"'Ea' or'ey' is the Saxon for 'water'; the former is either the name of some early Saxon owner, "Tydic", or derived from the legendry Saxon fairy, "Tit". The stream which gives the name its termination rises in the gardens at Titsey Place and is one of the sources of the Medway. There were formerly a number of cottages near the spring, a mill and a malt house."
Granville WG Leveson Gower, 1869

It is towards the centre of the garden that this stream can be found, issuing from beneath a rock. Kingcups, primulas, hostas and other water loving plants have been scattered nearby. Although unimposing, the spring holds vital historic significance. As a ready source of water, it allowed the early inhabitants at Titsey to settle permanently. As the water flows through the garden, it cascades from the mossy spring, through stone-lined channels and a lake with a fountain made fromstone taken from the estate sandpit. The top lake ends in a high cascade
made from ‘ Pulham’ stone. The water flows under a large stone bridge built at the end of the nineteenth century, and into the lower lake. The island was constructed at the same time by Granville W.G. Leveson Gower, after he had turned the eighteenth century serpentine canals into the more naturalistic lake that remains today.

The Lakes

View across top the lake
to the house

A stone temple acts as a focal point at the southern end of the lake. Black swans and other water birds live on the island, which is reached by an ornate wrought iron bridge, painted blue. The lake has been integrated into the garden by the planting of smaller scaletrees, which differentiate it from the wider parkland. Trees such as crab apples, rowans, hawthorns and tall black poplars enhance the banks of the lake, while a stately tulip tree stands over the culvert, between the stream and the lake.