Onion tower and attached walls at Bettisfield Park

Location

To the E of The Stables.

History

Bettisfield Park was the seat of the Hanmer family and is a house of at least C16 origin. A new S entrance front was built in the late C18, probably by Samuel Wyatt of London. In the mid C19 there were further additions, including a new entrance on the E side, an Italianate tower, and a Tudor-style tower with French pavilion roof.

The onion tower (its modern but not necessarily original name) and attached walls were built in the mid C19, part of the development of service buildings and Home Farm at Bettisfield Park, and are shown on the 1873 Ordnance Survey.

Exterior

A 2-storey square brick outbuilding with reconstructed swept pyramidal roof on sawtooth eaves. On the N (farm) side is a boarded door in a Tudor arch. The S side has a 2-light mullioned window in the upper stage, in an unmoulded stone surround. On the W side is a brick wall with coping that continues to the NE corner of The Stables. On the SE side is a similar wall that continues S to the kitchen garden. It incorporates a higher gateway with Tudor arch, and Hanmer crest above in a stone tablet below stepped coping.

Reason for designation

Listed, notwithstanding partial rebuilding, as a building of definite C19 character and contributing to the strong group of service buildings at Bettisfield Park.