Silksworth, Doxford Park, Walled Garden

HER Number:
5230

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Silksworth, Doxford Park, Walled Garden

Place:
Silksworth

Map Sheet:
NZ35SE

Class:
Gardens Parks and Urban Spaces

Site Type: Broad:
Garden

Site Type: Specific:
Walled Garden

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C18-C19

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
Kitchen garden within Doxford Park with superb brick walls. Some were used as hot walls for growing fruit. Many flues are visible due the deterioration of the structure. The walled garden is shown on the Tithe Map of 1842. The hot wall still survives, which contained the flues which heated the wall for the cultivation of exotic fruit. Charles Doxford apparently liked melon for breakfast. The hot walls were heated by boilers located to the rear of the greenhouses, which heated a series of pipes that distributed the heat evenly across the walls. The kitchen garden was always located away from the main house as it was considered to be part of the services not part of the landscaped gardens. This is the only surviving example in Sunderland. The walls are in poor condition. Plant growth needs to be removed and the walls re-pointed. The western half of the walled garden is presently used as a maintenance depot, the eastern half is still a community garden. Ideally the whole structure should be returned to use as a kitchen garden. There is a pretty arch through the southern wall of the garden.

Easting:
3720

Northing:
5291

Grid Reference:
NZ37205291

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 5230 >> F. Green, 1995, A Guide to the Historic Parks and Gardens of Tyne and Wear, p 21; F. Green, 1995, Historic Parks & Gardens in Tyne and Wear, Stage 2 Research; Sunderland City Council, November 2009, Silksworth Hall Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy, Consultation Draft