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	ASHLEY COMBE PORLOCK WEIR SOMERSET Once the home of Ada Byron, the Countess of Lovelace
	The Terraces	View from Ashley Combe	Back of the house

	Ada Byron Lovelace  The First Computer Programmer  1815 - 1852

Ashley Combe was built in 1799 and improved in 1835 when its owner, Lord William King (later created the First Earl of Lovelace), married Ada Byron (daughter of the poet) and set about building a romantic country home to please her, and probably using some of the money she brought into the marriage. The house was tucked into the woods overlooking the Bristol Channel and surrounded by most exotic terraced gardens in the Italian style.

Tunnels led tradesmen up from the road to the trade entrance of the house so that those within wouldn’t have to see their carts. A woodland walk and steps led down to the beach where a bath-house was built into the cliff to enable Ada to bathe in privacy.

The house, in the style of those to be found around the Italian Lakes, had an impressive clock tower. The gardens themselves consisted of walks, one above the other and backed by a row of alcoves, joined by spiral stairs. Beyond these were a series of gardens, walled at the back and sides and
facing out of the woods down to the river below. These contained hot-houses. Decorative towers, turrets and archways were littered amongst the wooded walks.

By 1939 the house had been let out to Dr Barnardos for the duration of the war. In 1950 it became a Country Club but was closed after a few years.
It then fell into disrepair and its owner, the 4th Earl of Lytton, decided to pull it down. It was eventually demolished in 1974 on grounds of safety. Such a shame that we should loose such a historic building. The ruins are still there giving an air of mystery.

The Orphanage 1940's		Early 1950's			Country Club 1950's
	Nath & Louie Cook. They lived at the Lodge it wasnt called the Toll House until the Toll Road was opened in the 1950's Nathaniel Cook was born in 1879 in Porlock and married Louisa Elizabeth Burrows in 1906. I am told they were first cousins. Nath was the son of Thomas and Ann Cook.	Fred and Hope Messenger with their dog Pip. They ran the county club at Ashley Combe during the 1950's			Liz Cook & Sandy. She lived at Culbone and was well known for making cups of tea for people making the long walk to Culbone Church. She is buried in the churchyard and has a teapot on her grave. I dont know for sure if she is the daughter of Nath and Louie but Elizabeth Ann Cook was born in 1909 . Nath had a sister, Elizabeth Ann born in 1862

Although the house has been demolished, the gardens count as a ruin in their own right, still private property and used as a pheasant run for the local shoot. The archways and spiral staircase are still to be seen as well as intriguing little dark passageways which lead away in the hills. Most of the tunnels have now been demolished, for safety, or bricked up but I remember, as a child, how eerie it was to walk along a curving tunnel where, in the middle, no daylight could be seen except through a little square hole in the roof.

UPDATE: There is a project to restore the gardens of Ashley Combe plus lots more information which can be found at
ThePhilosophersGarden

BELOW IS AN EXTRACT FROM THIS FASCINATING WEBSITE

"The significance of the gardens lie in their historical connections. First set out in 1799, they took on a particular importance when Ada Lovelace came to live here in 1835. It was her extraordinary relationship with the famous 19th century mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage, that sets this location apart.

Whilst Babbage is now widely credited with having invented the world’s first computer, his ‘Analytical Machine’ and his ‘Difference Engine’, Ada Lovelace is credited with having been a forerunner of the software programmer. It was she who, walking in these gardens with Charles Babbage, discussed with and suggested to Babbage the use to which his machine might be put.  So much so in fact that the US Department of Defence named, in 1979, an early, secret software programme ‘ADA’ in her honour. ‘ADA’ continues to be used as a programme to this day".

Below is part of what is left of Ashley Combe, it is slowly being completely cleared.

During the last war a British plane, a Halifax bomber, crashed into the side of the the cliffs near Ashley Combe, the tail could once be seen
sticking out of the rocks.

Along the track there is this memorial to the men that died.

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