plan for Jesmond Towers Estate, pp 122-3; Archaeological Services Durham University, 2014, La Sagesse, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, Buildings Recording