Today I was cycling around local villages looking at old buildings, as cycling is both my favourite form of transport and of exercise, and I saw one I find mysterious. It was on top of a ridge between the main road and the river, opposite the church. It was very large and very red.
Obviously the first thing I did on getting home was to look it up on google maps, where it’s a big brick square. Then I looked on the Ordinance Survey map, where it’s marked by a symbol not included in the legend, or any website I can find, which looks like a paper crown.
So I’d first like to know what the symbol on the map is, and then what the rather large square building is.
It’s right next to Stoke Hall - I think it’s got to be the remains of the kitchen garden for that house.
Here’s an example of one that’s in working condition:
Note that in the above linked example, there are glasshouses on the north end of the garden (where they get full sun) - this would explain why there seems to be no north wall in the one at Stoke.
I’ve had a look at the 1930s OS map for the area, and it shows a building and a pump marked in that location, along with a reservoir just to the SE (still visible on Google Earth but now dry).
BTW Stoke Hall is now a wedding venue but the secret walled garden the site mentions is a newer creation, on the other side of the road, by the main house. I’m sure if you contacted them they could tell you what the mystery square is, though.
The feature is marked on some of the maps available on http://www.old-maps.co.uk - on one, it looks like it might have a text label, but there’s no way to zoom in without buying the map.
OK, here’s a different mapping resource - on this map (1884), it’s got a few details marked that are consistent with the typical layout of a kitchen garden:
Where is this “crown symbol”? I can see the battlefield symbol (crossed swords), about 1km away from the square “ruin” in question, but nothing that looks like a crown. (Unless you mean the blue W for well, which I mentioned above.)