Sandquay Woods - An 18th Century Pleasure Garden.

When you want to enjoy some magical scenery take a beautiful walk through Sandquay Woods on the edge of the water of Old Mill Creek. The approach from Townstal by Archway leads to a car park in which there is a useful map and Interpretation Board. There are good paths after recent restoration by the Dart Estuary Environment Management with the permission of Hole Farm Estates.

In the 18th century John Seale who lived in Mount Boone House and owned much land around it, decided to lay out landscaped gardens on the edge of Old Mill creek for his family to enjoy, including as was fashionable at the time imitation old buildings to create an illusion of great age. A map of the town made in 1790 shows “plantation and pleasure grounds”, with a Fort, Hermitage and Grotto, just north of Sandquay dock. Recently some contemporary descriptions of the wood and pleasure gardens have come to light, giving a lively picture of how they were when first laid out

The young John Henry Seale, later to be M.P. for Dartmouth from 1833-1844 but then aged 8½ years, wrote to his sisters on 5th July 1783:

“I dare say Father has told you of the Organ that is in the Wood; it has a very pretty effect and when I hear it played I often wish for you both to hear it with me. I have been on the water several times and the music sounds very pretty indeed in the river. Father is making great alterations in the Wood, he is building a Fortification on the little green spot past the Bridge which everyone thinks will be a great improvement.”

The “Fortification” is still there, a round stone tower recently repaired to make is safe and prevent anyone going inside it. Another Seale document shows that although this was never meant for a serious defensive purpose, once there were nine cannons on a wall running along the edge of the creek beside it. Letters survive ordering gun carriages and the cannons from the Foundry, and they were real not imitations. They still exist, after being moved to other Seale properties, although the wall on which they once stood has disappeared. There was a bathing house at the bottom the fort where people could change - beside a fire lit by servants - before taking a dip in the Creek at high tide and this may have been its chief use.

But an organ? What can this have been? One possibility is that the Seales still possess a musical box which is shaped like an organ, which worked by inserting a barrel containing tunes - the nearest thing at the time to records and record player. In 1788 a letter was written ordering two barrels, with a list of popular tunes to be put onto them. Few would be known to us, but a familiar one was “See the Conquering Hero comes....”. Another “I’ve kissed and I’ve prattled” suggests that 18th century habits were much like our own! Could this portable organ have been taken down to the Creek to amuse the family, the music echoing across the water as young John Henry describes?

However, another suggestion comes in the Illustrated Journals of the Rev. John Swete, who visited Dartmouth in 1792 and stayed at what is now the Royal Castle Hotel. He was rowed up the river by a boatman who told him “that we should be vastly pleased with an Hermitage, which was extraordinary fine and built with old stumps of trees”. Expecting to find there a gray haired man living in poverty, he found instead “a smiling ruddy faced damsel” (the hermit’s daughter?) and inside the house “a hand organ, a chest of drawers, a grate, in short all the conveniences of a common modern parlour. Within also was another room, a Kitchen, well furnished with utensils, more adapted to the cooking of a dinner for the Corporation of Dartmouth than for an abstemious Hermit.” Could it be that the Hermit had been chosen for his musical abilities, and instructed to play his organ when required to entertain the Seale family? It is also possible that the musical box may have been used first, later succeeded by the Hermit’s organ.

From about 1805 we have a vivid description of how these pleasure gardens were used by the public from the memories of Mary Eliza Giles, the ten-year old daughter of the Baptist Minister in Dartmouth. Writing when she was 83, she tells us that “A Mr. Seale held a large estate, where he laid out one part which was called the Hermitage for the benefit of the town.” There was a lodge at the entrance gate (which must have been by Sandquay) and a man kept to open it.

“He was called a hermit; he never walked outside but was allowed to talk and explain and answer questions put to him and direct visitors. The first walk was a mile long and sixty feet wide between the seats on each side the walk, and horse chestnut trees at the end of each seat. .....On the right side of the walk was the mouth of the river Dart, with its clear blue water and fish playing in it, for there were no steamers to drive them away. At the end of the walk was what we now call a large lawn. On this lawn lived a man, in a pretty cottage which he had himself built with no other tool than knife, hatchet and saw. It was covered with moss, and inside was a rude statue of the original hermit who had lived to be a great age, quite alone on those grounds, some centuries ago. At the entrance of the lawn were two very wide iron gates, and as you entered you saw high slopes with trees planted, on which twelve peacocks were kept. ........Then opposite the cottage was a long table for tea services to be placed. The old man boiled the kettle on his wood fire, and found cups and saucers for a penny each.”

Mary’s parents used to take their children to the Hermitage as a reward if they had been good. They first bought gooseberry pies from Dolly Chatter, a local cook, and some Devonshire cream, all put in a basket. Once there, “We sat down to a hearty tea. The peacocks came down and spread out their splendid tails. We had prepared crumbs for them. They walked round and dropped their lovely feathers for us. The old man had a nice meal left for him. We sang a hymn for him, which he enjoyed, and my father read a chapter out of the Bible; after which those who were strong enough walked to the Castle, about a quarter of a mile from the lawn.”

John Seale had also provided in the Pleasure Gardens a well, a small ornamental lake, a waterfall, seats carved from the stumps of trees, and a grotto. The well and waterfall can still be seen, though the lake is mostly swamp. The Hermitage has disappeared but traces of its timbers are visible backing onto rock on two sides. The Grotto still exists but is outside the present walk as it is on Ministry of Defence land, having once been used to store ammunition.

So, for a spectacular walk with spring and Summer coming, see what you can discover of John Seale’s 18th century Pleasure Grounds.

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