Thames Tributary - Ewell Court Stream - Nonsuch

Thames Tributary – Ewell Court Stream
The Ewell Court Stream rises in this area and flows west towards the Hogsmill

Post to the north Stoneleigh
Post to the west Ewell
Post to the Nonsuch
Post to the south Ewell East

Blue Gates
Cherry Orchard Nursery site. Brick agricultural building. Intention to turn this into an environmental and nature area. Lots of lizards.
14th Ewell (Nonsuch) Scout Hall

Ewell Bypass

Organ crossroads
Organ and Dragon pub.

London Road
Ewell United Reform Church
79 - 85 Mid 19th Weather boarded building.
9 Flint Cottage Mid 19th flint building,
Ivy Cottage. Late 18th building
Woodgate. Early 19th building
Toll Gate. There was a toll gate on the London to Horsham turnpike near 'Woodgate'.

Nonsuch Park
Nonsuch Park. Western Section only. This is part of the area of the Little Park of 71acres. The Kingston Zodiac puts forward the idea that the entire park is the body of the Virgin and that her face is clearly outlined in the contours of the Park. Thus in the London Road section west of the Briarwood Road junction- her nose is a copse, eye is the pond,etc (I must admit to have struggled with this). ‘Nonsuch’ itself means ‘incomparable’. The area was enclosed in 1538 for Nonsuch Palace - Henry VIII intended it, along with Oatlands, as hunting lodges in his new hunting estate based on Hampton Court. In 1682 Barbara Castlemain sold the land and it was thus disemparked and became farmland. In the 1930s the land was purchased by four councils and the title deeds are held in trust by Surrey County Council. The westernmost area of the park bordering on the Ewell by Pass was until recently covered by Cherry Orchard Farm, subsequently Cherry Orchard Nursery,
Nonsuch Palace. The Palace with its gardens lay at the heart of the Little Park – now slightly to the north of The Avenue at the western end of the park. Henry VIII began to build the Palace on in 1538, on the 29th anniversary of his accession. The site was that of the village of Cuddington, with a church and manor house which were cleared away. It has been suggested that the site was chosen as a particularly healthy one and near an area of springs and medicinal waters. It was built of local chalk and freestone along with stone from recently supressed Merton Abbey.  The structure was complete by January 1541, but the exterior decorations seen as the purpose in its creation, were still not finished five years later.  It was a much smaller building than the main palaces and could only house a small inner hunting court.  It was also generally a showy architectural indulgence. The walls were to be decorated to celebrate the birth in 1537 of Prince Edward - in the inner court designed to show the young prince his duties and possible pitfalls. At the top were statues of 32 Roman emperors, and then on the King’s side the 16 gods of antiquity, on the Queen's side, 16 goddesses. Below the gods were 16 Labours of Hercules – and below the goddesses the Seven Liberal Arts and the Nine Virtues. In the centre of the court exactly on the site of the demolished Cuddington church was a tall fountain and high on the south wall King Henry VIII treading on a holding a sceptre, with Prince Edward by his side. They were done in stucco and carved slate and imitated work done at Fontainebleau, by Francis I. Nothing like this had ever been seen in England – this was work of the highest quality, on a vast scale, celebrating the Tudor dynasty, Nonsuch was to be ‘a non-pareil’ – ‘a palace without equal’, as Gothic art and architecture were being replaced by the styles and ideas of the Renaissance. By 1545 the work had cost - half as much again as had been spent at Hampton Court in the same period. Henry died in 1547, while the palace was still unfinished and it was completed by Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel who bought it from the Crown in 1555. Elizabeth regained it in 1592 and in 1670, Charles II gave it to Barbara Villiers, demolished it in 1682. Three stones in the park mark the site but there are bricks in the walls of local buildings.
Nonsuch Palace Remains. The ground rises over the site of the outer gatehouse and north range of the Palace. There are three granite pillar markers – one for the site of the outer gatehouse, the second fir the inner gatehouse, and the third for the central bay of the south front. The area of the palace is shown a mown strip.
Queen Elizabeth's elm stump. – a very small mound at a site in front of the Kitchen Court marking the site where the Queen is said to have stood to shoot at deer. It was burnt down in 1902.
Privy Garden. A bollard marks the site of the Privy Garden which was south of the Palace It was behind a 14 ft brick wall with chalk foundations and Watson. The gardens would have been designed to be seen from above and there were ‘knot garden; beds as though they were embroidered. Among them were small animals probably made of stone. There were walks with branches interlaced overhead - roses, vines and honeysuckle and trellis against the walls. There were seats and twelve wooden arbours. There was a on a mound, set inside two circles of grass, round it were lilac trees. Here was the Venus Fountain with water from the breasts and the 'Falcon Perches' and pyramids which were built by Henry Fitzalan and his son-in-law John, Lord Lumley, after 1556. It was behind the palace the walls of which were covered with figures from classical mythology and there were huge corner towers. Lilacs said to have been planted by Walter Raleigh and the oldest in England. There was a rock with water pouring into a basin. Water for these features was provided by a spring to the south of the palace and brought to it by aqueduct, A Pavilion for the Queen to sit in.
Maze a Labyrinth with hedges near the Privy Garden,
Castlemain Lodge. Lodge named for Barbara Castlemaine. . Near the palace site.
Wilderness. Flat open space which is the site of the Wilderness. This was not untamed –in fact it was carefully tended woodland with sanded walks, menageries of stone animals, aviaries under topiaried trees. There were tree-lined walks, the trees trimmed to form canopies. There were trees for shade and fruit: apple trees, shrubs, evergreens, ferns, vines.'
Grove of Diana. At the far end of the Wilderness, as the gro8nd rises was the Grove of Diana which was Dedicated to the goddess, this included a fountain, a grotto, a temple, and an archway The story of Aceton in verses in Latin with English translations, were fixed to the walls. It was built 1559 -1580 by Henry Fitzalan. It has been suggested that this site may have had some connection with the Nonsuch Pottery and/.or the grotto remains in Ewell Castle grounds.
Diana’s dyke. A ditch thought to be contemporary to the Palace. It may have been a sump in times of flood. A seasonal bourne is said to have risen from a pit in the western section of the park and this could be the site of that. It has a regular form and alignment which means it might have been a garden canal or a 16th bathing pool. The Kingston Zodiac thinks it might have something to do with the Virgin, shows she's a huntress. Did Boadiccea make a stand here? It is also a prehistoric camp,

London Road Plantation
Cuddington church. Demolished for Nonsuch Palace

The Glade
Stoneleigh Baptist Church


Sources

Osborne. Defending London