Villa Rosa and the Shrubbery Estate, Weston-super-Mare

From the 1850s several suburban housing estates of elegant villas were built around Weston-super-Mare for middle class people looking for peace and privacy away from the bustle of the seafront and the town centre, for example The Shrubbery, The Grove, Montpelier and Ellenborough Park. Their roads were private and they were sometimes protected by gatekeepers’ lodges.  The villas all had servants’ quarters and private gardens.  Some of the estates, including The Shrubbery, also had communal gardens for the sole use of the residents. However, there were no shops or public houses. Goods were delivered to the houses from the shops in the town centre by donkey or horse. 

Richard Parsley and William Cox became the owners of the land on which the Shrubbery Estate now stands in 1815 when the area was enclosed by Act of Parliament. Parsley and Cox subsequently quarrelled and in the 1830s Cox let or sold his half of the land to a formidable lady called Sophia Rooke (1787-1874). She had a mansion built on it c1844, on the site of a previous house. She called the house Villa Rosa. The house was designed by James Wilson of Bath and was Italian in style with a tower. It was built in pink limestone, hence its name. It was surrounded by large grounds, which at one time contained a private zoo. A South Lodge was built in 1839 at the entrance to the estate.

South Lodge, Shrubbery Road

In the early 1850s three villas were built close to Villa Rosa: Overcoombe, Coombe Bank and Coombe Cottage (later called Coombe Lodge). An East Lodge was constructed (this was demolished in the 1970s). Around 1859 more villas were built in the Shrubbery Estate and a network of winding roads was constructed. Shrubbery Road now separated Villa Rosa from most of its garden, so an ornamental footbridge was constructed over the road, to reconnect the grounds with the house. This bridge is still in existence today.

Ornamental Bridge over Shrubbery Road

Ornamental Bridge over Shrubbery Road

In 1871 a North Lodge designed by Hans Fowler Price was constructed at the west end of Shrubbery Avenue (now demolished). After Sophia Rooke's death in 1874, further villas were built on part of the grounds of the Villa Rosa and Coombe Cottage.  A terrace of 8 houses, designed by Hans Price and Walter Wooler, was built in around 1877 on Shrubbery Terrace. At about the same time Hans Price designed 9 pairs of semi-detached villas and 5 detached villas on the newly created Shrubbery Walk around Coombe Bank House. Victoria Park was laid out in the early years of the 20th century on the site of Coombe Cottage. Most of the villas were built of local limestone quarried from the Town Quarry nearby.  Bath Stone was used around the doors and windows and for decorative ornamentation.

The Shrubbery Estate and Villa Rosa had their own well and water tower, which was built in the early 1860s and disguised as an octagonal Gothic-style mock castle with a castellated parapet, arrow slit windows and gargoyles.  It was in use until the 1890s when mains water became available. This water tower has been converted into a house more recently.

Former water tower, now a dwelling

Villas on Shrubbery Avenue

Villa Rosa was a ruin by 1953 and was demolished in 1969 and replaced with two blocks of flats. Overcombe was demolished in 2012 and replaced by a block of flats.

Watcombe, 8 Shrubbery Road

This unusual house was built c1886.