Whilst the boat house does not feature on the Town Centre Biodiversity Heritage Trail, it can be seen when walking between the Icehouse and the Lawns, from this stop here.
The boathouse first appears in postcards around the 1900s, and on the Ordnance Survey map of 1907 (but the writing ‘Palace of Bishops of Rochester’ obscure the site in previous maps). It might have been built when the Romantic/Picturesque movement had a revival in the 1890s.
The boathouse was built in “Cottage Orne” style, a form of the Romantic architectural movement that utilised un-peeled branches, rather than treated sawn log sections of more Swiss Chalet style buildings, to fill in the wall panels in a decorative manner. This architectural movement was one that turned away from industrial city look and valued emotion, imagination, and a deep love of the natural world, therefore this structure was one that would look pretty and blend into the landscape. Cottage orné means “decorated or ornamental cottage” in French.
Using untreated wood for the boat house panels, meant that the structure did not weather well, and the later photo shows many of the original sections of tree trunk being missing.
Similar buildings that are still standing include the 1860s gazebo in Central Park (along with others that have been recreated) and the Covington Pine Heart Knot House in Louisiana:
The page on the Bromley Palace Park, including the other historical features, is here.
Browse our old photos, in 