Goddards House and Garden

Goddards House and Garden is an Arts and Crafts house in Dringhouses, York, England. It was built in 1927 for Noel and Kathleen Terry of the famed chocolate-manufacturing family Terry's with the house designed by local architect Walter Brierley and the garden by George Dillistone. The National Trust acquired the property in 1984 to use as regional offices and the garden and parts of the house are open to visitors with displays telling the story of the family and their confectionery business. The house is a Grade I listed building and the carriage entrance to the property is Grade II* listed.

This article is about the house in York. For the house in Abinger Common, Surrey, see Goddards.

Goddards House and Garden
View of the south side of the house
Location within North Yorkshire
Established
  • 2006 (2006) - Garden
  • 2012 (2012) - House and Garden
LocationDringhouses, York, England
Coordinates53.940258°N 1.104047°W / 53.940258; -1.104047
TypeArts and Crafts
Historic House Museum
Visitors24,500 (2015/6)
Architect
OwnerNational Trust
Public transit accessBuses from York Station to Dringhouses[1]
Nearest parking
  • See website
  • On site: Accessible Parking
Websitewww.nationaltrust.org.uk/goddards-house-and-garden
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated24 June 1983
Reference no.1256461
ClientNoel Goddard Terry
Completed1927
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameNo 25 including Carriage Entrance
Designated24 June 1983
Reference no.1256505

Design

House
View of the house and herbaceous border

Goddards was the last major project of Walter Brierley who died in 1926 whilst the house was still under construction. His own home (the Grade II* listed Bishopsbarns)[2] in St George's Place, York, was in the same street that Noel and Kathleen Terry lived in and 0.6 miles (1 km) from Goddards.[3] One of the notable architectural features of the house is the vaulted ceiling in the drawing room which is similar to Brierley’s own home with the plasterwork in both houses attributed to George Bankart,[2] probably George P Bankart in both cases, rather than his son George E Bankart, with whom he wrote books about the craft.[4] The National Heritage List for England describes Goddards as “the finest surviving example of the work of Walter Brierley, the Lutyens of the north”,[5] and it still retains many of the original fixtures including its Arts and Crafts wallpapers and panelling and the staircase with its oak carving.

The exterior of the house features handmade locally produced bricks arranged in geometric patterns and decorative chimney stacks typical of a Brierley building.[6] Goddards was built by William Anelay whose initial estimate for the project, including the carriage entrance, was £25,980 (equivalent to £1,520,000 in 2019),[7] however the work suffered a number of delays and was not finished until after the family had moved into the house.[8] Copies of the original plans are displayed in the house.[9]

Garden
The lawn beside the lily pool was originally a rose garden, the layout of which is revealed by cropmarks.[10]

In 1925 George Dillistone, a landscape architect from Tunbridge Wells who worked with Lutyens at Castle Drogo, was hired to design the garden at Goddards. The design evolved over a number of years and plans were still being developed as late as 1935,[11] by which time Dillistone had become vice-president of the Institute of Landscape Architects.[12] In-keeping with the style of the house the four acre garden at Goddards was divided into several distinct areas, including a terrace and a series of rooms separated by shrubs, hedges and a herbaceous border;[13][11] all of these elements illustrate the Arts and Crafts nature of the garden.[14]

The enclosures included a tennis court (restored in 2016) and a bowling green used as a croquet lawn.[15] The centrepiece of the garden is a cruciform lily pool which is fed from a semi-circular reflecting pool and was originally surrounded by a rose garden.[10] Beyond this area the garden slopes downwards to York Racecourse, (Knavesmire) across which it was possible to walk to where, in 1926, Terry's had built their factory,[16] with its distinctive clock tower visible from the garden.[17] Typical of this style of garden the landscaping becomes less formal further from the house with paths leading down through a rock garden at the far end of the garden.[13]

The wildlife in the garden included a colony of midwife toads, also referred to as bell toads,[18][19] and it was once home to a number of exotic pets including axolotls and green lizards which were introduced into the garden in the early 1930s.[20][19] In 2016 the National Trust revealed plans to recreate the original planting schemes drawn up by Dillistone almost ninety years earlier.[21]

Carriage entrance
The carriage entrance facing on to Tadcaster Road, Dringhouses

Brierley was also the architect for the Grade II* listed gatehouse at the entrance to Goddards, a red brick structure with staircase turrets[22] which incorporates a flat roofed motor house. [23] It was originally the home of the Terry's chauffeur[24] and remains in residential use.[16]

The Terry Family at Goddards

Noel Terry (1889–1980) was the great-grandson of Joseph Terry, the first Terry of the family confectionery business. Noel was brought up at Trentholme, the home of his maternal grandfather, located 0.8 miles (1.3 km) north of Goddards, and opposite the Elmbank Hotel which, at the time, was the home of Sidney Leetham, an uncle of Kathleen Leetham (1892–1980).[25][16] The Leetham family were owners of a large flour-milling business in the Hungate area of York.[26] Kathleen lived at Aldersyde, a large house that her father Henry Ernest Leetham commissioned in 1895 and which is located 0.5 miles (0.8 km) south of Goddards.[27]

Noel and Kathleen married in 1915 having overcome the objections of her father who had initially opposed their relationship.[16] Soon after the marriage Noel was sent to France due to the First World War and in 1916 was wounded at the Battle of the Somme whilst serving with the 5th West Yorkshire Regiment. After he returned home they started a family together and by 1925 had two sons, Peter and Kenneth, a daughter, Betty, and plans to move to a larger house. From 1927 Goddards would become the family home of the Terry's and their children - with their youngest son Richard being born the following year. The name of the house came from Noel Terry's middle name, which was that of his grandmother, Frances Goddard, first wife of Sir Joseph Terry.[16]

By the 1930s Noel had become a managing director at Terry’s and it was at this time that the company introduced two of their most famous products – Terry's All Gold and the Chocolate Orange.[16] When production was interrupted by the Second World War Noel became a Controller with the Royal Observer Corps and was awarded an MBE in 1943.[3][28] His son Kenneth served in the RAF and was awarded the DFC in 1942. He died in 1944 and is commemorated on the local war memorial (also by Brierley).[3][29] Noel continued to work at Terry's until 1970, and his son Peter, who had joined Terry's in 1945, became deputy managing director.[16]

Although the house was built in the Arts and Crafts style it would become furnished with a large assortment of Georgian furniture and clocks which Noel Terry collected throughout his life. It is thought that his enthusiasm in antiques was partly inspired by his father-in-law who had been a collector of porcelain and jade. His interest in history also led to his involvement with York Civic Trust, of which he was honorary treasurer for many years. After Noel and Kathleen died in 1980 Noel’s collection was put on display at Fairfax House, in York, a Georgian house museum renovated by the Civic Trust.[30][16]

Family connections

Kathleen's sister Constance Leetham Terry was one of the first women to be admitted to The Physiological Society in 1915.[31] She was married to Noel's brother J. E. Harold Terry, a novelist and playwright.[32] Noel's sister Kathleen Betsy married Air Marshal Jack Baldwin[33]

National Trust era
The glasshouse at Goddards was made by Richardson of Darlington and restored by the National Trust.[34]

When the National Trust took over Goddards it was initially only for use as regional offices rather than a visitor attraction, however the garden was opened to the public in 2006 and the house in 2012.[35] The rooms contain period furniture which is used to recreate the atmosphere of the 1930s when the house was at its busiest and the family business at its zenith.[15] As well as owning a chocolate factory Terry's also had its own tearoom and shop in York, whose cakes are the inspiration for food now served in the dining room at Goddards.[36] Exhibits at Goddards include decorative packaging from Terry's chocolates and a scale model of the Terry's factory.[37][38] In 2014 and 2015 Goddards was listed as a finalist in the 'Visitor Attraction of the Year (Under 50,000 Visitors)' category of the VisitYork Tourism Awards.[39][40] In 2016 the National Trust put forward plans to expand the catering facilities and use more of the house to display its collection of chocolate memorabilia, citing the increase in visitor numbers between 2011 (5,608), before the house opened, and 2015/16 (24,500) as a reason for the proposed change.[41] The National Trust closed the property at the end of October 2016 for conservation and maintenance work and it re-opened in April 2017.[42][43]

References
  1. "York Bus Route Map" (PDF). Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  2. Historic England. "Bishopsbarns (1256793)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  3. "The Terry Trail" (PDF). dlhg.weebly.com. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  4. "George Percy Bankart". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  5. Historic England. "Goddards House and Garden (1256461)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  6. "The Art of Design" (PDF). www.nationaltrust.org.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  7. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  8. "GODDARDS THROUGH THE AGES: Noel Terry's former home hits 90". York Press. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  9. "Goddard's in York: An Arts and Crafts House Made with Chocolate". Villa Castagna. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  10. "One Vision". The Garden. Royal Horticultural Society. 121: 328–331. 1996. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  11. "Arts Buildings Collections Bulletin: Summer Issue August 2013" (PDF). National Trust. pp. 9–10. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  12. Sheila Harvey, ed. (1987). Reflections on Landscape: The Lives and Work of Six British Landscape Architects. Gower Technical Press. p. 107. ISBN 9780291397089. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  13. "National Trust Goddards House and Garden: The Gardens". Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  14. Rutherford, Sarah (2013). The Arts and Crafts Garden (shire library). Bloomsbury. pp. 19–21. ISBN 9780747813453.
  15. "Anyone for tennis at home of chocolate dynasty?". The Yorkshire Post. 19 June 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  16. "Goddards". houseandheritage.org. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  17. "Building of the Month: Terry's Clock Tower,York". www.c20society.org.uk. April 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  18. "Yorks Gardens and Green spaces" (PDF). www.visityork.org/media/factsheets/experienceyork.aspx. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  19. Armitage, John (1964). "Two English Midwife-Toad colonies". The Naturalist. Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. pp. 65-66. OCLC 1047634622. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  20. "Animal sculptures go on display at Goddards". York Press. 14 August 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  21. "Historic design of York stately home's gardens to be recreated 90 years on". The Yorkshire Post. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  22. Historic England. "No 25 including Carriage Entrance (1256505)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  23. Smith, Pete. "The Motor Car and the Country House: Historical Buildings Report" (PDF). Research Department Report Series No.94-2010. English Heritage: 113. ISSN 1749-8775. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  24. Wilson, Van (2009). The Story of Terry's. York Oral History Society. p. 77. ISBN 978-0951365250.
  25. Historic England. "Elm Bank Hotel (1256439)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  26. "Industrialisation in Hungate" (PDF). Yorkshire Archaeology Today: Number 17, Autumn 2009. p. 7. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  27. Historic England. "Aldersyde (1245577)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  28. "No. 36035". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 May 1943. p. 2498.
  29. "Memorial: Dringhouses". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  30. "Noel Terry & His Collection". www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  31. "100 years of women members: The Society's centenary of women's admission" (PDF). www.physoc.org. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  32. "Who's Who 1926 - p.2861 - Terry (Joseph Edward) Harold". archive.org. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  33. "Royal Air Force (RAF) Officers 1939-1945:B". www.unithistories.com. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  34. "Historic Glasshouses" (PDF). Newsletter: Issue 28, New Series 10, Winter 2011. Yorkshire Gardens Trust. p. 4. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  35. "Goddards - National Trust opens York house built by Terry's chocolate". Yorkshire Life. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  36. "A house built on chocolate". York Press. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  37. Mike Laycock (13 July 2015). "New exhibition on history of Terry's to open in York". York Press. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  38. "How York chocolate boss used to live – pictures". YorkMix. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  39. "Finalists revealed in VisitYork Tourism Awards". The Press. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  40. "Finalists announced for York Tourism Awards". The Press. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  41. "Increased visitor numbers lead to planned changes at York attraction". York Press. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  42. "Goddards House and Garden". National Trust. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  43. "250 years of York chocolate history unwrapped". York Press. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
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