The western boundary is formed by a 1m high stone wall west of a rectangular enclosure containing the entrance drive and car-parking area. By the turn of the 20th century, Mells manor had passed to Sir John Francis Horner with his wife Lady Frances Horner. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the notable gate piers, as well as the war memorial and other village features. St Andrew’s is a real gem, one of those unexpected masterpieces, with an unknown architect-builder, but presumably constructed under the direction of another Glastonbury abbot. Help slow the spread of #COVID19 and identify at risk cases sooner by self-reporting your symptoms daily, even if you feel well . Incidentally, my 5 … The present drive was the medieval road towards Bath. Sir John returned to Mells after the King’s defeat at the Battle of Naseby and put the estate in order, dying a timely death a year before the Restoration, thus enabling his descendants to continue in possession. The village of Mells is recorded in the Domesday Book as belonging to the Benedictine abbey of Glastonbury and remained so until the Dissolution and the seizure of the monastery’s lands by Henry VIII in 1539. Mells Park (or Park House), near Frome in Somerset, was lost almost 100 years ago. The eastern boundary is a 3m high stone wall, the northern c 100m of which is the boundary with the church, and the southern 40m is the boundary with the gardens of properties in the village, including the Talbot public house. Pevsner, N. {The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol} (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1958) p. 226, {English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest}, (Swindon: English Heritage, 2008) [on CD-ROM], https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000442, http://thewalledgardenatmells.co.uk/the-walled-garden/, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, War Memorial Recreation Ground, Winscombe, The National Heritage List for England: Register of Parks and Gardens. Mells Manor was supposedly acquired by Jack Horner, who discovered the deed in a pie given to him to carry to London. Mells Manor: lt;p|> |Mells Manor| at |Mells|, |Somerset|, England, was built in the 16th century for Edward Ho... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. The Gentleman’s Magazine in 1794 wrote, Half the old house is mouldering in ruins, the rest is occupied by a farmer. Spread the word! The drive turns east after c 100m to enter the northern court garden, north of the house, through a rectangular opening in the 4m high stone garden wall with stone gate posts topped with pointed stone finials and lattice-work oak gates (Lutyens c 1910, listed grade II). Alterations were carried out in the 17th century. Mells Park (or Park House), near Frome in Somerset, was lost almost 100 years ago. Park on Selwood Street (the main road). Mells Manor House and Church. Set among the combes of the Mendip Hills, Mells Park is one the finest examples of the English country house. This website is designed to give visitors a glimpse of Mells’ history, its lovely unspoilt character and the many things to do and see in and around the village. Country Life, 42 (17 November 1917), pp 444-8, N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol (1958), p 226, J Harvey, Medieval Gardens (1981), pp 136-41, J Harvey, Restoring Period Gardens (1988), p 30, M McGarvie, 'Notes towards a history of Mells Park', in Frome Society Year Book 4, (1992), pp 31-40, Estate map of Mells, 1682 (Horner family archive; redrawn modern version at Somerset Record Office, DD/X/MGR 4), Tithe map for Mells parish, 1841 (Somerset Record Office), OS 6" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1891; 1931 edition, OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1902, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Plan of gardens at Mells Manor, around 1900 (Horner family archive). Mells Park was built by Lutyens for the Rt Hon. There is no public access to Mells Manor, but the house can be glimpsed from the road, the churchyard and nearby footpaths. Mells is a village with a long and rich history and there is still much to enjoy here today. The village serves its residents well, with a community-run local shop, a post office and the award-winning hotel and restaurant, The Talbot Inn. Mells War Memorial is a First World War memorial by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the village of Mells in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, south-western England.Unveiled in 1921, the memorial is one of multiple buildings and structures Lutyens designed in Mells. I try my best to keep the data accurate and up-to-date, but there are often cases where information is either missing or inccurate, so I appreciate all the help I can get. The head gardener Peter Dennis will show us around the more formal parts of the garden (Lutyens) and explain the landscaping and views from the terraces near the house. Built of Doulting rubble with ashlar stacks and lead roofs. T S Horner’s daughter, Elizabeth, inspired Thomas Hardy’s story 'The First Countess of Wessex' in A Group of Noble Dames, in which the Horners appear as the Dornell family and Mells Park as Falls Park (McGarvie 1992). The house was originally H-shaped on plan but the centre and north wing were demolished in 1780. In the southern wall, in line with the axial path to the loggia is a hexagonal stone clairvoie set into a brick panel with flanking pilasters surmounted by stone balls. Prior to this, the family had been living in the Georgian ‘Mells Park House’ but in around 1900 Sir John and Lady Horner moved back to the old manor house and set about restoring it back into a family home. Mells Park is a Grade II listed Lutyens House standing in an outstanding example of an eighteenth century landscaped park and lake, also Grade II, set among the combes of the Mendip Hills. The Gentleman’s Magazine in 1794 wrote, Half the old house is mouldering in ruins, the rest is occupied by a farmer. This act is referenced in the popular nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner. The southern part was grassed over soon after the Second World War and planted with fruit trees. The Horners moved back to Mells Manor House in 1900 and Park House was let. An earlier, pre-1543 house was altered and enlarged by Thomas Horner in the mid to late C16, and his son, Sir John Horner, enlarged it further in the early C17 into an H-shaped house, as pictured in an estate map of 1680 (CL 1917). SOUTH WEST HERITAGE TRUST: Somerset Archive Catalogue IMPORTANT: Please visit our website for details of our current opening hours, booking procedures and research/copying service. PRINCIPAL BUILDING Mells Manor House (C16, C17, C20, listed grade I) is an imposing gabled stone building of Elizabethan appearance occupying the centre of the site. Usually open daylight hours. In line with the steps, 50m to the north, is a further flight of steps in a retaining wall leading to a further lawn backed to north and west by the 4m high northern stone boundary wall (C17, listed grade II), containing a door to the fields beyond. There is no public access to Mells Manor, but the house can be glimpsed from the road, the churchyard and nearby footpaths. We ordered two pizzas and cakes for after all Mells Manor House (C16, C17, C20, listed grade I) is an imposing gabled stone building of Elizabethan appearance occupying the centre of the site. The land drops gently from north to south, a drop accommodated in the gardens and for the buildings with shallow level terraces. Visiting on behalf of the King in around 1543, John Leland wrote: 'There is a praty maner place of stone harde at the west ende of the churche. In around 1770 the north and central sections of the Manor were demolished to provide stone for the stable courtyard at Mells Park House. The surviving south wing of the Manor was refurbished after 1902 by Sir John and Lady Horner, who made it their country residence, having let Mells Park House (McGarvie 1992). The erroneous connection with the Horners of Mells is a late Victorian fancy, the Jack Horner character figuring in popular literature in around 1340 and in the 18th and early 19th centuries. To the east, south, and west the setting is the historic stone-built village of Mells, crowded around the narrow Selwood Street. Mells Manor, home to the Earl and Countess of Oxford and Asquith and their family, has an intimate and alluring ambience, its collection of art works distributed throughout the interior, often combining different styles, schools of art and time periods in the same space. A restoration was carried out from circa 1900 by Edwin Lutyens. There is a handy bike rack inside the gardens where the bikes could be safely left which was fab. back to the complete list of demolished English country houses A history of the house is available from Wikipedia: Mells Park The replacement house is a brilliant but litle-known design by Sir Edwin Lutyens The Lutyens Trust: Mells Park Mells Park scenic driven pheasant days in Somerset. Mells Manor was restored by the Horners in the early 20th century, and although it is substantially an Elizabethan house, it may incorporate still earlier work. It was from this vantage point that the Anglo-Welsh artist and writer David Jones started to paint in 1939 fig. Mells Manor was purchased in 1543 by Thomas Horner and he left it to his nephew, Sir John Horner, who married Merial Malte, the heiress of John Malte, tailor to Henry VIII. Documentary records of the pre-Reformation Horners are sparse and, according to Country Life (1917), 'fact being absent, fiction has had to step in'. The Horners moved back to Mells Manor House in 1900 and Park House was let. Now Mr Horner hath boute the lordship of the King' (quoted in Country Life 1917). The Horner family lived in Mells Manor until 1725 when, very much in the fashion of the day, they built a new mansion in Mells Park where they lived until 1902, when they returned to Mells Manor. Photograph: Gardens, Mells Manor, Mells.. Some 30m south of the house is a Roman arched pedestrian entrance, approached between two 1m high stone pillars by a stone-flagged path lined with clipped rosemary, which gives access to the southern garden. There is no public access to Mells Park, and the house is not visible, but it is worth noting its history connected to this time. The gardens cover c 1ha and are set back 20m north of the public highway which forms the southern boundary of the property. The northern drive enclosure contains the drive, parking spaces, and lawn and is visually dominated by the west tower of St Andrew's Church, framed by mature churchyard trees. Thomas had married a daughter of Sir John Popham of Littlecote in Wiltshire (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register) and the Horners and Pophams (who also held large estates in Somerset) worked together in the county for the Parliamentary cause. © Copyright 2020 Mells Digital Group. According to Symonds, King Charles’ trooper-diarist, on 16 July 1644, 'the King lay at Sir John Horner’s howse at Mells; he is in rebellion and his estate sequestered' (Country Life 1917). The remaining south wing of the Manor was used at various times in the late 18th and 19th centuries as a farmhouse, a dower house and, between 1850 and 1860, as a small and short-lived vocational school. Mells Park was sold to the Trotter family in 1939 and … Sir John and Lady Horner returned to the Manor and restored it as their principal residence in 1902. House Open to Public: No. T S Horner died in 1741 and was succeeded by his brother John (died 1746), and by John’s son, Thomas, in 1758, after a period of minority. LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING. The garden is beautiful with plenty of space to safely spread out. We booked here online and took a bike ride to Mells to visit. The new house is described by Hussey as “not especially notable” and it fails to feature in the Memorial Volumes. The mansion was gutted by fire in 1917 and rebuilt between 1922 and 1925 on a more modest scale for Reginald McKenna, Chairman of the Midland Bank, to the designs of Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944), who also designed the garden with Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932). The churchyard contains the graves of Sir John and Lady Francis, Siegfried Sassoon, Ronald Knox, and other members of the … The southern boundary of the site here registered is formed by a 3m high stone wall which separates the gardens from a former stable, now a shed, and yard at a lower level, except for the western 50m where the road forms the southern boundary of the drive enclosure. The entrance to Mells Manor House is through a splayed stone gateway with ornate iron gates (Lutyens c 1925, listed grade II), 50m south-west of the house, with 3m high stone piers surmounted with stone sculptures of talbots, hunting dogs which feature in the Horner family coat of arms and crest. Jack was actually John Horner, steward to Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury Abbey. The gate piers, c 1925, are the work of Edwin Lutyens. Mells holds on Easter Mondays a popular and traditional event called Mells Daffodil Festival. An at-a-glance overview of all our UK events. Mells Café. This refers to the well- known nursery rhyme which supposedly recounts how a wicked Steward of Glastonbury namedJack Horner 'put in his thumb and pulled out a plum', the fair Manor of Mells, from the Dissolution pie. The pattern of beds in the eastern section of the southern garden is symmetrical about cruciform axial paths with a stone-mounted sundial in the centre. If you have any additional information about Postcodes in Mells, Somerset, please contact me. The northern part contains some herbaceous and shrub planting. Leland’s evidence states clearly that the property was not stolen but bought for a substantial sum.