Monument record MWX4339 - Pheasantry, Pheasant Hill, Brownsea Island

A building called the pheasantry is shown on the 1853 map surrounded by an enclosure. Today the pheasantry buildings have been demolished and the exotic plants have gone. The only visible remains are a building terrace and enclosure banks.

A pheasantry marked on the first edition OS map, also marked on the second edition map (1)

<1> Taylor, Isaac, 1770, Map of Brownsea Island (Map). SDO20923.

<2> Papworth, M, 1992, Brownsea Island, Dorset. Wessex region, 26 (Unpublished document). SWX1390.

A building called the pheasantry is shown on the 1853 map (D263/T1) surrounded by an enclosure. A track lead to this site in 1770 (DCRO photocopy 1/1). In the 1859 sales particulars (photocopy 167) the following description is recorded after Colonel Waugh’s alterations “ being most pleasently retired pleasure grounds with lawn embellished by rockwork and an ornamental fountain instone basin and planted with luxuriant evergreens, flowering shrubs and trees intersected with gravel walks. Within the enclosure is a highly decorated grotto, the interior covered with native and foreign shells and spars in artistic designs and the floor paved with imitation marble inlaid with suitable coloured devices. Adjoining the grotto on each side is a cottage…. Occupied by the gardeners. Behind is a tank for supplying the fountain and a plant shed.”
The two lakes to the SW of the pheasantry are then described together with a “fishing temple” which was supported on stone pillars in the NW lake with a boat house nearby. A causeway called the Rialto Bridge divides the two lakes and is still visible. The pheasantry buildings have been demolished and the exotic plants described in 1859 have gone. The only visible remains are a building terrace and enclosure banks.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 4:19PM