NHER 4760 (Building record) - 18th-century summerhouse and tunnel

Summerhouse and tunnel.

December 1973. Listed, Grade II.
Listing Description excerpt:
"Gazebo. Late 18th century. Brick with tiled roof. Hexagonal plan with first floor standing on arched openings approached through arched doorway from road. Moulded wooden doorcase with carved spandrels. First floor with one renewed sash window each face under hipped roof."
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 21 May 2022.

July 1975. Field Observation.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU).
Summerhouse. Octagonal, pointed roof, blank arches in walls surround windows. In wall to road was a door with beaded frame, in spandrels amidst foliage are two shields, right hand one bearing the merchants mark of Cock, occupier of Bacon's House, Norwich, in 1608 (see (S2)) Left hand shield has device of ?chevron and wool packs. Door itself seems of recent date, but frame is said to have come from Bacon's House as devices confirm. Summer house seems late 18th century.
Door also leads to tunnel under main road, presumably a staithe access as popular at that date.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 26 July 1975. Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 May 2022.

July 1977.
Door removed to Bacon's House (NHER 172).
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU). Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 May 2022.

1980.
Building entirely restored and cleared of ivy.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU). Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 May 2022.

[1] Member of public believes the tunnel may be a conversion of a chalk mine as he states it appears not to have originally led to the summerhouse. He states the tunnel has a pointed roof with a central wire.
E. Rose (NLA), 7 November 1994.

Local press articles (S4) and (S5) in file.

According to (S6) the tunnel connected the staithes and Home Farm to the kitchen gardens of Thorpe Lodge. In 1841 the summerhouse was converted to a camera obscura.
E. Rose (NLA), November 2002.

There is in the Art Department of Norwich Castle Museum a drawing by Cotman, 1802, with a later title, The Old Tea House on the River Yare. In 1811 Cotman made it into an engraving, added a lion and titled it A Garden House on the Banks of the River Yare. It has been indexed at Norwich Castle Museum under Thorpe St Andrew but there is no other evidence for this. The drawing shows a polygonal structure with pointed roof supported out on wooden beams from a slope, above the entrance to a large tunnel or bridge into which a small boat is passing. The main road is stated to have been diverted in 1824 but even so it seems impossible the river could ever have reached up to this point and this is almost certainly not NHER 4760, though the possibility remains.
E. Rose (NLA), 29 September 2005.