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GARDENS
OLD&NEW

THE COUNTRY HOUSE
"&ITS GARDEN'

ENVIRONMENT

A STONE URN ON THE ORANGERY TERRACE AT MARGAM PARK.

GARDENS
OLDSNEW

THE COUNTRY HOUSE ^ ITS
GARDEN ENVIRONMENT

THE SECOND VOLUME

EDITED BY JOHN LEYLAND

ILLUSTRATED PROM. PHOTOGRAPHS FT CHARLES LATH/tM.

LONDON

PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICES OF COUNTRY
LIFE JT 20TAVIST0CK STREET COVENT
GARDEN :^J>f GEORGE NE^Wl^JES LIMITED
7-12 SOUTHAmPTON STREET STRAND
NE^iC^YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

BOSTON COI J .FGE LIBRAK ;i
(>IESTMUT HILL, MASS.

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5 1994

O'NEfLL LIBRARY

BOSTON COLLEGE

zAgecroft Hall, (Manchester .
<^lbmy Park, Surrey
tAldenham House, Heris.
^mesbury Abbey, Wilts.
Halcarres, Fifestiire
Harncluith, Lajtarlishire
TSarrow Court, Somerset
Horde Hill, Sussex
Hrokenhurst Park, Hants
Castle Asliby, d^ortliants
Chastleton House, Oxon.
Chirk Castle, Denbighshire
Chiswick House, Middlesex
Comptojz IVvnyates, Wanvick
Cranbornc [Manor House, Dorset
'Dauby Hall, Yorkshire
TDrakelowe Hall, Burton-on- Trent
'Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire
'Dniiimiond Castle. Perllisliire
Easton Hall, Grantham, Lines
Eaton Hall, Cheshire
Eydon Hall, (Njorthamptonslnr
Frogmore and Windsor
Fyficld iManor, Wilts. .
Grimston Park, Yorkshire
Groombridge Place, Kent
Gwydyr Castle, Denbighshire
Hackwood Park, Hants,
tiaddon Hall, Derbyshire
Hadsor, Worcester
Hampton Court, L'ominster
Hampton Court, Middlesex
Harewood House, Yorks.
Hartwell House, Aylesbury
He-well Grange, 1^'dditch
Highnam Court, Glos.
Hoar Cross, Burton-on-Trent
Holland House

PAGE

221

XXII.

"i

126

XI., 22
216
182

XXXIX.

'4

XV.

130

lOI

XXXI., XXXVIII.

"9

XXVI.

,78
'56

I

203
7'

2j6
XXIX.

9

XII., XIII., 259

2g

XX VII.

45
282

X., XIV.
XVI., XVII., XXX.

103

XL.

XLIII.

XX , XXI.

5'

XLI.

Inwood House, Somerset
Kedleston. Hall, Derbyshire
Kenticell Hall, Suffolk .
Leigh Ion Hall, Welshpool
Linton Park, Kent
Littlecote Hall, 'Berks.
Lochinch, Wigtownshire
Longleat, Warminster .
[Mapperton House, Beaminstcr
zMargam Park, Glamorgan

[Marks Hall, Essex
Mel ford Hall, Suffolk .
[Mere Hall, Droitunch .
[Moyns Park, Essex
[Miinstead Wood, Godalming
U^ewbattle Abbey, Midlothian
Okeover Hall, Derbyshire
Orchardleigh Park, Frome
Orchards, Surrey .
Packwood House, Birmingham
Pain's Hill, Surrey
Parham Park, Sussex
Pcnsliurst. Kent
Pitchford Hall, Shropshire
Poivis Caslle, Montgomeiy
St. Pagan's, Cardiff
Sedgwick Park, Horsham
Shrublands Park, Ipsivicli
Smilhills Hall, Lanes.
Stoke Edith Park. Hereford
Stoke Park, Slough
Stoke 'Ppchford, Grantham
'The l^yne, Hants.
West-wood Park, 'Droitwich
Wickham Court, Kent .
Wilton House, Wilts.
WooJside, Herts.

PAGE

XXX., XXXIV.

. XXXV.

nji

232

XIX.

. 248

. XXXVI.

'7'

'52

Frontispiece

93
. XXXVI.

77

•43

'97

39

208

. XXXII.

35

97
58

XLIV., XLV.

'47
. XXXIII.

8g

64

239

83
26g

255

XVIII.

XLII,

. 187

XXVIII.

226

161

XXIV., XXV.

213

XXIII

THE gardens illustrated in the following pages are the
types and exemplars of every class of English
gardenage, though it may be observed that the formal
character is chiefly exemplified in them, because,
indeed, in various developments it largely prevails.
They disclose a view of much that the greatest workers
in our garden development have accomplished — most of
them inspired to their task by traditional methods and the
inherited love for the things that are old, a few influenced
by later views, which greatly affected the character of
garden plan and design, all glorying in the supreme beautv
of the multitudes of flowers now in cultivation, and some
kindled to their achievement by the enthusiasm of individual
taste. In these days the love of gardening and interest in its
history and character grow from more to more, and we cannot
live anywhere without finding intelligent understanding and
appreciation of the many various forms of garden beauty.
The great gardens of England are taken as patterns in
other lands, and among ourselves are regarded as sources of

inspiration in any garden plan. Not every man can have a
pleasaunce to his mind, but there are few who, in the glorious
examples of our gardenage, cannot find some feature or
suggestion for their need. The conflict of ideas which has
arisen in regard to the higher charat:ter of garden design,
giving rise to a considerable volume of polemical literature,
is n itself an encouraging sign, because it shows how real
is the interest felt in the garden and how zealous the quest for
knowledge of its right character and its many beauties.

The controversy is not new, for did not Martial, in the
garden of Lucullus, express his preference for the untamed
beauties of Nature over the results of the custom which then
prevailed of placing tonsile box trees amid the groves of myrtles
and planes ? The more modern controversy shows how far
we are from the days in which to most people the garden was
merely a place wherein flowers and bushes indiscriminately
grew. There has sprung up a craving for order and plan,
and a demand that the garden shall stand in much closer
relation to the house it adorns than was at one time thought

GUARDIANS

Ul- AN OLU OAkDt:N SlAIkWAV.

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE GREAT YEW ARCH, HAMPTON COURT, LEOMINSTER.

essential, svith a truer understanding of the manner in wliich
fl'iwers shall be cultivated, holding their large place in the
garden design.

The older dweller in these islands, like the modern, loved
his garden well. It was a place for quiet and retirement,
and for the welcoming of friends and their diversion, a place
beloved for its shady alleys in the hot days of summer, for
the delectable freshness of the evening air on the terrace,
and for the pleasure of the green lawns where the English-
man sped his well-turned bowls. In the pages of Shakespeare
several garden scenes occur. There is that in " Richard II.,"
in which the ladies would dance, or tell tales, or sing, and
where the bowls were sped, reminding the Queen how often
F' rtune " runs 'gainst the bias." It was an ordered realm,
extolled by "old Adam's likeness,' the gardener, in contrast
with the larger disordered commonwealth. In such pleasaunces
men lived much, and it is delightful to find them, sometimes,
like Lindsay of Edzell in his viridarium , even transacting
affairs of weight there. The garden is, indeed, a place where,
in gay delight or pensive meditation, the days may well pass
profitably if unnumbered.

In the Introduction to the first series of "Gardens Old
and New " some account was given of the successive phases
of the gardener's art, and, after a more brief view of that
interesting subject, it may be suitable here to develop a little
more fully certain special characteristics therein dealt with,
and to speak of some special garden features described in
writings of the past and exemplified in gardens of the present.
It was suggested that whde some look' upon the garden as an
extension of the house into its surroundings, others have
regarded it as an approach of wild Nature to the'r dwelling-
places. What may certainly be said is that neither house nor
garden can be complete in itself, each being the complement
of the other. A certain formality of character is doubtless
engendered from this relationship, and history shows that
some constancy of features in this formality has existed in
widely different ages. The Tuscan gardens of Pliny the

Younger were instanced, indeed, as presenting a remarkable
similarity to the old Scottish gardens which Sir Walter Scott
described at Tully Veolan.

But there is another ruling condition which affects the
character of any garden — the situation in which it lies,
for manifestly what is suitable to the steep hillside cannot
altogether befit the plain. There is, moreover, always a
seeking for some distinctive character or feature in any
garden, and, if it be found in the strictly formal, it may be
discovered also in those adornments which were added to the
natural gardens of a hundred years ago. The truth is that no
class of gardening can remain under the ban. Each is good in
itself, and each may in some degree borrow from the other.
While we welcome the beautiful effects that are attained by
aiming at natural character, let us not deride the fine tall yew
and hornbeam hedges or the mossy terraces upon the steeps,
and let us remember that essentially it is no worse to clip a
tree than to mow a lawn — that, as was said in the last series,
the difference is in degree and not in k'ind — that all gardening
is in a measure formal, and that only extravagance is to be
condemned. At such extravagance Pope raised many a
laugh, and Rousseau did many times sneer. There were
gardens like the famous one at Moor Park, near Farnham, in
which the old formality existed without extravagance. The
pleached alleys of such places still survive here and there,
and the " cradel walk" — Queen Mary's Bower — at Hampton
Court, and the examples at Drayton House, Northamptonshire,
and at Melbourne in Derbyshire, are illustrations of what
the older Englishmen loved. How they introduced quaint
topiary features may be seen in many famous gardens,
while fine hedges exist all through England. The pergola,
also, though not essentially related to formal gardens, had
often its place in them, and many beautiful examples of
such garden features are illustrated in this work. The moral
sundial, again, belongs to the old formal garden, though it
has been borrowed and used well in pleasaunces of every
kind. There are excellent examples in old Scottish gardens,

INTRODUCTION.

XI.

and very many in Hni^lanJ also, and Iktc anJ Hktc, as at
BroLighton Castle, Banbur\', pretty devices and quaint conceits
nice that recorded by Andrew Marvel!, the dial made out of
herbs and flowers.

The old enclosed garden ceased to give content in times
when men had learned to look more abroad, and, under the
influence of Italy and France, a larger style came in. 1 he
great master was Le Notre, creator of the famous gardens at
Versailles, Chantilly, Saint Cloud, and Meudon. William 111.
was chiefly instrumental in popularising the style of Le Notre
in England in his great example of the radiating avenues at
Hampton Court. But obviously such a character can only be
given to gardens upon a great scale, and there are illustrations
at Melbourne, Castle Howard, and some of our greater seats of
tine work in this grand manner. The stately avenue was often
associated, as at Hampton Court, with th.e still canal, and to
the same period belong some other charming features — the
leaden statues and the gates and clairvoyees of hammered
iron. Peculiarly pleasant in a garden is the hue assumed by
old lead, and fine examples of statuary in this material
exist still in many places. Lovely iron gates are found at
many great seats, and notably, perhaps, at Drayton House,
Compton Beauchamp, Ragley, Stoneleigh, and Belton. To
such special garden features, however, we shall recur
later on.

There was a rapid reaction from the grandiose style, and
Pope and his friends liked better the simpler work of Nature's
hand, although the poet had himself a garden full of arti-
ficiality. The discovery of the "ha-ha" or sunk fence seemed
to Horace Walpole a capital stroke. Kent was the genius who
produced and utilised the device. " He leaped to the fence
and saw that all Nature was a garden." Working, we are
told, like a painter in the materials of light and shade, he
accomplished triumphs which lifted him immediately to a great
position as a garden designer, and " Capability " Brown
followed in his footsteps. Kent became famous from his work
at Esher and Claremont, at Rousham and Chiswick, while
Brown achieved his greatest fame at Blenheim, and raised a
crowd of followers, who worked with weaker hands in his

manner, and destroyed many things which it would have been
well to preserve.

The special style of landscape gardening which Kent had
made popular was developed chiefly in England, but it took
great root on the Continent, where pleasure grounds in this
manner became known as English gardens. A BoLirbon spy
in Paris, in the year 1803, recounted to his master in exile the
details of Bonaparte's famous tour after the outbreak of war,
in which he visited Normandy. Entering the district of Caux,
the celebrated Chaptal directed his attention to the smiling
country thereabout, the richness of the soil, the fine houses,
and the " English gardens," which Nature herself had every-
where created. " What do you mean by 'English gardens' .' "
brusquely demanded the First Consul. " Do you not know
that this style came to us from China, and was perfected in
France, and that only a bad Frenchman could honour England
as you do .■' " Bonaparte went on to declare that " Jardins
Francais " was the right designation for such places, and told
Chaptal that the expression "English garden" should never
again offend his ears. Whereupon, says the gossip, the poor
Minister, disconcerted, saw that he had spoken foolishly, and
promised in the future to think nothing fine that came from
England, and, above all, never to attribute to that island what
the First Consul approved.

Nevertheless, the landscape garden was really an English
creation, and as such has a claim to our regard. There had
been presages of its coming among us, and it may be suitable
to quote what Milton says of the Garden of Eden in the fourth
book of " Paradise Lost," where Satan reaches the border :

" Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,
Now nearer, crowns witli tier inclosure green,
As with a rural mound, the chanipain head
Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
Access denied; and over head up-grevv
Insuperable height of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A silvan scene; and, as the ranks ascend
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
The verd'rous wall of Paradise up-sprung.

THE GARDEN OF BOX AT BALCARRES.

xn.

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

" In this pleasant soil
His far more pleasant garden God ordaiu'd.

' With maz}' error under pendent shades
Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
Flow'rs worthy of Paradise, Avhich not nice Art
In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon
Ponr'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Both where the morning sun iirst warmh' smote
The open field, and where the unpierc'd shade
Imbrown'd the noontide bow'rs ; thus was this place
A happy rural seat of various view.

" Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Laj's forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant ; meanwhile murm'ring waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispers'd, or in a lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd
Her crjstal mirror holds, unite their streams."

The landscape garden did not altogether satisfy, and, as
we shall show, by its very nature, in its extreme form,
never could. The effort to simulate natural beauties, to mak-e

the tall spires of foxgloves and larkspurs, and a multitude
of fair denizens of the parterre. Richness characterises the
whole, and the sentinel yews, the hedges, and box edgings are
there to give order and distinction with the right degree of
formality that belongs to the structure that is adorned. The
moral sundial, the splashing fountain, the sheltered arbour,
and the fragrant pergola, all have their places in such a
garden. Nor need the landscape and the woodland with the
lake be contemned. These lie outside the enclosed gardens,
and all are beautiful and entrancing in their degree and place.
The final fact is simple, after all, and the gardener must make
it his own. It is that the house and the garden are the two
parts of a single whole, and happy is he who can best interpret
their sweet relationship."

With such a broad mind let the reader examine the
beautiful pictures that are presented to him in this volume.
They are the story of much excellent endeavour in garden
design, and the visible presentment of many triumphs. We
believe that a survey of their character will lead many to
accept the type of garden that has just been suggested. Many

A WAYSIDE COTTAGE NEAR HAMPTON COURT, L'O.MINSTER.

the garden a landscape chiefly, often featureless, and to
remove visible boundaries when boundaries were necessarily
looked for, seems to have been regarded as the ideal by some
of the followers of Brown, and notably by Repton. But there
followed a certain recoil from the new manner, which,
growing stronger, induced Englishmen again to study more
closely the older manner of garden design, while retaining
all that they could of the beauties of the new. It may be
suitable here to quote what was said in the Introduction to
the first series of this work by pointing out some of the
characteristic beauties of the garden as it is now conceived.
" Fortunate is he who looks out from his terrace with its mossy
parapet, where the peacock, perchance, shakes out its purple
glories to such a world of his own. Roses are clustering on the
wall, or flinging out their fragrance below in the sun, mingled
with the rare perfume of the aromatic azalea. Along the edge
of the lawn his flower border is glorious with the queenly
lily, the dark blue monk's-hood, the tall hollyhock, the spiked
veronica, the red lychnis, radiant phloxes, proud p^eonies,

of its cliarms must indeed be sought in a pleasaunce that is
ordered and possessed with some character of formality. To
such a garden belongs the terrace, wliich, in a multitude of
forms, has been adopted in all our gardens, and has been
imported into every style; for it has been the effort of many
to secure some variety of level, and at each break in the
ground it has been found satisfying to the eye to raise some
stronger mark or barrier than the mere edge of a short declivity.
The garden architect and sculptor have here found their
opportunity, and there are examples of their work in this
volume that will appeal to very many.

Let us now enqu'ire a little more in detail into the
character of those old pleasaunces of which we read in many
books, premising that those who would pursue the subject
further may do so with delight in the fascinating pages of
Mr. A. F. Sieveking's charming volume, " The Praise of
Gardens." Reference has been made to the Tuscan villa of
Pliny. Now, there was in that ancient pleasaunce a terrace
embellished with figures and with a box hedge, beyond which

IN-TKODUCnON.

XV,

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THE GEOMETRICAL GARDEN, STOKE EDITH PARK.

THE EASTERN END OF THE SOUTH TbRRACE, SIOKE EDllH PARK.

INTRODUCTION.

lA/ tJv t

THE SECOND TERRACE, LINTON PAKk.

XX.

GARDENS OLD AND NHIV.

was a descent to a lawn surrounded by a walk of cut evergreens.
Beyond the lawn was a circus, such as has since existed in
many gardens, and it was fenced in by a box-covered wall. It
was observable, as the younger Pliny wrote to Apollinaris,
that up to this point Art had done everything, but that beyond
were meadows and fields interspersed with thickets owing
many beauties to Nature. Pliny had also a dining-room
opening upon one end of a terrace, and looking out over the
country, and there were other features which were precursors
of that English garden which possessed the character that has
been alluded to. It was a garden generally upon the plan of a
parallelogram, often having several rectangular enclosures.
Nine large complete squares or "knots" were in the
famous gardens at Theobalds. Gervase Markham, who
added much to the well-known " Maison Rustique " (1616),
gave many shapes for gardens ; they might be square, round,
oval, or diamond-shaped, and he commended it as desirable

fine banqueting-house in the garden of his mind. Four such
houses were in the Countess of Bedford's garden at Moor
Park in Hertfordshire, two being at each end of the terrace
walk, and two at the terminations of the arcades which ran
out from the house to enclose a quadrangular space. Such
enclosed gardens and garden-houses indicate that great use
was made of the pleasaunce, and that men lived much therein.
In the time of Louis XIV. the fashion spread greatly, and the
French carried their houses, as it were, into their gardens, by
building dining and drawing rooms in tlie open air, with
salons, cabinets de verdure, and theatres amid the groves,
where the masques of Moliere were many times enacted.
It is obvious that in these garden structures the architect had
rare opportunities, and perhaps no more choice examples of
such work can be found in England than in the charming
creations of Montacute.

Bacon, having in view his terraces and houses, said of the

THE SOUTH WALK, HIGHNAM.

that gardens should rise in level above level, "which is
exceeding beautifull to the eie, and very beneficiall to your
flowers and fruit trees, especially if such ascents have the
benefit of the sun rising upon them." The famous Palissy, the
great French potter, who was also a gardener, regarded the
rectangle as the right form for his pleasaunce, with an issue
beyond it into a meadow. The garden was to be divided, as
in many existing English gardens, into four equal parts by
cross alleys, with a little amphitheatre in the middle, and at
each of the corners an arbour, and four others at the ends of
the alleys. These arbours, refreshment-places, or banqueting-
rooms, were a common feature in the surroundings of old
English houses, and were often extremely beautiful.

Bacon's garden was also a rectangle, encompassed on all
the four sides with a stately arched hedge, and a carpenter
was called in to fashion pillars for its support, and many
ingenious and curious devices were added. Bacon also had a

garden that it was " best to be square," and the famous John
Thorpe made one design with the note that nothing should be
"out of square." John Parkinson, who produced his " Paradisi
in Sole Paradisus Terrestris " in 1629, remarked that, though
the orbicular or round form had excellencies, he thought the
four-square form the most usually accepted with all, since it
did best agree with any man's dwelling. " To form it therefore
with walks, cross the middle both ways, and round about it
also with hedges, with squares, knots and trails, or any other
work within the four-square parts, is according as every man's
conceit alloweth of it." The Pond Garden, still existing at
Hampton Court, which is illustrated, has been much altered,
but has its oiiginal rectangular enclosure formed by low
brick walls, in the corners of which are the bases of stone
piers, which once supported heraldic beasts, carrying the
King's Arms. Perhaps this was the parterre called Paradise,
with its banqueting-house, which attracted the notice

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XXI.

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GARDENS OLD AND KEW.

of John Evelyn. Thus is one garden of the time
described :

'■ Mv garden sweet, enclosed with walles strong
Embanked with benches to sytt and take uiy rest,
The knots so enknotted it cannot be exprest
With arbors and alyes so pleasant and so dulce."

The great garden of the Countess of Bedford, which Sir
William Temple described so well, was one of the best old
examples of the rectangular garden. Such square parterres
were often duplicated and multiplied. They displayed the old
spirit of enclosure, and gave unrivalled opportunities to the
terrace builder and the garden hedger.

The greatest possible contrast is found between such
gardens as these and that imaginary garden which Addison
describes in the Spectator. Ad-
mitting that there were as
many k'inds of gardening as of
poetry, he spoke of his own
as a place which a skilful
gardener would not know what
to call. " It is a confusion of
kitchen and parterre, orcliard
and flower garden, which lie
so mixt and interwoven with
one another, that if a foreigner
who had seen nothing of our
country should be convey'd
into my garden at his first
landing, he would look upon
it as a natural wilderness, and
one of the uncultivated parts
of our country. . . . .
As for my self, you will find,
by the account which I have
already given you, that my
compositions in gardening are
altogether after the Pindarick'
manner, and run into the
beautifu: wildness of Nature,
without affecting the nicer ele-
gancies of Art." There can
scarcely be a question as to
which is the better garden of
the two — that which is ordered
and planned, or that which
seems no garden at all. Some
things .Addison certainly advo-
cated which are excellent. He
would have had many ever-
greens in the garden, and often
wondered that those who were
like himself, and loved to live
in gardens, had never thought
of contriving a winter garden,
which should consist of such
trees only as never cast their
leaves. That lesson has surely
been learned, and in all our
great gardens evergreens,
either in formal shape or
in natural profusion, largely
abound, so that in the winter-time the
cheerless nor bare.

Doctor Johnson looked with some tolerance upon the
landscape features of gardening, which had come in when
he wrote. In his "Life of Shenstone" he speaks of his
subject's delight in rural pleasure and his ambition of rural
elegance. We may suspect a little sense of humour v/here
the ponderous doctor tells how the Arcadian poet began to
point his prospects, to diversify his surface, to entangle his
walks, and to wind his waters. " Whether to plant a walk in
undulating curves, and to place a bench at every turn where
there is an object Uj catch the view — to make water run
where it will be heard, and to stagnate where it will be
seen ; to leave intervals where the e\'e will be pleaseJ,
and to thicken tlu plantation where there is something

THE

ITALIAN COLUMN WITH
garden is neither

to be hidden — demand any great powers of the mind 1
will not inquire. Perhaps a surly and sullen spectator
may think such performances rather the sport than the
business of human reason." Yet Johnson saw merit in a
man who was doing best what multitudes were contending
to do well.

\n France, Rousseau in "Julie" describes a garden that
was unordered and unsymmetrical. There were rose bushes,
raspberries, and gooseberries ; patches of lilac, hazels, alders,
syringas, broom, and clover, which clothed the earth whilst
giving it an appearance of being uncultured. He imagined
that a rich man from Paris or London, becoming master of
such a place, would bring with him an expensive architect to
spoil Nature. Pope's objection to formality — though he had a

formality of his own — has
been referred to. He sneered
at symmetry.

" Each alley has a brother,
And half the garden just reflects
the other.'

, Walpolecouldsee

nothing in Kip's " Views of the
Seats of the Nobility and
Gentry" but tiresome and
returning uniformity — every
house approached by two or
three gardens, consisting per-
haps of a gravel walk and
two grass plats or borders of
flowers, each rising above the
other by two or three steps,
and as many walks and ter-
races, and having so many
iron gates that he was re-
minded of those ancient
romances in which e\'ery
entrance was guarded by
nymphs or dragons. We have
seen that he greeted the ha-ha
as the step to freedom, and
Kent as the man who leapt
the fence. " Adieu to canals,
circular basons, and cascades
tumbling down marble steps,
that last absurd magnificence
of Italian and French builders.
The forced elevation of
cataracts was no more. The
gentle stream was taught to
serpentize seemingly at its
pleasure, an J where discon-
tinued by different levels, its
course appeared to be con-
cealed by thickets properly
interspersed, and glittered
again at a distance where
it might be supposed naturally
to arrive."

To Goldsmith, in that
time when the old English
gardening was dispraised, it
appeared that the English had not yet brought the art
of gardening to the same perfection as the Chinese, though
they had lately begun to imitate them, and were >et
far behind in the charming art! Thomas Whately, whose
"Observations on Modern Gardening" appeared in 1770,
thought that the new art was as superior "to landskip
painting as a reality to a representation." It was an exertion
of fancy, a subject for taste, and all Nature was within its
province. The art had started up from being mechanical
to the rank of the fine arts, which joined utility with
pleasure. Repton, in his " Sketches and Hints on Landscape
Gardening," 179^, seems best to have expressed the ideal
of those who practised the art. The garden must display
natural b.auties and hide natural defects in every situation,
it should give the appearance of e.xtent and freedom, by

LEAD FIGURE, WILTON.

IN'TKODUCriON,

XXV.

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xxvt.

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

AN OLD GARDEN SEAT.

carefully disguising or hiding the boundary. it must
studiously conceal every interference of Art, however expen-
sive, by which scenery is improved, making tiie whole
appear the production of Nature only, and all objects of mere
convenience or comfort, if incapable of being made ornamental,
or of becoming proper parts of the general scenery, must be
removed or concealed. It may appear to many, and not
without reason, that this ideal was one of deception An
impression of size and extent w as to be given where it did not
exist, and that which was the product of Art was to be made
to appear as if it were the work' of Nature, while objects
which did not
fall into the
scheme of
Nature were
to be con-
cealed from
view. Repton
frankly con-
fessed that
the principles
he had set
forth were
directly op-
posed to
those of the
older gar-
den, which
may perhaps
be a sufificient
c 0 n d e m n a-
tion of them.
Yet many
triumphswere
achieved in
the natural
style, and the
work of Mr.
South cote
a t Wo b u r n

A STONE SEAT, DANBY,

Farm, and the examples at Hagley, Hayes, and the
Leasowes became celebrated, though the work of the
Hon. Charles Hamilton at Pain's Hill in Surrey was one of
the finest examples of the landscape period, deserving to rank
with Brown's work' at Blenheim, and it happily remains as an
illustration of a real success to this day.

As we have said, there were many who recoiled from the
landscape style, and no one expressed the revulsion of fe ling
better than Richard Payne Knight in his " Analytical Enquiry
into the Principles of Taste," published in 1805. He remarked
that, in former times, the house, being surrounded by gardens

as uniform as
itself, and
only seen
through
vistas at right
angles, every
visible accom-
paniment was
in union with
it, and the
sy s tematic
regularity of
the whole
was discerni-
b 1 e from
every point
of sight ; but
when, accord-
ing to the new
fashion, all
around was
levelled and
thrown open,
the poor
square edifice
was exposed
alone, or with
the accom-
paniment only

iN-TRonucnoN.

XXVII.

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xxvm.

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

of its regular windows and porticoes amidst spacious lawns
interspersed with irregular clumps or masses of wood and
sheets of water. He did not know a more melancholy object,
for it neither associated nor harmonised with anything. He
added that the view from one of these solitary mansions was
still more dismal than that towards it. Mr T. James was a
writer of much later times, who, in " The Flower Garden,"
1852, had scathing things to say of the evil days upon which
gardening had fallen,
and the natural or
English style of which
we were proud. He
jibed at the unmeaning
flower-beds disfiguring
the lawn in the shapes
of kidneys, and tad-
poles, and sausages,
and leeches, and com-
mas, and he thought,
surveying the various
styles that had pre-
vailed, from the knotted
gardens of Elizabeth,
the pleach-work and
intricate flower borders
of James l.,the painted
Dutch statues and
canals of William and
Mary, the winding
gravel paths and lace-
making of Brown, to
poor Shenstone's senti-
mental farm, and the
landscape fashion of his
own day, there could
be little reason to tak'c
pride in any advance in
national taste.

What may be said
for the landscape gar-
deners is tliat they
opened the way for a
greater love for the
flower world, and for
delight in the natural
form and beauty of
blossom and tree, mak-
ing them a great addi-
tion to any barren geo-
metry. No doubt the
real truth lies in what
Cardinal Newman said
in his " Idea of a
Universe," that every-
rhing has its ov/n per-
fection, be it higher or

lower in the scale of things ; that the perfection of one is not
the perfection of another ; that things animate, inanimate,
visible, invisible, are all good in their kdnd and have a best of
themselves, which is an object of pursuit.

With this thought in our minds, let us now reflect a
little upon some of the individual merits of gardens such as
are depicted in these pages, and first let us recognise the
virtue that lies in the enclosure, the variety of level, the
terrace, and the good tall hedges of yew or hornbeam which
have been alluded to — the good old system, as Mr. James said,
of terraces and angled walks, and clipped hedges, against
whose dark and rich verdure the bright, old-fashioned flowers
glittered in the sun. We may see that in such a manner of
garden design there is a proper transition from the architecture
of the house to the natural beauties of the paddock and the
park. There are fine rectangular gardens of vaiied character
at Montacute, Venn House, Ashridge, Ham House, Athel-
hampton, Newstead, Hoar Cross, Balcarres, and in many
other great English and Scottish gardens. Here may be found
inspiration by those who would excel in such character of

A SUNDIAL AT THE VYNE

design. The hedge which encloses does not necessarily
exclude what is without. Indeed, from the elevated terrace,
there is oftentimes a wide outlook over the features beyond.
The hedges should certainly be of the best, and they may
be seen in excellent taste at such places as Blickling Hall,
Brockenhurst Park, Melbourne, Etwall, Drummond Castle, and
in a multitude of other great gardens in the land.

Topiary features may be introduced according to the

garden - maker's taste.
They may be no more
than some pleasant
variation of the well-
cut hedge, like the
"bulwarks" at Sedg-
wick Park or the
stately composition in
ilex and yew at Brocken-
hurst. Such hedges
may be used to accen-
tuate design, as in the
fine planned garden at
Drummond Castle. It
is not necessary, nor
always desirable, to
introduce exaggerated
quaintness, though some
love the conventional
forms of verdant sculp-
ture such as are found
at Levens, at Hesling-
ton Hall, at Cleeve
Prior, at Hampton
Court, Leominster, and
at other places, includ-
ing, as by a kind of
recrudescence, the
m 0 d e r n gardens of
Elvaston, Derbyshire.
At P a c k w 0 0 d the
shapely yews are
g r 0 u p e d in 0 r d e r e d
ranks to typify, as by
a green allegory, the
apostles, the younger
brethren, and the mul-
titude gathered to hear
the discourse of our
Lord upon the Garden
Mount. Let it not be
imagined — Levens itself
is a demonstration to
the c 0 n t r a r y — t h a t
such quaint features
are incompatible with
a profuse growth of
flowers.
In great planned gardens, such as we find at Wilton,
Longford, Belton, Trentham, Castle Ashby, and Stoke Edith
Park, the features which are, or may be, enclosed become
rich and elaborate. Fancy is exerted to devise plans for
such " knotted gardens." There was a time when the flowers
themselves were banished from lilce parterres, and when
variously coloured earths were employed to give the colour
which in these days is imparted by the radiant things that
grow. The love of flowers has banished that species of
artificiality. There are examples in this volume of very
magnificent planned gardens, which are gems in their
setting of wood and lawn. They can rarely be satisfactory,
indeed, unless, as in such a fine, reposeful example as that
at Newbattle, the elaborate beds compose with fine belts
of trees, which bring into the garden composition that element
of shade and harmony which is necessary to balance such
bright and varied features.

But, when we reach these elaborate expressions of the
gardener's art, we are far away from the quaint old enclosed
gardens from which such things sprang. Now, the raised

Introduction.

xx/X.

terrace, flanking or surrounding the garden, is own brotlier
to the enclosing yew hedge. We may see in tlie noble
gardens at Hatfield illustrations of much of the best character
of old English gardening. Grand is the effect at Montacute
— admirable also at Bramshill — and if we had no example
remaining, it would be easy to conjure up the beauty of a
mossy terrace and an old balustrade, with a peacock there
loving to flaunt its glories in the sun, from wlTich to overlook' a
well-arranged parterre, wliere perhaps a fountain decked the
centre, or a goddess vested in the lovely hue of lead adorned
the scene. We may turn then, as at Montacute, into some
beautiful garden-house, and here the garden architect has
scored many a triumph. No better exemplar to the modern
worker could be taken than those admirable buildings.
But, of coLirse, garden architecture is not confined to the
building of summer-houses upon terraces. Some may lik-e
to have their retiring-place aloft in a tree, lik'e the quaint
old summer-house in the lime at Pitchford Hall. The bowling
green-house at Melford Hall is another excellent example, and
the magnificent dovecote or columbarium in the garden at the
Vyne, with its mellow
brick, giving character
to its classic features,
and its tiled dome,
shadowed by the
majestic oalc, might be
an inspiration to many.
The garden-houses at
Severn End and
Charlton, Kent, are
equally noteworthy.

Let us, however,
return to the terrace,
which might form an
inexhaustible theme.
Its c h aracter must
depend primarily upon
its situation. It does
not always flank a
garden. Sometimes, in
multiplied form, it
constitutes, as at
Barncluith, the garden
itself. It has its variety
of character also in its
particular forms. It may
comprise balustraded
walls, or plain or even
embattled parapets ; it
may be composed with
green slopes, or it may
take character from its
hedges. It is often of
stone, but sometimes,
as at Packwood, there
are fine examples of
excellent work in brick.
It has its flagged ways,
its turf walks, and its
gravel paths. The
terrace can rarely fail
to be associated with
the stairway, and here
again there is extra-
ordinary variety of
character. Andrew
Reid, whose " Scots
Gard'ner " was pub-
lished originally at Edinburgh in 1683, and was the earliest
Scottish book on the subject, desired, if it were possible, that a
straight pathway should lead down to the centre of the terrace,
and there, by a double stairway, give access to the garden
below, hi some cases the terracing is of very fine architectural
character. What better could be wished than the famous
terrace shadowed by the limes at Haddon, with its romantic
memories of Dorothy Vernon and of her flight with young John

THE SUNDI.\L, FVFIELD MANOR.

Manners ? Admirable again are the terraces at Cranborne
Manor, illustrated in these pages, and the fine classic example
at Clifton Hall, Nottingham. The terraces at GroombriJge,
with their stairways and various features, are a study in
themselves, ai-,d there are examplts at St. Catherine's Court,
Bath, and Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, which are delightful.
The magnificent terraces at Drummond Castle, overlooking
the characteristic garden there, have merits that are con-
spicuous. We find in some places a .stately description of
architectural terrace, wjth massive features of classic stone-
work, as at Margam Park, Balcarres, Harewood, and Linton
Park'. At the other end of the scale are terraces which are no
more than green grass slopes, with level tops, rising one
above another — a kind of moulding of the ground, such as we
see at Lochinch, having very beautiful effect. These various
examples of fine work in gardening will serve to show how
really wide is the choice and how many are the opportunities
presented to those who have realised the beauty of fitness in
garden design.

In mentioning the terrace we are led naturally to other

features, and first
among them to the
vase and the urn,
upon which many a
craftsman has lavished
his skill. Now these
are objects found in
nearly all gardens
formed within the last
200 years. They are
often of stone, not
seldom of marble, and
in many instances of
lead, that metal which
under the influence of
the atmosphere
assumes a hue so
delightful in any garden
picture. There are
fine leaden vases at
Chisw ick House, at
Iford Manor, Somerset,
and at Penshurst, to
name no more. Mag-
nificent examples in
stone are at Sion
House, at Margam
— a noble specimen on
the orangery terrace
in the garden there
forms the frontispiece
of this volume — and in
many other places. We
shall indeed scarcely
find in a good garden a
terrace or a garden
s e at w i t h 0 u t flower
vases to adorn it.
Note the lovely
examples at Hackwood,
a Groombridge, and
jn very many of the
garden pictures in
this book. The
sculptor has achieved
many excellent things
in bringing his skill to
bear upon these garden
fairer or more beautiful
filled with a wealth of

adornments, and nothing could be

than a characteristic vase well

radiant flowers, or more attractive in some situations than

a nobly sculptured urn.

The garden sculptor has also adorned our gardens with
classic figures and the gay creations of fancy. He has
produced many an excellent work in lead, and in old gardens
it is delightful to encounter some idyllic figure in this material.

Xx)i.

Gardens old and new

THE LION GATE, INWOOD.

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ONE OF THE IRON GATES, HAMPTON COURT.

INTRODUCTION.

XXXI.

standing perhaps against some wall of well-clipped green. Pan
upon his pedestal is at Rousham, a shepherd at Canons Ashby,
and characteristic arcadian figures are at Powis Castle and
Enfield Old Park. A kneeling slave, " black but comely,"
is at Norton Conyers in Yorkshire, and a like figure is in the
lovely garden of Guy's Cliff in Warwickshire. Again we find

gleaming marble, though the use of that substance requires
judgment and care, and the situation must be appropriate to
emphasise and yet to harmonise its beauties. There are fine
bronze statues also, as welcome as those of lead, as at
Leighton Hall in South Wales, where we may see the son of
Ua2dalus plunging headlong into a miniature /Cgean. There

>*Jfi«*Sift-

THE GARDEN GATES, CHISWICK HOUSE.

the black slave kneeling to support an urn at Melbourne,
Derbyshire, and at Renisliaw Hall, in the same county, two
leaden centurions keep watch at the approach to one of the
gardens. Leaden figures such as these have an attraction not
easy to explain; but, of course, lead is not the only substance
in which the garden sculptor may excel. He may give us the

also we may find excellent bronze vases, and elegant little
amorini adorning the terrace borders. Great is the variety of
garden sculpture, and endless the play of fancy in garden
planning and adornment. Paul Hentzner, who made a journey
into England in the year 1598, noted the glories of the palace
of Nonsuch, with its pyramids of marble, its double fountain

xxxn.

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

sprouting out like a pyramid, upon vvlTich were perched small
birds that streamed water out of their bills, while another
fountain was in the Grove of Diana, vvhere Actseon was turned
into a stag as he was sprinkled by the goddess and her
nvmphs. What it is necessary to avoid is an over-elabo-
ration, destroying repose, such as Matthew Arnold noted
at Knebworth, where he found the grounds full of statues,
kiosks, and knick-knacks of every kind, a strange mixture of
the really romantic and interesting with what was "tawdry
and gimcracky."

Let us not forget that truly appropriate feature of an old
garden, the moral sundial, or, as Charles Lamb calls it, "the
primitive clock, the horologe of the first world " Nature
herself is truly a dial, for, marking the seasons by her change,
she tells the hours also by the opening and closing of many a
flower. The sundial counts no hours save such as are serene,
as Queen Alexandra's dial proclaims at Sandringham. They
pass, but the gvirden monitor has only the stealing shadow
when nil things are gay. Sometimes dials are shaped of the

House, Wrest, Kew Palace, and elsewhere. The forms are
usually simple, but they rarely fail to be satisfying. In
Scot'and sundials have a character all their own. What that
character is m:ay be seen at Holyrood, Glamis Castle,
Drummond, Balcarres, Pitmeddin, and Stobhall. These dials
have elaborate features, and the gnomons are various and
curious. The sundials at Newbattle are not excelled by any
in Scotland, and are more architectural than sculptured works.
The principal dial is extremely fine, and there is a copy of it
with some variations at Tyninghame.

The hand of the garden architect may also be devoted
to the production of charming garden seats, and their
stonework accessories. Excellent examples are at Aldenham
House, Hackwood, and Danby, not to catalogue any more.
Sometimes opportunities may be made and used well, as in the
stately stonework k'nown as Six Months of the Year at
Barrow Court, where the changing seasons have their repre-
sentatives in the semi-circle. There have been many who would
limit the scope of the architect to the house, and who have

THE ENTRANCE GATEWAY, OKHOVER HALL

green things that grow, and Andrew Marvell may have referred
to such a dial in that delightful garden of his poetry :
" Here at the Ibiintain's sliding foot,

Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root,

Casting the bod3''s vest aside,

Jly soul into the boughs does glide;

There, like a bird, it sits and sings,

Then whets and claps its silver wings.

And till prepared for longer flight

Waves in its plumes the various light.

How well the skilful gardener drew

Of flowers and herbs this dial new,

Where from above the milder sun

Does through a fragrant zodiac run ;

And as it works, the industrious bee

Computes its time as well as we.

How could such sweet and wholesome hours

Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers ? "

But, in the fashioning of sundials, the work is generally
that of the sculptor or architect. How beautiful are the forms
that have been given to dials we rnay see at Eydon Hall,
Enfield Old Park, Chiswick House, Northenden, Belton

regarded him as an intruder in the garden sphere. Those who
have followed these remarks, and have examined the pictures in
this volume, cannot hold that view. They will recognise, on the
contrary, that there can scarcely be any great garden in which
the architect does not exercise his skill. His work may consist
in the making of terraces, with their stairways, and in the
building of garden-houses, such as have been alluded to. It
will include the construction of bridges, and the designing of
appropriate gateways, which are ever a striking feature of the
great homes of the land.

How beautiful gateways may be made many of these
places disclose. There are examples at Hatfield, Charlecote,
Bramshill, and other noble places which are not to be
surpassed. We are tempted to reflect upon the cause of such
labour being expended upon the approach to the house and the
garden. The gate was the symbol of hospitality, the place
where the host would welcome his guests, and where he
would bid them God-speed. It was the portal of the pleasures
he would bestow upon them, and he sought to dignify it as

INTRODUCTION.

xxxm,

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XXXIV.

GARDENS OLD AND NHIV.

tlie token of h's estate ai-.d his goodwill. Upon gates and gate-
houses great artists ha\'e therefore lavished their skill, and
from the famous portals of the baptistery at Florence onward to
the examples of this da}', the gateway has many a time been a
creation~notablE'for character and ^beautiful design. In turning
over the pages of this book', the reader will discover several
admirable examples of such work. It was not merely, the old
workers said, that their stonework should be good, that tl:e
lofty pillars supporting the vase or the heraldic beasts holding
the family arms should be well proportioned and well wrought
in st\le appropriate. There must also be provided the gates
themselves, the best work of the craftsman's hand. As at
Hampton Court and at Drayton House, the gates might be
associated with grilles or clairvoyees ; but, whether with tliese
or without them, there was abundant opportunity for the skill
of the smith. We may note the gates at Grimston Park and
Chirk Castle among many that are excellent. The famous
gates at Hampton Court are masterpieces indeed, and perhaps
never has iron been so skilfully wrought as under the direction
of Jean Tijou, who designed them, and who, it may he

wistaria and flanked by ivy-coverevi piers, is an example that
many might follow. The ironwork at Invvood has been alluded
to, and the low garden fate and railing in tloreated ironwork
may also be noted as an admirable example of handicraft in
this manner, while the fruit-bearing Cup'ds on the gate-pojfs
are suggestive of such adornment.

We may now turn to another beautiful girden feature in
which Nature triumphs over Art— the cool and grateful pergol i
and the ijuaint pleached walk. They will suggest to many
the gardens of sunny Italy, giving grateful shade from the
noonday heat, and recall to others the secluJed gardens of
Shakespeare, lilve Leonato's, and the

"Pleached bower.
Where houej'suckles, ripen'd bj- the sun,
Forbid the sun to enter."

They may think, too, of quaint Queen Mary's Bower of wych-
elm at Hampton Court "for the perplexed twining of the trees
very observable." There are examples of beautiful pergolas
at Compton Wynyates, at Aldenham House, at Orchardleigh,
Frome, and a delightful apple walk at Lilleshall, Salop,

Ti;n ITALIAN GATE, INWOOD.

interesting to remember, was also empIo\ed by Wren to
fashion the iron gates of the cb.oir of St. Paul's. The actual
handicraftsman was Huntingdon Shaw, of wb.om his epitaph
in Hampton Church lightly says that he was " an artist in his
way." Let not the maker of gardens aim at anytliing so
ambitious. For a palace the gates of Tijou and Shaw are
appropriate enough ; but rather let us welcome such handsom.e
work as exists at Compton Beauchamp, Berkshire ; Ragley,
Warwickshire ; Norton Conyers, Yorkshire ; Btilwick' Hall,
Nortl ampton; Stfneleijih, Warwickshire; Belton, Lincolnshire;
andBarlborough Hall, Derbyshire. Excellent as a modest work
is the garden gate vhich is illustrated at Inwood, hanging
between the simple br ck piers, topped with quaint heraldic
beasts. Notable, again, is the gate at the foot of the terrace
steps at Penshurst. A more elaborate example is the entrance
gate at Okeover Hall, which is a!so illustrated here. It is
arched an i enriched in the ronwork, and is flanked by
rusticated piers of .■■tone, upon which stand well -wrought
urns. A simple gat way at ChiswLk House, overhuiig by

deserves to be noted. A beautiful modern example may be
cited at Great Tangley Manor, Sin-rey, and there is a sweet-
scented lose pergola at Heckfie'.d Place. A lovely lily-lined
walk is depicted here. Obviously such features must be
welcomed in all gardens. They will import into a formal
enclosure a delightful natuial character, and invention may
be exerc'.sed in devising picturesque supports of sturdy
sufficiency, and trunks of trees with the bark on them for
horizontal framework, upon which climbing flowers or fruits
shall plenteously grow. Let such walks be of the greenest
turf, ard ever delightful to linger in must they be. The grass
path, indeed, whether it be that of a pergola, or an avenue,
or a way through a wood, is a beauty in any garden or
pleasaunce. There are examples at Munstead Wood, with
tea roses and various kinds of clematis for covering, and at
other places described in this book. The bowling green,
which has come into new favour, demands for its perfection
the skill of an experienced groundsman, who, by judicious
sowing, watering, and cutting, can produce the level emerald

IN-TKODUCriON.

X.XXV.

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XXXVl.

Gardens old .-i\'D keiv.

THE UPPER LAKi FROM THE EAST, MAKKS HALL.

THE ENTRANCE TER1?ACES, LOCHINCM.

tmiiODUCTION.

<XXVtl

mead. How the Eni;lishman speJ his biassed howls in the
old times is written in many books, and interest in the
game has seemed to revive with the new growth in the love
of the garden. There are fine examples of bowlin,^ ;.reeiis
in advantageous situations at s:me threat houses in tnglan 1,
and nowhere better than upon the marvelloLisly beaut ful
terrace at Clevedon in Somerset. Norton Conyers and
Sutton Place, Guildford, are other houses distingmshed by
the possession of charming bowling greens.

A grass willc or a green lawn must needs be associated
with the long bed of generous proportions, full of herbaceous
flowers, that often forms its mai'gin. Here the fall larkspurs,
the glorious delphiniums in all their shaJes of bUie, phlo.\i.s,
hollyhocks
toweling aloft,
queenly lilies,
the red lychnis,
and m a n y
another stately
blossom may rise
as the b a c k'-
ground to things
of smaller growth
which fill so well
that attractive
feature in a
garden — the
well - managed
border, formed
by one who has
every season in
mind. In such
beautiful garden
age the lovers of
the formal stvle
and those who
cling to what is
natural may
meet upon com-
mon ground, for
they are, or
sliould be, one
'n their love of
flowers, and the
t r i m m e s t a r -
rangement will
be the m ore
beautiful if it
welcome those
haidy flowers
which are ra-
diant from spring
all through the
summer until the
fall of the year.
1 he pictmes of
such beds at
Bur e Hiil, as
illustrated with
this Introduction,
and again at
Munstead Wood,
have suggestions of beauty that will surely fructify practically
in the gardens of many.

Let us turn now to some other distinctive featiu'es cf the
greater gardens, which nevertheless are interesting, attractive,
and suggestive for those less dignified. Such are stately
columns commemorative of famous men, or like that which
rises at Wilton — a Corinthian pier, with a goddess in lea J
as its topmost adornment. SlicIi are the stately avenues
associated with the style of Le Notre, e.xemplified in the
triple radiating avenues at Hampton Court, and the great
avenue through Bushey Park. Here we find the long canal,
still and beautiful, reflecting in its s Ivery surface the mighty
trees that rise on either hand. One of the magnificent
canals at Hampton CoLut is illustrated here, and is as fine

LILY-LINED PERGOLA.

an example as we could wish of gardening in the stately style.
Such work, it is true, belongs to the park, rather than to the
garden proper, but it has come to us from a time when the
spirit of the garden was extended into the landscape beyond.
A stone-margined water at Albury is also depicted, rich in its
water-lili s, in order to suggest how glorious are the
opp:)rtimities offered to those who can work in the sta ely
manner of the grand style of gardening. Magnificence is also
in the splendid " b'mperor's Walk " at Grimston Paik. It is
found in the fine pond with its flanking yews at Sedgwick
Park, known as the "White Sea" and the " Fortificat ons."
Could we wish anything fi er than the n ible Drag )n
Fountain at Broclcenhurst I'ark, begemmed with lilies,

we 1 1 m a r g i n e d
with masonry,
a d 0 r n e d w i t h
urns, fiink-ed
with superb
hedges, and with
a splendid double
stairway leading
up to the stately
gard n beyond .''
The stateliness
which has been
alluded to does
not imply re-
moteness. It
may have t'le
fine and simple
c'laracters de-
picted at High-
nam and else-
where. It may
even be brought
into modest
gardens, to invest
them with some
character of
dignity. And yet
dignity is not
perhaps w hat
most p e o p I s
seek in gardens
— a r e m a r k'
which brings us
back to a : eflec-
t i 0 n already
made, that the
g,u\ien, lik'e thi
house, is the e.\-
;-ression of him
who possesses it^
Abundant are
the illustrations
in these pages ( f
the many forms
and features
which may make
gardens attrac-
tive.

The avenue,

wliich may be described as the leading feature of a stat.-ly
garden, conducts us out from the house to the neiihbourin i
country, and thus we are led to speak of t'ue l.uidscane
character of gardens. It was an old fancy that tlie formal
features of the parierres neighbouring the house might
give place, as one withdrew, to more of natural cbaracter,
until at length nothing of the aitificial remained. That is an
idea which may commend itself to many. There is much to
be said fo,- it, and an examination of the pic ures incluJed in
this volume will disclose how success.ully the plan has been
applird. At least of this we may be sure, that no rigid line
necessarily divides the geometrical or formal gardens from the
landscape features that lie beyond.

How sweet and beautiful a landscape garden may be made

XXXVlll.

GARDV.NS OLD AND NEIV.

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IKIRODUCTION,

XXXIX.

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GARDENS OLD AND NhlV,

we see in the illustration of the lalce in the hnllow at Pain's
Hill. Here it is difficult to suspect the presence of the hand
of Art, which, as Wordsworth said in another connection, has,
indeed, worl<ed in the very spirit of Nature. It is delightful to
walk in the woods and by the streams at Aldenham House.
Let it not be forgotten that the well-managed wood, with its
varied trees, its rliod.,'dendrons, azaleas, and perl'aps its lilies,
certainly its gorgeously-hued fungi in the atitumn, may be a
veritable masterpiece. We may look over a fine landscape
garden at Prior Park, Bath, or \\'anJer among pleasant ways
in the gardens and woods at Wollaton, Nottingliam, or seek
the solace of rock gardens by woodland paths lilce that
illustrated at Hartwell House. There are landscape features
at Guy's Cliff, as we wander by the flower-bordered Avon,
and in many anotlier place. Chatsworth is an illustration of how
stately grandeur may lie in the midst of a superb landscape,
and compose a garden picture wholly satisfying to the eve.

historically until it :'SSLimed the particular forms in which it
exists to-day. We have seen what were the *orm and leatures
of gardens in the old times, an J what views have been
entertained as to the character they ^houl.i possess. We saw
that the old garden was distinguished by the spirit of enclosure,
and we have considered in what way the enclosure was made.
We have discovered that the enclo,-ed garden, possessing
formality in a greater or less degree, was the garden of the
old Englishman. Then we observed how the changing taste
of successive generations modified th; conceptio.i of the garden
plan. The spirit of seclusion had been broken down, and men
had learned to look around them to the world at large. Hence,
in course of time, we saw how the ne^v spirit came in,
which, rejecting the older inspiration, thought it right to take
Nature in an intimate sense into the garden plan. We were
able to recognise that there were absurdities and extrava-
gances on the one side and the other, and that the landscape

A PAVED VMLK AT HARTWELL HOUSE.

It may be observed tliat fine trees and water, with a
graceful contour of the land, are the main features to be
sought in the open ground. With these some objects mtist be
combined ; else would the landscape garden scarcely be a
garden at all. Where there is water, there may well be a
bridge, and we see with what success the Palladian style is
applied in the bridges which adorn the gardens of Wilton House
and Prior Park. There is a famous classic bridge of three
arches spanning the Derwent at Chatsworth, wliich Caius
Gabriel Cihber (the father of Colley Gibber) adorned with
statues, and we illustrate here an excellent example of a fine
balustraded bridge, picturesquely placed in relation to a
waterfall, at Kedleston. A not less admirable and beauti'ul
example exists at Amesbury Abbey.

This Introduction has now surveyed, in a b/oad sense, the
whole world of gardening. It has described, without entering
into too much detail, the broad character of the garden

gardener went to excesses as great as ever his predecessor'
had perpetrated. Then we saw how a recoil resu ted from
the baldness of the mere landscape garden, and how once
again the taste of the garden-maker accepted in various forms
the older plan. Then we recognised how glorious have become
the opportiw.ilies offered in the marvellous beauties of the flower
world to the gardener of these days. The true lesson to be
drawn from the survey is one cf ec ecticism in selec.ion cor-
bmed with order in plai. Nothing that the garden designer and
the garden lover can give should be rejected, whe her it be in
architectural adornment, in the orderly arrangement of tree-- a d
bushes, or in the wealth of flowers which modern times have so
marvellously multiplied. The relationship of the garden to the
hou.^e is the one essential to be borne in mind, and he who
would make a beautiful and a tweet garden must regard as his
best achievement a right interpretation of the relation which
exists between his garden and the dwelling-place it adorns.

INTRODUCTION.

xli.

xlii.

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

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INTRODUCTION.

xliii.

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GARDENS OLD AND NbW.

The pictures
in tliis volume
aretiie best help
to such inter-
pretati'on. ' Tlie
fitting character
of garden things,
be they .in
harmony o r
contrast, is found
in them. It may
be seen arclii-
tecturally in the
water gate at
Holland House,
in stately garden
fashion in the
long walk- be-
neath the cedar
and b e t w e e n
the hedges
at Stoke Park,
Slough, and in
the fine fountain
and dainty
arrangements at
Hewell Grange,
Redditch, and
again in the

wealth of floral charm and the sweetness of landscape
association at Pain's Hill. These are but examples of many
things suggested by these pages. An examination of them
should fascinate, while a diligent consideration of the
features and dispositions they disclose must be a liberal

THE

DUTCH GAR

education in
the gardening
art. There is
endless satis-
f action in beau-
tifying a house
in its garden
environment.

This has
been an occu-
pation which
has engrossed
the attention or
formed the diver-
sion of many
distinguished
men. As all art
is but a vehicle
of expression,
so they have
sought, in this
verdant form of
it, to manifest
their taste for
the delight of
their friends and
the satisfaction
of themselves.
They have
seemed to be in some world of enchantment where ever
new vistas and other opportunities opened to thein. Those
who in these days are attracted to the work of garden
creation or adornment will find both example and encourage-
ment in these pages.

DEN, PAIN'S HILL,

■^ ^ r,a ^ ''

?V_<»

THB ROSERY, PAIN'S HILL.

INTRODUCTION.

xli.

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To enter an old Scottish garden — characteristic intro-
duction to a garden survey — is to penetrate a world
of rare and individual charm, where even the green
things that grow in orderly ranl<s reveal much of
history. The ancient hostility between England and
the Scots, by force of nature, as it were, had thrown our
northern kinsmen into close sympathy with France ; and when
Alary came to the Scottish crown, she brought with her some-
thing of the spirit of another land. Tiie refinements of the
Renaissance and some of the hghter graces of the South
began thereafter to be grafted on the sturdy character of the
dwellings of her opulent subjects. The rugged grandeur of
the castles of the old Scottish thanes, which crowned many a
dizzy height and lifted their embattlements above rocky preci-
pices, whence their warlike inhabitants had looked out over the
lower country, as eagles from their eyries, took on something
of the charm of houses in gentler climes. Those tourelles on
the chieftain's fortress bespoke plainlv some kinship with

the chateaux of France, and those who know Mr. Billings's
wonderful work on the castellated and ecclesiastical architec-
ture of Scotland will be aware how imposing is the character
and how beautiful the detail that resulted from, the combination
of styles.

As with the house, so with the garden. The well-hedged
enclosure, the straight paths between yew and juniper, the
formal parterres, and the classic stonework of these noble
pleasaunces, still breathe the spirit of the South, and in a few
chosen places, as on the terraces at Drummond Castle, where
tender blooms flourish, one may now almost fancy one's self in
some garden of sunny Italy, where stately stairways, by terraces
fragrant with the blossoms of oranges, shadowed by the tall
spires of cypresses, and adorned with busts and antique
urns, lead up to white palazzo walls out in the full light of
the sun.

The Scottish garden-maker had an advantage which the
lover of the terrace will not overlook. In Eni/Jand the fighting

THE OLD CASTLE AND THE NEW.

GARDENS OLD AND NFW.

THE THIRD TERRACE, EAST,

'DRUMMOU^D CASTLE.

baron, as many influences made for greater peace in tine land,
iiad been tempted down from tlie iieight wiiere his castle
frowned into tlie more delectable life of the wide valleys and
plains. His descendants might love the pleached alley, the
shadowed bower, and the terrace ; but in many cases the
opportunities for the latter were denied them. In Scotland,
however, the castle on the hill remained a place of power far
later than in England, and, when the new spirit came in, the
materials for fine effects lay on the slopes below ready to the
garden designer's hand. Drummond Castle is a typical
example of a situation in which the natural character of ihe
rock has enabled three terraces to be formed upon the steep,
with a splendid character of architecture and fine gardenage ;
and the garden is most worthy of special notice, and of
unstinted admiration, because, though the thunders of civil
broil and strife have passed over it, thougii attainder has
shorn its old inhabitants of what they loved — lost in the

at Stobhall, and whose descendants, as Earls of Perth,
possessed it for some 250 years, followed by long forfeiture.

The seventeenth century garden at Drummond Castle
was laid out chiefly by John Drummond, second Earl of Perth.
To him we attribute many beauties of the steep, improved
since his time, with its glorious stairways, and chiefly the
formal garden below, with its flower-beds rich in colour as a
Persian carpet in the summer, and beautiful with evergreens
in the winter, beds set off and relieved by box and yew
hedges, cut and trained in quaint fashion, and by fine
cypresses and rare conifers. About the year 1630 this noble-
man was actively engaged in improving his estates and laying
out the grounds. He succeeded to the title in 161 1, and died
in 1662. Douglas, in his " Peerage of Scotland," says of him
that " he was a nobleman of learning, probity, and integrity,
of unshaken loyalty to the King, benevolent to his friends,
prudent and economical in the management of his affairs, and

THE PLANNED GAPCEN FROM THE TERRACE.

passion and zeal for a cause forlorn— though modern inlluences
have threatened it, it still remains steadfast to the character
of its seventeenth century origin, and still maintains the
traditions of that age unmarred, with m;my an addition to its
beauties, but not one to break the spell.

It is accordingly an appropriate thing to devote some
little space to the history of Drummond Castle and its former
possessors, before describing the character of its gardens.
Sir Malcolm Drummond, successor of many of the name, an
adherent of King Robert 1., fought at Bannockburn, and for
good and faithful service received a grant of land in Perth-
shire. Another Malcolm Drummond was at Otterburn,
concerning which famous fight Sir Philip Sidney said that he
never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas but he found
his heart moved more than with a trumpet. It was the first
Lord Drurnmond who, about the year 1491, built the castle
in Strathearn, on removing from the former seat of his family,

just in all his dealings." Here must a tribute of admiration be
given to the taste and judgment of the second Earl of Perth,
who was instrumental in forming the garden, which remains as
a fine exemplar of his time. Like all his descendants, he was
a strong upholder of the Stuarts, and in 1641 he joined the
association on behalf of Charles at Cumbernauld, and later on
was fined, with his son, Lord Drummond, in the sum of ^5,000.
This son, afterwards the third tarl, was tdken prisoner at
Philiphaugh in 1645, when Leslie defeated Montrose.

James, the fouith Earl, Lord Chancellor of Scoch nd, a
strong adherent of James 11., resigning his estates and offices,
was allowed to depart to France, and died at St. Germains in
1716, having received from King James the titular title of
Duke of Perth. His son was with James in the expedition to
Ireland, and took part in the rebellion of 171 5, afterwards
being attainted, upon which the titles of Eail of Perth and
Baron Drummond became dormant. The Scottish estates

n,^ikni-Ns OLD and new.

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Gardens old and neiv.

vere saved, having already been assigned to tlie Earl's son
lames. This sturdy descendant was also a Jacobite, and in
he rebellion of 1745 was in high command at Preston,
Carlisle, Stirling, and Culloden. His estates remained
orfeited until 1784, when, under an Act of Parliament, another
Limes Drummond of the same house, descended from
lohn Earl of Melfort, obtained possession, and was created
.ord Perth and Baron Drummond. At his death, however,
he titles became extinct, and the estate passed to his daughter
Clementina, who married the Hon. Peter Robert Burrell,
fterwards Lord Gwdyr, and later on Lord Willoughby de
iresby in right of his mother. On the death of their son. Lord
Viiioughby, the estates devolved upon their elder daughter
Clementina, Lady Aveland, Baroness Willoughby de Eresby in
ler own right, mother of the present Earl of Ancaster, who
/as raised to the latter dignity in 1892.

Drummond Castle is approached from Crieff by crossing
lie River Earn, and following the Muthill Road, which for the
rst three-quarters of a mile is a noble avenue of great beech
rees, with a few chestnuts and limes, and then for the rest
f the way becomes a splendid lime avenue. A great gale in
Jovember, 1893, wrought vast havoc among these trees, and
Iso in the castle avenue, as well as in the park, many
plendid trees
aving then
e e n 0 v e r-
hrou'n ; but
u d i c i 0 u s
■lanting is
ow filling
he gaps. By
high and
lassive gate
f elaborate
/ 0 r k' m a n -
hip, said to
le old Italian,
he castle
venue is
ntered, and
5 certainly a
1 e I i g h t f u I
V a y to
raverse. It
5 narrow, and
las scarcely
00m for two
arriages to
)ass — there
re, indeed,
i d i n g s at
undry points

0 enable this to be done — and it is lined on each side by great
)eech and other trees, which in most places over-arch the way,
0 that it forms a sort of tunnel of green, and has much charm
n its undulaiing character, rising and falling as we go all the
vay in a itraight !ine for a mile and a quarter. The trees are
if enormous size, and form a fitting opening to the romantic
egions of this princely demesne. The modern castle is of
[0 .'d character, but of somewhat plain construction. Passing
hrough an archway into an exterior court, and thence by
mother porch under the ancient fabric into the interior court,
ve find the newer structure on the east side. Both buildings
nay be seen in one of the pictures. We may enter the
ormidable dungeon, with its ancient gate and guard-room
ntact, and ascend the stair to the balcony to survey the land-
iCapc below. It is a prospect of fertile Strathearn, with many
ordly mansi jns, stretching away to Invermay and Duncrub,
vhile westward are "Glenartney's hazel shade" and the pine-
:overed height of Turlum, from which the prospect is still more
nagnificent. To the north lie wooded and broken slopes,
eading to the shores of an artificial lake, with much forest
;cenery, and the Grampians close in the prospect. Drummond
3astle — the old structure — was well battered by Cromwell,
.t was strengthened and garrisoneJ by Royal tr>.ops in 1715 ;
3ut lest it should ever fall again into the hands of enemies of

THH FOUNTAIN IN tHE EAST COURT.

the Stuarts, Lady Jean Gordon, titular Duchess of Perth, in a
spirit worthy of Sparta, caused the greater part of its walls to
be levelled to the foundations during the rising of 1745. The
square tower was built on the old lines and remains to tell
the tale, and its chambers are used as an armoury and picture
gallery. There are portraits of Charles I. and Charles 11., of
A\aitland of Lethington, of Montrose and Claverhouse, with
many family pictures, and the robes of the first Lord
Drummond, who built the castle. It goes without saying that
the internal plenishings of such an abode are befitting its
ancient character.

The garden lies below the castle wall, and has many
special elements seeming to belong appropriately to Scottish
gardens. The second Earl of Perth h.id already made his
garden when John Reid, gardener to Sir George Mackenzie of
Rosehaugh, Aberdeen, produced, in 1633, " The Scots
Gard'ner," in which he indicates something of the character
that was then found in the nort ern gardens, though in few
places with the magnificence attained at D ummond Castle.
He says that the pleasure grounds of his time were usually
divided into walks and plots, with a " bordure " round each
plot, and at the corner of each might be a holly or some such
bush trained up in pyramidal form, or approaching the

spherical,
"the trees
and shrubs at
the wall well
p 1 y e d a d
pruned, the
greens there-
0 n cut in
several
figures, the
walks laid
with gravel,
and the plots
within v/ith
grass (in
several places
v/hereof miy
be flower-
plots), the
bordures
boxed and
planted with
a variety of
fine flowers,
orderly
i n t e r m i X t ,
weeded,
m 0 w ' d ,
rolled, and

kept all clean and handsome." In the lower garden of Drummond
Castle this character is found, but it is associated with the mag-
nificent terracing, exceeding the dreams of m idest John Reik
The castle looks down upon the beautiful old-fashioned
pleasaunce, which we may now approach by this noble series
of terraces formed in the cliff itself, the descent being by
stately stairways. Tender things flourish here which do
not usually look kindly upon northern skies. TropjEolum
speciosum flowered on this southern slope in the open air for
the first time in Scotland ; Citrus decumana fruits freely ; and
the Agave americana flourishes. In the summer of 1832 one
of the latter plants reached a height of 23ft., and in 1S51 of
nearly 30ft. There is a very happy conjuncture of flowers in
the garden with the varied hues of evergreens, though these
predominate, thus making winter beautiful at Drummond
Castle. This radiant garden lies some 30ft. or 40ft. below
the southern part of the castle rock, and, in an oblong
shape, it covers some ten acres. They are acres of singular
beauty when surveyed from any one of those three grand
architectural terraces, and the plan of the garden is curious,
original, and distinctive. It takes the form of a St. Andrew's
Cross, in the midst of which rises a splendid multiplex sundial,
erected for the second Earl of Perth by John A\ylne, his
architect, in 1630. Two broad grass walks cross one anothe'r

"DKUMMO^n CASTLE.

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

at this point, running severally from north-west to south-east,

and from south-west to north-east. These walks of fine turf

may be described as " bars " of the cross, and are so in fact

in the desion, as may be seen in our pictures. It must be

noticed that, with the e.xception of three of the principal

paths, running north and south, which are gravel, all tlie

others crossing the garden are turf walks. One of the grave!

ways passes through the centre of the garden, and on eacii of the

four sides the enclosed space is encomp.rssed by gravel paths.
The whole area is divided into parterres, laid out with

equal taste and judgment, and arranged to show the arms

of Drummond. There are many examples of antique statuary,

and many fine vases selected by the late Lord Wi.loughby

de Eresby, all adding point and character to Wm place,

but nothing perhaps is so attractive as the old sundial with

its muliitudinous faces.

Although flowers are

in abundance, the great

number of green things

is noticeable, and gives

a subdued aspect to the

garden plan. Most, if

not all, the garden

sculpture is Italian, and

some of the examples

are very fine. It will

be seen f i- o m the

pictures that many

sentinel yews flank the

pathways. They are

of beaut ifLil and varied

hue, and the junipers,

hollies, firs, and box

edgings are quite
characteristic, while the
terrace walls are
co\'ered with beautiful
creepers. The yew
hedges at each end of

the terrace, which run
from top to bottom of
the slope, and form a
division or termination,
as it were, of the
terrace proper, are a
very notable feature.

The c h arms of
Drummond Castle by
no means en^ with the
garden, however. At
the top of the broad
avenue is the park, and
the " policies," as tire
e.xtensive grounds are
called, are very attrac-
rive indeed. They
cover 511 acres, and
are rich in magnificent
specimens of all our
ordinary trees. The
Broad Oak aroused the enthusiasm of the poet of httrick
Forest. The largest of the Drummond Castle oaks, how-
ever, is on the south side, near the burn, and has a girth
of 14ft. Sin. at a height of ift. above the ground. Two
other noble oaks, with a grand spread of leafage, have a
girth uf 13ft. 4in. and of icfc loin. respectively. Another
magnificent specim n is by the .Mde of the walk which circles
round to Xht sou h of the gardens, and measures 14ft 4in. at
a height 0' ift. above the ground. Very picturesque a so is
a peculiar gnarled oak near the burn on the east side of the
castle. The ash trees are more splendid even than the oaks,
and at least one specimen has a girth of 22ft. But the beech
trees are the m narchs of ihe place, lifting their grey columnar
trunks to a mighty altitude, with a noble crest of leafage.
One colossal specimen is on the east side of the broad avenue
CO the south of the garden, and has a girth of 29ft. at ilt.

LENGTHENING SHADOWS ON THE GARDEN WALK.

from the ground, and of i6l't. at 5ft. Th.e extreme height is
71ft., and the spread of branches 105ft. It would be tedious,
however, to describe all the grand trees -A Drummcnd Castle.
A beautiful purple beech, planted by Queen Victoria on her visit
in 1842, attracts much attention, and has a girth of about 5fL.
Some lime trees standing adjacent are also ot conspicuous size
and beauty, and the Spanish chestnuts and silver firs are very
fine. Three noble specimens of the latter are along the side 0'
the walk from the garden, the largest of them having a gi.th
of 23ft. gin. at ift. from the ground, and of 17. t gin. at 5ft.
There are beautiful specimens of araucaria ant of Wellingtonia
gigantea, some of the latter having a girth of 12ft. The dee ,^
rich soil is conducive to the perfection of growth in toresl
trees. The plantations are almost as interesting as the
"policies," and are distinguished by great numbers ol

splendid Scotch firs,
some of them
being roble in.'.ividua'.
specimens. The total
extent under wood is
3 953 acres, including
the 511 acres of the
park, and firs, larches,
and other c iniferous
tr.es flourish wonde'-
fully. IVlost interesting
is the wooded height
of Turlum, which cor-
mandi the magnificent
view which has been
described. At the base
are dark Scotch firs,
now rather thin, then
spruce firs, and larches
to the top. Here the
golden eagle has found
a home, and the country
is rich in wild birds
The far-famed
Trossachs also for n
part of the Drummond
Castle property, which
is one of the most
magnificent estates in
Scot and.

A great deal of
planting has taken
place within recent
years, iriuch, h wever,
having been done at an
earlier time by the
third and fourth Earls
of Perth. The work
wmt on between 1785
and 1800 with great
vigour, and then it
wjs that Turlum was
planted, and the great
pond made. The
value and the beauty

of the t state have been greatly increased through the care and
attention devoted to it, and the art of the landscape g rdener,
combined with the natural advantages of the situation, has
contributed to make it an ideal country home.

The total area is upwards of 10,000 acre? of arable and
62,000 acres of hill and plantation. The estat ■ includes the
parish of Muthill, large portions of Comrie and Callander, and
portions of Crieff and Monzieviard. Within its bounds are
tome of he fin st portions of Pertlishire, and in hill and dale,
wood and meadow, terrace and garden, it stands very high
indeed among the great estates in Scotland. Lady Willoughby
de Eresby, who died in 1888, effected immense improve . ents,
spending ^45,000 on farm buildings, additions, and alterations.
Upwards of 160 miles of fencing was put up, at a cost of
^16,000, and more than ^8,000 was spent in drainage, and the
present possessor has continued the same enlightened policy.

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1

N a very intereiting pait of
Yorkshire, within a mile and
a-half of the ancient town
of Tadcaster, wlierethe RDman station of Caicaria commanded
the chief and lowest passage of tlie Wharfe, and wliere the
second, fifth, and eighth "iters" crossed tlie river on tlieir
way to York, and within a siiort distance also off mous Towton
Field, standi this very characteristic and att active c'assic
mansion, which the late Mr. John Fielden bough , with all its
domain and its superb garden, from the Earl of Londesborough,
for the sum of ^240,000. Tlie country tliereabout is very
interesting, for you breathe history when you live there,
although it is not in itself strik'ingly picturesque. Yet it has
in it much of the rural beauty of England, if not the rare
charm that is found in many parts of Yorkshire, and the broad
stream of the Wh u'fe which bounds Grimston Park on the
north-east is ever an attraction, while the neighbourhood is

both pleasantly varied and well wooded, vvith a deep and
fruitful soil.

There was an old house here, the property of Lord
Howden, who, in the year 1840, restored and practically
re-edified it, with the help of D^cimus Burton, the well-known
architect. The stone was obtained from the Tadcaster beds,
this being a district famous for its stone. Indeed, from thi
neighbouring quarries near Hazel -vooJ Hall the materials for a
great part of York' Minster were obtained through the ancient
family of Vavasour, and it was doubtless from the magnesian
limestone of the district that the Romans built the structures
of ancient Caicaria.

The classic grace of the house of Grimston, with its long
Ionic portico or loggia, and the verandah above, giving
protection from the southern sun, suggests a spirit derived
from southern climes, yet very welcome in these. It is a
perfectly satisfactory piece of domestic architecture in the

THE WESTERN GARDEN.

10

GARDENS OLD AND NHIK

classic style,
and the raised
verandah was
specially
arranged to
give an out-
look over the
garden. The
presence of
marble vases
and urns, and
of gleaming
statuary,
contributes to
the effect.
U e c i m u s
Burton, Lord
H 0 \v d e n ' s
architect, as
isvvell known,
carried out
tlie improve-
m e n t s at
Hyde Park in
1825, and
designed the
facade at
Hyde Park

Corner, and the triumphal arch. He intended to place upon the
latter a quadriga, but the authorities lifted aloft that strange
equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, now remo\'ed,
which is said to have provoked from a French officer the
exclamation, " Nous soinmcs venges," and was always a
vexation to the architect. Burton was a master of the classic
style, and at Grimston Park applied it very successfully to
domestic architectLU'e. The gardens were laid out by Mr. W.
A. Nesfleld, a",d were ornamented with marble statuary and
vases to adorn ilie long walks and the terraces. It has long
been a custom for the gods and goddesses of antiquity to
display their manly strengtlr and womanly beauty in English
gardens, and several well-known figures after Canova and
other artists may be seen in our pictures. In the great
Emperors' Walk', twelve marble busts of the Cssars, upon
tall pedestals, with sombre yews, flank the way to a temple,
wherein a large bust of the great Napoleon, the modern
Csesar, stands. The arrangement may be compared with that
at Brokenhurst Park in Hamjishire, which is also, but in a

THE FLORAL lERRACE.

different
ma n n e r ,
adorned with
the busts of
the CsEsars.
Nesfield, the
gardener, was
a remarkable
man, who,
after fighting
his country's
battles as a
subaltern of
the 95th in
the Peninsula
and Canada,
became an
artist and an
excellent ex-
ponent of the
old water-
colour school,
and then
turned his
attention to
landscape
and classic
gardening,

and did excellent work at St. James's Park, Kew Gardens,
Arundel, Trentham, Alnwick', and other great places, Grimston
Park being a good example of his style.

The place was bought, with the manor of Selby and the
domains of Londesborough, by the first Londesborough. This
peer was the second surviving son of the first Marquess of
Conyngham, and took the name of Denison under the will of
his maternal uncle, who bequeathed to him immense wealth.
Altogether, Lord Londesborough possessed upwards of 60,000
acres in Yorkshire, and was well known on the Turf, although
his horses were not very successful in the great events. He
was a piominent Yorkshireman, an enthusiastic antiquary,
vice president of the Arch^ological Institute, and president
of the Numismatic Society. His Lordship added much to the
interest of Grimston Park. When he purchased the mansion
he also became the owner of a remarkable collection of
armour and ancient art work, which was described and
beautifully illustrated in a volume entitled " Miscellanea
Graphica," by Mr. F. W. Fair olt, the antiquary. Ladv

I HE ENTRANCE GATES.

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G%IMS-JOU^ PARK.

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G/IRDENS OLD AND NEW.

Londesborough's great collection of rings has also been
described in a privately printed volume edited by Mr. Crofton
Croker.

Lord Londesborough died in i860, and the fine church of
St. John Baptist, at Kirkby Wharfe, in which parish Grimston
lies, possessing many Norman portions, was restored in the
following year in his memory. He was succeeded by his son,
tlie present peer, who was elevated to an Earldom, but the
estate was sold in 1872 to the late Mr. John Fielden of
Dobroyd Castle, near Todmorden, on the borders of Lancashire
and Yorkshire, and Mr. Fielden maintained the place in
perfection, and added somewhat to its attractions. He
died in 1893, and the chancel of Kirkby Wharfe Church
was restored in memory of him. His immediate successor
in the estate, Mr. Thomas Fielden, D.L., J. P., M.P., died
in 1897.

There is a richly wooded park of about 800 acres, including
the home farm, and the estate embraces the township of
Grimston and the parish of Kirkby Wharfe. The park is

where is a large conservatory of stone, there is an
attractive garden rich in tloral beauty and embowered in
greenery. Here is a contrast to the more open outlook
on the south, and there are classic garden adornments
which will be seen in one of our pictures. It is almost
unnecessary to insist upon the excellence of the garden
stonework, for here, truly, the architect has worked hand
in hand with the gardener. There may be different
opinions as to the merits of white marble statuary
under English skies, but there can be no disagreement
as to the beauty of that which adorns Grimston Park, and
which has been very slcilfully disposed for contrast and
effect.

The gateway of the eastern garden will be noticed also.
Here we see how the craftsman in metals has lent his aid, and
it will be recognised that in the cliiiging ivy and cool grey stone
an excellent effect is produced. The skill of the ironworker
will be observed also in the great entrance gates, which are
very imposing and eminently satisfactory in their architectural

THE EAST GARDEN GATES.

dignified by the presence of many noble trees, including
a fine group of sycamores, four of which are remark-
able for having been planted within the space of one
square yard ; nevertheless, they have now grown to
the height of looft. The most striking feature in the
garden is the imposing Emperors' Walk, which has been
alluded to, and has rich ornamental trees for its near
neighbours.

The garden on the south side presents a formal
arrangement, with regular beds and rounded bushes,
and the expanse is enriched by the presence of a number
of admirably sculptured vases and urns in marble, as well
as by several choice modern statues. A long walk extends
parallel to the house, and the garden is terminated by a
fine balustrade with a semi-circular extension towards the
park, over which, like the house itself, it commands a wide
and pleasing view. It will be remarked that the splendid
trees which close the prospect to the east add great dignity
and character to the place. On the western side also.

character. There is thus at Grimston Park' a union of
structural merit and girdening sk'ill, with particu'arly happy
result.

It has been mentioned that Towton Field lies not far away,
and it would be unpardonable to describe Grimston without an
allusion to the great Palm Sunday battle in which the red rose
of Lancaster was shadowed by an immense disaster, and
wherein probably 30,000 good Englishmen fell, so desperate
and hard-contested was the fray. Hall says that the battle
was "sore fought, for hope of life was set on every part,"
though the hope was dashed for too many 0,1 that sanguinary
day.

The Earl of Northumberland, Lord Dacre, and many
nobles and knights were killed, and from that field the
Earls of Devon and Wiltshire were dragged for beheadal,
and their heads placed upon Micklegate Bar at York in
place of that of Edward's father, which had been set up
with a paper crown " that York might overlook the town
of York."

O^IIMSTOS^ PARK.

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MR. K. J. MORANT

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by its

HERE are grand characteristics in tlie immediate
surroundings of tliis beautiful Hampsliire liouse in
tlie stately form of tlie long hedges of ilex and yew,
the sequestered alleys between those walls of green,
the truly imperial aspect of the great court, dignified

busts of the Ccesars, the noble descent to tlie long

THE WESTERN ENTRANCE TO THE DRAGON FOUNTAIN.

water begemmed with lilies — all these possess'ng an inJi-
viJuality quite the r oa n. They are gardens lying in an
historic region of England, and so much of magnificent
woodland is hereabout that we cannot forget that here was
the great New Forest of the Norman kings — the forest in
which the Red King fell. Time was when the vill.ige of

Brokenliurst was almost in ihe
centre of the forest, but it is
now only a border village, con-
sisting of one long straggling
street, and possessing a church
with some Norman portions
which carry us back to the
earliest forest days. Mr. John
R. Wise, who wrote a notable
book upon the New Forest,
made the truthful remark th.it,
if the church had been some-
what disfigured, the approach
to it remained in all its beauty.
" For a piece of quite English
scenery nothing can exceed
this. A deep lane, its banks
a garden of ferns, its hedge
matted with honeysuckle and
woven together with bryony,
runs winding along a sid; space
of green to the gate, guarded by
an enormous oak, its limbs now
fas: decaying, its rough bark
grey with the perpetual snow
of lichens, and here and there
burnished with soft streaks of
russet-coloured moss, whilst
behind it in the churchyard
spreads the gloom of a yew,
which, from the Conqueror's
day to this hour, has darkened
the graves of generations."
These, indeed, are old patrician
trees, mighty in their girth and
dignified in their antiquity.
The oak, covered with ivy,
has a circumference of 2ift.,
while the enormous hollow
yew measures 17ft. They are
the immediate neighbours of
Brokenhurst Park, which, for
our descriptix'e purpose, they
bring into relation w.th the old
forest of Hampshire.

Having thus glanced at
the forest surroundings of
Brokenhurst Park, let us
approach the mansion itself,
in order to taste the sweetness
of its gardens, noting first,
with excellent Gilpin, that
true lover of the New Forest,
who sleeps in the Boldre
churchyard not far away,
how gracious are the broad

"BROKENHURS-J.

15

THE GOLDEN GATES.

THE BOWLING GREEN WALK.

16

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

features of the outlook. He described the prospect as complete
both in the foreground and the distance. " The former is an
elevated park scene, consisting of a great variety of ground,
well planted, an i descending into the plain below. Among
the trees which adorn it are a few of the most venerable oaks
of the forest, probably of an age long prior to the Conquest.
From this grand foreground is presented an extensive forest
view. It consists of a wide range of flat pasturage garnished
with tufted clumps, and wooded promontories shoiting into it,
contrasted with immense woods, which occupy all ih; rising
grounds above it and circle the horizon. The contrasts between
the open and woody parts of the diitance, and the grandeur of
this park, are in the highest style of picturesque beauty."
How rare is the attraction of this prospect will be realised in
imagination when it is rememb.^red that such is in the foreground
of the garden we illustrate— a garden so sweet, quaint, and
beautiful that the artist loves to d-pict it. The Brokenhur^t
garden, indeed, furnished one of the m;-)St fascinating scenes
in the delightful garden pictures of iWr.G. S. ElgooJ, R.l.

sixteenth Earl of Erroll, and was the father of the late Mr John
Morant, who died a few years ago, having been Hi^h Sheriff
of Hampshire in 1869. The present possessor is the Litter
gentleman's son.

We may well imagine with what delight the-e successive
squires of Hampshire have surveyed and beautified their great
possession. It was a master hand that worked in the creation
of these gardens, directed by a mind which had imbibed the
classic spirit of Italy. The late Mr. John Morant of Brolcen-
hurst, who formed them, was, indeed, a man of great and
discriminating taste, and many of the trees and bushes, which
are so splendid a feature of the place, were planted by him
within the last thirty years. Thus this Hampshire pleasaunce
was invested with some of the charm that belonged to th.e
great gardens of the southern land. The long pathways
between ilex and cypress, the gloom of the solemn green made
radiant in the sunshine, the still ponds and canals reflecting
the gods and heroes of old Rome, the marble stairs leading up
the terraced heights to the walls of an Italian palazzo, seem to

THE DUTCH GARDEN.

The Morants of Brokeihurst Park-, in whose hands this
garden has taken shape and grown, are old d>\e lers i;i the
region of the New Forest. Veracious Burke tells us that they
claim descent from the Moraunts of Morau .t's C':urt, Kt-nt,
who are said to have sprung from the ancimt Ncrman house
of Morant of Chateau A\orant. Soon after the seizure of
Jamaica, in 1655, John Morant settled in the island. To him
succeeded his son John, and to him ano her John, whi h last
gentleman was the fath.r of Mr. Edward Morant, M.P. for
Hindon 1761, Lyminjiton 1776-78, and Yarmouth 1780-84,
who died in 1791. His son succeeded him at Brokenhuist,
and took, like himself, a great interest in the condition
of the New Forest, and resisted what he regarded as
the unwise measures of the Government in an attempt to
regulate it. Mr. John Morant died in 1784, leaving an infant
son of the same name to succeed to the estate. At this
time Brokenhurst House was temporarily the residence of Mr.
Theophilus Fculks ; but in due time the heir entered into his
own, becoming a man of note in th? county, a J. P. and D.L.,
and High Sheriff in 1820. He married a daughter of the

have their English counterparts in this truly imperial garden,
1 here is a richriess and beauty of detail and effect that is
perl'.aps imr. vailed in the land e.\cept in very few places
indeed. Let us note the singular beauty and sequestered calm
of the long walks between those lofty walls of ilex, the vista
ended b}' some ant'que bust or fijure. Think' of the delight of
entering that august pie isaunce through the golden gate. Mark
the rare loveKness of the green court, with tho-e admirable
statues flar.ld g the way to the place where the old medlar
tree extends its arms over the seat in the shade.

Wherever we go there is something that well deserves to
be called imperial. Look at the canal, with is water plants,
leading away from the mansion to the splendid steps to the
Dragon Fountain at the further end. It is worthy to be
compared with any marble-lined canal, perhaps flanked with
lofty arcades of yew and crested with g'ojes, pyramids, or
crowns, in any garden of Italy. No marble enframes the water
at Brokenhurst, but there is someihing truly English in the
work in brick and stone. The moulding of the margin is
excellent indeed, and the fountain playing like an inconstant

ZliOKUNIlUIiST.

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THE BOWLING GREEN AND MEDLAR.

'IHE EASTERN SIDE OF THE COURT.

"BROKF.NHURSf.

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sprite, the amorini on their pedestals, and the flowering
standard trees in their qujint pots along the way, with the
bushes of yew trimmed to shape by ihe deft hand of the
topiary gardener, are a right introduction to the double flight
of steps beyond. At every corner and break there is a vase
or urn nchly carved, each of these sometliing of a masterpiece
in its way, while all about are the coniferous trees so
characteristic of Hampshire, and an abundance of flowers to
kindle a new charm in the i^hadows

The double asce ,t at the end of the canal is worthy to
compare with that beautiful flight at Cli.ton Hall, Nottingham,

A SIDE WALK.

which has been noted as a marvel of garden architecture, and
it leads to that upper court where the busts of Julius and
Augustus look up.on " regions Caesar never knew," fair as
were the gardens of ancient Rome. Here again is a beautiful
basin, reflecting the enchanting scene, with other amorini by
the fountain, and vases filled with flowers at the margin.
Then, each in his arch, .-tands the bust of a Ccesar enframed
in the greenery, and each one upon a sculptured pedestal. It
is an arcade topped with globes of green, forming a wall and
background to as fair a garden picture as you would wish to
behold. It may be said, indeed, that here is a final expression
of the gardener's art working in the classic style. The

cunning hand of the craflsmm has ?haped these heJoes to the
garden-mak'er's need, and many as are the splendid hedges in
England, there are few quite so characteristic as those at
Brokenhurst. Two great uses may be mnrked in a dailc
hedge of yew or ilex : it gives tiiat character of enclosure that
is necessiry, as most people th'nk, in every good garden, and
it affords shelter from the biting v\ind, thus nurturing the
flowers, to whose radiance it is a foil and background.

'I he pictures are a better description of the Brol<enhurst
garden than any words can be They disclose a pleasaunce
such as few can create tor themselves. Not everyor.e can
emulate the hand that formed such a
masterpiece. Noi everyone can pro-
vide sculpture in vase> and figures so
rich and good. Never have we seen
statuary beiter disposed. There is
a completeness ana harmonious
chiracter in the garden which could
not he excelled. Let us note, as ex-
amples of richness, the cistern-heads
or capitals used as pedestals in the
fountain c urt. There are many of
the kind in England which had their
origin in Italy. The true cistern-heads
belong, man}- of ihem, to the best
period of the Renai^sanee, like the
famous one by Sansovino at San
Sebastiano ; but in many parts of
Italy the capitals of ancient columns
have been converted into flower-pots
or pedestals for statues or sundials,
and ruined temples and monuments
have furnished the materials for
attractive garden features. Thus
we find at Bro enhurst rich Corin-
thian capitals well employed. Mag-
nific:^nt specimens used to be in the
famous Ludovisi garden in Rome,
which was the very garden of
Sallust; but these have be-n scat-
tered or destroyed. Diverted from
their original purpose, such objects
have found another use, and it is
very pleasant to find them as
fea ures in such gardens as those of
Brok'enhurst.

What is the presiding character
to be discovered in tliis Hampshire
garden .'' It is an air of equal dignity
and repose. Design rules the u hole,
and the directing hanci has done all
things well. Wh;re quaintness has
been sought, it nowh,-re tends to exag-
geration, and the pic uresqueness re-
sulting from the presence of curiously
cut trees in columns and balls, of trim
hedges flanking paths and stairways,
is but one part of a picture, and
belongs to the composition of the whole.
There is variety in the contrast of
ilex with yew, and of both with the
ivv-covered wall. The gbssy ilex is
less sombre than the yew, but where
the two are found together tiie effect
is all that one would wish. The orna-
mental trees are admirably placed, and there is never-failing
pleasure in the constant variety of their unfa.ling green. Note,
for example, h jw attractive is Cecil's Walk, with the verdant
archway at the end. Again, how sequestered is the path by
ilie bowling green, with its yews and its grass border, bringing
us thr.iugh an archway into the garden beyond. But it is
unnecessary to describe further what is illustrated so well. Let
us, then, conclude by rendering a tribute of praise to those who
have created one ot the best of the classic gardens of England
The soil was prcpiticus and the site was of the best, but there
was needed a master mind and a master hand, and unstinted
care as well.

TSROKENHURSf.

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BALCARRES,

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EARL or CRAWFORD, v;

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A NOTHER great ^'cottish garden is ihat of the Earl of
/\ Crawford, impressive and grand in its noble terraces
I — * and stau'vvays, magnificent in its hedged enclosures
•* *- and its bo^ gardens, glorious in the splendour of its
floral charms, and from every point of vicw a typical
garden of the North. ^othi^g, amid all its features, is so
impressive as the character of its dense walls of yew, its
shapely trees of the same, and its admirable patterns in box.
Here the hand of the tree and bush cutter has achieved real
triumfhs, without anywhere tending towards extravagance
or grotesque conceit. V\'e are reminded of what is said by
that John Reid who was gardener, more than two centuries
ago, to Sir George Mackenzie, of Rosehaugh, Aberdeen, in his
interesting ''Scots Gard'ner " (1683), where he describes the
character of the gardens of lis tmie. As was said in the
account of Drummond, they were usually divided into v/alks
and plots, with a " bordure ' round each plot — a box border,
we suppose — and at the coiners hollies or oth;r bushes in
pyramidal form, or approaching the spherical. Let us recall
how quaintly he says they should be plyed and pruned,
the greens cut in several figures, the walks laid with gravel,
and the inner spaces v^ith grass. "The bordures boxed
and planted with a variety of fine flowers, orderly intermixt,
weeded, mow'd, rolLd, : nd kept all clean and handsome."
He was speaking of just such a garden as we now
see at Balcarres, though doubtless one wanting its

stately m tgnificence. There is always something interesting
about the gardens of Scotland, and it is pleasant to make
acquaincince with those who formed them. The noblemen
who male Balcarres what it is have had a strange history.
Among them we encounter men who hive lo, ed their gardens
and who have w rked to introduce into Scotland those charms
in which Scottish gardens greatly excel. They have all been
men of distinct o:i, and an account of their hi tory and of
their house and its surroundings will not lack either human
interest or that which we s-. ek in this quest for beautiful gardens
old and new.

The stately seat of the Earl of Crawford is in Fife,
situated upon the sou'hern slope of that county, some three
miles from the sea, dignified by old woods, p ssessing in its
Craig an object, as one writer has sa .1, " worth all that twenty
Browns could do for anv place in con erring romantic beauty,"
and commanding a sup rb view, which embraces nearly the
whole expanse of the Firth of torth, the L'lfhians opposite, the
Bass Rock out at sea, and the Lammermo r Hills, while a
canopy of smoke indicates where Edinburgh lies, twenty miles
away. The Lindsays have long held sway in Fife i nJ all that
country. They have possessed more t^-an twenty great
baronies and lordships, and many lands in Forfar, Perth,
Kincardine, At~erdeen, Inverness, Banff, Lanark, IJumfries,
Kirkcudbright, and Wigton. As Sir Bernard Burl<e says,
their earldom formed a petty principality, an imperiiim in

THE SOUIH FRONT

24

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

imperio. They affected a royal state, held their courts, had
their heralds, and in their old castle of Finhaven kept up a
magnificence that would have befitted a monarch. The Earl
was waited upon by pages of noble birth, trained up under his
eye as aspirants for the honours of chivalry. Thrice did the
head of this great family match immediately with Ihe Royal
house. Its members became distinguished patrons of art and
literature ; ihey were lawyers and statesmen ; and they were
enthusiastic builders, gardeners, and developers of agriculture.
Walter de Lindsay, an Anglo-Norman baron, figured as a
magnate under David Prince of Strathclyde and Cumbria,
before his accession to the throne. William de Lindsay of
Crawford was High Justiciary under William the Lion, and his
three sons founded the houses of Crawford, Lmiberton, and
Luffness, of which the last ultimately succeeded to the repre-
sentation of the family, adhering to Bruce, while the Lindsays
of Lamberton and Crawford supported Baliol. Davids and
Alexanders succeeded one anoth.-r in the Ion" line through

and David, the fifth Earl, raised his family to the greatest
height of its power, was Master of the Household and Lord
Chamberlain, a patron of art, and letters also, who was
created Duke of Montrose— a title to which the Lindsays
have since laid claim.

David, the eighth Earl, who died in 1542, had contributed
to embitter the last days of the Duke, and retribution was
visited upon him by the misdeeds of his own son, the Master
of Crawford, spoken of in Scottish tradition as the " Wicked "
or " Evil Master." In this representative of the great house
was typified all that was worst in his times, and he e.\ceeJed
his compeers in prodigality, recklessness, and crime. Attaching
himself to a band ot ruffians, he seized his fathrr's fortress of
Dunbog, practised the life of a bandit, oppressed the pieople,
tyran ised the clergy, and levied blackmail. His final excess
was in besieging his father at Finhaven Castle, and, being
arraigned for his iniquities, he was adjudged legally guilty or
the crime of parricide, and, though his life was spared, he

PY.v^AMluS OF YEW.

stormy days, until David Lord Lindsay tecame Earl of
Crawford in 139S, his direct descendant, he present twenty-
sixth Earl, being the premier of his rank in the Scotti-h
peerage. In Lord Crawford's book, "Lives of the Lindsays,"
he speaki of the first bearer of the title as "a bright example
of kn ghtly worth." This firjt Earl foujit a oiitrance with
John Lord Welles on London Bridge. It was a valiant
tourney in the lists, and Welles was struck from his saddle
and fell to the ground. Then, dismounted, they fought until
Sir David — not yet an Earl — fastening his dagger in the arms
of his opponent, hurled him to the ground, whereupon, as we
read. King Richard, from his "summer castell," cried out :

" Liud3-ssa3', cousin, good Liudysfaj',
Do furth that thou should do lli'is day."

But the Scottish knight, choosing the way of clemency,

raised his foe from the ground and presented him to the Queen,

" as a gift, wishing, like a true knight, that mercy should

proceed from woman." Davids and Alex.inders stJl succeeded,

forfeited all the titles and honours of his house. Strange was
the way in which the title thereafter passed. The next heir,
David Lindsay of Edzell, whose father had fallen at Flodden,
succeeded as ninth Earl, while the " Wicked Master " perished
in a brawl with a cobbler of Dundee.

Earl David, who was the father of the builder of Balcarres,
was a remarkable man in his time, and his action in regard to
his peerage was peculiar. Taking pity upon the son of the
" Wick'ed Master," he brought him up as his own child,
nourishing indeed an adder in his bosom. His own son. Sir
David, succeeded to the Baron} of Edzell, while his second son,
John, LordMenmuir, was the ancestor of the Earls of Balcarres.
ThroLigh the generosity of Earl David, the Earldom of Crawford
went back to the original line, and David, son of the " Wicked
Master," succeeded as tenth Earl of Crawford. Iniquity
appears to have been deeply rooted in his line, for the twelfth
Earl died a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle in 1621 ; reckless,
prodigal, and desperate, he had alienated his possessions, and

'BALC.'iRRhS.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

reduced his family to the brink- of ruin. Ludovic, tlie last
childless holder of the title in this line, contrived to obtain a
regrant of the title, by wlvch was interpolated between
himse'f and the family of Edzell the whole line of the
Lindsays of the Byres, being the seventeenth to the twenty-
second Earls, of whom the last i led in 1808, after which the
title reverted to those to whom it seemed rightly to befing.

It is now time to go back to tlie sons of the ninth Earl,
whose apparent rights m the Earldom of Crawford had been
diverted. Sir David Lindsay of Edzell and his brother John,
Lord Menmuir, who built Balcarres in 1595, were contrasted
characters. David was the soul of honour, generosity, and
warm affection, and had great taste in architecture and design,

Edzell, from its situation— low and at the foot of the hills-
could e.xhibit nothing picturesque or grand, apart from its own
architectural character and decorations. Lord M.nmuir, in
fi.xing his residence at Balcarres, bequeathed to his descendants
the enjoyment of pure and fresh air, of pro.ximity to the sea,
and a prospect embracing rock- and meadow, island and lake,
river and ocean, well-nigh boundle-s, and for which they have
great reason to bless the merciful Dispenser of all things, who
has cast their ' lines of life ' so pleasantly. And it may be an
aj-eeable refl.-ction to them that, though part of the original
edifice, as built in the Scoto-Flemish Gothic of the si.xteenth
century, has been destroyed in the course of more recent
improvements, the greater part still remains incorporated into

■fHE PLANNED GARDEN OF BOX.

while John was an astute lawyer ai'.d statesman of varied
talents, a linguist, and a practical man of business, but a
fcholar and poet also. 1 he two brothers had, indeed, much in
common, and frequently corresponde.l. Both of them were
great builders and planters, and while the castle of Edzell
developtd under David's h.ands, that of Balcarres had its
0 igin in the ta>te of John. "Ye desire iTie," wrjte David's
ha'.f-brother. Lord Ogilvie, to him, "to bestow some few lines
on you concerning my planting— triily, albeit 1 be the elder, 1
will gif you place as maist skilful therein. Ynur thousand young
birks (birch trees) shall be liglit welcome." "Remember,"
wrote Lord iV\enmuir, "to send me my firs and hollins,"
forward ng at tlie same time a present of elm si'ed. Gaidening
and planting weie the favourite pursuit of both brothers,
and in a letter from Lord Menmuir at Edinburgh to D.ivid, he
thanks h m for his " le ter with 'La Mais^.n Rustique ' and
' Columella,' whilk will serve for my idleness in Balcarres and
not for this town." The taste for country occupaiions had
descended from Earl David, and became hereditary in the
Lindsay family botn at Edzell and Balcarres. There exists a
curious instrument of David's attested in his vindiarimii
or garden at the former place. It is recorded that there his
work included the garden wall, presenting the fesse chequee
of Lindsay and the stars cf Clenesk, flanked by brackets
for statues and alti-rilievi. The garden at Balcarres was also
at all times an object of interest and pride to its possessors.

Lord Crawford, in his " Lives of the Lindsays," remarks
in regard to the building of the two houses: "But, while

the more modern structure, and that a few of the more
ancient trees that surround the house, ilexes and hollies, are
still venerated among us as having been planted by the hands
of our ancestor. Lord Menmuir."

it may be remarlced t'lat Menmuir was the forensic title
of the distinguished lawyer, and that it was his soi-i, David of
Balcarres, who became first Earl of Balcarres. The estate at
the time included Balcaires, Balneil, Pitcorthie, and other
lands, and Lord Menmuir, in 1592, obtained a charter
uniting these in a free barony. He died three years after
building the old house, and the property remained in the
direct line of heirship of the family until 17S9, when, mainly
owing to the chivalrous adherence to the Stuarts earlier iii the
century, Alexander, sixth Earl of Balcarres, sold the estate
to his younger brother, the Hon. Robert Lindsay (f Leuchars,
who had made a great fortune in the West Indies Meanwhile,
misfortune had overtaken the family of David Lindsay of
Edzell, and Burk-e cites the case of his descendant, another
David, unquestionably head of the great h.use of Lindsay, as
an illustration in his " Vici-situdes of Families." Ruined and
brok-en-hearted, the last Lindsay of Edzell fled unobserved and
unattended, and, losing the wreck of his forluiie, landless, and
homeless, he proceeded as an outcast to the Orkney Islands,
where he spent his last days as ostler at the Kirkwall Inn.

Some years after the sixth Earl of Balcarres had sold his
estate to his brother, the twenty-second Earl of Crawford, of
the line of Lindsay of the Byres, died (1808), and the old title
at length came to the senior line, the sixth Earl of Balcarres

■BALCARRES.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

becoming the twenty-third Earl of Crawford. The new
owner of the estate, the Hon. Robert Lindsay, lived until 1836,
being succeeded by his son. General James Lindsay, M.P.
for Fifesliire, who made large additions to Balcarres House,
incorporating the old part with the new erection, and bringing
the mansion to the state almost in which we depct it. His son.
Sir Coutts Lindsay, Bart., also made considerable additions
and impr..vements, and then, as is very interesting to recall,
sold it again in 1886 to the Earl of Crawford and Bal;arres, so
that the lands from which the title was derived came back once
more to the possession of the direct representative of the first
Earl of Balcarres, and of Lord Menmuir, the builder of the house.
'1 he magnificent terraced gardens had been formed before
this t me. They were laid out by Sir Coutts Lindsa>-, and
are considered second only in Scotland to those of Drummond
Cattle. Tlieir character is truly magnifi:ent, and they make,
with double and single descent^, a noble approach to the quaint
and beautiful box garden and the splendid circle and enclosing
rectangle \\'hicii are illu-^trated. The pictures show better than

is not less attractive than the other parts of the grounds, being
indeed a world of floral attraction as well as of useful products.
Balcarres House, having been inhabited by so many
interesting people, must needs be an interesting place. It has,
in fa:t, associations of many kinds, but we shall be content to
mention that here was written that pathetic ballad " Auld
Robin Gray." Its writer was Lady Anne Barnard, daughter
of the Earl of Balcarres, whose verses, as is acknowledged by
learned and unlearned al ke, are strong and true, and are a
real pas'.oral, worth tar more than all the dialogues of Corydon
and Phyllis from the days of Theocritus downward :

" My father urged me sair,
My iiiiLlier didna speak,
]-!ut stie lool^ed in my face
Till my heart was like to break."

Here is reached a height of human emotion and self-sacrifice
which goes straight to the heart, speaking through the ballad
form of the verse. The fact that "Auld Robin Gray" was
written at Balcr.rres is ahvavs in the minds of those who visit

I Hi SUNDIAL.

words can describe how truly noble the gardens at Balcarres
are. They rank among the greatest of Scottish gard.-ns, and
their favoured situation upon the southern slope is propitious
for all things that grow. The box garden, an admirable example
of pattern-work, the finely cut and dense yew hedges, the
conical yew trees, and the magnificent woods, are tlie great
features of the place. The advantage of such a manner of
gardening is that at every time of the year, even in the months
of winter, the eye can rest upon green foliage ; but tlu
sheltered situation gives many advantages to the gardener,
and the beds are full of flowers. Tub gardening is re.-^orted to
extensively, and effects are attained not to be surpassed,
and when the frosis of winter come the tender trees can
be removed. A wealth of flowers, and the charm of tlie
well-kept formal garden, are the chief attractions of the
immediate surroundings of Balcarres. Natural beauty must be
sought, as we have suggested, in tiie old woodlands, and up at
the Craig, whence the view is truly superb. But the situation
has favoured many kinds of gardening, and the kitchen garden

the stately abode, and it lends a finther attraction to the
beauteous scenes which are spread around.

Here also is one of those characteristic sundials which are
so quaint and curious, forming such pleasing features in many
Scottish gardens. Scotland is richer than England in its dials,
and the best of them have been an inspiration to many.
Scottish families in England have reproduced the dials of thtii
northern homt-s, and could anything be better than the grand
examples at Drummond, Balcarres, ar.d Glamis Castles .? A
dial of Scott'sh type, lately set up by the Hon. Francis Bowes
L\'on at Ridley Hall, Northumberland, has an inscription that
deserves, in conclusion, to be recorded here :

"Amidst ye floures

I tell ye houres.
" Time wanes away

As floures decay.
" Beyond ye tombe

Fresh flourets bloomc.
" So man shall ryse

Above ye skyes."

[ 29 ]

THE picturesque castle of Gvvydyr, which was an
ancient seat of the Wynnes, stands in a truly
romantic part of North Wales, in ■'.he valley of the
Conwa}/, and adjacent to the pleasantly -situated
town of Llanrwst. The visitor vvlio proceeds from
Llandudno to that famous centre of tourists in Wales,
Bettws-y-Coed, passes close by, and can never fail to admire,
the magnificent woods which are found in that part of tlie
\'alley. The river Conway is navigable as far as Trefriw, that
preltily-seated place, which is famous amorg artists, and wliose
neighbourhood has often been depicted in the spring exhibit'ons.
The whole region is full of history, for here was a house of the
great Llewelyn, and here, long before his time, Taliesin, the
father of Welsh poetry, is believed to have dwelt, having been
found by the lake of Geirionyd 1 liK'e Moses among the
bulrushes, and here again the famous Llywarcli Hen did bat'le
with his foes. In the fastnesses of the district of Snowdon
lingered the poetic fire which nerved the chieftains for their
great struggle v\'ith the Saxon, and in this roinantic region of
wood and wild Celtic fancy fashioned mysterious shapes of

strange significance, and gave birth to the imaginative concep-
tions which are embodied in the Mabinogion, and which lend
their fascination to the legends of Arthur. It was a fantastic
world, which revelled in marvels and enchantments, appropriate,
we may say, to a region of great mountains and dark forests —
for in such places many a race has found its poetry — and out
of this world were drawn the patriotic instincts which inspired
the Welsh in their long struggle with the invader.

The castle of Gwydyr stands amid umbrageous surround-
ings at the foot of a lofty crag — Carreg-y-Gwalch, or the Rock'
of the Falcon — and v/as erected by Sir John Wynne in the
raiddle of the sixteenth century upon the site of a far more
ancient stronghold. The occupancy of the Wynnes has
left its tiaces in many places hereabout. The Gwydyr
Chapel in the r.outh transept of I lanrwst Church was erected
in 1633 by Sir Richard Wynne, it is said from designs by
Inigo Jones, and possesses several memorial brasses of the
Gwydyr family, while on the floor is the stone coffin of
Llewelyn ap Jorwerth, the famous chieftain who steadily
aimed throughout his long rei-^n at securing the means of

THh NORTH-EAST FRONT.

30

GARDENS OLD AND NBIV.

THE EAST GARDEN.

strik-inp! off tlie Saxon voice. The clnpel also contains, luing
up, n ihe wall, the curious spurs which are said to have
beloneed to the notorious David ap Jenkin, the Robin Hood
of the district, the site of whose cave of refuge, k-nown as
Ogof Shenkin, is pointed out on the top of the halcon Rock.
To Inigo Jones, who is believed to have been a native of
this part of the country, is attributed the design of the rather

steep and inconvenient bridge which crosses the Conway at
Llanrwst.

For the name of Gw\'-dyr we are invited to go back to the
days of Llywarch Hen, whose great battle, fought here about
the year 6io, is said to have conferred upon the place the name
of " Gwaed-dir," or " Tlie Bloody Land." The seventeenth
century work of Sir John Wynne's house is /erv quaint and

THE TERRACE STEPS.

C]VYDYK. CASTLE,

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THE GRASS STEPS.

■~^^^.^-

THE GARDEN FROM A WINDOW IN THE CASTI.E.

(jWYDYli CAS7LH.

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picturesque,' and the high gables, embattled chimneys, and
mullioned windows have often attracted the pencil of the
artist. The new part is the l<itcnen erected by Lord
Willoughby de hresby, about 1816. Wiihin, the house
abounds in curiosities, such as carved woodwork of the days
of Eiizabetli and James, Spanish leather hangini];s, a screen
said to have been worlced by Mary Queen tf Scots, and
tlie coronation chair of George 11. It would be no easy
task to find more beautiful carving anJ panelling than is to
be found at Gw)'dyr. This is not the only house which
Sir John Wynn.e built, for the site of another is pointed out
on the rock above, of which all has been demolished save
the chapel. The Wynnes of Gwydyr, who were of the

an excellent feature, and are neighboured by rich herbaceous
borders. The floral glories of Gwydyr are conspicuous in our
pictures. Fragrance and beauty of colour combine to lend a
charm, which is the better appreciated because of the contrasts
in which the gardens abound. But, after all, from whatever
point of view we regard Gwydyr Castle, we recognise that
from its picturesque architecture and the neighbourhood of its
glorious woodlands it derives the greater part of its beauties.
Here things seem to flourish abundantly, and from early spring
to late autumn the garden is full of floral beauty. The
quaintness of the doLible row of clipped yews in tlie old
"Dutch" garden undt-r the hill is undeniable, although its
fnrmality mav not attract everv beholder. From the terrace

THE GARDEN DOORWAY.

Wynnstay family, held this place unt 1 the latter part of
the seventeenth century, when Mary, the heiress of Sir
Richard Wynne, married the l\'\arquess of Lindsey, and
Gwydyr came to the family of Ancaster and to the
Carringtons.

There is an old bowling green belonging to the place,
on an eminence opposite the entrance and within a Tew
hundred yards of the tpiscopal Chapel formerly attached to
the summer residence of the Gwydyr fan ily, but this relic
of days that arc gone does not now receive the attention
it once did. Its situation — in the middle of a coppice — is
beautiful indeed, and one can well imagine it in those Stuart
times in which our fathers loved the peaceful game, and
people the place with men who were as dex erous of eye and
hand as they were famo s in public life. It is to be hoped
that, as we are learning to play once more, this tine stretch of
turf will again witness the skilful contests ic knew so well
of yore.

The magnificent woods are the real delight of the place,
and give it a distinction which is rare, but the garden is
particularly charming, with its bright parterres, clipped yews,
formal hedges, and cypresses, and the dark forest forms a fine
setting for the radiant glories of the flower-beds. There is
much formality, as in the circular garden of the forecourt
disposed about the sundial, but the formality takes a sweeter
character in the terrace, with its quaint steps and carved stone
vases. The grass steps at the end of the well-kept hedge are

thei'e are lovely views of the \'ale of the Conway, and the
visitor who has completed his survey of tlie iminediate
surroundings may discover endless pleasures in the paths
through the woods. He may ascend through the upper walks
to the summit, and from Gwydyr-Ucha or Up.er Gwydyr
may enjoy a marvellous prospect of a glorious region. Here,
over the entrance of the resting-place, is an inscription in
Welsh, which rightly describes it as "A conspicuous edifice on
the hill, towering over the adjacent land; a well-chosen
siluation ; a second paradise ; a f a r bank ; a place of royalty."
One of the great charms of the wood is the waterfall of
Rhayadr-y-Parc-Mawr, which, in a romantic place near the
house, descends in a silvery cascade for a distance of
about one hundred feet.

It is particularly pleasant, in a romantic region where
Nature takes its wildest forms, and where mountain and flood
are majestic in their untamed grandeur, to find a domain like
Gwydyr Castle maintained by careful hands in the state of
cultivated perfection which our pictures disclose. The wood
and tlie rocky hill are seen to be the foil and contrast to the
sweeter chaims of the garden, and the attraction of both is
enhanced by their variety of character. This, perhaps, is the
chief lesson to be learned from Gwydyr Castle — that where
contrast can be attained, the artistic character of a garden and
its surroundings will be greatly increased, and it is a lesson
which the visitor to Lord Carrington's attractive place will not
fail to mjke his own.

[ 35 J

ORCHAKDLEIGH PAKH,

FROME,

the: seat of

the: rev. W. a. DUCKWORTH

1Y1NG some t\\'o miles noitli of tlie ancient town of Tiome,
in Somersetshire, in tiie midst of a fair and fruitful
region of England, lies the parish of Orcliardleigh,
— ^ much out of the beaten track, and content to jog along
with a quiet life of its own. A hundred years ago it
had but five houses and twenty-eight inhabitants, and now the
people who dwell there do not number more than about fifty.
The park covers nearlv the whole area of the parish, and is
a pleasant, picture-^que, and Wt-11-wooded expanse, with a
spacious lak'e and ponds. Here, in ancient times, spread the
forest of Selwood, and the sylvan cha-acter still invests the land.
The ri\'er Frome runs on the south side, and with the woods,
water, meadows, and orchards completes the rustic charm.

In Domesday the place is spoken of as Horcerlei, obviously
the attempt of some Norman surveyor to render its name
correctly. It fell into the capacious hands of tl.e famous
Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, but returned to the Crcwn,
and was held of the King in capite by the family of De
Cultura, or Colthurst, and in the reign of Edward I. was
conveyed to that of De Merlaund. The Romseys afterwards
held the place, the heiress of the last of whom was Joan, wife of
Henry Champneys, whose descendant, Thomas Champneys,
was made a Baronet in the seventh year of George HI. The
Champneys remained in possession of Orchardleigh for about
300 years. Memorials of several of them are i:i the church, and
a stone marks the she of the old mansion in which they dwelt.
The present mansion, a stately edifice in the Elizabethan

style, was erected, in a more elevated sHuation, by the late
William Duckworth, Esq. This gentleman, who was the so 1
of George Duckworth, Esq., of Miisbury and Over Darwen,
Lancashire, bought the estate in J855, and shoue.i excellent
taste in the character of his house and grounds. Not many
places in England have such a territorial situation. Few are
the park's that are practically parish?s, and not many the
parishes whose inhabitants make so small a show at the polls.
'I'here are some advantages and pleasures in such a slate of
tilings. The possessor of Orchardleigh is in a position of
paramount authority and respect in his parish, being the sole
land.jwner, and thus truly the squire of the place, which boasts
but of a single farmer — at the Long House Farm — njm.ed in
the county directory. The late Mr. Duckworth recognised the
charms and attractions of the country. There was a diversity
of ground that promised many opportunities. His new mansion
should be erected on the hill in a better situation than the old.
From this elevated point there were fine views of distant
country, including Cley Hill and the Wilt>hire Downs, as well
as a rich prospect of the sylvan region around. The site
chosen was in the midst of the park of 800 acres, wherein
stand many fine elms and other patrician forest trees. Rich
masses of foliage should play a large part in the landscape, and
there were ancient giants of the wood which should give both
shade and dignity. Then the position chosen had thi
advantage that on every side there were slopes, and that thus
beautiful terraces might be formed. The declivities were

LOOKING ACROSS THE TBRRACE.

36

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THb UAKUhN hKOM THE 1 bKKALh.

OI<CHAR.i:>LEIGH.

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GARDENS OLD AND NFIV.

gentle, and the
character should be
of broad terracing,
with lawns and
woodland reaches.
But the house,
of course, would be
the central feature,
and here Mr. Ducl<-
worth displayed
excellent JLidgment
and discrimination.
His mansion arose
in the gabled style
which is described
as Elizabethan, but
no observer of
architectural t. n-
dencies could assign
it to any century
earlier than the
nineteenth. To

say this is not to disparage the structure, of which the
merits are indeed conspicuous. The lofty gables, bold
chimneys, pinnacles, and bay windows, with considerable
quaintness in design, make an e.xcellent grouping. Beautiful
work in the matter of mouldings, crestings, finials, and other
details adds to the charm. From the point of view from which
the edifice is regarded in these pages, we are to observe how
admirably it falls into its surroundings, how grand wistaria

THE WEST TERRACE.

The advantage
of situation is thus
demonstrated, and
like prospects greet
the eye in other
directions. In some
places the trees
approach nearer,
and delight by the
nobility of their
form and the
variety of their
foliage. Every-
where the stone-
work is excellent,
and the perforated
barrier walls are
admirable. There
are magnificent
vistas, and in ex-
ploring the beauties
of the garden it is
delightfLil to find some pergola, as if from sunny Italy, giving
shelter by the way, and affording support tn many growing
things. A wealth of flora! enrichment provides both colour
and fragrance, and from the early days of spring until the last
winds of autumn have blown the gardens are full of attraction.
And when the decidLious trees have shed their leaves, an
abundance of evergreens is there to make the winter verdant.
The beauties of the park have been suggested. Herfj

A VISTA.

clothes tlie frontage with floral beauty, how ivy and other
clinging growths vest parts of the structure without concealing a
single architectural feature, and how graciously the gardens and
woods enter into the picture. The house is so advantageously
situated that it commands a full view of all the country around.
How beautiful is the treatment will be seen in one of our
piciiures, where the outlook from the terrace, or balcony, in
front of the house, is seen, with its well-gravelled paths, and
green expanses of turf terminated by dividing walls, with aloes
and floral triumphs in choice vases, beyond which the eye rests
with satisfaction upon a range of the park and a beautiful belt
of trees.

are no empty levels of turf or wide and tasteless expanses ;
witness the extraordinary richness of the foliage, and the
remarkable splendour of individual trees and of the larger
masses of woodland. 1 he park, thus diversified in its 800
acres, has an extent from lodge to lodge of some two and
a-half miles. The great lake, with an expanse of about
twenty-four acres, is one of the glories of the place, and the
landscape, with wood, water, and meadow, is most beautiful.
Another notable feature of the park' is the ancient church of
Orchardleigh, which stands embowered amid foliage. Through
the instrumentality and generosity of Mr. [Jucku'orth it was
restored ur.der the care o( Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., in 1879.

39 J

A MONO the garden pictures in
/\ this hook' none should bu

L * more weL'ome than those of

-* *■ Munstead Wood, together

with some account of it and

its environment, not only at tlie time

of those higli midsummer pimps v/liich Mattliew Arnold loved,
but also in those months of the dying year of which town
dwellers can hardly appreciate the quiet beauty. It is a garden
of natural character, with some stonework features in it
consonant with its architecture, but depending for its charm
upon an abundant use of the glories of tiie flower world. And,
to begin with, we would suggest that this modestly beauthul
house, its wood, and its garden, may well become classical,
in the same kind of way as that unobtrusive house in
Selborne Village, known for the Plestor and the Hanger.
The books which Miss Jelcyll has written in and about the
house and garden and wood she loves so well, have certainly
something of the same spirit tiiat gives such unfailing charm
to Gilbert White's inimitable letters. They are books marked

hy intimate know'edge of Nature, and
by close appreciation of the bi-auty of
Nature, anJ of the goodness of the
ways of the old world.

No observant ma.i or woman can
doubt that the last ytars of the
last century witnessed a wonderful revival, if I'.ot a new
birth, of love for the garden world, or that t!ie gospel of 'he
garden, "the purest of humai pleasures," has now a fast
hold upon the hearts of us all, to our manifest rdva tage, and
that the teachers of that cult of liorticultLi e are, on the whole,
a goodly fellowship. Some there be, cf course, who put on
the airs of teacher without warrant, and do but rhapsodise ;
but simultaiieously with tl em are to te four.d living wr^ters
who practise what they preach, who, by so doing earnestly
and consistently, have done a real service in their generation.
Mr. William Rob n=on, who began, many years ago, a mission
in ihe cause of Nature which seemed almost hopeless, has
lived to see his views m;et with almost universal acceptance,
insomuch that a certain amount of reaction was brought about.

TH1£ GARDEN DOOR.

40

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

IHh TANK.

Indeed, as "a Man shall ever see that, when ages grow to
Civility and Elegancie, Men come to Build Stately sooner than
to Garden Finely, as if Gardening were the greater Perfection,"
so it may well b3 that, Mr. William Robinson having
accomplished his mission, one of the cleverest and keenest
of his disciples may have advanced beyond the teacher in the
direction of perfection.

Miss Jek'yll, indeed, has not attempted to " build stately,"
for stateliness v/ould have been out of place with the site at
her disposal, but she has certainly given the world an object-
lesson in the manner of gardening finely. Climbing the hill

towards Hascombe, on the way from Godalming, the wayfarer
turns aside to the left, by a sandy track of the most unpreten-
tious Ivind, with scrub trees and open land on his left, and a
plain oak paling on his right. And then, after a while, he
enters a little gate, not wide enough to admit a vehicle, and
pursues a simple path, with grass and heather and bushes on
either side, leading directly towards a greyish yellow stone
wall, which looks as if it had stood for scores of years,
although, as a matter of fact, it has stood but a very few
years; and then, turning to his right, he is in the porch, if
porch it te. No cottage could liave an approach more humble

THE GARDEN COURT.

MUNSTEAD WOOD.

a

MUNSTEAD WOOD: A VISTA.

i-2

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

THE LAVENDER WALK.

or less ostentatious. Grand hydrangeas in simple tubs tlank
the entrance to the porch, and the door is of plain and solid
oak. Indeed, substance, solidity, plainness, and the absence
of pretence are the distinguishing marks of the whole house.
It is a house and garden conceived and executed on the plan
of simplicity. Inside, again, there is little which flashes upon
the visitor or astonishes him ; all is beautifullv plain and

mas-ive. At first he simply feels that everything is exactly
as it should be. It is on'y little by little that he realises the
details that produce the fceling--the width of the hall, with
its huge b.ams still bearing the adze mark's, the fine propor-
tions of the fireplace, with its glowing fire of oaken billets,
the noble array of ancient pewter in the dining-room, the
massi\-e simplicity of the staircase, the light and space ot the

STLPS TO THE TANK.

MUNSlhAD U-'OOD.

43

gallery, the interest of the thousand and one thin<j;s thereabout.
It is pleasant to observe the adze marks on tiie posts and
b ams, and ihe manner in which the craftsman, where curving
limbers weri required, has been careful to select those in
which the natural crook of the timber would serve his need.
And then, in the gallery firss and in the rooms later, 'he
visitor beijjins to realise that every window has its oak'en
muUions set flush with the outer wall, and tlia each is placed,
not, as it were, accidentally, but witli thought for the garden
that is out ide. It may chance, for example, that the outlook
is down a path, running like a river between two long banks of
Michaelm.as daisies of every Iv.ie— lavender, purple, and
white — beautifully grouped, and at the end the pergola, with
tea roses and
many l<inds of
clematis ram-
pant upjn it.
That pergola,
indeed, is pre-
cisely what a
pergola should
be, w\th its
massive pillars
of masonry, its
long trunks of
trees, with the
baik 0 , to sup-
port the mass of
creepers, its cool
shade at the end.
Hrom the win-
dow of the hall,
the view is
absolutely
restful. The
eye falls upon
a little lawn,
fringed with
birches, the most
graceful of
English trees,
with rhododen-
drons, glorious in
due season, at
their foot ; and
through them,
and between
scrub of Spanish
chestnut later,
runs a broad
green path, at
the end of which
one sees the
warm stems of
a Scotch fir,
which survived
in the days of the
great cutting —
but thereby
hangs a tale, the
explanation,
indeed, of much
of the spec al
beauty of Munstead, which must be postponed for a brief
moment. Even at this point it must be plain that these
harmonies between house and environment — this fashion
in which the house takes advantage of every view of the
wood and garden, and the wood and garden miss no view of
the hou e — must be the result of careful thought on the part of
some person or persons. It is well, therefore, to say at once
that the persons in question are Mr. Lutyens and Miss Jekyll,
and that the whole was the result of innumerable discussions
and debates between them. "When it came to the actual
planning of the house I was to live in — 1 had made one false
start a year or two before — 1 agreed with the architect how
and where the house should stand, and more or less how the

THE BEAUTY OF THE BIRCHES.

rooms should lie together. And I said that I wanted a small
house with plenty of room in it, and that 1 disliked small,
narrow passages, and would have nothing screwy or ill-lighted.
So he drew a plan, and we soon came to an understanding,
fust about the main block, and then upon the details. Every
portion of it was carefully talked over, and 1 feel boimd t)
confess that, in most cases out of the few in which 1 put
pressure on him to waive his judgment in favour of my wishes,
1 should have done better to leave matters alone." The
combination, in fact, was in many respects ideal, and that all
the more so because Miss Jekyll, living in the cottage in the
wood hard by, and tending and arranging her garden and
woodland, was always on the spot to advise and to suggest.

^ The garden

was before the
house — in part,
at any rate — and
that was an
L'.nmixed advan-
tage. The site,
too, was of great
natural beauty.
It was on a
sandy hillside,
with an admix-
ture of peat in
the sarface soil,
which had once
been a wood ;
but of the
ori;_;inal trees
few survived,
save the Scotch
fir which has
been mentioned,
and v\ hich has
been spared
because its
leading shoot
had met some
accident 4ft. or
5ft. above the
ground, and the
gnarled and
divided trunk
remaining was
as valueless for
timber as it was
beautiful to the
eye. But there
was scrub
timber of soine
fifteen years'
growth, and
there were heath
and bracken,
and so there
were endless
opportunities.
Even better than
the pergola, than
the rude wall
which Miss
Jekyll built for h.er beloved plants with her own hands,
more than the rock garden or the tank, more even than the
rampant roses, and the herbaceous border with its splendid
background of warm red brick and creepers, may many like
the wood, because it has been so admirably managed,
and because the marks of interference with Nature have
been so artistically concealed. Nature has been compelled,
so to speak, to group the trees. There has been but little
planting, but where the birches predominated their rivals
have been removed ; and so it has been with the other trees.
The paths, or many of them, are broad and straight, and the
sandy soil makes them springy and dry to the foot. Here in
summer you come across groups of those giant lilies, loft. high

u

GARDENS OLD AND MEIV.

and more, the embodiment of stately purity and the pride of
Munstead. Near the old cottage are rampant and luxurious
roses of tlie simpler kind. Here, alongside the birches, is a
group of brilliant cistuses, and well placed elsewhere are Ghent
azaleas. The purple of the autumnal leaves of the blackberry,
the gorgeous hues of the autumnal fungi, are not forgotten.
\n fact, that wood is a perfect example of how much may be
done to improve a thoroughly wild spot without depriving it of
its essential v/ildness.

In dealing; with the garden proper, it is only possible to
make clear the principles on which Miss Jek-yll acts, and they
are more conspicuously visible in the aster walk and in the
herbaceous border than elst-where. As you look up the aster
walk towards the house (which has a little flagged courtyard
on that side, with the ripple marks of thousands of years ago
showing in the flags, and here and there a tiny plant growing
in a crevice), behind the asters are tea roses, and the asters
themselves are not less remarkable for their abundance and

striking— but all of them with due thought of the effect not
only at one season, but in successive seasons. Of groups and
masses, planned out wi;h thoughtful regard to colour effects,
she is an ardent, but not a s'avish, supporter, with a wise
foresight which saves her from monotoiy of outline or of level.
Low-growing foliage plants, especially those of a neutral grey,
are encouraged near the edges in many groups, but they are
not trimly kept. Indeed, in late autumn at any rate, IVliss
Jekyll's herbaceous border is not trimly kept, or intended so
to be. One sees many a dead head, more than one mass
of withered foliage, through which an errant nasturtium
may send a flash of colour ; but the whole effect, the grey,
and the scarlet, and the yellow of the late flowers, the
coppery sheen of the lingering foliage, the soft warm red
of the wall behind, and the purple of the belated vines,
is excellent. The rule by which to produce such effects-
is simple in enunciation, difficult in the following. Group
boldly with a thought of all the seasons and of all the colours ;

ENTRANCE TO THE KITCHEN GARDEN.

exquisite groupings of colour than for variety of level. They
are tumbling waves of purple, and lilac, and palest lavender,
and white ; and in front of them is a broad edging of white
pinks, in the summer a blaze of fragrant white against a green
background, in winter and late autumn a band of silver grey
in front of the river of asters. Then the herbaceous border.
A good wide path, along which a cart could be driven, runs
straight across from the pergola in the direction of the "hut."
On the left hand, as you face the hut, is a lawn with b.ds of
many rare and luxuriant shrubs, and on the right the border,
no mere strip, but a genuine bed of generous proportions, and
behind it a little path running concealed beneath the wal ,
so that the climbers and the vines, with their leaves purple in
autumn, may be approached with ease. It is a glorious sight
when the delphiniums, of many shades of blue and in bold
masses, are in flower, when the giant poppies are in their
glory, and the hollyhocks tower aloft. Nor is it less charming
when these are over, and gypsophila is clothing the space
which would have been bare, and dahlias and helianthus flash
their colour upon the eye. But let no man suppose that these
are all. Miss Jekyll cultivates all herbaceous plants that the
soil will support — one little colony of yuccas is remarkably

form many successive pictures in \'our mind, pictures which
shall be harmonious in themselves and compatible one with
another, and make them. That is the beginning and end of
the whole matter, but it is also where the imagination of the
artist comes in. For the rest, the golden rules are two, which
are easily obeyed — not, in such a garden, to be a slave to
tidiness, and not to attempt to grow plants which do not like
your soil. Miss Jekyll's ground, for example, is by no means
congenial to the growth of exhibition roses, and she does not
attempt them ; but she lets the teas and the ramblers and the
cluster roses ramp and climb trees and evergreens at their
will, and the effect is at least as beautiful as that of any
rosery. Especially is this the case near the hut, where
monumental yew hedges, and hollies and roses, common but
luxuriant, make a delightful picture. And everywhere a
grateful odour, in wood and in garden alike, proclaims that
Miss Jekyll does not forget the pleasures of scent in seeking
and ensuring those of sight ; and in her two delightful books,
"Wood and Garden" and "Home and Garden," will be
found a score of distinct and well-chosen epithets showing how
much store she places on fragrance, and how acutely she
distinguishes it in its different kinds.

I 45 ]

THE name and fame of Haddon Hall have lifted that
liistoric house to such a height of dignity and con-
sequence among the glorious mansions of ancient
England, that it stands as the chief exemplar and
the speaking voice, as it were, of the dwelling-places
of our long dead sires. What memories of old-time glories,
ambitions, and occupations, of passions long stilled, and yet of
emotions that are ours, are evoked as we walk in the golden
shade of the sycamores and limes, or linger on the terrace
under the low-hanging boughs of the yews, with that wondrous
range of buildings before us and those glorious windows, out of
which looked lovingly into their garden the men and women
of long ago ! There is no rival to historic Haddon. Some
places may be more magnificent, but the transcendental delight
of the home of the Vernons lies in its happy union of history
and poetry with rare beauty of architecture and the external
charms of an old garden, and a beautiful neighbouring land.
Where else can we receive such impressions of ancient
greatness touched with the witchery of bygone romance ?

It matters not whether you approach Haddon Hall from
the direction of the famous anglers' resort of the Peacock at
Rowsley, or from the ancient town of Bakewell on the other
hand, the prospect is equally charming. That wonderful dale
of the Wye, which is so full of varied attractions, is here
vested in a sylvan garment, and as we approach, upon the
sloping platform of limestone, we see, rising amid the trees,
that marvellous pile of grey battlements and towers. In the
bottom of the valley are cornfields and meadows, with
many trees by the famous trout and grayling stream,
which winds its sinuous way amid tall grasses, and reflects
in its placid reaches the umbrageous thickets that clothe the
steeps.

Haddon Hall, like its garden, owes much of its charm and
picturesqueness to the slope upon which it stands. Before
you enter you have been charmed by the rustic beauty of the
cottage, and by the quaintness of the peacock and other forms
curiously clipped in yew. It may be well, before we speak of
the historic and legendary interests of Haddon Hall, briefly to

DOROTHY VERNON'S STAIRCASE.

4b

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

describe the arrangement of the house itself, premising that
here we learn as much of the manner of life of the mediaeval
and Tudor gentlemen as can be learned in any other place in
England. The visitor passes into the lower courtyard by the
gate tower at its north-western angle, and is delighted with
the beautiful structures which form ihe enclosure. The area
is divided into two levels by three steps, which extend across
it from north to south, and thus gains much picturesqueness.
On the lower or western side is the " Chaplain's Room," and,
opposite to the aitrance, the Domestic Chapel, of Which the
south aisle probab'.y belongs to a time before the Vernons came
to HadJon. It is worthy of note that this chapel does not
stand at right angles to the line of buildings on the western
side, and that its chancel window thus stands external to the
line of building on the garden front outside, whence it forms a
noteworthy feature. The upper part of this lower courtyard
is formed chiefly of the sp'endid windows of the Great Had,
anJ very picturesque is the projecting porch, through which
we gain access to the lobby separating the hall on the right
from the k"itclien and offices on the left. The Minstrels'
Gallery is o\er the entrance passage, while the dai's is at the
other end, and still has the great oak table at which the
lord and his family dined in ancient days. Behind the hall

are themselves most impressive and picturesque features,
with extreme quaintness, beauty, and attractiveness of
architecture. 1 he gallery is entered by remarkable segmental
steps of solid oak, and is richly panelled and adorned. At the
further end is a doorway leading into the buildings which form
the Lippermost or eastern side of the mansion, where is the
Ante-room, with " Dorothy Vernon's Steps," which lead down
to the lovely terrace. The finest view of the buildings is
gained from th.e lofty Eagle, or Peveril, Tower, which is or.
the higher level of the eastern side, and commands not only
the two courtyards, but the upper and lower gardens on the
south side, and a great prospect of the lovely valley of the
Wye.

Before we pass out into the gardens, we shall glance at
something of the personal interests and legendary history of
the ancient place. The first recorded possessor v/as one
Willi. im Peveril, a reputed k'insman of the Conqueror's, the
last of whose family possessing Haddon fled abroad on suspicion
of having poisoned Kanulph, Earl of Chester. It is conjectured
that some of the foundations of the mansion may go back even
to the Peverils' time. It was towards the end of the twelfth
century that the place passed to the Ver.ions by the marriage
of Richard de Vernon with Axicia, a daughter of William

THE DESCENT FROM THE GREAT TERRACE.

is the private dining-room, and the beautiful drawing-
room is above, and from the u-indows are delightful views
down the course of the Wye. The kitchen, on the other side
of the lobby, is approached by a sloping passage, and has a
vast fireplace and ancient culinary appliances, while the
buttery, wine-cellar, and sundry offices are near.

This range of buildings, including the hall and kitchen,
forms the lower or western side of the second courtyard,
which, like the other, is surrounded by buildings of exceeding
quaintness The magnificent Long Gallery or ballroom, a
chief splendour of the place, extending along the southern side
and projecting on the east upon the terrace, has glorious bays
which command superb views of the garden, from which they

de Avenell, who had possessed the place under the King, and
ultimately the whole estate passed into their hands.

Those who investigate the history of the structure of
Haddon Hall will learn that it has been a creation to which
nearly every subsequent possessor up to the seventeenth
century added something, it was the first Vernon of Haddon
who surrounded his mansion with a curtain wall for protection
against the unruly. The later Vernons held the place through
a female descent, for Richard de Vernon's only daughter
married a certain Gilbert le Franceys, whose descendants
came to be known by the greater name of Vernon. In the
fourteenth century the place was broadly complete in its
general character, the Chapel and Great Hall with the various

H/mT)ON HALL.

47

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C/5

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o-

iB

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

ranges of buildings round tlie courts being tlien in existence,
though the Long Gallery belongs to a later age. it was
Richard de Vernon, a man of might in his time, who died in
1377, who added the porch to the Great Hall. Two Sir
Richards followed in succession, the last of whom was Speaker
in the Parliament 0, Leicester in 1426, as well as '1 reasurer of
Calais and Captain of Rouen, the builder of the chancel of
the chapel. His successor, Sir William Vernon, married an
heiress, and gained great possessions in Shropshire, where he
is buried ; but, nevertheless, like his fathers, he went on
building at Haddon, particularly in improving the chapel. His
son, Henry Vernon, followed him, and was a soldier in whom
the King-maker had trust. " Henry, 1 pray you fail not now.

Knight of the Bath and Comptroller of Prince Arthur's
Household. The knight carried on the work at Haddon, and
completed the buildings overlooking the Wye, besides
embellishing the drawing-room.

We must now pass on to the famous Sir George Vernon,
the bluff " King of the Peak," who was his grandson or great-
grandson. Sir George was a man of much wealth, and his
vast hospitality became proverbial, and made him one of the
most popular men of his time. He raised the north-western
tower, completed the dining-room, and did a great deal of
other work at Haddon, and doubtless formed the garden on the
south side.

Dorothy Vernon, whose romance has contributed no little

THE ANCIBNT AVENUE.

as ever 1 may do for you," wrote Warwick to him in March,
1471, and he added : " Yonder man Edward," lately landed in
the North, was fast making his way South " with Flemings,
Easterlings, and Danes " ; and Henry Vernon of Haddon was
to march to Coventry "in all haste possible, as my very
singu'ar trust is in you, and as 1 may do things to your weal
or worship hereafter." But Henry Vernon, with the discretion
which is the better part of valour, appears to have stayed at
home instead of putting all to the test at Barnet, and seems to
have pursued the policy of masterly inactivity which was
so safe in the Wars of the Roses. His diplomacy was
successful, and he was in the confidence of both parties,
for no sooner had Margaret been defeated at Tewkesbury
than the Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV., wrote
to inform him that " Edward, late called Prince," had
been " slain in plain battle." Richard 111. also put trust
in Henry Vernon, and summoned him with troops he
had promised before the battle of Bosworth ; but Vernon
must have acted with singular discretion, for he was
presently in high favour with Henry VU., who made him a

to the fame of Haddon Hall, was his daughter, and ultimately
sole heiress. We are left to imagination in regard to many
of the circumstances of her love match with John Manners,
the second son of Sir Thomas Manners, first Earl of Rutland.
We do not know whether Sir George Vernon objected to
Manners on personal grounds, or on grounds of religion — for
Manners was a bitter enemy of the old faith, and was instru-
mental at Padley, in Derbyshire, in securing the arrest of
missionary priests, who were afterwards hanged, drawn, and
quartered — or whether, again, he had formed other views as
to his daughter's future. Whatever may have been the
case, it is asserted by tradition that the attachment between
John Manners and Dorothy Vernon was a secret one, or at
least that their meeting was under her father's ban. The
story goes that the ardent lover haunted the neighbouring
woods disguised as a forester or hunter, in the hope of gaining
a sight of his lady, or a stolen interview, or a note dropped
from a window. According to tradition, the famous elopement
took place on an occasion of some festivity at the Hall, held,
as some aver, in honour of the marriage of Dorothy's elder

HA'IfDOhl HALL.

49

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

sister. John Manners had horses near, and Dorothy stole
down the steps from the Ante-room and along tha terrace to
where he was waiting. The sound of their horses' hoofs was
drowned in the noise of the revelry, and a'ter galloping all
night they reached Aylston, in Leicestershire, where tte)' w.re
married on the morrow. Of these things does the visitor thinl<
when he lingers on Dorotlry Vernon's Terrace, and the memory
of her romance will long cling to the ancient walls of Haddon.
John Manners was a man of wealth and considerat o i,
rich in his many friends in the Midlands, and possessing a

HALDON COlfAGE.

brother who appears to have been his alter ego. Their
correspondence tlirows a good deal of light upon the society
of the time, and tliey appear to have been in tlie confidence
of the Earl of Shrewsbury \vi relation to his quariel with his
wife, the celebrated " Bcss" of HardwicK-," who was such a
great builder of Derbyshire houses. The Earl wrote to John
Manners in 1586 that he would have been down before but for
li:s " wicked wife— her tittling in Her Majesty's ear." The
Countess seemed to have gained the Queen's favour, for, at
an earlier date, Roger Manners had written to his brother John
at HadJon : "Her Majesty hath been sundry times in hand

with him for his wife, but he will nowise agree to accept her."
John Manners survived his wife many long years, and lived
quietly on his estate at Haddon, but took an important part in
s me political concerns. He it was who built the splendid Long
Gallery at Haddon, and since ills death in 161 1 no important
changes have been made in the place. The whole of the
flooring, as well as the solid steps by which it is entered, are
said to have been cut from a single oak which grew in the
park. The wainscot is singularly rich, the panels, which are
arched, being separated by fluted pilasters, and above are the

boar's head of Vernon and
the peacock of Manners,
with roses and thistles alter-
nated. In the windows the
shields of Rutland and
Shrewsbury are emblazoned,
v\ith the Royal arms of
Englan I, and the whole of
the details are very rich and
beautiful.

John Manners, the
husband of Dorothy Vernon,
was followed at Haddon by
his son. Sir George Manners,
whose son John succeeded
as eighth Earl of Ru.tland,
an I lived alternately at Belvoir
and Haddon, and esp...used
the cause of Parliament. He
shu'eJ in the Restoration,
and, though living much at
Belvoir, appears to have
exercised prodigious
hospitality at Haddon, where
there was a huge consum) -
tion of beeves and sheep at
the Christmas of 1663. The
ninth Earl was created
Marquis of Granby and Duke
of Rutland Although Jjhr,
the third Duke, occasonally
lived at Haddon, it was
during his time that his
family finally ceased to reside
in this ancient place, which
was dismantled as a
residence about the year
1740.

it was after the place
came into the possession of
the family of Manners that
the terraces as they exist
now were formed, and they
are certainly among the
most beautiful e.xamples of
garden architecture and
construction in this country.
A singular charm pervades
the upper terrace, and,
though we may leflect that the
actual features we see cannot
be associated with Dorotliv
Vernon, we are well contei-.t
with the gloriouscharacterthey
possess. This secluded garden
on the south side of HadJon Hall, with its descents and slopes,
is not of great extent, but is of peculiarly rich and tasteful
character, and is full of suggestion for those who have li\'j
opportunities. L.il<e Haddon Hall itself, it is preserved by the
present Dulce of Riitland in a state of perfection, and with a
religious care, which the admirable place well deserves. The
beautiful surroundings of Haddon Hall, the rich woods and the
avenue, add a gieat deal to the charm, and it is a thing for
which we cannot be too thankful that such an exemplar of the
domestic life of older Englishmen should still exist in the lovely
dale of the Derbyshire Wye.

[ 51 ]

THE splendid and characteristic gaidens of Hoar Cross
in Staffordsiiire demand particular attention, because
they are a modern creation, and iiave been entirely
designed by Mrs. Meynell Ingram. Let us recognise
in them a great and successful achievement. It was
no small thing to bring them to this perfection, and they are a
notable example of the best character of the old English st3'le.
Hoar Cross is one of the two magnificent seats which are
possessed by Mrs. Meynell Ingram, the other being Temple
Newsam in Yorkshire. These great domains were united
through the marriage of Mr. Hugo Meynell of Hoar Cross,
grandfather of the late Mr. Meynell Ingram, with the Hon.
Elizabeth Ingram, daughter and coheiress of Viscount Irwin.
What Hoar Cross lacks in historic memories or the greatness
of ancient architecture, it may be said to have compensation
for in the advantages of beautiful and commanding situation.
For Temple Newsam, where unfortunate Darnley was born, in
the days when the Earl of Lennox possessed it, lies within
about five miles of the smoky town of Leeds, and something of
the sombre pall extends even to that superb structure, which
was raised by Sir Arthur Ingram in the times of Charles I., and

still, in the open batfements thereof, according to the pious
custom of the time, maybe read the words, "All Glory and
Praise be given to God, the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost,
on High ; Peace up:in Earth ; Goodwill toward Men ; Honour
and true Allegiance to our Gracious King; Loving Affections
among his Subjects ; Health and Plenty within this HoLise."

The Staffordshire manor house is a noble mansion also,
cast in the same mould of style, but of modern date. It lies in
a picturesque region of the county to the west of the road from
King's Bromley to Sudbury, and on the borders of Needwood
Forest. The situation is extremely fine, being an eminence
commanding entrancing views of the surrounding country, with
the well-wooded and attractive grounds of the house in the
foreground, and the lofty tower of the fine Church of the Holy
Angels, which Mrs. Meynell Ingram erected in memory of her
late husband, Mr. Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram, M.P., who
died in 187 1, a prominent object in the prospect. Anciently
the family of Welles were in possession here, but only their
memory remains, and the present noble structure has replaced
the moated manor house wherein they dwelt. In the ancient
Needwood custom of the hobby-horse this family were formerly

THE CHURCH AVENUP,

52

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

A GARDEN ENCLOSURE.

THE STRAIGHT YEW WALK.

HOAli CROSS.

53

64

G.^RDHNS OLD AND NEW.

THE GARDSN PLAN.

honoured ; for the dancers carried on their shoulders reindeer's
heads, and bore the arms of Welles, and of Paget and Bagot,
the great landowners hereabout. The whole district was more
or less covered with wood, but was chiefly enclosed at the
beginning of the last century. In Queen Elizabeth's time the
forest was twenty-four miles in circumference, and in 165S
contained 47,150 trees, besides hollies and underwood

The Meynells claim descent from the great Norman bjron
Hugo de Grandmesnil, who, with his brother, founded the
abbey of St. Evroult. The sons of Hugo went to the Crusade,
but are believed to have displayed cowardice at Antioch.
Hugo himself is said to have died at Leicester in 1093, and
Orderic says that his body, preserved in salt, and well sewn
up in an ox-hide, was conveyed to Normandy and buried by
the abbot and convent on the south side of the chapter house
at St. Evroult. Gilbert de Mesnil established the stock from
which the family at Hoar Cross are descended, and Williams,
Hugos, Roberts, Richards, and others succeeded one another
in the long line of descent. Hugo of Langley Mesnil repre-
sented his county in five Parliaments under Edward 111., and
his son, another Hugo, was raised to the dignity of the Bath
for his services at Cressy and Poitiers. Gerards, Ralphs, and
Johns followed, and Godfrey Mesnil, or Meynell, had a son
Charles, who fell in the cause of the Stuarts. Charles's
brother, Francis, an opulent banker, was the father of Godfrey
Meynell, and grandfather of Lyttelton Meynell, from whose
second son Huj',o came the Meynells of Hoar Cross. Tliat
gentleman, like several of his ancestors, was High Sheriff of
his county in 1758, and it was his son, Hugo, who married the
heiress of Temple Nevvsam. The late !Wr. Hugo Francis
Meynell Ingram was well known for his public spirit and great
position among the landed gentry of b'nglan.l, and his widow,
who now holds the estate, was the daughter of the first Lord
Halifax.

The house at Hoar Cross was built at a good period,
in which the spirit of Tudor and Jacobean domestic archi-
tecture was well understood, and the lofty gables, cupolas,
chimneys, and mullioned windows are all excellent in style

and execution. The gardens have an unusually varied and
everywhere beautiful character. A pleading fancy has directed
thie arrangement, and has invested the several part^ of the
grounds with singular attractions On one side of the house
broad lawns extend for :,ome distance, shadowed by fine trees.
On another hand are ^teep descents leading to well-hedged,
enclosed spaces, radiant with a varied wealth of flowers, and
delightful t'lroughout the }-ear. Then, again, there is a formal,
planned garden, based upon the principle of the square, with a
fountain for the centre-piece, and w ell-kept beds and geomet ical
paths filling the space. There is enough here, indeed, to
charm the mo,-.t fastidious in every line of gardening. Perhaps
nothing, however, is so attractive as the grand hedges of yew,
which are l<ept in superb order, and in de;iseness of growth
could scarcely be excelled In some places they are cut a>
with embattlements ; in others they are pierced as w,th
loopholes ; but everywhere they are as fine as we could well
wish them to be. The hedges give that character of enclosure
which was so much valued in f rmer times, though it may be
remarked that in tliis varied pleasaunce the broad expanses
are consonant with the modern spirit also. The pleached walk
of lime is one of the finest examples in England of that class of
work, and may be commended as well worthy of imitation.
The garden at Hoar Cross is, indeed, a pre-eminently satis-
factory piece of work. It is manifestly the outcome of real
love for the garden, and of a right conception of one great
.school of garden design. Mrs. Meynell Ingram has multiplied
her enclosures, as we see such features depicted in many old
garden plans, and as we find them in some antique pleasaunces
that remain. Her success should be an encouragement, for it
shows that the character of an old garden can be won within
the space of a few years. It is, indeed, no small thing that
hucli a garden as Huar Cross should be a crea ion of modern
times.

The Staffordshire gardeners have ever been famous for
their skill in handling trees and bushes to decorative advantage.
Old Dr. Plot, keeper of the Ashmoiean Museum and professor
of chemistry in the Univci ity of Oxford, who e "Natural

HOA% CROSS.

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History of Staffordshire" wa5 published in 1686, has mucn
to say upon this matter. We could wish he had given some
direct account of the gardens existing in his time at Hoar
Cross, but his allusions to some features which he noticed in
the county are interesting. He remarks that the people there
seemed to talce great delight in topiary work, in which he
doubtless included fine hedges, and he says there were
examples at Mear, Aspley Moreton, and Willbrighton ; also at
Brewood Hall, the seat of Mr. Ferrers Fowk, where he saw
a great whitethorn hedge between the gardens and the court,
as well as animals, castles, et:., formed nrfe top'jria. The
"wren's nest," in the " hort-yard," seemed to him a neat
piece of work', cut in that form out of a whitethorn, and
capacious enough to receive a man to sit on a seaL made
within it for that purpose. A yew tree was in the garden
there, and divers branches issuing out of it formed a spacious
arbour of a square figure, of which each side measured aboul

Evidently the old skill remains in the county. What
could we wish better than the straight yew walk at Hoar
Cross with the arch of greenery, or the more open walk to the
great outlook, or, again, than the long western avenue, with
the loop-holes, or than the noble and finely-cut approach to
the church 1 There are some architectural adornments in the
gardens, like the terrace balustrades, with the monogram of
the Meynell Ingrams, and the urns and vases, which here and
there are features of distinction, lifting up glorious masses of
flowers against some dark background of trees. The old
Italian cistern, or well-head, is one of th )se interesting features
which are found in English gardens, though perhaps nowhere
so attractively as at Kingston Lacy, Dorsetshire, which was
illustrated in the first series of " Gardens Old and New."

Enough has been said to show that at Hoar Cross, mire
than at many places, a certain catholicity of taste has
enabled the charms of various styles and different lands to

THE PLBACHnD WALK.

5yds., but within not exceedir.g loft., and "cut on the top
with a loop and crest, like the battlement of a tower, adorned
at each corner by a pinnacle, over which is wrought a
canopy out of the middle branches about 2yds. diameter,
which is carried up again first to a lesser gradation, and then
terminates at the top in a small pinnacle." Other fair
plantations of trees and walks in Staffordshire does worthy
Dr. Plot describe, and especially in the garden of Mr. Scot
at Great Barr, Lord Massareene's garden at Fisherwick,
and Sir Francis Lawiey's at Cannal, as well as young ores
of silver fir at Mr. Chetwynd's at Ingestre, but none of them
equalling the successes of Sir Richard Astley at Patshull,
where the walks were from nyds. to 14yds. broad, and
148yds. to 150yds. long, curiously planted on each side
with double rows of elms. The Staffordshire men were
also accustomed to cut vistas through the trees for the
advantages of the prospect, and to lay out pleasant lawns.

be brought together. What is particularly satisfactory is to
find the garden so well and carefully tended. Nothing is
wanting for its completeness and perfection, and the estate
may serve as a model. The gate-house is a picturesque
feature, and there are many other things upon which we
might have dwelt.

The Church of the Holy Angels, which has been alluded
to, adds by its presence distinction and character to the
grounds, and it is in itself a fine cruciform building of
red stone, in the Decorative style of the fourteenth century,
erected from the design of Mr. G. F. Bodley, A.R. A. The
nave and aisles are of two bays, and there are north and
south transepts and porches, while the great central tower
is about iioft. high, and has a peal of six bells. Mrs.
Meynell Ingram has also founded an orphanage for boys
called the Home of the Good Shepherd, which is maintained
bv her.

HOA^ CROSS.

57

^-piti^^i^-

THB LAWNS.

THE WESTERN AVENUE.

.58

GARDENS OLD AND NEJV.

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PACnWOOD
. . HOUSE,

BIRMINGHAM,

IN our quest for beautiful gardens, and for the cliarming
houses they adorn, we seek many diverse features,
merits, and attractions. We do an ample meed of justice
to every style and character of the sweet domestic art of
gardenage. There shall be no spirit of exclusion in
anything we illustrate or write. Recognising that everything
is right when riglitly used, we are able to exemplify a world of
admirable things. From the quaint and modest garden of old
England, enclosed within its walls and overlooked by its
terraces, we may range to the great and stately pleasaunces of
Le Notre, and pass out into the wider expanses of the pastoral
landscapes of Kent and Brown. Not anywhere shall we find
any hing more quaint and beautiful than the old gardens of
Packwood House. It is a pleasaunce of terraces and clipped
yews, of dials and splendid gates — a true old garden of
Hngland.

" Then did I see a pleasant paradize

Full of sweet flowers and daintiest delights.
Such as en earth man could not devise ;
With pleasures choice to feed his cheerful spritjUts."

It is a garden, indeed, such as Spenser knew, but devised
well by man, and informed with individuality and character
of its own. Mr. Robinson, that well-k-nown and persuasive

THE SEAT .

OF

MRS. ARTON

exponent of natural garden art, has no quarrel with gardens
such as Packwood. Part of his work has been, he says, to
preserve much record of their beauty, and the necessary
terraces round houses like Haddon " may be and are as
beautiful as any garden ever made by man." And when a
garden expresses such ideas as are embodied in those quaint
shapes at Packwood, with terraces formed of magnificent old
brickwork, who, indeed, could withhold praise from such a
conception consistently maintained ?

But, before we describe the Packwood gardens, let us
say a little of Packwood House, remembering always that the
garden is but the framework' of the dwelling-place, and the
region in which the dweller therein bends Nature to his will.
Mrs. Arton's picturesque homestead lies about eight miles west
of Kenilworth, and five miles north of Henley in Arden, near
the road thence to Birmingham, in a country of venerable
forest associated much with the memories of the immortal
bard. It was anciently a house of the honourable family of
Fetherstone, concerning whom old DugJale, the veracious
historian of Warwickshire, has little to say, though he records
the nscriptioni on their monuments in the ancient village
church of St. Giles. One of tliese is sacred to the pious
memory of John Fetherstone, wlio died in 1670, at the age of

THE GATEWAY STEPS.

60

GARDENS OLD AND NF.IV.

76, and whtfse probity, goodness, and ingenious character are
extolled ; and another records the virtues of his son Thomas
Fetherstone, who died at the age of 81, in 1714. This Tliomas
was a good son, a fond husband, an excellent father, and a
man elegant in various studies and sacred exercises, whose
'iberality built the north aisle of the church to he the resting-
place of himself and his posterity. It is of good bricl<, hut is
not well in keeping with the rest of the strticture, which is

THE MULTITUDE WALK.

said to have been in pari; erected i.i expiation by Nicholas
Bromc of Baddesley Clinton, who, in ;' fit of violence, had
slain the parish priest there, because, as an old gossip halh it,
he found the cleric " chucking his wife under the chin."

Packwood House is an ancient structure of the half-
timbered architecture so common in the forest districts of
Warwickshire, now covered with rough-cast, and it has much
excellent brick. Its outlines are picturesque, and its features
largely belong to Stuart times, there being wainscoted rooms

on the ground floor with carved chimney-pieces of good
character. The wing on the north of the entrance, containing
the domestic offices, is of the splendid brickwork so character-
istic of the place, with moulded cornices and several mural
sundials. This portion of the structure appears to belong to
the reign of William III. or Anne, and to the same date may
be ascribed the old brick stables, which are exceedingly
interesting, and have very massive oaken stalls and fittings.

There is an excellent
sundial also on the lawn
facing the park front of
the house, which bears the
date i56o, and the arms
of Fetherstone on the
gnomon — gules, on a
chevron argent, between
three ostrich feathers of
the second, as many
annulets of the first.

The date on the sun-
dial brings us to the date
of the garden, wh.ich may
peihaps be ascribed to
John Fetherstone, who
died ten years later,
tho ugh no doubt his
ingenious son, Thomas
Fetherstone, being both a
builder and a student,
took' pains that its style
and character should be
maintained. On the other
hand, it is possible that
the garden may even be
earlier, and that some of
its features may belong to
Flizabeth's reign. It was
one of those places, in the
words of William Morris,
"well fenced from the
outer world," and filled
with the quaint spirit of
the age, wherein the old
English gentleman might
say:

" Society is all but rude
To this delicious solitude."

The quaint and rare
old garden at Packwood is
lilce that Sir Henry Wotton
described, " into which the
fir^t access was a high
walk' like a terrace, from
whence might be taken a
general view of the whole
plot below." It is sur-
rounded by brick walls, on
the inside of wliich are
raised terraces, with square
summer-houses at the
corners, an arrangement
analogous to that at neigh-
bouring Kenilvvorth, as
described by Laneham,
who wrote an account of
the pageants there, 1575.
Could anything exceed
the chaiir in picturesque beauty of form and colour,
of this old briclvwork > Wherever you turn you find
ancient walls vested with ivy, clinging to tlijm some-
times in too fond an embrace. Grown rank and strong, its
huge arms are intertwined with the brickwork, which
they have loosened, and in part overthrown, and its very
trunks have crept through the walls. Our artist, searching for
constructive features, thrust his arm into the dense evergreen
growth, and discovered by good fortune a beautiful stone vase,

PACKWOCfD HOUSE.

61

62

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

•A-hich had been hidden from view for thirty years. Never
have we seen more quaintly beautiful garden steps than these
ancient ascents at Packwood. They are ingeniously built of
wedge-shaped bricks, giving them an unusual curve, like the
end of a spoon.

Down the middle of the radiant space below the terrace
runs a long pathway, which passes, at its southern end,
through a most beautiful wrouglit-iron gate between tall brick
piers of remarkably picturesque and beautiful character.
The gateway is the entrance to another garden or orcliard,
and to a world of pious symbolism and wonder. The old
Englishman loved to invest his house with something of the
spirit of divine things. It might be an inscription merely, or
some pious motto lifted aloft against the sky, or, perhaps, the
windows, by number, would speak of apostles and evangelists,
or the house, by its triple form, might tell of the Trinity. Out
into the garden went the same spirit, breathing the devout
ideas into the green things that grow. At Cleeve Prior, in this
same pleasant region of England, the twelve apostles and the
four evangelists are typified or e.xemplified in magnificent yew.

on the Mount overlooking the evangelists, apostles, and the
multitude below; at least, this account of it was giv>;n
by the old gardener, who was pleaching the pinnacle of
the temple." The walk to the mount is a gentle ascent,
the apostle yews standing as we approach, interspersed with
Portugal laurels, and there is much box. It is sometimes
called the "multitude walk," because here are trees repre-
senting the multitude gathered together to hear the preaching
of our Lord, and the trees round the base of the mount may
stand for the apostles. The mount itself is ascended by a
spiral walk between old box trees, and the "tabernacle," or
summer-house, of yew is at the top.

England would be richer if it possessed a greater number
of gardens like those of Packwood, speaking of the taste and
spirit of former times. Ruthless hands and inevitable decay
have worked together in their destruction, but we may hope
that ancient Packwood will long remain, with all its significance
of the past, and all the quaintness of its picturesque attractive-
ness. It was, doubtless, in old times, a garden of use as well
as of beauty and symbolism. There were spaces for the

THE MOUNT.

There is no sculpture cf sacred figures as human, hut merely
the symbolism of number and character in the mighty masses
of the well-clipped green.

The creators of the garden at Packwood have gone a step
further, and have given us the Sermon on the Mount as a
wondrous and moving garden creation. Now the mount was
a constant feature in the medieval garden, but does not appear
to have been employed in a manner like this. We shall best
describe the green wonderland of Packwood by quoting what
Mr. Reginald Blomfield and Mr. F. Inigo Th unas have to say
about it in their book, " The Formal Garden in England,"
where they speak (f old topiary triumphs. "The most
remarkable instance still exists at Packwood, in Wai wick-
shire," they say, "where the Sermon on the Mount is
literally represented in clipped yew. At the entrance to the
' mount,' at the end of the garden, stand four tall yews, 20ft.
high, for the four evangelists, and six more on either side for
the twe'.\e apostles. At the top of the mount is an arbour
formed in a great yew tree, called the ' pinnacle of the
temple,' which was also supposed to represent Christ

kitchen requirements, while the lady would have her herbs
and simples; and there was the constant hum in the summer
of the honey-laden bees. All along the south side of the
terrace wall there are still to be seen thirty small niches for
hi\'es, two and two between the piers. A similar arrangement
exists at Riddiesden in Yorkshire, tliough in this case the cells
built in the thickness of the garden walls weve for the nesting-
places of peacocks. The bee was a welcome guest in our old
gardens, and our ancestors were much skilled in the manage-
ment of hives. The many dials of Packwood add a good
deal to the quaint attractiveness of this moral garden of rare
and individual character.

The owner thereof doubtless felt the human significance of
his sequestered old pleasaunce, and going out amid his trees
could say, like the Duke in "As You Like It," " These
are counsellors, that feelingly persuade me what I am."
Fortunately the modern Englishman is privileged to see these
gardens, for, at due times and seasons, Mrs. Arton does not
exclude those who would breathe the spirit of their ancient
charms.

PACKIVOOT) HOUSE.

63

THE TERRACE blERb.

64

GARDBKS OLD AND N'EIV.

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POWIS o . »
. , CASTLE,

MONTGOMERY,

iuiujiiiiliiiii

AT what period men first built on tliat rocky eminence
/\ where Powis Castle stands no man now can say.
/ \ hi this battle ground of a hundred fights between
.* V. Britons under Caractacus and conquerors from
Rome, betwixt English and Welsh, and Welsh and
Danes, there was need for a place where the chieftain might
be secure. And those who visit Powis Castle, climbing the
steep ascent, are forcibly reminded how strong a position this
is when they reach the crest and survey the outlook. Here
was a stronghold, one would say, where the foeman must
perish ere he smote the waU.
The deep ravine on the ;
south side — where now the i
lovely garden delights us,
and where, as one writer <
says, Flora and Ceres
alternately contend — pre-
sented five succesfive ascend-
ing rock'y plateaux to confront
the assailant. On every side
there were steep escarpments,
and on the north two darkly
yawning fosses completed
the defence. Here, as an
eagle from his eyrie, could
the chief survey the land
around, and now you may
stand on the height and look,
delighted, over the sylvan
valley where the Severn
cleaves his way, or turn to
where the heights of Breiddin
lift their distant blue, or feast
your eyes with th.e rare
prospect of the glorious park-
where the hoary oaks of
venerable age could many a
stormy tale unfold. Which-
ever way you look' you
cannot but delight in the
landscape.

Sur\eying, then, the
magnificent prospect that is
spread out before us from the
topmost terrace, we think of
tlie stormy history of Powys-
land, and of the " Castell Coch
yn Mhowys," through the
centuries' history. One
chronicler relates that the
stronghold emerged from
obscurity in the year iiio,
when Cadwgan ap Bleddynap
Cynvyn, weary of the per-
secutions of his kinsmen,
began to erect a castle — not
the first, we mav be sure —
on the hill, but was slain by
his nephew Madog ere he
had roofed his hall. But
frnm the time of Brocliwal
Ysgyihrog, Prince of Powys,
vvl;o about 660 was defeated by

the Saxons, there has been too much history in Powysland to
be included in these pages. This was a kingdom in itself,
changing its boundaries many a time, though it was merged
with Dinefawr and Gwynedd under Rhodrimawr about the
year 843 ; but its princes came to hold it in capite from the
English Crown in the thirteenth century, having surrendered
the independence to which the Princes of North and South
Wales so doggedly clung. Powys Wenwynwyn, one division
of Powysland, at length came to Sir John de Cherleton, or
Charlton, who was rewarded for many services to the English

THE ANCIENT ENTRANCE.

66

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE SECOND TERRACE.

Trown by a marriage with Hawyse, tlie last representative of
tlie princely house of Wenwynwyn, who brought all her
Powysland possessions to her English husband's hands. Many
a time did he raise men for service against the Scots, but
himself surrendered in arms against the King at Boroughbridge
in 1322.

This Sir John Charlton was the builder of the present
Powis Castle, which has gone through many a change since
his time. It is not, as a castellated structure, very spacious
or remarkable in construction, but it is an excellent example of
the military architecture of the early fourteenth century, with
four massive
round towers.
Within, there
has been
much modern-
isation, but
externally
the feudal
character is
well main-
tained, and
the embattled
building on
the left of the
approach to
the keep is
an unusual
example of a
great hall.
The Jacobean
entry, which
has been
attached to
the Edwardian
keep, is very
striking, and
has a peculiar
effect, and

THE END OF THE UPPER TERRACE

tlrere is much worI<: of the same class within, all dating
from tlie early occupation of the Herberts, to wliom the castle
came in Elizabeth's reign by purchase from the Greys, who
had received it in marriage with the heiress of Edward Lord
Powys. The gateway referred to was erected by William,
first Earl of Powis, so created in 1674, who became Marquis
of Powis in 1687, and was outlawed in 1689 as a follower
of the Stuarts.

James created him Marquis of Montgomery and Dul-ce of
Powis, after the Revolution of 1688, but these t ties were
never recognised in England. The Royal Commissioners had

decided that
the famous
s t r 0 n g h 0 IJ
should share
the fate of
many another
castle after
the Civil
W a rs , but
upon the
owners giving
pledges that
it should
never be em-
ployed to the
prejudice of
tlie Parlia-
ment or Com-
mon wealth,
the order was
revoked, and
only the out-
works were
d e in 0 1 i s h e d
and a few
breaches
made in the
walls. Nearly

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FOl^yiS CASTLE.

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every possessor has modified the castle in some degree, and
it was a good deal altered and modernised under the direction
of Sir Robert Smirke ; but it is still a most imposing and
interesting example of early military construction adapted to
modern residential needs, and the red limestone of which it
is built contrasts charmingly with the green surroundings.

The terraced character of the garden has already been
referred to. Indeed, no other character of garden design would
have been possible, for Nature herself had formed the terraces
by upturning the edges of the Caradoc stone towards the
veitical position, thus making a series of escarpments ascending
step by step to the hill. The garden terraces are five in
number, and command surpassingly beautiful views, the most
delightful of all being through a long vista of trees to the
distant peaks of Moel-y-golfa and the Breiddin Hills.

be observed, with the dancing figures of some gay rural
community. There were old lead-workers who produced
these things, and it is interesting to note that the piping
shepherd of Powis Castle appears to be identical with a leao
figure at Canons Ashby in Northamptonshire. A pair of
quaint arcadians at Enfield Old Park are of the same class.

Below the terraces the landscape character extends.
Some part of the grounds was laid out by the celebrated
"Capability" Brown, chief among landscape gardeners, and,
unless that worthy be libelled, he actually proposed, in his
vain search for uniform level or slope, to blow up the
picturesque rock upon which the castle stands. But Nature
herself would have warred against such destruction, and so
the glorious terraced garden of Powis Castle remains.

But Nature has done very much for the place, and the

THE LOWER TEkRACB.

Admirably did the garden architect employ his opportunities,
and the terrace walls, balustrades, and descents, adorned
with figures and vases, some of them of lead, and all quaint
or admirable, will contrast favourably with any other examples
of the same style in the land. This terraced pleasaunce, being
on the south side, is in a very favourable situation, and our
pictures show how successfully the features have been utilised.
The tall and singular yews, which rise with strange effect
beneath the castle walls, offer a contrast of hue and character
to the rich growth of flowers which makes the garden glorious.
The walls are magnificently festooned, and it would be hard
to describe the wealth of floral beauty which our illustrations
will suggest. In such positions glorious herbaceous borders
may often be found, while the walls, if well managed, may
themselves be veritable gardens. '1 he contrasts of varied
level, of garden masonry and statuary, of abundant colour
and of cool green grass, are simply admirable on the terraced
steep at Powis Castle. Particularly effective and picturesque
are the leaden flgures which line some of the terrace walls.
Lead, that admirable material for garden statuary, has often
been employed for the shaping of rustic or arcadian figures,
humble swains or dancing maidens, as on the third terrace at
Powis. In one of our pictures the shepherd with his pipe will

scenery of the district is glorious. The park on the north
side is magnificent and most richly wooded. There are
splendid oaks of huge size, especially a sturdy giant on the
right of the approach, which, lik-e many a brother, throws
down a vast expanse of shade. Here are trunks silvered with
the lichens of centuries, shadov^y woodland depths, ope.i
glades, a domain of beauty enchanting the visitor with the
picturesque glory of sylvan charm and of rocky hollows,
sunny slopes, and lovely dells, the silence brolcen only by the
browsing deer, the note of birds, and the distant voice of the
stream. It is a wood of rare beauty, in which, by judicious
planting, the charm has been enhanced.

Thus the visitor to PovvyslanJ comes back with charming
remembrances of Powis Castle. He has looked out from the
sundial terrace over a truly glorious prospect, and then h.is
passed down the long flights of steps leading him to that
beautiful gale of departure, and has refreshed his memory
with many a thought that adds to the glamour of the fam us
pile. His mind has been carried back to the early time of
Hawys Gadarn, last descendant of the royal line entitled to
wear the talaith of gold, and he has associated Powis Castle
with the long and noble line of the Herberts and with many
whose names are prominent in history.

VI

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/■ ■ ^ HE county of Northampton is famed, as one writer
has said, for its " spires and squires," and lias been
styled by old Norden " The Herald's Garden," so
plentifully is it stored with county seats and the
residences of the great. They lie, indeed, upon
every hand, and are mostly notable in character, some of
them known in history, and not a few possessing excellent
garden attractions. Burghley and Althorp are perhaps the
most faniuLis, but Castle Ashby and Rock'ingham are almost
as notable. At Milton they show the tree under which VVolsey
sat; there is Drayton, the home of tlie De Veres, the
Mordaunts, the Germaines, and the Stopfords ; Apethorpe,
where Ki!\g James met the youthful George Villiers ; and
many another old mansion and picturesque residence of the
gentlemen of Northamptonshire adorning that favoured shire.
The district in which Eydon Hall lies is also one full of
history. At Edgecote House, three or four miles a vay.
Queen Elizabeth stayed in August, 1572, and there Charles 1.,

with his two sons, was the guest of Mr. Toby Chauncey on
the night before the battle of Edgehill. On neighbouring
Dunsmoor, a great battle was fought long before between
the Sa.xons and Danes, in 914, and in 1469, on the same
spot, there was a sanguinary engagement between the
partisans of Edward IV. and a body of insurgents, in
which the former were defeated, and the Earl of
Pembroke with his two brothers and eight other gentle-
men captured and taken to Banbury to be beheaded.
Sulgrave and Wormleighton, the ancient homes of the
Washingtons, are also in this neighbourhood, with many
other historic places.

The visitor to Eydon Hall has therefore a great deal to
interest him in its surroundings, while the country itself is one
of singularly varied beauty, wliere the townsman would think
it pleasant to rest or to wander. The seat of Viscount
Valentia, which is now occupied by Mr. T. Wilkinson Holland,
stands on a gentle eminence to the south-east of the ancient

AN OLD GARDEN.

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village of Eydon, which lies amid the trees and is a
remark-ably pretty place with many old houses ; possessing,
besides, a fine church with Transition Norman portions, but
which owes much of its perfection to a restoration made in
1865, when the south aisle and porch were added as
memorials of the Reverend Charles A. F. Annesley of Eydon
Hall. The present mansion represents an older structure,
and was raised by the family of Annesley, now Viscounts
Valentia, about the year 1780, the design being by Lewis, and
the structure is certainly imposing and characteristic. The
actual builder was the Rev. Francis Annesley, secoid son of
Francis Annesley, Esq., of Bletchington Park, Oxford, which
is now the principal seat of Lord Valentia. The style is
Italian, being a free adaptation of classic character, with
elaborated and enriched Ionic columns supporting an ornamental
entablature, crowned with a balustrade. SlicIi a structure
must needs be imposing, and to many more attractive than if
it had been invested with the simple severity of the pure
classic style upon which it is based.

for a centre, is an enriched but formal arrangement. Still
another descent brings us to the sunk garden, which is a
realm of floral delight. Indeed, the two great charms of
the place are its wealth of blossom and its wonderful
richness of foliage.

The gardens have been descidbed as interesting, and
formed in the French styl-. By this is meant that \'iews have
been opened out by cutting through groups of trees, thus
forming such vistas as are seen in the " Bosquet de Bacchus,"
and other pictures of Watteau. In these arrangements fine
taste has been displayed, and the garden at Eydon may be
taken as an illu-tralion of what may be accompl.shed by those
whose estates are in the pleasant neighbourhood of rich and
ornamental woods. There is unity in the variety of the place,
and each part has a charm of its own, with its own special
beauties.

What Cardinal Newman has said, in his "Knowledge,
its Own Object," touching the garden and park will bear
iteration. " You see to your walks, and turf, and shrubberies ;

THE ORANGERY AND SUNDIAL.

The situation is advantageous because of the slope which
lies below, giving many opportunities to the skilful hand of
the garden designer. There is, indeed, an ascent upon every
side, and from the windows very fine views are commanded
over parts of the counties of Northampton and Warwick, in
the foreground being the beautiful gardens and r chly wooded
park of the house itself. There is e.xtraordinary variety of
foliage, and sylvan grace and richness are everywhere.
Evidently the skilful hand of the planter worked here with
knowledge and foresight, and thus the liouse at the present
day owes very much to those who have gone before.
The fir trees are particularly numerous, and lend their
grey and sober charm to the delightful walk we depict,
and offer a marked contrast to the trees which more closely
neighbour the house. It will be noticed that the garden is
upon several levels, and that here, again, an e.xcellent use
has been made of a fine opportunity. The low walls
^A-hich divid- the levels give shelter to a multitude of
summer flowers, and below, with the sundial and fish-pond

to your trees and drives ; not as if you meant to make an
orcnard of the one, or corn or pasture land of the other, but
because there is a special beauty in all that is goodly, in wood,
water, plain, and slope, brought ail together by art into one
shape, and grouped into one whole." This is a true lesson
for the garden-mak'er — the lesson of perfection in diversity
and unity in variety. We think- that the creator of the
gardens at Eydon Hall was inspired by this thought,
and certaiiily in every part of th.^ achievement there is a
beauty that will not elude those who have our pictures
before them, while supreme satisfaction awaits those who
are privileged to visit the place. 'I herefore, Eydoii Hall has
a lesson, being an exemplar of many fine and goodly
things.

The prospect looking over the sund.al garden towards the
house has some special claims to attention. It will be observed
in the picture that here the beds grouped about the dial are
stone-edged, in a circular space of gravel, enframed by a square
of turf. To many it might se.-'m more attractive if green turf

EYDON HALL.

75

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MIDDAY BY THE SUNDIAL.

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GARDENS OLD AND KBV.

TUB FLOWER WALK Al EYDON HALL

had surrounded them completely, but it must be remembered
that there is an appropriateness in the style, with most agree-
able variety in the des'gn, and that many sanctions exist for
such an arrangement. For a garden to be grouped about a
dial seems peculiarly appropriate, and we are tempted here to
add some reflections upon dials to those which were offered
in the Introduction. As a recent writer has remarked, the
whirligig of time has brought sundials into fashion again,
though it might be truer to say that they have never been
really out of favour, but only laid aside until the particular
mode of time-reckoning in the garden has come round once
more. The dial, as Charles L.amb remarked, is a differeit
thing from a clock, " with its ponderous embowelments of lead
or brass, and its pert or solemn dulness of communication."
Let it be remembered that none should regard this as a serious
slur upon the venerable clock, but only as an expression
of Lamb's greater liking for the dial, which he somewhat
fancifully described as " the garden god of Christian gardens."
We mortals, as another writer says, have a rooted antipathy to
the intangible Father Time, and so love all time-markers ihat
reveal his presence and passage. There is a picturesque
old dial in the garden at Belton Hall, in which old
Chronos is seen grasping his dial, while a cupid clings to
it reproachfully and with downcast face, as if regretting its
admonitions.

The dial at Eydon Hall which has indu:ed these remarks
is of a plain and simple type. Its congeners exist in scores
in all sorts of places, but it is not to be denied that in such
garden features there is greater scope for the imagmation than
is revealed in dials of this class. We may see everywhere,
indeed, t-iat the sundial now takes on a more ambitious, and
withal a more beautiful, form. To some the very characteristic
Scottish dials are an example, and where there are Scottish
associations may well be regarded as appropriate. It should
not, however, be beyond the ability of the architect to devise
dials of attractive forms suitable for English and other gardens.
'1 here is, as an example, an exceedingly tine mo.lern dial in the
garden at the Old Place, Lindfield, Sussex, illustrated in the
first series of " Gardens Old and New," in which the gnomon
is uplifted upon a pillar, with the motto, " Nunc sol ; nunc

umbra " — true of the garden and the world — and above it tire
pelican " in her piety," while the shaft of the pillar is spirally
entwined with appropriate mottoes, and ivy clings to its foot.
Could a garden be graced with a fairer adornment .? Suitable
mottoes are desirable. " United in Time ; parted in Time ;
to be re-united when Time shall be no more," are tire
words upon a recent dial of Scottish type, and a very
beautiful one, erected by Lady John Scott at Cawston
Lodge, Rugby, in memory of Lord John Scott. '' Post
tenebras spero lucem," and " Ut umbra sic fugit vita," are
mottoes well known, and the terrible admonition, "On
this moment hangs eternity," is k'nown to the writer
upon a dial.

The position of the sundial at Eydon Hall is right — and
let us recognise that in its baluster-like character it has
appropriate relation to the house — for it is the centre of a
garden pkm, and about it are disposed very brilliant
tlower-bcds, while behind rise noble groups of trees as a
charming background, and floral borders make a margin for
the walls. Indeed, it is a singularly beaLitiful picture that is
presented as one looks from the house over the fish-pond to
the garden of the dial and the admirable trees beyond.

It is an easy thing to criticise a garden design — to offer
praise or censure upon this part of it or that. The more
difficult thing is to plan and shape a garden successfully.
What kind of pleasaunce would be most suitable for a place
like E)'don Hall .-' The situation might have suggested to some
a bolder form of terracing ; but to our mind the arrangement
is as good as could be, the descents being utilised to make
shelter for excellent flower borders. As the house stands it
holds its right place in the composition, like the classic buildings
in the paintings of Claude. Any great terraces in such a
situation as that of Eydon would break- the repose of the
charming picture, and would dwarf the edifice they were
intended to adorn. The midday picture over the sundial
garden towards the house, as witnessed from the front of the
orangery, will explain what we mean. That seems to us to be
an ideal classic garden composition, and to illustrate in a
striking manner how harmonious are the garden features at
Eydon Hall.

77

M

OST counties in tiie less
obviously attractive parts
of England have their
good and bad districts — good and bad, that is, from the
residential point of view. Suffolk is no exception to the rule,
there being in the county parts where the soil is first-rate for
the farmer, but in which for many generations no new or old
mansions have been built or inhabited by the class who seek
the country, not to pursue business, but to enjoy the pleasures
of the country life, whilst other neighbourhoods have been noted
for many centuries for the number and character of thefine houses
with good estates there situated. One of the earliest parts of the
county to see the erection of good mansions after the Reforma-

tion was that on the western side, wliere a tributary of the
river Stour meets the river near Long Melford. It is close to
the Es-ex border, well wooded and watered, and full of the
kind of scenery that Constable, who was born at no grea'
distance away, delighted to paint. All that was best in the
neighbourhood centred round the beautiful little town of Long
Melford. There stood, and still stands, one of the finest of
Suffolk churches, a rectory which carried a manor, Kentwtll
Hall (which is described and illustrattd in this volume), Melford
Place, and the subject of the present article, Melfoid Hall,
one of the best Tudor houses of East Anglia. A long list of
distinguished men were born at Long Melford, and lie buried
in the church : Maitins, Darcys, Cloptons, Cordells, and

THE GATE-HOUSE.

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

generations of Parkers of Melford Hall, who gave their lives
for the country by land and sea. To this familv belonged
Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, who was lost in the Cato in
1782; another Admiral, Sir Hyde Parker, Kt., and his sons,
Admiral Hyde Parker, C.B., and Lieutenant-Genera! John
Boteler Parker, C.B. ; also Lieutenant Harry Parker of the
Coldstream Guards, killed while carrying the colours at
Talavera; and Captain Hyde Parker, R.N., who was killed while
storming a Russian battery at Sulina on the Danube in 1854.

THE OLD PORCH.

Many great seamen have come out of East Anglia, or had
their homes there, and among them not only Nelson himself,
but there, at Melford Hall, the distinguished Admiral upon
whose signal at Copenliagtn he turned his famous or fabulous
"blind eye."

Melford Hall, the home of this fighting race, has a
long and distinguished history. It stands on the site of a
favourite residence of the Abbots of St. Edmund's Abbey at
Bury. The manor, with probably about 2,000 acres of land,
was given to the Abbey by Earl Alfric, in the reign of

Edward the Confessor. Abbot Sampson, of whom Carlyle
writes, the most famous head of this wealthy and powerful
house, often resided there from 1182 to 121 1. Probably the
old house was built of the half timber, half wattle and plaster,
which was the favourite material for building old houses in
Suffolk, brick being used for foundations and chimneys. It
had a moat on three sides of it, an ornamental feature altered
later to a semi-circle without reference to the plan of the new
house. It is mentioned in the writings of the late Sir Wil'iam

Parker, from which the
historical facts which follow
are largely drawn, that the
Abbot used to enjoy the
pleasures of sport there at
second hand: "He did not
lionte hisself, and he
favoured not that his monkes
shoulde; but he lyked meclie
to sytte in a stylle place in ye
Melford wooddes, and to see
ye Abbey dodges honte ye
stagges." The Abbots of St.
EJmund's were mighty princes,
and well able to keep up the
state suitable to the highest
order of the Peers Spiritual.

At the Dissolution tlie
revenue of the Abbey was
equal to ;^250,ooo of our
money. The last Abbot, who
was forced by King Henry
VllLto surrender this splendid
trust, was a Melford man, John
de Melford. He did not long
survive the spDliation, dying
a few months later ; fortunate,
perliaps, not to be executed
for high treason, as were
the unhappy and equally
innocent Abbots of Colchester,
Reading, and Glastonbury.
After tlie demolition of tlie
monastery Melford Hall and
Manor were granted by tire
King to Sir William Cordell,
a Melford man born, who
was Speaker of the House
of Commons in the reign of
Queen Mary, and Master of
the Rolls to her and Queen
Elizabeth, and also Higli
Steward of Ipswich. Sir
William was the builder of
the present Hall, whose fine
proportions and clean-cut,
clearly-thought-out plan place
it among the best of the
severer order of Tudor man-
sions in Suffolk. It has not
the elaboration of Hengrave,
nor the quaintness of Christ
Churcli at Ipswich, but for
general excellence and con-
venience of plan it might serve
as a model for a modern
builder to copy. The forecourt
has the usual E frontage. There are no less than six towers
of brick, rising from square bases into octagonal turrets,
capped by cupolas and vanes. Unfortunately, a later owner
of the mansion thought fit to remove all the stone mullions
of the windows on the south front, and to replace them by
sashes, which has weakened the effect of what was a
particularly fine facade. But the heiglit of the wings and the
grouping of the towers here have a very dignified effect.

The wings and rooms between the central towers are of
three storeys in height, the connecting central portion only two

fMF.LFORV HALL.

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storeys. The east front, which is the entrance front of the
mansion, retains the old windows and fittings ahiiost unaltered.
The porch, with its upper chamber, is of stone, with two tiers
of pilasters. On the ends of the wings are good stone-
mullioned windows of eight lights, and projecting from these
wings north and south large bays, that on the north front
having no less than forty-four lights. Not all of the old Inouse
was pulled down. The cellars and foundations were used by
Sir William Cordell, and the ancient wooden porch, which dates
from the year 151 5, was also retained. This is an extra-
ordinary and most interesting piece of worl<, purely mediceval
in spirit and design, and probably typical of the wooden
decorative work of the timber and plaster houses, very many
of which survive in Suffolk towns and villages, but few in the
country, where they were pulled down to make room for new
mansions, as at Melford Hall. The porch has a high pitched
roof with a fmial and openwork front. The sides are boarded
in high enough to make a back to the benches on either side.

chains, alle redy at one instante and in one plaice, with
1,500 serving men all on horseback, well and bravelie mounted
to receive the Queen's Highness into Suffolke. There was
such sumptuous feastings and bankets as seldom in anie part
of the world was there seen afore. The Master of the Rolles,
Sir William Cordell, was the first that began this greate
feasting at his house of Melforde, and did light such a candle
to the rest of the shire that they were gladde bountifullie and
franklie to follow the same example."

Sir William Cordell died three years later, and left no
children. His niece and heiress married Sir John Savage,
whose descendants were created viscounts. Elizabeth
Viscountess Savage was created Countess Rivers on the
death of her father. Earl Rivers. She was a Catholic and a
staunch Royalist. Suffolk and Essex were Roundhead in
feeling and very hostile to the gentry— in fact, the East
Anglian Roundheads showed far more animus and class feeling
than those of other parts of England during the rebellion. The

THE GARDEN FORECOURT.

out with four open frames above, divided by carved Liprights.
Boldly carved grotesque figures in the male and female
costumes of the early Tudor period stand on corbels at
either side of the entrance, and act as bracketed supports to
the barge-board of the roof. A fine stained-glass figure of
Queen Elizabeth in one of her most magnificently embroidered
and jewelled hooped dresses and ruff, with crown, sceptre, and
orb, and a triple necklace of large pearls, is probably an e.xcel-
lent portrait of the Queen in her early womanhood. It was
no affectation of loyalty or gratitude which caused this image
of the Sovereign to adorn the window at Melford. Its owner
amassed the greater part of his fortune as her Master of ihe
Rolls, and she honoured him with a visit in which the host had
nothing to complain of if he desired to show his Sovereign
the greatness of the wealth he had amassed. When she
came to visit him in 1578 "there were 200 young ge. tie-
men cladde all in whyte velwet, and 3C0 of the graver
sort apparalled in black velwet coats, and with fair

mob sacked the houses of the nobility and gentlemen as
wantonly as did the French peasants those of the Seigneurs
in the Revolution. A rabble set out from Colchester, accom-
panied by the regular Train Band, and first sacked another
house of Lady Rivers (St. Osyth), and then came to plunder
Melford and seize her person. They stole all they could lay
hands on, destroyed the furniture, killed the deer, gutted the
rectory, stole the rector's horses, broke down the cross on
the green, tore up the brasses in the church, and behaved
generally like the set of unmitigated blackguards which they
undoubtedly were.

All this time the Colchester Train Band with their
officers were actually billeted in the long gallery of the
Hall, and looked on. Lady Rivers was ruined by fines and
confiscations, and died in 1650, but before her death sold the
Hall to another representative of its first builder's family, Sir
Robert Cordell, who was created the first baronet. He was
member for Sudbury and High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1653.

(MULrOliTi HALL.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE NORTH FRONT.

This younoer line of Cordeils altered the house, made the
moat femi-circular, and put sashes in the windows. Sir Rohert
was succeeded by his son
and grandson, after which the
title became extinct. But
Margaret Cordell married Sir
Charles F.rebrace, in whose
family it remained till it
was purchased by Sir Harry
Parker (sixth baronet) in 1786,
since which date that dis-
tinguished family has con-
tinued to live there.

We have left an accoimt
of the gardens until the last,
and it shall be brief. They
are simple "and beautiful, with
ample lawns and superb beds
and borders of flowers. There

is no elaboration, and the

masonry terrace and formal

parterre are absent. There

is no certainty that they

ever were there. The land

has been levelled, and on

the north side the lawn is

raised, with a slope to the

ditch and a brick wall at its

margin. The character of the

gardens will be best gathered

from the pictures. There is

great structural completeness

about the setting of the

house, from the gates and

lodge, where the octagon

turrets of the Hall are

repeated, to the magnificent

bowling green pavilion. The

double gate-house, with its

fine background of trees, is

excellent, while the pavilion THE SUNDIAL.

is a most notable garden-house, or octagon of brick,
approached by a steep flight of steps, and entered by an

Ionic porch It has two
levels, and the house is high,
the windows being intended
to give a wide view over
the landscape. Each side is
surmounted by a gable, and
each gable and interspace by
a brick finial. The old brick
garden wall and border lead-
ing to this pavilion are a
beautiful instance of the grace
of congruity in which antique
building and modern garden-
ing agree. Broad spaces of
grass seem an appropriate fore-
ground to the red brick houses
of East Anglia, and glorious
flower borders their right
accompaniment. The sundial
challenges the stranger as he
approaches the porch, and is
a very pleasing and elegant
example of the garden
monitor. Melford Hall is
distinguished by the presence
of old trees in its neigh-
bourhood, and they make,
with the old house and its
simple gardens, a fine picture
of an East Anglian mansion.
Melford is a house of which
the county of Suffolk' is
justly proud. The builder
was a Suffolk man of much
con-equence, and the present
owners have maintained the
traditions of the place with
honour and distinction for
many generations.

[ 83 ]

A BEAUTIFUL place in a fair part of Western Sussex
is Sedgwick' Park. It is one of tlie many pleasant
domains wliicli are found in tine neiglibourhood of
k. ancient Horsjiam and the siiadowy deptlis of the
forest of St. Leonard's. Here, apart from tlie
world, lived a peasantry who cherished tlie stories and folk-lore
of a former time with a tenacity which makes their descendants
an interesting people, if we can but draw them from their
native shyness, to-day. Here, long after the monsters evolved
in the mists of antiquity had been dissipated by the flaring
torch of science, lingered tlie belief in a dragon, which harried,
even as late as August, 1614, the whole country-side. There
were some perils of the nether world there to be encountered
in the woodland, but good St. Leonard had waged the fight
with a stubborn daring which had laid the old monster low,
and wherever the Saint's blood dyed the ground, patches
of lilies of the valley sprang up, they say ; and, now, when
all the Sussex world goes a-lilying, there are some, perhaps,
who still think of the terror from which the people were spared.
Even yet some old crone may tell you also of the headless
phantom which rode behind the horseman who traversed the
forest-way until he passed the bounds.

The district of St. Leonard's Forest and Nuthurst is
full of woodland attraction, and Nuthurst is perhaps even
more attractive than the forest itself. Oak and beech,
ancient pine and great plantations of larch, with rich under-
wood, and many a bright touch of colour gained by the growth
of ornamental trees, are the distinctions of the place. Looking

southward from the hill there is a far outlook over the
pastoral land to the Downs, with a distant glimpse of the
sea. Such a posit'on, commanding a vast country, could not
fail to attract the attention of the great barons who made this
part of Sussex their home. A park v\'as enclosed at Sedgwick
in very early times, and in the nineteenth year of Edward 11.
it was described as containing 400 acres. The park was
attached to the ancient castle of Sedgwick, of which some
very interesting remains still exist. The form was circular,
with the defence of a double moat, and the whole of the plan
can be made out from the basement walls. The estate after
the Conquest was in the possession of the family of Savage,
but there was some dispute concerning the rights, and
John le IVlaunsel obtained licence to fortify the place in 1259,
and Peter de Montford defended it in the Barons' War,
but it subsequently reverted to John ie Savage. From hm it
passed by exchange to William de Braose, the great lord of
Bramber, and it remained attached to the Bramber lordship
until the attainder and death of Thomas Duke of Norfolk
in 1572.

In 1549 a hundred deer were kept in the park, which
had been extended in area from 400 acres to 624 acres at the
date of its dispalement in 1608. The Sedgwick estate had
meanwhile been granted to Thomas Seymour, and had passed
through the hands of Sir Thomas Fynes and Sir John Caryl,
in 1705 it was purchased by Sir John Bennett, and afterwards
by Charles Duke of Richmond, who held it until 1750. The
castle v.'as a ruin, but the estate was sold to the Tudors of

FROM THE bOUTH.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEli^.

FROM THE "MASTHEAD.'

SETiGlVICK.

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Nuthurst, and from their successors passed to the family of the
present proprietor.

The beautiful house of Sedgwick Park, built within recent
years, thus represents a great domain of former times, and its
terrace surveys not only a supremely beautiful garden, but also

"THE CHIEF CABIN."

a vast extent of the old hunting ground of William de Braose,
lord of Bramoer. The architect has raised on the hill a
fair and attractive mansion. The pictures illustrate, better
than words can describe, the glories of the garden, which
lies in terraced descents to the south. Quaint and curious is
the idea of likening the house and garden to a ship of the
Royal Navy. What fancy
inspired the delightful conceit
we do not know, but here is
embodied or figured an asso-
ciation which, to those who
love the garden, is dear, and
it is extiemely interesting t')
learn that the garden was
planned by Mrs. Henderson,
and brought to perfection
under her care. What a
garden it is that we gaze upon
from the lofty "masthead"
of the abode ! Below is the
semi-circular terrace, paved
with huge Cyclopean blocks,
which cherish green things in
their crevices, all enframed
on the homeward side by deep
green yew hedges, giving place
for beautiful seats for the
view, while at the ends of
the curves are classic athletes
in bronze. Then we have a
long broad pathway to open
the garden perspective, and
there are other hedges, kept
well, as hedges should be,
and fringing strips of turf,
margined by beds of flowers

and low-growing shrubs. The path leads onv\'ard to another
marked feature of t.ie garden, still enframed with the
hedges, and here the sudden dip of the ground has afforded
another fine position for an outlook, as it were, over
a bastion — or, perhaps, in this maritime garden, we should

say a bulwark — while paths lead down on either side to the
lower level, where the " chief cabin " is a delightful place to
rest in, with its cool stone archway and pavement.

It was looking out from this point, or from the elevation
above, that Mrs. Henderson's children, seeing with delight the

water -space before them,
proclaimed it as " The White
Sea," a title which it
deservedly retains. Reflecting
the sky above, it shimmers in
the summer sun, and con-
trasted with the dark greens
of its margin, it assumes the
white sheen that impressed
them. This is not a formal
water, for there is no stone
edging, and w a t e r - 1 o v i n g
plants flourish exceedingly
there. And yet, look at those
quaint yew hedges, tall and
dense and cut to shapes that
are prim, and you will say
that Nature and Art are here
most happily conjoined. The
special character and formation
of these yew hedges, which
is very curious and unusual,
has caused them to be
described as "fortifications."
They close the view of this
sweet and splendid garden,
but not the view of the
country. For beyond and
below lies the great wooded
park, rich and beautiful in its
varied foliage, and the lovely country for many a mile,
until the line of the Downs ends the prospect. It is a
landscape possessing both richness and variety, very pleasant
to look upon from a pleasaunce like this.

What is particularly worthy of note is that no style
predominates here. There is no exclusion of qualities — rather

THB "PORTHOLES."

an attempt to include many, and a successful one. The
general character is, of course, formal, but the garden is full
of so much njtural beauty, and so closely neighboured by
woodland anil by individual trees of beautiful character, that
it will content those who love the simple expression of the

SET)GIV/CK.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

'THE WHITE SEA.

natural gardening style. Yet it has the quality of stateliness
springing from its largeness of character and long vista of
uninterrupted beauty ; and anything which had broken up the
garden, as by the planting of masses of trees, would have
spoiled that charm. As it is, we look- out upon a well-propor-
tioned expanse, where there is a due subordination of parts,
and where everything contributes to the effect of the whole.
And it must be noticed that these various parts of the garden
are all satisfactory in themselves, that they have an indi-
viduality which is, perhaps, too rare in gardens. Note
especially the great blocks of the pavement, and the marked
feature of the "fortifications." Moreover, it is characteristic

u.-u-;bh:-. ibAi.

of this garden that it belongs to the landscape ; it is a part of
its surroundings ; it is wholly in harmony with its natural
framework. Here, then, we may truly say, is a triumph in
gardenage — a success which is not open to all, but which a
few, who have gardens in like situations to that at Sedgwick
Park, may also attain.

We have not, of course, alkided to all the charms to be
found in this lovely Sussex garden. There are beautiful
terraces, with excellent masonry, ascents into woodland
pleasaunces, and excellent groups of shrubs and flowers, all
flourishing in perfection. The yuccas are a great feature, but
it would be tedious, and is unnecessary, to attempt to cata-
logue or describe the lovely
things that grow in this
favoured place. Water and
wood, the green expanse and
ihe radiant flower-bed, the
dense hedges of yew and the
waving beauties of undipped
trees, all play their part in the
beauties of these gardens.
There is something very fas-
cinating in the zeal with which
Mrs. Henderson has pursued
her task to its completion, and
much that is delightful in the
quaintness of many of the
ideas that are expressed in
her garden fancy. Look, for
example, at the picturesque
aspect of the green "port-
holes," and at the ivy enclo-
sure of the "upper deck."
To work in a garden fair is the
delight of many a lady ; to
shape and fashion a garden is
given, perhaps, to few. But
it would be pleasant to think
that this Sussex garden had
inspired other ladies to work
out lancies of their own.

C 89 J

'HAT beautiful liome of
old Englishmen which
we depict lies in a
chosen part of tlie pleasant county of Salop, and is within
about six miles of Shrewsbury. You may approach it, if you
choose, by a delightful walk through the fields from Condover
Station, passing as you go old Condover Hall, which, in its
fine old frontage of stone, presents a very suggestive contrast
to Ihe more picturesque charms of ancient timbei-framed
Pitchford. You will not forget that about a mile and a-half
beyond the object of your journeying is the village of Acton
Burnell, which is rather famous in our history. There is a
castle there which closely resembles the Bishop's Palace at
Wells, and was, indeed, built by the same hands. When
Edward I. held the great council of his Parliament at Shrews-
bury, in 1283, one of its sessions was held at Acton Rurnell,
and the King took advantage of the thronging thither of many
representatives of the commercial classes to issue the ordinance
known as the Statute of Merchants, which confirmed their
rights and gave them power against their debtors. The
neighbouring village of Pitchford took its name in very ancient
times from a curious bituminous spring, which was described
by JV\armaduke Rawdon of York in the seventeenth century.
That old writer speaks thus of the fountain : " Thir is in this

is sottish.

and swimes
together itt
and becomes

well four little hooles, about halfe

a )'ard diep, out of which comes

little lumps of pitch, but that

which is aft the tope of the wel

upon the water like tarr, but being sk'imd

incorporates, and is knead together like soft wax

hard."

There was a landed family at Pitchford in the time of
King Stephen, who took their name from the place, and still
in the ancient church is an oaken figure supposed to represent
one of that stock. What manner of house they had in this
place we cannot tell, but the property had not long been in
the hands of the ancestors of its present owner, the Ottleys,
to whom it came by purchase in 1470, when the existing
mansion was erected. It is said to have been built by
William Ottley, Sheriff of the county. This was a forest
country, where materials for the building lay ready to the hand,
and many an oak bowed to the woodman's axe. Go where
you will, you will find few more beautiful examples of a
style of architecture dear to the English mind, found mostly
in Shropshire and northward through Cheshire and Lancashire,
but in which no part of the country is poor. Happily, Pitchford
Hall has remained in excellent hands, and is now practically
unchanged from the aspect it anciently bore, except that the

tllE ENTRANCE UklVE.

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GARDENS OLD AND NtlV.

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servants' wing was added at a later date, precisely in the
same architectural style. There was once a moat about the
house, which the Pitchford brook and the pond above the
house supplied ; and there was no doubt a sweet and radiant
garden, much to the owner's mind. Just as now, there
were splendid trees surrounding, whose forest brothers had
furnished the material for the building, and there were
neighbouring houses of note, wherein dwelt men of mark in the
shire.

Within the mansion the rooms were panelled with
oak'en wainscot, as they still are, though now more recent
portraits are framed into the walls. They were troublous
times for many, to whom moats were no safeguard, and the
builder of Pitchford Hall, or his successor, was careful to
construct a secret hiding-place, where priest or fugitive
might be secure. It is a chamber of considerable size,
as hiding-holes go, approached through a sliding panel,
well concealed, by a ladder through a closet floor. The

slope to look over the ancient homestead and all the gardens
and pleasure grounds that lay thereabout ! There exists an
old plan of the garden, made in 1680, which shows that the
house was even then in the tree. Many have been the
fasliions of such places. There was the well-known arbour of
Erasmus, where he ate as if in the garden itself, for the very
walls were shrubs and flowers, and whichever way he looked
he had the garden before him. We remember also the summer
resting-place of Sidney's "Arcadia," which was "a square
room full of delightful pictures made by the most excellent
workmen of Greece." Then we think of the more stately
summer-house of the Lord Treasurer Burleigh at Theobalds,
where, in a semi-circle, were twelve Roman Emperors in white
marble, and a table "of touchstone," and above cisterns of
lead for fish or for bathing in the summer. But which of
these could have the simple charm of the shadowy retreat held
safe in the arms of the Pitchford tree .''

And what kind of garden do we survey from this pleasant

THE KITCHEN GARDEN

house was shaped, as otir illustrations show, like the letter
E, the straight side being towards the church, though
it was built long before Elizabeth could be flattered by such
a plan.

Among the Ottleys who possessed Pitchford, Sir Francis
of the name deserves to be mentioned as the loyal governor of
Shrewsbury in the Civil Wars. Their descendants continued
to possess it until the year 1807, when on the death of the last
of the name, Mr. Adam Ottley, it passed to the late Lord
Liverpool, grandfather of Colonel Cotes, as next-of-kin.
During Lord Liverpool's ownership the fine and characteristic
old place was carefully maintained, and he had the honour of
welcoming her late Majesty within its walls, who, as Princess
Victoria, visited it, accompanied by the Duchess of Kent,
in 1832.

A very fine view of the house is obtained from the summit
of the avenue leading to Pitchford village, and a delightful
prospect of the glorious old place lies also before the visitor
who is privileged to ascend to that sweet old summer-house
held secure in the arms of the mighty lime. What a delightful
fancy created that rare resting-place, lifted aloft on the breezy

altitude, or enjoy as we traverse the pathways } There are
fifteen acres of the pleasaunce, and the pictures disclose what
they are. It is a dear old garden of pleasant scents and radiant
prospects, with many a bloom to crown the successive seasons
of the changing year. There are magnificent old trees, fine
ornamental speciinens, and yew hedges, and everywhere
flowers, filling with radiance even the kitchen gardens them-
selves.

On one side the land slopes down to the house ; on
the other it slopes away where grass terraces break the
descent to the pleasant margin of the Pitchford Brook, where
are walks and solitudes delightful to explore, and whence it is
charming to look back to the beautiful old house we have left.
But perhaps, after all, the rarest charm will be found in
the great and grand old trees which tower up with sub-
limity, and spread below their wide expanse of shade —
the "old patrician trees" of that favoured land. There
is beauty and charm, however, wherever we go, and with
most pleasant thoughts of the good old English house and
fair domain do we forsake the lovely surroundings of
Pitchford Hall.

[ 93 ]

I^HE traveller in South Wales by road or rail from
Bridgend to Neath, after passing the seaward opening
of the Llynfi Valley, finds himself presently passing
through a very interesting part of Glamorganshire.
On his left lies a broad space of sandy flat, with the
blue waters of Swansea Bay beyond, while on the right rises
the splendid wooded hill of Mynydd Margam to a height of
about Sooft. It is a glorious elevation, clothed from base to
summit with the rich foliage of an oak wood, which covers it
for some two miles along the slope. The district thereabout is
one of great natural attractions, and not less of commercial
possibilities, which have been much developed, as shall shortly
be mentioned.

Margam Abbey, that picturesque modern structure which
we depict, stands near the time-worn ruin in a favourable
situation, having the hill for its background, and commands
a superb view of wood, sea, and sky. The stormy south-
westers, in their tempestuous course, have sometimes done
considerable damage here, and have swept for generations the
huge steeps of Mynydd Margam, keeping the oaks thereon to
something approaching a uniform level. Few giants now lift
their heads above the crowd, and thus from a distance the bold
flank of the hill seems as if covered with a dense mass of well-
clipped green. Between the house and the sea lies the great

sandy expanse, which would move landward under the breeze,
had not the late Mr. C. R. M. Talbot planted great quantities
of Arundo arenaria, whose widespread roots bind the shifting
mass together.

When the broken hosts of the Red King had fruitlessly
carried his arms into the mountain fastnesses, and had been
driven back by hardship and famine, his successor on the
throne entered upon a wiser and more masterful, if less stormy
and violent, policy. The Principality was divided by internal
strife at the time, and a system of gradual conquest began, the
new tide of invasion flowing along the coast, and using such
level expanses as that below Margam Park to gain a foothold,
from which advances inland might be made, the base resting
upon the sea. One Welsh chieftain summoned Robert Fitz-
Hamon, the lord of Gloucester, to his aid, and the defeat of
Rhys ap Tudor, the last prince who united Southern Wales
under his rule, produced conditions of anarchy which enabled
Fitz-Hamon to land safely on the coast of Glamorgan, conquer
the country round, and divide it among his followers. He
himself had a castle at Kenfig, two miles south of Margam,
which braved the elements for ages, but at length was over-
whelmed by the sea in the sixteenth century. The devouring
sand engulfed it almost entirely, but still some fragments
may be seen amidst the waste, while tlie whole church there

GARDEN ARCHITECTURE.

94

GARDEhlS OLD AND NEW.

perished in the sandy deluge, and Margam Abbey, secure upon
the liill, continued to survey the curious scene.

It was Robert Earl of Gloucester, Fitz-Hamon's son-Jn-
lavv, who planted the white-robed Cistercians there, in an
abbey dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, about the year 1147.
Giraldus Cambrencis visited the house in 1188, and King John
was entertained there, for which hospitality, it is said, he
excepted the Cistercians of Margam from his extortions. But,
if the King's Ministers stayed their hand, it was far otherwise
with the wild ravaging Welshmen, concerning whom a pitiable
tale is told in the Abbey Chronicle of devastated farms,
buildings burnt, and men slain with the sword. The ven-
geance of Providence, however, sometimes followed. " Com-
busserunt Wallenses horreum nostrum ; divina tamen vindicta
sequente." Then came the perverse people to waste the
farmstock upon which the labour-loving Cistercians set such
store. " Concremaverunt perversi homines o\'es nostras
plusquam mille, cum duabus domibus, in una septimana."
Sadder things were to follow. " Occiderunt Wallenses

Mer-Honour, which tlew Essex's flag in the Islands' Voyage,
1603. Afterwards he became Vice-Admiral of the Narrow
Seas, and he escorted Raleigh from London to Winchester for
his trial, and was concerned in other notable events of
his time.

The old house, which was built by Sir Rice Mansel when
he bought the place at the Dissolution of the monasteries, was
a long rambling building. The site chosen was in close
proximity to the Abbey, and there is no doubt the Abbey
suffered much at the hands of the builders of the new dwelling-
house. Tradition says tiie chapter house and cloisters were
used as servants' offices, and one corner still bears the name
of the "beer-cellar." Two interesting bird's-eye pictures have
been fortunately' preserved at Margam, and give a very good
idea of the picturesque old house with it-, many gables and its
walled gardens, and also of the surrounding country as it was
2O0 years ago. This house \\/-a.s pulled down by the late Mr.
Thomas Talbot about the end of the eighteenth century, and
it is said he intended to buil'l a new one on the top of the

3^fi^^

FACADE OF ORANGEkY.

famulos nostros." But worse even than Welsh incursions
happened when the Abbey was dissolved and its possessions
distributed, it is interesting to know that its clear income at
the time was ;£i8i 7s. 4d. The site was granted to Sir Rice
Mansel of Oxwich Castle, in whose family it continued until
about 1750, when it passed through the female line, and the
late Mr. C. R. M. Talbot, M.P., who died in 1850, father of
Miss Talbot, now of Margam Park, was the descendant and
representative of the grantee.

Sir Edward Mansel of Margam, who died in 1595, married
Lady Jane Somerset, youngest daughter of Henry Earl of
Worcester, and their younger son, Admiral Sir Robert Mansel,
who at one time spelt his name " Mansfeeld," was a great
seaman among the many great seamen of Elizabeth's day.
Through the Carnages of Coity he was related to Lord
Howard, the Lord Admiral, with whom it is said he first went
to sea ; and he is believed to have served against the Armada
in 1588. In 1595 he accompanied Howard and Essex to Cadiz
and was knighted for his services, and he was captain of the

orangery (which he had already erected) in the Italian
style, and the entrance to which would have been through
the grove of orange trees ; but this idea was never carried
out, and the present mansion was built on a higher site
by the late Mr. C. R. M. Talbot about 1826. It has two
great facades and the tower as its principal features.
There is much originality in the treatment, and the
picturesqueness of the grouping of towers, turrets, and
chimneys is extremely attractive. Mr. Talbot was in
large degree his own architect. The effect is certainly
imposing, and the structure harmonises admirably with the
dark wooded hill.

The fragments of the old Abbey are few, but are extremely
interesting, and are carefully preserved. The beautiful details
of the chapter house, of which the roof fell in in 1799, the
interesting groining of the cloisters, the tine features of
columns and mouldings, entitle the remains to be ranked
among the most worthy of attention by the architect in South
Wales. The rootless Abbey mill still stands by the water, and

D^ ARC AM Park.

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is a most picturesque feature of tlie grounds in its framing of
glorious greenery.

Tlie gardens at Margam liave mucJT tliat entitles tliem
to attention. Tine garden arcliitecture, in the first place, is
extremely good and varied. Tlie old classic summer-house,
with its Corinthian columns and arched niches, each
having its statue, is an e.xtremely fine example of English
Renaissance architecture, belonging to two centuries or more
ago, and would not discredit the hand of Inigo Jones. It
was probably designed b)- one of liis successors and imitators.
The carved balustrades, terrace walls, and basins, with the
enrichment of sculptured urns, statuary groups, and fountains,
are of most excellent character. A picture of one particularly
fine urn on the orangery terrace forms the frontispiece to this
volume. The orangery, standing adjacent to the ruin of the
Abbey, is perhjps the most interesting feature of the gardens,
and is celebrated for its fine orange trees, many of which are
20ft. high. They are said to have been sent from Portugal by
a Dutch merchant as a present for Queen Mary, consort of
William III., but the vessel in which they were shipped was

above the higher stairway is associated with the new structure
raised by the late Mr. Talbot.

The district surrounding the mansion is in many ways
interesting. The remains of a Roman camp may yet be traced
on a lofty spur behind the Abbey known as Pen-y-Castell. It
lies in a lovely situation, with a deep-wooded glen below, and
commands a great outlook' over the beautiful country. In the
woods are remains of a small oratory or chapel, which belonged
to the Abbey, and other chapels are in the neighbourhood, as
well as monumental stones. The most remarkable of these
last is Maen-y-Dythyrog, or "lettered stone," which is about
14ft. high, and stands on a bare hill-top two miles from
the house. It has a Latin inscription to one Bodvacus
who lies there, and there is a singular superstition among
the country people that he who reads the lines will die within
tlie \ear.

The Taibach Copper Work's are in the district, and not
far away is the busy manufacturing region of Cwm Afon.
Port Talbot is the seaward outlet of the activity of the region,
and is a rising district, with harbour works and docks. It

THli PRINCbLV WALK.

driven on the sands neighbouring Margam, the owner of
which, by viitue of his rights as Lord of the Manor,
claimed the valuable cargo. When he learned their intended
destination, however, he promptly offered to despatch them,
but the King requested him to retain them as a free gift ;
and thus to the present day they continue to be a delight
at Margam.

Trees and shrubs flourish amazingly at this beautiful
place, and seem to attain quite unusual vigour. The climate
of the Vale of Glamorgan being mild, myrtle and arbutus
flower in the open. One huge bay tree has attained a height
of 80ft., and is greatly admired. The richness and variety of
the foliage generally will be observed in our pictures, and
betrays the judicious hands of successive owners of the place.
The lower stairway to the westward, at the foot of an avenue,
opens a delightful vista, through which the lofty tower of the
house is disclosed, but this is only one among many beautiful
points of view. It will be noticed that the garden architecture
is of various dates. Evidently the classic features, which are
so beautiful, belong to an earlier time, while the Gothic work

was formerly called Taibach, but afterwards Abermouth, or
Aberavon Port, but under an Act of Parliament passed in 1835
it took the name of Port Talbot. It lies in the parish of
Margam, and Miss Talbot is the sole landowner. Her benefi-
cence is well known there. In 1895-97 the Church of St.
Theodore, which cost .i/^20,000, was erected at her charge. It
is in the Early English style, and is an admirable structure,
designed by the late Mr. J. L. Pearson, R.A. Miss Talbot
had already erected a cottage hospital in 1893. It will be seen
that this part of South Wales, like many others, is possessed
of great natural beauties, and, at the same time, of considerable
riches, and that it has an active and intelligent population.
The owners of Margam Abbey have done no little to develop
the region, and in many ways it owes much to them. It may
be said, indeed, that the house is a centre of light and
leading, and we, therefore, look with greater interest upon its
architectural beauties and its lovely gardens and woods. Let
i; be added that the mansion is richly stored with works of art,
antique statues, ancient furniture, and possesses some fine
pictures by famous masters.

t 97 ]

ON the sandy soil of the west Surrey hills, where one
of their many valley-folds runs up to the edge of a
half-mile wide, well-wooded and sheltered plateau,
is this newly- built house. The twenty-six acres
of land on which it stands are for the most part
of open forest character, with groups of well-grown oaks, and
that best of all undergrowth, the native bracken. All this has
been carefully preserved, so that on three sides the forest-land
comes up close to the house. Nothing has been done to alter
the character of this ground, and only, the better to enjoy it,
has one broad grassy glade been cleared and levelled, while
some easy wood paths lead into its deeper recesses. Eastward
is an open view towards Dorking and Leith Hill over a rough
field, at whose further end the stone for the house has been
quarried.

From every point on the land from which it can be seen
the house seems to grow out of the ground. That this should
be so, and that it should in no way jar with the woodland,

speaks well for the fine taste of the designer and for his
intimate knowledge of the best traditions of the country —
traditions that, though clearly marked, are never obtrusive.
Mr. E. L. Lutyens, the architect, has worked well indeed.

Orchards is not a copy nor even an adaptation of any
other old west Surrey house, but in its main structure, as well
as its smaller details, it faithfully follows the county's best
traditions.

The house is approached by a short drive from a country
by-road, which passes under a timbered archway into the
courtyard. Immediately in front is the projecting stone porch,
carrying over it the oak-framed window of a square bay in
the wide passage or gallery above. To the left is the wing
containing the offices, to the right the arched cloister leading
to the larger studio, a delightful ambulatory in hot summer
days The courtyard gives an impression of ample space,
each of its sides measuring about 62ft.

The south front has only one wide terrace between it and

THE CLOISTERS.

98

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

DIPPING WELL IK THE KiTCHHN GARDEN.

the wild fern-clad ground. From this terrace a double flight of
wide, easy steps leads to the garden, at the point where the
wild gives place to cultivation. The garden ground has here
been treated bv planting shrubs somewhat in harmony with
the wilder growths, in bold clumps with grassy ways between.

The dining-room is in the south and east angle of the house ;
a long southern window looks into the woodland, while
windows to the east look' through the arches of a narrow
outdoor room, always in shade.

The scheme of gardening was very simple. It was

LOGGIA TERRACE.

ORCHAR'DS,

99

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G.'!RDEj\'S old ^ND new.

AkCHWAY LHADIiNG lO THE KITCHEN GARDEN.

evident tliat the beautiful stretcli of forest ground deserved
to have its own sentiment preserved as much as possible, and
that where it met the garden it would be well that the two
should join easily and without any sudden jolt. Therefore the
planting between wood and lawn is of easy groups of such
shrubs and trees as fust suggest woodland, crabs and
amelanchier, with plantings of double-tlowered bramble and
double gorse, and some of the wilder of the rambling roses.
By degrees, as the clumps or brakes approach the lawn, they
have more of the garden character ; some are of rhododendrons,
and one at some distance from these is of azaleas, for the t\\ o
should never be mixed ; among others are some of berberis
and shrubby spiraea. Then comes a good stretch of lawn
space, only broken by a fine old bush of blackthorn.

Often a new place is spoilt by the removal of good original
features. Here the good taste of the owners, and especially
Lady Chance's finely-trained artistic knowledge, has carefully
preserved all that was of value, and made the most of every
natural advantage. Though not mucli of a practical gardener
before settling at Orchards, Lady Chance at once appre-
hended the value of the best ways of gardening, and with rare
aptitude assimilated a knowledge of the ways and needs of
flowers, and, above all, acquired that fine sense, a thing
scarcely attainable without considerable training in the fine
arts, of the qualities that make a particular flower or plant
most suitable for certain garden uses.

In spring, before the bracken is grown, in the wild ground
under the oaks are wide stretches of pale daffodils, planted in
those long level drifts that Nature has taught us are the best
ways of disposing these flowers. In another region, between
the garden and a grove of oak, are tufts of wild primrose in
the grass, and thriving clumps of cyclamen for autumn. This is
in a place where the ground is grassy, but nearly bare of fern.
Planting in dry walls is successfully done at Orchards, a way
of gardening that brings quick reward.

The walled kitchen garden is close to the house, an extra
fruit wall dividing it into two portions. The half nearest the
flower garden joins into it as to its lowest quarter, but here
the wall is represented by brick piers rising from a dwarf wall
and connected at the top by a festooned chain of free cluster

roses. Here is a double flower border backed by a box hedge,
so that from the garden side flowers only are seen. Along the
inner side of the east wall is a raised pathway some 4ft. or 5ft.
above the garden level, giving a delightful view, over the
parapet, of the open country, and recalling the " mounts " and
raised paths of the old Tudor gardens.

This division of the kitchen garden has double flower
borders along the main path, with a tank in the middle, and
rose arches. The borders are a blaze of late S'mmer flowers,
hollyhocks and perennial sunflowers, phloxes and marigolds,
while the brighter - coloured groups have their brilliancy
enhanced by judiciously-planted regions of the grey of cineraria
maritima, gypsophila, and lavender-cotton. It is one of the
unending pleasures of a garden to seek out every spot in it
that may be beautified by vegetation and to find the right plant
for the place. Thus even the joints of the stonework inside
the tank and just above the water level have been made the
homes of the native ferns that after a while come spontaneously
in such places ; so here are already thriving tufts of wall rue,
spleenwort, and hart's-tongue.

The large deep hollow left by the quarrymen at the end
of the field has also been taken in hand. The steep descent
gave man)' hours of, pleasant playwork, in engineering a
winding pathway of steps that rise from the lowest depth and
land above among the mounded hillocks of sandy waste. Here
ordinary garden plants would be inadmissible, the nature of
the place demanding for the most part things of bold character,
such as the giant rheums, thistles, eryngiums, elvmus, and so
on. Like all wild gardening, it will only be right if just the
right things are used. Sloping banks of sandy debris show
good sown broom and gorse, and tree lupines have been
planted. Some of this region has been planted with birches,
while steep sandy banks are covered with double-flowered and
cut-leaved brambles. Cistuses are among the plants used
here, and some of the sand-loving south Europeans, rosemary,
hyssop, and lavender-cotton.

IWanifestly Orchards is an ideal countr)' home, and it
possesses, with the garden, that most precious quality of
restfulness, as well as delight to mind and eye, that only
comes of the right use of good and simple material.

I 101 1

x^t

chirh castle

DENBIGHSHIRE,

THE SEAT or

MR. R. MYDDELTON.

CHIRK CASTLE is one of those notable strongliolcis
of North Wales which have seen a very great deal
of history, and the place is not to be dissociated
from that ancient fortress called by the Welsh
" Castell Crogen," upon the site of which it
stands, and whose traditions it inherits. Here occurred several
events in the great struggle of the Welshmen for freedom in
the time of Henry II., which aroused such strong national
feeling among them. It was in the valley beneath Castell
Crogen that the celebrated fight between the forces of Henry
and the Welsh v\'as waged. The English King marched his
men to the river Ceireoc, which is in the park of ChirkCastle,
where he caused the woods to be cut down, and won the
passage ; but the Welsh knew the country better than he,
and, intercepting his communications, drove him back' in
distress.

The territory around Castell Crogen became the property
by descent of Griffith ap Madoc, who married an English wife,
and, at her instigation, took up arms for Henry 111. ana
Edward I. against Llewelyn. Edward gave the wardship of
the children of the chief to certain great nobles, who, according
to the chronicler, obtained the lands for themselves by charter.
One of these faithless guardians was John Earl Warren, in
whose family part of the property remained for three gene-
rations, afterwards passing io the Fitzalans, Earls of Arundel,
Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and William Beauchamp,
Lord of Abergavenny. Meanwhile Roger Mortimer, the other
faithless guardian, had built in 1310 Chirk Castle, where the
older stronghold had been. The place was afterwards united
with the other part of the fee. From the Beauchamps it came
to Sir William Stanley, who was executed in the time of
Henry VUL, and Chirk Castle and Holt Castle were granted to

THE FLOWER LAWN.

102

G ARC ENS OLD AND NEW.

THE IRON GATES TO THE PARK.

the King's natural son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of RiclimonJ anJ
Somerset. Later on the estate was in the possession of Robert
Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Lord St. John of Bletsoe, whose
son sold the castle in 1595 to Sir Thomas iV\yddelton, who was
fourth son of Richard Myddelton of Galch Hill, near Denbigh,
and was governor of Denbigh Castle during the reign of
Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. In 1592 he received a
patent from Queen Elizabeth as a merchant adventurer, and
traded largely with Antwerp and other places, making a large
fortune. He became Sheriff in 1603, and eventually Lord
Mayor of London, 16 14. Sir Thomas bought Chirk Castle,
1595, which he presented to his son Thomas, he himself living

and dying at Stanstead-Mount-
fitchet, Essex, where he is
burieJ. The k'night was de-
scended fr m Ririd, the son
of Ririd Rhudd, or the " Bloody
Wolf." It was after the
marriage of another Ririd with
Cicely, daughter and heiress
of Sir Alexander Myddelton
of Myddelton in Shropshire,
that the Welsh family assumed
the English patronymic. They
were a very notable family,
and several Myddeltons came
to prominence, among them
Sir Hugh Myddelton, the
famous citizen of London, who
brought to completion the great
work of conveying the New
River to the Metropolis, and
who was a younger brother of
the Sir Thomas who purchased
Chirk.

Sir Thomas Myddelton,
the son of the first knight
of Chirk, was also a man of
mark. In the Civil War he
sided with the Commons, and
his castle was seized for the King by Colonel Ellis. Mean-
while, Sir Thomas himself was fighting much in North Wales.
One of his achievements was the capture of Powis Castle,
and in December, 1644, he was under the unfortunate necessity
of besieging his own castle of Chirk, when he was repulsed
in an attempt to storm it, losing his chief engineer, together
with 31 slain and 43 others hurt.

The knight's castle was delivered by Colonel Watts to his
daughter for her father's use in February, 1646. Charles L
lay two nights at Chirk Castle, and appears to have been
there with Prince Maurice when he heard of the defeat of
Montrose. The enthusiasm of Sir Thomas Myddelton for the

THE LONG lEkRACE.

CHIRK C.-IST/j;.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

Parliamentary cause had cooled somewhat, and his castle was
garrisoned for the Parliament in 165 1 until he gave security to
the extent of ;^20,ooo for his good behaviour. He declared
for Charles II., but in 165 1 was besieged in his castle by
Lambert, and compelled to surrender. At this time it was
intended to demolish the castle, as appears by an order of
Parliament, August 27th, 1659. Lambert was to have seen the
order executed, but for some unknown reason it was never
carried out. It was a disastrous time for Sir Thomas Myddelton.
In four years he lost ;£45,ooo, and when Lambert came all his
personal estates were swept away, the damage done to the
building alone being estimated at ;£30,ooo. He died, however,
in his castle in i656, and was succeeded in his estates by his
eldest son, Sir Thomas Myddelton, who had been created a
baronet in 1660 as a reward for his services to the exiled
King. The title ended with Sir William Myddelton, who died
early in the eighteenth century, and the estate then passed to

" I entered first, at Chirke, right ore a brooke,

Where staying still, on couutrej' well to looke,

A castle fa3're appeered to sight of e\'e,

Whose walles were great, and towers both large and hye.
"Full underneath the same does Keeryock run,

A raging brooke, when rayne or snowe is greate :

It was some prince that first this house begun,
It shewes farre of, to be so brave a seate.

On side of hill it stands most trim to viewe,

An old strong place, a castle nothing uewe,

A goodly thing, a princely pallace yet

If all within were throughly furnist fit."

The changes at Chirk Castle have been effected in
excellent taste, and now, not only in the general character,
but in the details of windows and chimneys, the hand of the
architect is seen to have done excellent work, and whatever
time had spared is retained. The entrance gateway, with the
two tlinking round towers, is imposing in character, and the
courtyard within is extremely fine.

THE SEQUESTHRED GARDEN.

a cousin, Robert Myddelton, and from him to the descendants
of John Myddelton. On the death of Richard Myddelton in
1796, Chirk Castle passed with his daughter Charlotte, one
of three co-heiresses, to Robert Biddulph, Esq., whose grand-
son, the present possessor of Chirk Castle, adopted in 1899
the old nam? of Myddelton for himself and his two sons.

Chirk Castle bears in its frowning height much of the
aspect of the days when it was fitted to stand a siege.
Nowhere are the walls less than 6ft. thick, and in some places
there are from i6ft. to i8ft. of solid masonry. The castle
belongs mainly to one period, and has been little altered, and
is still a very fine remain of old military architecture adapted
to modern domestic uses. A- quaint traveller, named Thomas
Churchyard, who wrote a versified account of his tour in
Wales, paid a visit to Chirk Castle, and describes what he
saw there in 1587. He appears to have been a keen observer
of things.

We shall leave the pictures which accompany this article
to suggest the character of the gardens of Chirk Castle. In
their general aspect they are simple, and very beautiful in iheir
simplicity. Fine trees, broad expanses of turf, gay flower-
beds, handsome bushes, and, above all, splendid yew hedges,
are the things which go to the making up of the delightful garden
pictures. Mark that wall-like hedge, cut like a bastion in the
sunny garden. Observe, again, the long hedge upon ihe great
terrace, with its background of trees. There is witchery in
such things, and these are noble features of Chirk Castle, from
whose conspicuous eminence it is delightful indeed to survey
the beautiful country that is near, with so attractive a garden
for the foreground. The splendid iron gateways and the
grille, which we illustrate, will show that nothing has beer
spared to make the gardens what such gardens should be.
Chirk Castle is a place of very great historic interest, and it
is fittingly neighboured by the beautiful gardens we depict.

r 105 1

THS splendid house of the Ear
of Harewood, standing in an
elevated 'situation in the ro-
mantic valley of the Wharfe,
has but one rival of its classic
l<ind in Yorkshire, that county so well

srored with the mansions of the great. That rival is Castle
Howard ; but there shall be no attempt to appraise their various
merits here. Both are great and palatial, both noble and
dignified. The aspect of Harewood is architecturally ver}'
imposing, and beautiful alike in situation and surroundings,
but, like Blenheim, Chatsworth, Kedleston, and many other
great houses, it is not to be judged by ordinary domestic

THE FIRST TERRACE, LOOKIiNG NORTH.

standards. It was built in the eighteenth
century, and was considerably altered
in the middle of the nineteenth ; but
there had been an older house on the
spot, around which many interests had
centred. There had, in fact, been tv\-o
great dwelling-places here, one being Harewood Castle, of which
the grey ruin stands on high ground within Harewood Park,
commanding a fine view of the valley, with Rumbald's Moor
above llkley in the background. It was the ancient seat of the
Lisles, but was considerably altered and brought to completion
by Sir William de Aldburgh, who married the heiress of that
family, and whose shield of arms, with the motto " Vat sal be

_ ._^.^ sal," may be seen over a

window above the main
entrance. The plan of the
stronghold was quadrangular,
with angle towers, the great
hall being on the west side
and the entrance on the east.
The portcullis room and a
groove for the portcullis itself
are still traceable in the
entrance tower, and tlie chapel
has some very interesting
features. The fortress was
dismantled probably during tiie
Civil War, and now the ivy-
clad remains are very pictu-
resque, making the neighbour-
hood the haunt of artists.

Harewood House more
directly represents a man -ion
known as Gawthorpe Hall,
which stood by the side of the
lake some 200yds. south of the
present mansion. Here lived
the great Yorkshire house of
Gascoigne, and here was born
the famous Chief Justice of
the King's Bench who, in the
reign of Henry IV., committed
Prince Hal to prison. Although
there is reason to know that
Henry V. did not exercise that
clemency which Shakespeare
attributes to him, the picture
of it will live in literature :

"You did conmiit me;
For which I do commit into

your hand
The vinstain'd sword that you

have used to bear;
With this remembrance — that

you use the same
With the like bold, just, and

impartial spirit
As you have done 'gainst nie."

After the Gascoignes came
the Wentworths, and the great
Lord Strafford occasionally
made this his home in early life,

106

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

delighting
much, as may
be seen by his
letters, in the
beauty and
seclusion of
the place, and
h-i was in the
neighbour-
hood in 1639,
when war
with the Scots
had broken
out. He wrote
to Sir Harry
Vane in April
of that year
that all was
quiet there,
but he hoped
if the Scottish
moved "to
give them
such a heat in
their cloaths
as the)' never

had since their coming forth of Scotland." The forces at his
disposal were inadequate, and the work not easy, "but," he said,
" the best of it is the brawn of a lark is better than the carcase
of a kite, and the virtue of one loyal subject more than of a
thousand traitors." Later on Gawihorpe Hall Vv'as bought by
the notorious Sir John Cutler, who is so bitterly satirised for
his rapacity and meanness by Pope in the " Moral Essays."

The magnificent seat of the Earl of Harewood was built on
the adjacent site by the first Baron Harewood, Henry Lascelles,
who laid the foundation-stone in the year 1759. The
designs were by Adam and by Carr of York, and the mansion
is an excellent illustr tion of the work of Carr, who built so
many of the important classic mansions of Yorkshire. As will
be seen from our pictures, the character of the place is derived

from a free
adaptation of
the Corin-
thian style
applied to
domestic pur-
poses.

Fergusson
says of it that
it is one of
those houses
which are so
thoroughly
Eng'ish and
aristocratic
:hat "one is
inclined to
overlook their
defects of
style in con-
sequence of
their re?pect-
ability and
the a s s 0 c i-
THE SPHINX. ations they

call up." The
extensive gardens and grounds were laid out by " Capability "
Brown, but they have since been altered and enlarged, and no
longer bear the exclusive mark of his style. We encounter
his name in the annals of the gardens of English noblemen
even more often, as someone has remarked, than we find the
handicraft of Grinling Gibbons or one of his imitators in the
internal adornments of their abodes. Many alterations were
carried out by Sir Charles Barry. The great double terrace
was formed in 1843, and is a very splenJid feature of the
place, and we do not know where better classic terracing can
be found than is depicted in our illustrations, The whole of
the architectural and sculptured features in the garden are,
indeed, very striking, and remarka.My good in their details.
The statuary is nowhere obtrusive, but holds the right place

THE CIRCULAR FOUNTAIN.

HAREIVOO'D.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEJV.

to give interest lo the gardens. There is a magnificent view
from the terraces over the valley and the park, the whole
scene being extremely pleasing and rich in wood and water.
The old cedars at one end are magnificent, and on every hand
there is a splendid sylvan prospect. The principal garden was
designed by Nesfield, and is one of the finest examples of his
work. There is formality in the terraced arrangement, but
very great variety, and during the summer-time the quaintly-
designed flower-beds are filled with a bright array of plants in
bloom. Several fine examples of deciduous magnolias flourish
under the shelter of the terrace walls. From the principal floor of
the mansion a double stairway leads down to a flagged terrace
walk, having between it and the house wall a magnificent
flower border, while vases full of choice things are on the
other hand, where three steps bring the visitor to the gravel
terrace bounded by a long balustraded wall, from which there

walk of about a mile and a-half from the house to the
kitchen gardens, which are tastefully arranged with borders
of old-fashioned flowers fringing the pathways and relieving
the monotony of the parts planted with fruit trees and
vegetables. Crown Imperials, arabises, fritillaries, lupines,
double rockets, and polyanthuses are a few of the many
charming flowers employed.

hi other parts of the grounds great masses of rhododen-
drons furnish a beautiful underwood, the woodland itself
consisting of beech, silver birch, oak, the flowering cherry,
false acacia and larches and various other conifers. The
flower garden and pleasure grounds occupy together over
1 50 acres, in the lake are masses of white and yellow water-
lilies, while along the banks are planted many moisture-loving
plants, such as reeds, giant spirsas, flag irises, myosotis, etc.

Then, as befits so great a place, there is, in one of the

THE DOUBLE TERRACE.

is a lovely outlook over the formal garden below and the park
and landscape beyond. This formal garden is splendid in
design and colour, with conical bushes to give distinction of
feature, and at its outer edge is another balustraded terrace
wall, with bold, semi-circular embayments towards the park'
and noble stairways leading down to the grass slopes. These
grass slopes below the terrace are a pleasing feature, and
evidently the dip of the hill has given many advantages to
the garden designer.

The park comprises several thousands of acres, and is
splendidly wooded and varied in character, with the lake,
embosomed in foliage, a prominent object in the landscape as
seen from the house or the formal garden. The lake stretches
away from the western side of the mansion, being there
bordered by beech woods and fringed by flowering cherries,
and it neighbours the kitchen gardens and glass-houses, and
broadens into a considerable sheet. There is a delightful

vineries, the finest example in the United Kingdom of that
most delicious of white grapes, the Muscat of Alexandria. This
vine, according to the tablet in the vinery, was planted in
1783, and the house that contains it enlarged in 1839. Not-
withstanding its great age, it is still a vigorous bearer and
produces good crops of fruit.

The church stands in the park half a mile from the village,
and was perhaps the work of the monks of Bolton, to whom it
was given by Lord Lisle in 1353. It was sadly treated when
it was " beautified" in the style of 1793, but has since been
well restored. It contains the altar tombs of Sir Richard
Redman and Sir William Ryther, both sons-in-law of Sir
William Aldburgh, who built Harewood Castle, with their
wives. There also is the lomb, with effigies, of the famous
judge Gascoigne and his wife, he wearing his judicial robes
with collar of SS, and a coif upon his head.

Harewood is one of those places which appeal to us chiefly

llARtWOOT).

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE OUILOOK FROM THE UPPER TERRACE.

THE TERRACE STAIRWAY,

HARP.WOO'D.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

THE SB(,;OND

lERRACE.

by their magnificence. Both in the house and its surroundings
we find all those features which we associate witli the great
classic seats of the land. From tie windows fine views are
commanded of Wharfedale and of Otiey Chevin, from the
highest pomt of which there is a surprising prospect, including
York Minster at a distance of thirty mi'es, while to the south
the smoke of Leeds and the manufacturing district clouds the
sk}-, and away to tlie north and north-east a vast extent of

THE BROAD TERRACE GARDEN.

beautiful country lies mapped out below the spectator, with
the Wharfe winding through the verdant dale. Much of this
scenery may be seen from the windows and terrace of
Harewood House.

The interior of the mansion is very noble ar.d stately,
with ceilings painted by Zucchi, Rose, and Rebecci, and fine
pictures by Reynolds, Lawrence, Hoppner, and others. The
great gallery, a noble apartment nearly Soft, long by 24ft.

broad, contains a collection of
antique china which has been
valued at ^100,000. Splendid,
however, as are the apartments
of the liouse, these attractions
are far surpassed by the
charms of the garden and the
landscape. It is truly a great
and stately domain, well fitted
to be the residence of an
exalted. nobleman. Good for-
tune has placed it on the course
of a romantic river, and in an
unspoiled region of the exten-
sive county ot York.

An ideal day may
well be spent at Harewood,
i 1 surveying the splendours
of its art treasures, the
beauties of its gardens,
and its park of 1,800 well-
wooded and picturesque acres.
Lut to conjure up in print or
manuscript the attraction of
su. h a place is not easy, though
our illustrations will go far to
supply the deficiency, and will
show how truly magnificent
is the character of Harewood
House.

[ 113 ]

A LDENHAM is a quaint house in a beautiful garden
/\ dignified by tlie presence of a stately avenue of elms,

L A some two hundred years old, leading to the front

i %. entrance, a leafy regiment break'ing the view of the
tree-clothed hills towards famous Harrow. The
history of the mansion is uneventful. It was probably built
about 1550, has been altered by various possessors until little
of the original structure remains, and has never been sold, but
passed by marriage to the present family. There is much to
interest the architect and antiquary. The noble oak' hall is of
the time of Charles 11., and the west front of the same period.
The house is a mi.xture of many styles, but the old and
charming Queen Anne character has been well preserved,
meriting at this day the description Chauncy gave of it in
1700 — a "fair house of brick." The period of George 11. is
seen in the bow of the drav/ing-room and the library, and the
east front looking on the rose garden is of quite modern
times, about twenty-five years ago. There is a simple
grandeur in the entrance from the elm avenue. The red brick
is toned by the pleasant green of the trees, and nothing obstructs
the mansion with its face to the broad stretch of open land.

The garden is glorious in colour as in repose. Immediately
against the house the quiet terrace may be gay with colour
from an array of begonias, fuchsias, and summer bedding plants,

making it refreshing to w.ili'; through the quaint pleached alley
of limes to the woodland and wilderness beyond, where shrubs
of importance for colour of leaf, stem, and flower are massed
in a bold and picturesque way. 1 he planting is quite
modern ; in truth, the gardens have been transformed by
Lord Aldenham until they may be regarded as new, and
dLudng the past twenty years, with his gardener-son, the
Hon. Vicary Gibbs, M.P., he has carried on extensive and
judicious planting.

Thomas Sutt)n, who owned the estate in 1590, would
scarcely recognise in the present e.xtensive and well-planted
p.rrk, garden, and woodland the Aldenh.im of his far-off day-
The estate passed in 1614, with t'l it gentleman's daughter and
heir, to her husband, Henry Cogliill, in whose family it remained
until 1734, and their arms still remain over the hail door. Then
it passed to Robert Huck's, who had married the daughter and
heir of another Henry Coghill, and remained in the Huck's
family until 1814, when the elder branch became e.xtinct in
the male line. The estate then descended to a relative —
Miss Noyes— and thence to the Gibbs family as heirs-at-law
through the mariiage of Antony Gibbs (grandfather of the first
Lord Aldenh.im) with Dorothea Hucks.

It is difficult to know where to begin in a survey of the
gardens and woodland at Aldenham, which comprise upwards

IHB KIICHEN GARDEN.

114

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

WILDERNESS.

of 200 acres, maintained in high cultivation even in those
places usually permitted to rLin wild and unk;mpt. There are
three picturesqu; lodges, and we may make a start at the
AlJenham lodge. Turning to the right, a char.ning view is
obtained of the house with its elm avenue and greensward.
We follow the broad gravel walk', protected on the right from
the park by an ornamental railed brick palisade, broken about
every five yards by piers capp.^d with vases and urns in terra-
cotta, and further diversified by outward half-circles of bold
effect, and in due time arrive at a large carriage gateway.
1 his leads to the well-planted park and new ornamental lak'e.

This lalce and bold roclvwork are
amongst the principal features
of the modern gardening at
Aldenham, and Mr. Vicary
Gibbs has succeeded in his
endeavour to create a natural
and charming picture. Standing
on the bridge that spans it, we
see the pretty boat cave, and
turning to the opposite side of
the biidge the lalce, with its
two islands, is presented to
view. This modelling, and
practically forming a new
feature entirely, has been ac-
complished since 1893. It has
been the result of the work of
the able head gardener, aided
by Mr. Vicary Gibbs, who, like
so many of our landowners of
the present day, takes a prac-
tical interest in the garden and
woodland. There are breadths
of bulrushes rustling in the
autumn winds, golden elder,
snowberry, thick with creamy
fruit during winter, American
blackberries, and the soft silver
grey of that beautiful willow,
Sali.v rosmarinifolia. It is a
quiet scheme of colour, from
the dense green of gorse to the
graceful willow branches, casting a grateful shade over the
water surface. The planting of the estate and its remodelling
teach practical lessons, and simple grouping is one of the greatest.
The arboretum contains deciduous trees and shrubs as rare as
anything in the botanic garden of Kew.

Nearer the house is a pretty croquet lawn, and an arched
rose walk at right angles, whi'e in the opposite corner is the
square yew garden, adorned with fine examples f lead-work
—the kneeling slave, the weeping child at the fountain (a copy
of a silver seal of Italian workmanship), anJ a " Fiddler " and
a Songstress (the work of that excellent sculp+or, Mr. F. W.

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zALDENHAM HOUSE.

115

THE WATERFALLS.

!16

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

A STONE SEAT.

Pomeroy), which stand above the steps at tlie end of the

terrace, being good examples of tlie revived art of le.id
■'sculpture, so well suited to the more

formal parts of the garden. Many

interesting features may be seen at this

point. The rose walk is a fragrant

and plejsant retre.it on hot summer

days, appropriately placed near the

garden of bush roses enclosed within

a yew hedge. This meeting of yew

and rose is full of subtle charm.

The gardens have their varied

character also. Yew deepens the tea

rose tints, bringing out the tender

shades, and making a background of

colour for the groups of the best kinds

planted in beds of simple design. In

the immediate precincts of the house

flowers are massed and grouped ever\'-

vvhere, and there is a border of sub-
tropical plants, remark-able for effec-
tiveness. Not far away is a quiet

scene — an orchard garden of apples

planted in the grass, where the
'daffodils dapple the turf with flowers.

In many gardens this form of gardening, imitating the sweet

wavs of Nature herself, is being carried out with success.

Simplicity is the charm of
such wild gardening, scattering
the flowers about in drifts and
little colonies.

The wilderness at Alden-
ham is one of its most attrac-
tive features. It is a place of
vistas, cool green walks, and
brilliant splashes of colour, not
from flowers, but from the
stems and fruits of the shrubs.
This massing of shrubs is
unusual, and worthy of imita-
tion. No matter whether the
v/inds of winter whistle througli
the trees, or the rich tints of
autumn colour tlie boughs, this
wilderness of shrubs presents
brightfeatures. Here an enor-
mous group of the sumach
Rhus typhina spreads out its
characteristic foliage, touched
with brilliant colours in Sep-
tember days, there the air is
fragran": with the breath of sweet briar, and the heavy
racemes of Hydrangea paniculata granditlora (the bi^ panicleJ

THE SEAT BENEATH THE OAK.

hydrangea) weigh down the shoots,
cut-leaved bramble, double

A GARDEN SEAT.

The Japanese ro^e,
bramble, Cornus sibirica (the
Siberian dog-wood), Rubus
odoraius, Japanese windflower,
symphoricarpus, ribes, and
spirasa are a few of the shrubs
massed in this bcld and in-
teresting way. One may
imagine the effect of dozens
of plants of the Cornus sibirica
in the winter landscape, a
glorious splash of colour in
the grey. We can only
describe this planting as
magnificent for its effective
ness, whilst the restfulness
and charm of the wilderness
are preserved. This free
planting does not disturb
the quiet grassy paths fleck'ed
with sLinlight, and retreats
from the glare of " bedders "
and the heat of summer and
autumn.

By following one of the
pleasant grass walk's, and
leaving the house and kitchen

^LDENHAM ilOUSli,

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GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

A BRIDGE IN THE GARDEN.

garden, with its fine ornamental do irway,
west side is reached, and liere many clianges
place during the past tew years. On ever
beautiful effects from the
choice collection of trees and
shrubs, and streams mean-
dering into the moats of the
tld house, pulled down in the
tim_ of Henry Vlll., where
now is the water garden.
Ti.e moats have been restored
according to the old plan,
whilst the old stew-pond is
now a delightful bathing-place,
grouped around with flowers
and shrubs, hxtensive altera-
tions, with new drives and
walks, have been completed
during quite recent times, and
greatly adorn the splendid
estate. The collection of
plants is rare and interesting.
Aldenh.am is not a garden of
one season only ; it is delightful
to visit at all times — during
the spring, when the flowering
trees are 1 urdened v\ ith
b.ossom and the marsh
marigolds dot the streamsides
with colour ; through the
summer months; ard in the
autumn, to learn the value of
the changing leaf in beautifying
tl'.e landscape.

The trees and shrubs are
massed upon the grass, and
notwithstanding that the
alterations have been com-
pleted within quite recent
years, the impression is that

the nortli-

ha\'e talvon

y hand are

THE KNEELING SLAVE.

of a garden mellowed by time. Weeping and variegated
leaved trees are in abundance. A weeping tree is generally of
graceful beauty, and casts a grateful shade upon the lawn in

_ the hot sunmer days, but

th^r? must be no crowding
together. Every tree should
display its characteristic charm
— the willows by the water-
si e, the holly upon the lawn,
and the thorns i i the pa k.
The willow is in its drooping
form a thing of beauty, but
rarely is it planted in the
garden, or, for that matter,
any of its precious family.
1 h OS e who have bare
1 a k' e s i d e s should learn
something of the beauty of
verdure from t e grounds at
Aldenham.

Oaks and elms prevail,
and a noble group of six elms
stands out against the sky ;
but, as in the shrub masses
near the water gardens,
weeping trees are one of the
features, the weeping beech
near the house bein^ unex-
celled in the Bri.ish Isles. !t
is a splendid specimen of its
kind, the branches sweeping
the grass and fornVr^g a
fountain of leafy shoots, an
arbour of grateful gr.-en
in the warm days of
summer. A varied garden,
indeed, of natural beauty,
with just enough of formality
near the house is tuat ac
Aldenham.

[ 119 ]

^^£^

'HIN four or five miles
01 the position where
the King established
himself on the eventful day of the battle of Edgehill, and
below the slopes of the hills, hidden, indeed, in a sylvan
Iiollo\\', stands one of the most beautiful Tudor houses in
England. Warwiclcshire is very rich in castles and houses
of a former time, but it has nothing to surpass this admirable
quadrangular house of the Marquess of Northampton. We
could not wi-h for a better presentment of the domestic life of
our Tudor ancestors than is found in that wondrous structure,
with its towers, embattlements, and mullioned and enriched
windows, its porch and its timbered gables, its turrets and
its twisted chimneys, its chequered brickwork and its old-world
picturesqueness. England is fortunate, indeed, that it still

possesses such places, and Compton Wynyates is doubly
fortunate in tliat it is prized and treasured by its noble owner
and maintained in as high a state as ever it knew of yore.
1 he moat, indeed, which was its outer guard, has gone in part,
and now the visitor no longer tarries to parley with the
watchman on the gat;-house tower. The spyhole is there,
through which he looked out to learn who the stranger might
be, and the twisted stairway by wl.ich he ascended to take a
larger survey. The oal<;en door is there also, bearing yet in
its seams marks of the impotent fury of some who endeavoured
to make turbulent entry that way.

Originally the house was larger than it is now, and some
evidences of its former extent still remain. Its buildings
surround a quadrangular space 57ft. across. Over the arch
of the entrance, as may be seen in our picture, are the arms

THE ANCIENT GATEWAY.

120

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

of Henry VIIl., with the griffin and greyhound for supporters,
and the royal crown above, and in the spandril of the arch on
tlie left are the Castle of Castile, the pomegranate of Granada,
and the sheaf of arrows, which stand there for Catherine of
Aragon, while on the other side the portcullis badge of Henry
is plainly seen. The external front is very beautifLil, with it.
old brickwork clustered with climbing flowers, and the sundial
above ; but for the picturesqueness of the structure externally
our pictures are sufficient warrant.

Entering the court, there is seen the great bay which
lights the hall, that customary feature in all the better houses of
the lime. The walls are vested with ivy, roses, clematis, and
the fiery thorn, and there are old fuchsia trees along the

FOUNTAIN, SUNDIAL, AND TOV.'ER.

pathway's. In the south wall a door leads into the chapel, of
which the noble mullioned window is a conspicuous feature
externally. Close by, in the angle between the chapel and
the hall, is the great parlour panelled with oak, and having
a plaster ceiling bearing the arms of Compton and Spencer,
erected in the reign of Elizabeth by William Compton, first
Earl of Northampton. Compton Wynyates had been built by
an earlier Sir William Compton, who gained distinction at the
Battle of the Spurs, where he was knighted for his bravery.
In the great hall of his house he welcomed Henry VUL, with
whom he had been at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. This
notable chamber has an open timber roof, a minstrels' gallery,
and a finely carved screen, which separates it from the lobby

and staircase and the kitchens beyond. The chapel to which
we have referred is also very beautiful, and possesses some
most curious carvings, including the Seven Deadly Sins repre-
sented as knights in armour, each with an imp behind to urge
him forward. Sir William Compton's >,on Henry, created Baron
Compton of Compton in 1572, received Queen Elizabeth at
his house in the same year, and was one of the peers who
tried Mary Queen of Scots. He was succeeded by his son
William, afterwards made Earl of Northampton. The drawing-
room on the south side is a fine apartment wainscoted with
oak, and having a good plaster ceiling put up by tlie latter noble-
man, to whom much of the beauty of the house is due.

There is a romantic story connected with the Earl's

marriage. A certain rich
Alderman Spencer, who was
Lord Mayor of London in
1594, had a beauteous
daughter, waom he looked
upon as the apple of his
eye. With sturdy civic
character the alderman did
not look with a kindly eye
upon the gallant young
courtier, Lord Comp on, who
aspired to the lady's hand.
Indeed, so little did he
approve the youthful swain,
that he forbade him to enter
his house at Canonbury.
But, as Love laughs loud ac
locksmiths, so did Lord
Compton laugh at the
alderman. By an astu e
device and ingenious
stratagem he came to the
house disguised as a baker,
with many loaves in a huge
basket, as those who saw it
believed. Returning he
encountered the alderman,
who commended his enter-
prise and gave him sixpence,
telling him he was on the
way to make his fortune,
which, indeed, appeared to
be true, for, greatly to the
civic anger, it was discovered
that he had carried away
the lady concealed in his
basket.

rhe fury of the alderman
was not to be appeased, and
even Elizabeth exercised her
offices in vain ; but at length,
at her request, he consented
to be the godfather to an
infant, in whom Her Majesty
had some interest, and who
proved, as he presently
learned, to be his own
~' grandson. Then it would

appear that a reconciliation
was brought about, and the
handsome carving and panelling over the mantel-piece in the
drawing-room at Compton Wynyates are said to have been
brought from the Canonbury house, and the arms of Compton
and Spencer are displayed in many parts of the structure.

King James 1. visited Lord Compton at Compton Wynyates
in 1618, the year before he was raised to the Earldom.
Many, indeed, were the royal visits paid to the old
Warwickshire mansion. Charles L was there in the times
of Spencer Compton, the second Earl, who was killed at
Hopton Heath in 1643. Considerable alterations were made
in the house by the fourth and fifth Earls, and in the time of the
eighth Earl, who died in 1796, much waste occurred, whereby
the house subsequently fell somewhat into a state of ruin.

COMP TOU^ IVYN YA TIiS.

)21

122

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

The old timber was cut down on the estates to the value of
p^5o,ooo, but Nature, ever kindly, has long since made good
the loss. Happily subsequent possessors have valued the
place and restored it, until it has resumed its old splendour,
and stands as we depict it. Charles, third Marquess of
Northampton, who died in 1877, did a great work in restoring
and refurnishing his grand old seat.

It would be a pleasure to describe the many splendid
chambers of this historic house The great hall, chapel, and
dining-room have be^-n alluded to. There is the bed-chamber
of Henry VUl., with the Tudor rose and the devices of
Catherine of Aragon in the glass. The council chamber,
the priest's rocm, and the long quarters over the drawing-
room, known as the " Barrack's," are extremelv interesting.

interets that surround the picturesque house of the Marquess
of Northampton, and our illustrations will convey an idea of its
structural beauties in stone, brick, and wood, and of the
charming manner in which its walls are vested with flower-
ing growths, these adding their sweeter charms without
disguising the details of the admirable structure. It may be
interesting to note that the mansion possesses eighty rooms,
with seventeen distinct flig'its of stairs, and 275 glazed
windows. There is in the grounds a relic of the old times in a
quaint brick dovecote. A stone path, of which some portions
may still be seen, led down from the house to the lower end of
the pool, where the mill stood, an ice-house now occupying the
site, and the water from the moat descended into two stew-
ponds, and then to the mill pool.

IHB PERGOLA.

Elizabeth, James 1., and Charles I., as we have seen,
visited the house, and the room in which Charles slept is
still shown, with a spiral staircase by which either the moat
or the upper part of the house could be reached. Again, the
secret hiding-places and recesses for men who sought safety in
troublous times would attract the curious. We are reminded
that the place was captured for the Parliament after a three
days' siege in June, 1644, when the Earl of Northampton's
brother, with a dozen officers and 120 men with horses and
guns, was seized. The place was plundered, and Dugdale
asser s that the Roundheads killed the deer and defaced the
monuments in the church. Sir Charles and Sir William
Compton made an effort to recover the house in the next
January, and gained a footing at night in the stables, but they
were repulsed with loss, and the third barl retained the estate
only by paying a heavy composition. The Parliamentary
troops remained in possession until June, 1646. The
"Barracks" preserve by their name the memory of the
troublous times when soldiers were quartered in the
house.

We have said enough to show how very great are the

The gardens have been greatly beautified, and are
maintained with a richness which many possessors of fine
gardens might envy, hi loveliness, radiance, and sweet
appropriateness they are all that we could desire. Excellent
green turf occupies in large part the place where the moat once
extended, and all about are spread great borders and n asses of
those tall-growing hardy flowers which are the glory of gardens
from the first days of spring until the winds of autumn have
blown.

The effect of these splendid glowing flowers is superb, and
noihing could excel the extreme beauty of the picture presented
by their radiance, contrasted with the dark hue of the brick
and stone of the old house and with the dense and luxuriant
foliage of the trees that rise in the background. There is little
here that is formal in arrangement, but a few hedges and
solemn }'ews serve to unite the character of the old garden and
the new. The circular grass plat with the sundial, neighboured
again by those hardy perennials, is a centre of interest in the
place. The square garden walk is extremely beautiful, and
whichever way we look the glorious extent of the park reaching
to the tops of the hills fills the mind with satisfaction. That

C0h4PT0(K WYNYA-JES.

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CJRDEXS OLD AND NHIV.

ACROSS THE MOAT.

part of the moat which remains reflects, indeed, scenes
that would be hard to beat, but which the imagination of
those who see our pictures will readily conceive. There is
the beautiful feature of a pergola to give shade in the heat of
the day.

Peace and repose, above all things else, invest the ancient
abode. Its a'r is that of sequestered calm, as it lies in the
hollow in the green cup of the wood-encircled dale. The lights
in the picture are in the sky-reflecting moat and the gay
splendour of the flowers. The verdant slopes and the fine
woodland supply the fitting frame. Compton Wynyates has
attracted the skill of many artists, and it is truly rich in
all that is architecturally pictorial — a wonderful grouping of
effects in the var'ed cutiine of the structure and in its quaint
features, set in the s'.\"eetness of its gardens and grounds.

THE SU.NDIAL.

It owes much of its glory to the present iMarquess of
Noithampton.

The pathway by the dovecote, which has been alluded to,
leads to the church. Th^ old edifice suffered much in the
Civil War, when the monuments were wasted, but it was
rebuilt by James, third Earl of Northampton, in 1663. Some
of the memorials had been thrown into the moat, but they
were recovered and placed in tlie new edifice. Among them
is the effigy of Sir William Compton, who built Compton
Wynyates. He wears a collar of SS. with the Tudor rose.
Another figure is that of his grandson, Henr\-, first Baron
Compton, and there are several effigies of ladies and
others of the family. Spencer, eighth Earl, was the last to
be buried at Compton Wynyates. He died in 1796, and his
wife and successors lie at Castle Ashby. .Vlemorial banners

and hatchments are also in
. the church, which form a

long and practically complete
record of the family of
Compton.

Whether we regard
Compton Wynyates from the
point of view of the architect
seeking that which is beautiful
in brick and stone, or the
lover of natural beaut\' look-
ing for the charms of a
superb English landscape, or
of one who finds his joy in
the ravishing sweetness of a
lovely garden, we recogifise
that the place deserves
to rank very high among
--—-■ — .-.^,. ^~»^^^'^WkWM '■'^'^ glorious old houses of

W£'i X^SpK^^^ England.

•■>^^^^''^§*.>M'^^^i^i "Compton Pike" stands

' 2|fC vi ;^*?#;^iy^f *:j?r''' above it on the hill, placed

iv*;'r^^V;a f.^I?''^i: :i,i|'|5 ti^ere m earlier times, as a

guide to those who sought the

house which is below in the

hollow, and is now a fine

standpo.nt for a survey of the

country.

COMPTOU^ ]VYNYA7l:S.

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126

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

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[ 127 ]

AMESBURY
. . ABBEY,

AMESBURY, WILTS,

THE SEAT

or . .

SIR I:DMUND ANTROBUS, Bart.

F^ ROM tlie aarden po'nt of view Amesbury is clietly
J interestiivj: for the riciir.ess o:' its foliage and the
superb character of its garden architecture. Tlie
place itself is abundantly interesti'ig also, and it is
ii possible to sav how far its legendary antiqiiity
might be carried back into the dim preliistoric ages. There
are those who say that the name signifies " The Land of
Ambro>ius," the Briti-R.imai General who came, invited
over by Vortigern, to a sist in expelling from B'itain the
barbarous Saxons. The conventual house of Amesbury is
associated with the Arthurian legend as the refuge of Queen
Guinevere in her flight. We all know Tennyson's description
of how she came to tlie " Holy Huuse at AlmesbLiry," and
received the part'ng blessing of King Arthur, the "waving of
his hands that blest " as he left her for ever to meet his doom in
the " Great Battle," she finally being chosen Abbess. Malory's
account in the " Morte d'Arthur " is somewliat different.

The site of the convent of Amesbury lies to the east and
south-east of the present house, and, tradition tells us, once
covered a space of thirteen acres ; at the present day not one
stone above ground tells the tale of its fo: mer grandeur. The
foundations of nuns' cells have been discovered, however,
in many places by digging. The site of the monastery is
unknown. Could it have crowned tl'ie great British earthwork
(locally known as Vespasian's Camp and the Ramparts) which
surrounds the wood to the west of Amesbury ?

Alfred the Great presented t.^e monasteries of Ambresbury
and Banwell to Asser, Bi<hop of Sherborne, in recognition

of his services. Queen E! rida founded the Benedictine Piiory
at Ambresbury in 9S0, to expiate the murder of her stepson,
Edward (the Martyr), at Corfe. Robert of Gloucester
alludes to the circumstance. In 1177 Henry II. dispossessed
the nuns, and gave the house to the Abbey of Fontrevault in
Noi mand)'. A priest and twenty-four nu is came thence to
Ambresbury, and the convent increased in glory and riches.
King John conferred upon it important privileges, an J Eleanor,
sole daughter if Geoffry Earl of Bretagne, at her own request,
was buried there. Mary, sixt 1 daughter of Edward 1., in
companv with thi'teen ladies of noble birth, took the veil
there in 1205, and two years after >vards bleanor, Que-n of
Henry III., and mother of Edward I., also took the veil at
Ambresbury, and died th:^re June 21st, i2Qr, during the
absence of her son in Scotland. On his return, he summoned
all liis clergy and barons to Amhresbu-y, where he solemnly
completed the ent- mbment of his mother, on the day of the
Nativit}' of the Virgin Mary, in the conventual church
foLinded by her, and where her obsequies were reverently
celebrated. Isabella of Lancaster, fouith daughter of Henry
Earl of Lancaster, was prioress in 1202. Florence Bormewe,
the last prioress but one, at the dissolution of the monasteries
refused to surrender her abbey to tlie King's emissaries. They
wrote : " Albeit we have used as maiy ways as our poor wits
could attain, yet in the e id we could not by any persuasion
bring her to conformity, but at all times she resteth and so
remaineth in these terms." She answered: " If the King's
highness commanded me from the house I will gladly go, though

KENT HOUSE "—THE EAST GATE.

ICS

GARDENS OLD AND Kmi^.

1 lieg my bieaJ, and as for pension 1 care for none." Deatli
soon afterwards released her from the humiliation of surrender.
Joan Darell, the last prioress, was more pliant, and surren-
dered to Henry VIU., December 4th, 1540.

According to Tanner, the Abbey Lands were given to the
Harl of Hertford, afterwards the Protestor Somerset, and after
his execution were probably grjnted to h's son, Edward Earl of
Hertford, by Elizabeth This Lord Hertford lived at Amesbury,
and h s tomb is in Salisbury Cathedral. His second wife was
Francis, daughter of Lord Howard of Blindon. She had
previously been engaged to Sir George Rodney of Rodney-
Stoke, but jilted him for Lord Hertford. Sir George Rodney
was heart-broken. He followed Lady Hertford to Amesbury,
and sat up all one night wi iting verses to her w th his own
blood, and finally "fell upon his sword and died."

Amesbury Church still possesses the bell given by Lady
Hertford, which bears the following inscription :

"Be stronge in faytlie, Pra3'es God well,
Francis, Countess Hertford's bell."

The property of Amesbury passed by marriage, sale, and
inheritance respectively to the
families of Aylesbury, Boyle
and Queensberry, Henry Lord
Carleton (the owner before tb.e
Queensberrys) leaving it by
will to his nephew, Charles
Duk'e of Queensbei ry, in 1724,
who married the beautiful
Lady Catharine Hyde in 1720.
She was the Kitty of Prior,
and Gay Prior's ballad on her
is well known. It begins :

"Thus K'tl}-, beautiful and 30ung,

And wild as colt untani'd,
Bespoke the Fair from whence she
sprung

With li'.tle rage infiam'd.
" Inflani'd with rage at sad restraint

Which wise niainuia ordained,
.^nd sorel}' vex'd to play the saint

Whilst wit and beauty reigned."

The poet Gay was her
especial friend and protege.
Opposite to the present dwell-
ing-!! :use is a grassy bank —
sloping to thf river tlovving
below — cut into fanciful shapes
resembling the facets of a
diamond, and in this bank is
set a sort of stone room en-
closed by wrought-iron gates,
a beloved haunt of the pcet
when at Amesbury. He is
said to have written the words
of the "Beggar's Opera"
here, and the recess is still
called Gay's Cave. 1 he old
house, inhabited by the
Queensberrys, was built by
John Webb (architect, born i6u), from designs by his uncle,
Inigo Jones, in the Palladian style beloved by him, and an
engraving and plans of it may be f.;und in " Vitrivius
Britannicus," pag.- 7, Vol. 111. The beautiful entrance gate
piers, now standing at Amesbury, are by Webb. The
magnificent bridge, one of the finest garden features in
England, spanning the river Avon in the pleasure grounds
is later than Webb (1777), and is a lovely object amid its
sylvan surroundings. It is known Iccally as Bannister Bridge
— i.e., Baluster Bridge.

The Duchess of Queensberry died in 1777, and the Duke
in the following year, the title descending to his cousin, William
Earl of March, in 1778. He succeeded his cousin Charles as
fourth Duke of Queensberry, and in 1786 was created a British
peer, taking the title of Baron Douglas of Amesbury. This
Duke of Queensberry was commonly known by the nickname
of " Old Q." He died unmarried in 1810, the estates passing
to Archibald, Lord Douglas of Douglas, whose executors sold

A SUNDIAL.

them to Sir Edmund Ai.trobus in 1824 Amesbury Hov.se
remained uninhabited during a period of sixty years (for " Old
Q." never lived there, though he sent orders from time to
time to his steward for the cutting down of trees). At one
time Sir Elijah Impey was tenant, and at another some French
nuns occLipied it for a while.

Sir Edmund Antrobus's giandfather, upon inheriting
Amesbury from his uncle, wi-hed to rest(jre and enlariie the
house, but on examination, finding it to be eaten through with
dry rot, d.ecided to pull the old place down and btfild a new-
mansion in its place, closely resembling the old, and in the
same Palladian style.

The present Amesbury Abbey stands in a small but pretty
park, through which the Christchurch Avon flows. Sorrow's
I avengro stopped to gize over the parapet of Amesbury town
Bridge at the river below; thus: "Presently 1 passed by a
church which rose indistinctly on my ri2ht hand; anon there
was the rustling of foliage and the rushing of waters. I
reached a bridge." Tnick beeches and Lombardy poplars
flourish in the district, and a fine beech avenue leads

through the woo^l which
crowns Vespas'an's Camp,
beyond which stretches the
old deer park — one no
more — with its beech clumps
and expanse of rolling
down on either side. It
terminates in a little copse
by the hi^h road, passing
through which one catches
a first distant glimpse of
Stonehenue.

One of the finest
deciduous cypresses in
England overshadows the
Chinese Temple Summer-
house, a minhiture building
of exquisite proportions, with
delicate columns and b.ilus-
trading, built across an arm
of the river. To the east of
the park is a spU ndid old
flint wall, in which are
wrought-iron gates, with
rusticated stone pillars, once
an entrance. At either end
stand two curious old houses.
The house ne^arest the village
is called Kent House, and
bears the date 1607. The
oth.er by the river has the
inscription — carved in stone
over the doorway — " Dian i
lier Hovs, 1600." Mr. Blom-
field, in his charming
" Renaissance Architectin-e in
England," cites this garden-
house as a good example of
the fancifully designed buildings which delighted the arcliitects
of 1600. These houses are built of stone and squared flmts,
and are of the finest workmanship, and sinfilar to the
flin:-work found in Suffolk churches of the fifteenth
century. To Kent House the Duchess of Queensberry
added a remarkable octagon room, with a da ry b.low, with
brick' fan vaulting.

The present dwelling-house of Amesbury Abbey (rebuilt
by Hopper, 1854) is an impressive building, and clo-ely follow s
Webb's plan. It is of Cl ilmark stone, and consists of a
basement storey, with Corinthian columns above. On the
south front is a pediment to the loggia ; an attic storey on the
east and west sides with floriated vases ; over the centre rises
a stone balustrading, which might be completed by a dome.
The whole is beautifully weathered in grey and golden lichens.
Inside the house only a fine marble chimney-piece with
columns and so.me carved panelling remain of Webb's
designing.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

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[ 131 ]

THfc House liere iiiustratea is interesting in many vvays.
To look at it one would say that its grey walls must
have witnessed a good deal of history, and have
beheld the dailv lives of some persons of note. It
would be a surmise amply justified by the facts.
Obviously Chastleton belongs to a large class of country
mansions, built in somewhat opulent times, and possesses
those outward characteristics of architecture which took shape
in Tudor and Jacobean days, though touched with a certain
element of severity not found in all of them. Charming,
certainly, the house is in fovm and character, richly plenished
within with such characteristic examples of the wood carver's
art as generally distingu'shed houses ■■ f the date, and, without,
adorned with gardens fully appropriate to its style.

Centuries before the present Chastleton House was built,
there had been dwellers of import. nice on the spot. The

Conqueror granted Cestreton, as the place was then called, to
a Sa.xon thane named Wigod, and with his daughter it passed
to the great Norman family of D'Oyley. It was perhaps one
of this house who first tool< name from the place, but the
Cestr.-tons did not continue long, their estate passing to the
family of Trillow, of whom Sir John, in 1333, added the south
aisle to the church which Bardolf de Cestreton had built.
From the Trillows the manor passed to Sir John Bishopsden,
and with Sir John's daughter Philippa to Sir William Catesby.
Their son, William Catesby, was the somewhat famous
A\inister of Richard HI., and Speaker of the House of Commons
in 1184, who was taken at the battle of Bosworth and put
to death. Henry Vll. confiscated the estates, but they
were restored to William Catesby's son George in 1495, and
continued with his family until they came to Robert Catesby,
author of the Gunpowder Plot.

THE DIAL IN THE BOX GARDIlN.

132-

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

Catesby was one of those who had suffered very severely
under the penal laws in the time of James. Driven to
desperation, after a licentious youth, he turned with fervid
zeal to the faith he had foresworn, and in sinister conditions
conceived that monstrous plot which it is difficult to imagine
how any human mind could have harboured — the plan of
blowing up the Parliament House, and of involving in common
destruction the King, Lords, and Commons who had framed
and executed the penal laws. It does not appear that this
wild conspiracy took shape witb.in the walls of Chastleton —
certainly not in the existing house — for Catesby had sold the
estate to Walter Jones for ^4,000 in 1602, and his own house
may not have been on the same spot. It is said that lie
designed the purchase-money for tlie raising of a trocp of
horse in aid of Philip of Spain, who contemplated another
attack upon England, and it is not at all unlikely that some
of the monev was e.xpended in furthering the sinister scheme
against tb.e King, Lords, and Commons.

The existing house was built by the new possessor, a
substantial woollen merchant of Witney, of whom it is related

we may see. The builder haJ two sos, Arthur and Henry.
The latter was a gentleman learned in the law, whose bedroom
is still called "the Doctor's Chamber," because it was appro-
priated to his use. Arthur threw in his lot with the King, and
followed the standard of Charles through the var\'ing tortunes
of the war, but, after that monarch's execution, lived quietly
at Chastleton until 165 1. Then once more he took arms in the
cause of Charles's son, and appears to have been witli him on
tlie fatal field of Worctster.

Legends or histories record his home-coming. JWistress
Jones, who was daughter of a London merchant, lying awake
at night full of fears for her husband, heard the footsteps
of a weary horse entering the stable-yard. Hastily dressing,
she stole downstairs, and admitted her husband, all breath'ess
from his flight, who sank' ir.to a chair, and, asking for food and
wine, told the melancholy tale. Even while he was telling
it, the fearful ears of his wife heard the hoofs of other horses
approaching. Strangers were coming — Roundheads in pursu'.t
of the fugitives — but the weary man, altogether spent, had
no strength to flv. He sought refuge therefore in a secret

IHH ELEFHA^T AND HLR YOUNG.

that he came from the old line of Jones of Grismont, county
Glamorgan, whose pedigree stretches bacl< to legendary Brute,
and through the mists of ages even to King Priam, in those
times when Zeus from the Heigiits of Olympus directed the
armies'of Greeks and Trojans upon the plains of lliLim. The
judicious may perhaps refrain from investigating this heroic
genealogy, but will discover in the latter chain that .he famil)'
inter-married with Tudor, Herbert, and many other noble
houses, and gave many a son who fo.ight under the Red
Dragon of Wales. For us the interest of Walter Jones is
that he was the builder of the imposing house depicted. He
married Eleanor Pope, maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth,
whose father was Henry Pope, the Queen's jeweller, and her
uncle Sir Thomas Pope of Wroxton. It is believed, upon the
faith of tradition, that Mr. Jones was his own architect, and,
if that be so, he designed well and built substantially. The
house was begun in 1C03, and appears to have been finished
about 1614.

The estate at. the time was not so largd as now, and the
new mansion stood at one end of it, adjacent to the cluuch, as

chamber, which is still shown, while his wife admitted the
sour-visaged pursuers. They would not credit her report
that she had in the house none but her f.eble father in-law,
her children, and her maid. The tired horse in the stable had
told another tale, and they sought through the house, sounding
the walls and floors with their pikes and muskets. Failing,
however, to discover the secret hiding-place, they expressed
their intention of supping in the lady's chamber, from which
it was approached. With a trembling hand but an alert mind
did Mistress Jones arouse her maids and set about the pre-
paration of the meal, into the wine some drowsy drug was
infused— poppy or mandragora perhaps — brewing thus a potion
that should steal away the Roundheads' brains and rob them
of "the pith and marrow of their attribute." Lustily they
enjoyed the heavy-headed revel, until, one by one, sleep
overcame them all ; whereupon their hostess crept in and
released her husband, who straightway on the captain's horse
made good his escape. Loud were the imprecations of the
dehided Puritans on the muzzy-headed u orn when, with aching
pates, ihcy rose from the night's carouse to find the quarry flown.

CHAS JL h -TO'Ji- 1 10 USIi.

133

THE PORCH.

ISi

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

The Bible whicli Charles presented to Bishop Juxon on
the scaffold remains in ihe house, as well as many other relics
of the time, irckiding a finely-executed miniature of the King
on copper, so contrived that transparencies may be placed
over it, upon which are vari'us pictures representing the
different phases of the Monarch's chequered career. More-
over, two oaks on the estate were p'aiited to commemorate
the Restoration, but the storm; have laid them low. In 1694
Walter Jones of Chastleton married Anne, daughter of Richard
Whitmore of S'aughter, and their son Henry, an ardent
J icobite, ended by wasting his substance ; but Henry's son
John, who ne\er married, did a great deal to improve the
estate and house. He re-roofed the mansion and carefully
repaired its masonry. He appears to have been ai eccentric
gentleman, for Miss Whitmore Jones, who has wri ten a brief
account of her house, says that, when the worlcnun had left
off, he used to go with his knife and try to pick out ihe mortar
from between the stones, and if he succeeded, the work was
be.un again. While it was in progress, he covered the
courtyard gates with furze to disappoint the undue
curiosity of visitors. Neither Mr. John Jones nor his brother
Arthur left an,^ heir, but the estate was bequeathed to
John Whitmore, then a boy of fourteen, who was the son
of a cousin, and in 1828 the new possessor, wlio had
added the nair.e
ofJonesto, ..
his own, and
had married a
daughter of
Colonel Clutton
of PensaxCourt,
removed to
Chastleton
He use, which
again became a
centre of life
in the country.
Mr. W h i t m 0 r e
Jones, who was
universally
popular, lived
the true life of
a country
g e n t 1 e m a n,
maintaining and
improving his
estate, and ever
look'ing after the
we fare of his
tenants and
neighbours

Miss Whit-
more Jones, in her n^tes upon Chastleton House,
recounts one fact in relation to her father which may be
noted as of particular interest. In 1850 his tenant at
Chastleton Hill died, and the farm was thrown on his hands.
Having disposed of all his farming sto.k, he thought tlie
season's cultivation of the land wtuld be lost, but neighbouring
farmers came to his aid and offered, if he would provide seed
corn and bread and cheese and beer, to give him a "love
haul." The day was fixed, and Mr. Jjnes rode up the hill to
see the men at work. "A wonderful sight met his view. No
less than sixty-eight ploughs, ten of them double ones, were at
work. The horses were dressed out in ribbons, and the men
wore clean smock frocks. Altogether the scene had a most
animated appearance, and resembled almost a mighty fair.
One hundred acres were ploughed, harrowed, and nearly sown
in that one day, and the only regret expressed was that more
farmers had not heard of tli.- proposal." Mr. Whitmore
Jones lived until 1853, and all his four sons having died,
the estate devolved upon his eldest daughter, the present
possessor.

The general aspect ■ f the ol I house has been alluded ti,
and the illustrations are all-sufficient as a description. The
structure is of grey stone and has not been altered in any way.
It is quadrangular, with the Dairy Court i|i tlie rjiidJe, and

THE DOVcCOTE.

thus retains the character even of an older period than that in
which it was built. Internally the work is very fine, and the
hall has a notable oak screen, with two segmental arches
between elaborated columns, and with richly carved entabla-
tures. The panelling is also old and good, and the furniture
mostly of the period. There is also much ancieit armour,
some of it belonging to the Civil Wars. The Drawing-room,
or Great Chamber, is also very characteristic, with enriched
panelling, a splendid armorial mantel-piece, and a pla ter
ceiling with pendants. The mullioned windows and Chippen-
dale furniture complete a charming interior. The White
Parlour, another finely panelled chamber, opens from the hall,
and the Chestnut Parlour is interesting for its pictures and
deep cupboards full of old china. The Catesby Room is also
interesting, and there are the Cavalier Chamber, from wh:ch
the secret room is reached, the State Room, the Library, and,
abo.e a'l, the very remark-able Long Gallery, with its impres-
sive panelling and its waggon-headed ornamental ceiling— all
very remarkable apartments. Indeed, Chastleton House will
cede to few mansions of its kind in the interest of its interior.
The Long Gallery is at the top of the house, and runs the
whole length of the front, as was customary.

The gardens and grounds have interests of their
own, and are appropriate in style to the house they

adorn. There is
a forecourt
entered through
a c'.aracteris ic
gateway with
pinnacles, the
approach
flanked by
flower-beds, and
the enclosure
formed by a
1 a u r e 1 hedge.
Tlie princ pal
and character-
ist'c feature is
the pleasaunce
of clipped box
at the side of
tlie house. Here,
enclosed within
a circular hedge
of ye w, are
many curious
: bushes of
; box, standing
like some
fantastic ring of
servitors about
are of odd and nam less
—certain of them resembling
her young ; some of them
rings and gl jbes, but all of them curious and
Such a garden would not be formed in these
it, thougli the preci-e
Evidently it

the central sundial. They

shapes, toads or elves, perhap

Somewhat an elephant w.tli

formed in

interesting

days. A.. liquify is written upon

date of the curious girdenage is unknown to us.

belongs to an earlier time, when deli4ht was taken in such

quaint conceits. There is no lack of floral adornment, but the

box garden is the great feature. There are ample lawns and

borders, and every A'here the tre s are particularly fine. The

turf walks and formal flower-beds aJJ to the aitraction of the

place, and in another part of the groanJs are the tennis lawns,

formed on what was originally the bowling green. There is a

memorial of the Jacobite times in the three Scotch firs which

stand at tiie end of the garden by the cinirchyard. Trees of

the kind were extensively planted by the friends of the

Pretender before the rising of 1745, and Mr. Henry Jones of

that time was an ardent Jacobite and a lea.ling spirit in a

Jacobite club in Gloucester. The attractive features of the

gardens will not escape tho-.e who examine our pictures,

which, indeed, describe the place better than words can, and

the surrounding grounds are full of sylvan charm. The old

stone dovecote is particularly worthy, of no ice.

[ i;i5 ]

'HE old mark'et town
of Cranboine in
Dorsetshire, whicli
lies about ten miles north from Wimborne, and known to readers
0'' fiction as the "Chasetovvn" of "Tess of th; D'Urbervilles,"
the inn there being spoken of in the novel as the " Fleur du
Luce," derived all its ancient im ortance from the neighbour-
hood of Cranborne Chase, that extensive tract of ancient wood
which included parts of Dorset, Hants, and Wilts. Cranborne
is no.v more particularly d stin^uished in the possession of the
marvellously beautiful manor house wh.ich we depict. Of all
the splendid houses appearing in these pages, though some
may be more majestic and magnificent, there are very few
that can rival, in their sweet charm of architec ure and
surroundings, t' is old Dorsetshire dwelling-place The house
stands a little to th.e west of the churcli, and belongs to the

MarqLiess of Salisbury, by
whose care it has been
restored. It appears to have
been built originally in the time of Henry VIII , though there
may even be earlier fragments in the structure, and it was
certa nly further embellisiied by Robert Cecil, the great Lord
Treasurer in the time of James L, who was created in 1604
Viscount Cranborne from this Dorsetshire possession, and,
in the following year, Earl of Salisbury.

The Jacobean porches on tl e north and south belong to
his time, and have been attributed to Inigo Jones. We will
not aver that they were really designed by him, though it is
well known th.it he worked at Wilton in the next county ; bu%
whether they were his creation or not, who shall say that
they are not in every way worthy of his hand .'' To the glory
of the early mullioned win.iows, embattlements, and pinnacles

A GRASS WALK.

136

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

tliey bring an element of classic charm, wliicli seems all in
harmony, though its architectural character is not the same.
The north porch has a singular fascination in its Italian grace
and style, its sculptured aJornments of heraldry and strap-
work, its arclies, niches, and pilasters, and, indeed, combined
witli the terracing and the stairway, mal<es a picture of true
domestic beauty, tii? garden foreground addmg the final charm.
Tile delicacy of tlie constructional work is surpassed in few
places, and Cranborne Manor House deserves to stand as an
arcliitectural triumph of the time. Over the sou li porcli,
upon which old horse-shoes hang for luck, may be seen the
scales of Jastice, and Mercy, a female figure, tlnese having
allusion to the former use of the great hall at Cranborne for
judicial purposes when the baronial and other courts of
Cranborne Chase were iield ihere. At the east end they still
point cut the dLmgeon where the offenders on such occasions
were ofte.i c nfined. Thus does the place take us back to
the old days of forest law an i baronial jurisdiction.

In a house with such goodly e.\ternal features, it is
pleasant to find corresponding attractiDns within, and at

taste of successive ages, is very impressive, and it will be
seen how well the structure falls into those green surroundings.
Its terrace is worthy of Haddon Hall. That feature is great
in all the annals of garden ng, th.e place from which e.xtensive
prospects were surveyed, and terraces appear in many forms
in the illustrations in these pages. But rarely shall we find
anything to surpass, in simple and beautiful character or
appropriateness to its surroundi-igs, the te race at Cranborne
Manor. The garden below is full of colour and sweetness, and
tall hardy flowers margin the de ightful pathways of turf. The
bowling alley, called to new popularity in the revival of that
ancient game of skill, brings back the gay cavalier and the
gentlemen of the powdered wig and clouded cane, and the
laughter of the ladies of long ago.

Now there are few more attractive spots in any garden
than a well-shaded bowling green, amid its hedges and trees.
William Lawson, "the Isaac Walton of Gardening," who
wrote about three centuries back, like all Englishmen of his
time, loved the bowling allev, where, in friendly contest, men
might pass the evenings of summer. " To have occasion to

A EACKGROUND OF YEW.

Cranborne Manor House no disappointment awaits those
privileged to enter. It was a place fit for kings, and kings
have often visited it. James I. was here on August 17th,
1609, and killed several bucks in the chase, and again in
August, 1621, dating thence three letters to his " sweete
boys," who were then at Madrid on tlie business of the
Spanish maniage. Charles 1. was at Cranborne also, but in
far different circumstances, on October 14th, 1644, during the
Civil War, when Waller had been defeated at Cropredy
Bridge and Essex had surrendered in Cornwall, but when the
recond battle of Newbury was to darken the Royal fortunes.
Cranborne Manor House has still " King James's Room," with
an ancient bedstead and tapestry, and Queen Elizabeth's
saddle is among its treasures. Out of the mullioned windows
have looked along the garden alleys, and over the fair courts
where the old-fashioned flowers grew, men whose names are
great in history and fair ladies remembered still for their
charms.

The piciuresquc grouping of the buildings, marking the

exercise within your orchard," he says, " it shall be a pleasure
to have a bowling alley." True, being "mo:e manly and
more healthful! " — or so he thought it — he would have preferred
"a payre of but;es, to stretch your arms"; but we no longer
have butts in our gardens in these days, and those are
fortunate who can lay out so sweet a place for their diversion
as that good alley in the garden at Cran orne.

The ivy-grown entrance lodge, with the arch rising
between these two densely vested structures set diagonal-wise,
has an individual charm of its own. It d -serves to be mted
as a suigestion among houses of ihe class. We do not know
anything quite like it. Perhaps, if the ivy did not cLthe the
arch so closely, the structural features might be a little better
seen, but we shall go a long way before we find so pleasant
an entrance to so beautiful a place. The opportunities for
originality are many, and the garden-maker, even if he foil iw
the traditional style of his choice, may venture from the
beaten track to create some beauty or interest to his mind ;
and it is nol tj be denied that this entrance to Cianborue

CKANIiO%NE {MANOR.

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GARDENS OLD AND NFJV.

Manor is a very charming and satisfactory eximpie of the
architecture appropriate to a garden and e:tate. The picture
brings it befoe the reader to the very hfe.

There is particular pleasure in publishing th'se pictures.
They represent the house imder the iiappiest circumstances,
and a study of their features shojld be a lesson and an expe
rience to him \\ho examines them. He may mark in one of
them ihe very footsteps of the anist upon the dewy grass on
that early morning of summer v/hen the pictures wer- taken.
There is an inexpressible del ght in those floral bord:rs leading
up to the exquisite structure of the hoi:se. The gi'een lawn
creeping up to
the wall at the
end of the build-
ing, where the
low, broad tower
of the church of
SS. Mary and
Barlhoiomew,
dating from
Norman to Per-
pendicular times,
is seen rising in
the background,
completes a pic-
ture not easily
surpassed. The
shadowy v\'alks
between the tall
hedges, the
radiant region
which lies below
the terrace, the
glori.us prospect
of wood and
sky, disclosed
from tlie porch
and the windows
of the n an>ion
— t h. e s e are
among some of
the n-,any n-,eri;s
of this delightful
liouse in the
We-t Countr\'.
The church at
C r a n b 0 r n e ,
w hicii has been
alluded to, is one
of tl'.e largest
and m o s t
dignified
county,

Norman
way,
Early
w 0 r k
several

in the
with a
door-
m u ch
English
and
notable

monuments,
v\ biile ih.e parish
(f which it is
the mother
c! inch is S' me
forty miles
in c i r c Li m -
ference. Here,

anciently, was a Benedictine Priory, which lost some of
its importance when its monks were reduced upon the rebuild-
ing of Tewkesbury Priory. There are other ancient features
hereabout, thus, on Castle Hill, rising about a mile south-
east, is a great and lofty mound, with a semi-circular rampart
and a deep fosse behind, which is reckoned very remaik-able
among ancient earthwork's. History is written broadly on the
face of the land.

'I'here was, of course, in ancient times a lordly dwelling-
place at Cranborne, where resided the lord of that great chase

THE SOUTH PORCH.

or forest wliich had for its early limits Salisbury, W Iton,
Tisbury, Kingsettle near Shaftebbury, Blandford, Wimborne,
Ringwood, Fordinghridge, and Uownton. It was a Royal
possessi n granted out to great nobles. The Ea' I of Clou /ester
had it, but it was in the hands of the Crown in the reign of
John. Old Aubrey, gossiping, more siio, of the country and
the things he heard in his journeying, says Roger Moi timer
owned it, having his castle at Cranborn?, and " if these oakes
were vocall as Dodona's, some of the old dotaids (old stagge-
headed oakes, so-called) could give us an account of the amours
and secret wdiispers between tlMS great Earle and faire Queen

Isabel I." The
chase remained
with the Crown
from Edward IV.
to James 1., and
the latter
monarch granted
it to the Earl of
Pembroke, fro n
whom it pjssed
through several
noble families
to Earl Rivers,
to whom
General Lane-
Fox succeeded.
It was a green
and s h a d 0 v/ y
I'egion, prized for
vert and
venison, where
often t.ie hunts-
m a n would
" drive the deer
with hjLind and
h rn."

" Merry it is in
tlie g-oJ green
\vo3.i,

Wlieu the mavis
and mt-rle are
singing,"

trolled the old
balladist wlien
he heard the
huntsman's
horn. I rue was
his song of those
privilege J to be
merry in the
forest, but a
hard law lay
upon others
w 1 1 h i n the
bounds, w hie i
caused the
firests of the
king and the
great nob'es to
be looked upon
as the abodes
of cruelty. It
was a condition
of English life
long since passed
away, and ni
these days it is liard to realise the important part forest-
land played in rural economy in ancient times, when so
much depended upon the chase. Even in Bede's da\',
the mighty Andred's Weald stretched for 120 miles from
Hampshire to the MeJway, while the counties to the
west were thickly overgrown, and vast woods covered what
are now the Midland counties and stretched away right into
the North. It was as much a capital offence to kill a stag
as to kill a man, and by lash or fine the unsuccessful hinit>-
man was rewarded. Within the bounds no bows mi^ht be

CRANBO%NE (MINOR.

139

THE LOGGIA.

140

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

ON THE STA'RWAY.

carried save by licence, and there mi,<iht be no dogs except
mastiffs, these being " lawed " by the expeditation of claws.
Jealous, indeed, was the watch of verderers, regarders, and
other forest otf-'icers deputed to keep the forest possessions.
There were taxes also for the pannage of swine and the agist-
ment of cattle, and there was a " chiminagium," or tax upon
carts used for fuel,- charcoal, or bark. In short, the code of
forest laws and regulations was regarded by the Fn,L:lishman
as a grievous hardship, and it is not difficult to realise the
resentment which they raised. Poaching and outrage
inevitably resulted, the forests becoming a byword of
reproach, and some of tlie conditions which ensued in

later times are very curiously
illustrated in the history of
Cranborne Chase, while many
an offender was hauled up for
ready justice in the hall of
Craiiborne Manor.

William Chafm, clerk',
whij wrote " Anecdotes of
Cranborne Chase" in 1818,
and who had known the region
for upwards of seventy yea s,
has many curious things to
record concerning the lawless-
ness that prevailed, and the
pages of Hutchins's "Dorset"
tell the same story. Even
the men of position in the
neighbourhood pursued the
evil work of netting game.
" From four to twenty would
assemble in the evening,
dressed in cap and jack, and
quarter-staff, with dogs and
nets. Having set the watch-
word for the night, and agreed
whether they should stand or
run if they should meet the
keepers, they proceeded to the
chase, set their nets, let slip
their dogs to drive the deer into the nets, a man standing
at each end to strangle the deer as soon as they were
entangled. Frequent bloody battles took place, and the
keepers and sometimes the huntsmen were killed." Chafin says
that he believes a very sanguina' y engagement in the parish of
Tarrant Gunville was the earliest of the kind in Cranborne
Chase. In his day the scene of the affray was called
" Bloody Shard," and the wood within " Bloodway Coppice."
Another desperate fight took place on Chettle Common on the
night of December 17th, 1780, and even ten years later the
chase was infested with a " villainous set of deer slayers."
These were events vvhich still dwell in the memories of

THE NORTH-E.AST TERRACE.

CRANBO%NE {M/INOR.

141

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE GATE-HOUSE

those who live at Cranborne. LorJ S:i:iftDsbury had dis-
membered tlie cliase towarJi the en i of the seventeenth
centur)-, but even as late as 1828 it contained so:ne 12,003
deer, and had as mmy as six lodges, eacli witli its " wall<."
Two yeari afterwards a change came over the p'ace, for it was
d.sforested, and the reproach was removed, bat the chase had
become a public evil and a h.uint of profligates and smugglers.
The game of Cranborne Chase had been greatly prized.
" The deer of the forest of Groveley," says Aubrey, " were
tl"e largest fallow deer in England, but some doe affirm the deer
of Cranborne Chase larger than these of Groveley. A gl 'ver of
Tysbury will give sixpence more for a buclcsU'in of Cranborne
Chase than of Gro\-e'e)', and he sales that he can afford it."

'f hetroub'ous
ti;T.es whidi d s
t u r b e d the
peaceable i n -
habitants of the
region have long
since passed
away, and it has
returned to a
pastoral state,
wlvch makes it
at ractive amonj
the beautiful
regions of tlie
West. It is a
district of farms
and dairies, with
much pasturage.
A great deal of
the g a m e -
sheltering wood-
land has dis-
appeared, bit
St. lithe region of
tlie old chase is
full of SN'lvan

THE BOWLING ALLEY,

charm, though the leafy labyrinths of earlier days are replaced
in many parts by cultivated spaces. It was as noted for its
attractions in former times as it is \n these. To quote Aubrey
once more, where he speaks of another part of what once was
known as the " King's Chase," " The Arcadia and Daphne is
about Fernditch and Wilton, and these romancy plaines and
boscages did no doubt conduce to the heightening of Sir Philip
Sydney's phansie." Lovely is the country about the Manor
House still, and readers of Thomas Hardy have dwelt many a
time upon his descriptions of its charms and his vivid pictures
of its life and character. It is a land of hill and hollow, wood and
meadow, that enframes the beautiful Tudor and Jacobean struc-
ture, and forms the foil to the lovelineis of its fragrant gardens.

They are
gardens of simple
beauties, their
attraction resid-
ing principally in
the old mossy
terrace, the long
flower borders,
the green alleys
and lawns, and
the charms of the
neighbouring
woodland. They
are trim and yet
not formal,
planned with art
and yet natural.
They are main-
tained as all
gardens that are
loved and valued
are kept —
admirable there-
lore for en-
joyment and
exan/ple.

t 143 ]

THIS very fine and impressive Tudor mansion is a good
example of the timbered architecture of England.
In the forest days, when timber was in plenty
and stone costly or difficult to procure, wood and
brick were the materials with which the knight and
peasant constructed their picturesque abodes. The skill of
the architect and the builder was such that the tough oak
beams, well jointed in the framework, pegged and mortised
together, have withstood the storms of centuries in many a
place until to-day. Fragments of such archiiecture may be
seen all through England, frequently in the level plains, and
more seldom when the hills betoken the presence of ston;.
They remain in rustic places, with pleasant gardens about
them, but not many are the examples preserved so well as
Mere Hall, or so suitably adorned with gardens such as we
depict.

The timber style of architecture is generally associated
with Lancashire and Cheshire. In the oldest houses a low
stone wall carries che timber framing, and in the earlier
examples, as at Tabley, Baguley, Smithells, and Samlesbury,
the beams are of enormous size. The framing took a
rectangular form, with diagonal struts, as at Mere Hall, and
olten, as in the upper works and gables there, was enriched
by picturesque adornment. The panels were usually filled
with a basket-work osier foundation, covered with clay

'^^^'^^^Vk *1*«

strengthened with straw or reeds, and finished with plaster
within and without, which sometimes was worked in c mate
patterns. The gables were enriched with pinnacles and
elaborate barge-boards, and the mullions and the window
heads were beautifully moulded and sculptured. The chimney
stacks were of brick or stone, and usually lofty and striking
features of the mansions. The position of such houses was
usually capable of defence. Sometimes the house was on
a steep river brow; often, like a Roman station, it lay in
the fork of two rivers or streams, or it was entirely defended
by a moat ; and rarely, as at Tabley Old Hall, it stood
detached upon an island.

To endeavour to delineate the dwellings of our ancestors
is a tempting quest, and there is the rarest fascination in the
attempt to penetrate their recesses, to sit, as it were, in their
lofty bays, it may be even discover their hiding-places, and to
issue from the hall and the porch, perhaps by a drawbridge,
into the sweet gardens without. But we must not dwell much
longer upon structural matters here. Our purpose is with the
delightful Worcestershire house in the salt region of Droitwich,
which demands attention, with its long succession of gables
and gablets, its octagon turret, and the tall chimnrys all
grouped, in that delightful garden, against a beautiful back-
ground of trees. The approach is very charming, for the way
is along a splendid avenue Oi ancient elms, some of them

THE FISH-FO.ND.

144

GARDENS OLD AND NEVA

THE OLD GARDEN WALL.

THb GREAT ELM AVENUE.

[MERE HALL.

145

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146

Gardens old and neiv.

still in ttieir prime, but others giving evidence of their
antiquity in their worn and riven crests. Then we reach
those splendid vvrought-iron gates, with the lofty metal
piers, admirable examples, set in a semi-circle of masonry,
and so reach the forecourt and the porch, noticing first the
exceedingly quaint summer-houses on either side of the gate,
which seem to imve been added in the time of Queen Anne.
Mere Hall is one of the most important houses of the class in
Worcestershire, and has a symmetrical character of its own.
Its plan is that of the simple manor house, with the "great
hall" in the centre, where were the usual arrangements of
medieval times more or less developed, high table, canopy,
bay, and fireplace, perhaps with the screen and lobby. On
the right is the dining-room, where, we may surmise, were the
dom.estic otfices in the old time, and on tlie left tlie drawing-
room, with the library beliind.

About the year 1828 Mr. Habershon, author of "The
Ancient Half-Timbered Houses of England," made considerable
alterations and additions here ; but he seems not to have

for the more intimate character which should be found in the
gardenage of ancient timber architecture, we shall probably
arrive at the conclusion that simplicity and richness should
distinguis!i it. There may well be, as at Mere Hall, fine
hammered u'on gates as an approach, and there may be
enclosed gardens with yew hedges and quaint garden-
houses, as at tills attractive Worcest. rshire seat, it will be
particularly observed that the lawns sweep up to the base
of the structure, and that nothing conceals the design.
The grass frontage without terrace seems to be usual in
the case of houses of this class, as may be seen in the Lan
cashire examples. The situation of Mere Hall is typical of
that of most such buildings, being level and grassy. Terracing
would, indeed, have been out of place, and the simple effect
is perfectly good without it. Flowers in abundance are invited
to reveal their charms, and there are many very fine evergreen
bushes, which add to the winter beauty of the place. The
broad grouping of the antique mansion, with its lawn gardens
and trees, as seen from the pond, is admirable.

AN OLD GARDEN-HOUSH.

changed the main plan, while extending tlie structure behind
the dinmg-room, where now are the l\itchen5 and ofti.cs. His
account of it is interesting. The place, as he says, is in
Hanbury parish, and it lies about three miles from Droitwich,
on the Alcester road, and has been in the possession of the
family of its present owner for many generations. The hill
behind is lofty and covered with wood, and forms a fine back-
ground to the structure, besides sheltering the garden. 1 he
date 1335 is roughly carved on an upper beam between two
bedroom windows, and it has been suggested that this
may be a mistake for 1535. The date, however, is plain,
and it is known that the house was built by 1 honias
Bearcroft of the time, and the edifice has an early simplicity.
Our pictures will show how a more modern hand — >
could it have been that of Mr. Habershon .? — has substituted
sashes of "carpenter's gothic" for the od mullioned and
leaded windows.

It will now be asked what kind of garden should lie about
such a picturesque house as this. The grand avenue of elms
would be appropriate to any stately mansion, but if we look

Obviously, where houses are built of timber and plaster,
there should be some reluctance to allow green things to cling
too closely. This rule appears to have been applied at Mere
Hall, where only on the chimney-sta ks are climbers sufferei
to intrude. There is much attraction and beauty in the garden
that will please every taste, and the brick garden walls
are richly festooned with flowering pl.mts.

Such thir.gs will be appreciated from our pictures, and
further description would be superfluous. One very great charm
of the p ace is the broad sweep of the park that surrounds it,
gaining greatly in its nobility from the truly splendid trees
that flourish in that deep soil. The fisli-ponJ was a common
feature in the old gardens of such houses as this, and the
large expanse of water which we depict is perhaps the
survival of that iriere which doubtless gave name to the
place. It may be added that the gardens are maintained
in that state of perfection which is the final charm of all
good gardens. Mere Hall is an attractive addition to our
series of garden pictures, standing amid truiy beautitul
surroundings.

[ 117 1

SUSSEX is one of those English counties wliich have
seen a wondrous deal of the national and personal life
of our countrymen. There is scarcely a Sussex
village that is not in some measure a landmark of
history, and if, sometimes, the solitary hamlet seems
cut off from the busy hum of the urgent world, living amid the
folds of the hills an uneventful life of its own, be sure that
in its annals there have been stirring events or curious
happenings to record. No part of England bears witness
to greater changes in the physical aspect of the land than
this southern fringe. Richly wooded still, much of it was
possessed long ago by the great area of forest and waste which
bore the name of the Andred's Weald, and when yElla and
Cissa " beset Anderida, and slew all that were therein, nor
was there afterwards one Briton left," the warlike chieftains

saw a country covered mile after mile beyond with dense
thickets that have now given place to the wide meadow, the
cornfield, and the fruitful orchard. It is a county rich in
passages of sylvan beauty, and dignified in many places, as
at Parham Park, by the possession of old ancestral trees of
mighty growth and splendid mould. The open heights of the
Downs, with their subtle effect of atmosphere and distance,
their changing hues and individual character, their romantic
prospects of land and sea, have a fascination which none who
know them can resist. Nestling below their southern slopes,
and sheltered from the chilling blasts, are many quaint and
picturesque villages, and near them not a few of the houses
of the great, who have chosen this favoured region as one
desirable to dwell in.

Parham Park, the stately seat of Lord Zouche, is

THE GATh AND THE VISTA.

148

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

pre-eminently one of these. It is, indeed, one of the most
important and stately old mansions in West^in Sussex — a
charming architectural creation, with noble gardens and a
beautiful park, lying at the foot of the Downs, an J having
behind it a hill commanding a great prospect of land and sea,
with the Isle of Wight to close the view. The house has been
restored by judicious hands, so that it bears the true aspect
of that spacious age in which it was built. It stands where
the expansive level of the lower country melts insensibly into
the graceful upland curves, and the broad acres smile under
their ample share of the sunlight. Before the Conquest, the
Abbot of Westminster held Pjrham Manor, but one Tovi, a
freeman, was settled there. The place was numbered among
tlie broad possessions of Earl Roger, and in the centuries tlut
followed passed through tiie families of St. Joiin and Tregoz,
Edward Tregoz having been lord in 1399, after which period
Parham seems to have lapsed to the Crown. The Abbots
of Westminster continued, however, to hold the manor, and

no confirmation of tiie tradition, but it is worthy of remark
that tiie date 1583 and the Queen's arms occur on the wlUI
at the upper end of the hill. The present flat ceiling is of the
same date, and it is suggested that it may not have been
originally there. Whether that be the case or not, this
construction has enabled the bc'autiful long gallery to be
erected, a feature quite characteristic of the time, though
rarely found, perhaps, in the same relative position. The
gallery at Parham is lined with portraits of the Bisshopps and
their connections, including one of Henry Bisshopp, a stout
Royalist, who was concealed here from t le Parliamentary
forces, and who is represented with a dog which shared his
hiding-place, and on whose silence his fate depended. Entered
from this gallery is a small chapel, with a curious Jacobean
wooden font.

The hall below is lighted by four large windows,
24ft. high, and, according to the custom of the times, has a
carved oak screen at the lower end, which is good, and

DENOTES THE TIMB ON BRASS AND BOX.

at the Dissolution their possession came to the King. Parham
was thereafter sold to Robert Palmer, third son of Thomas
Palmer, of Angmering, the sale being effected in 1540, at
the price of ;^i,2:5 6s. 5d., and a yearly rental of ;jQ6 i ^s. 4d.
We do not know what manner of house stood on the site at
the time, but some parts of a mediaeval dwelling-place are
embodied in the existing structure. Thomas Palmer, the new
owner's son, completed the house almost as it stands to-day,
and enclosed a park, and Sir Thomas Palmer, Robert's
grandson, sold the estate in 1597 to Sir Thomas Bisshopp,
Secretary of State under Sir Francis Walsingham.

The house is built of chalk from the Downs, faced with
stone, and its south and west fronts are excellent work of
Elizabethan date. The trace of the modern hand is still upon
the structure, but where should we wish to see better work of
its kind than that glorious hall window of many lights, crested
by the quaint gables and picturesque chimneys above .-' In
August, 1 591, Queen Elizabeth is said to have visited Sir
Thomas Palmer's house, and to have dined in the newly-
finished hall, on her w;:y to Cowdray. There seems to be

in very perfect preservation. The north and east sides
of the house belong to the reign of Henry Vlll , and some
parts to a still earlier date. The k'ltchen is rem u'kable as
being identical in plan with that of Cl:rist Church, Oxford,
and is a cube of 25ft., with two great fireplaces beneath
Gothic arches, 14ft 6in. wide.

The house passed, after the death of Sir Thomas
Bisshopp, through the hands of many descendants, and
has never since been alienated, but has been transmitted
through female heirs. Sir Cecil Bisshopp, second bironet,
made some changes in the mansion, about 1710, rather pre-
judicial to its character, and the port co on ihe south side seems
to have been refaced about that time. The " Topographer"
of 1791 figures the house, and remarks that the windows
were rendered uniform by new sashes, though some still
remained in their original state. "The workmen are now, in
the absence of the family, making similar alterations, and
adding and refitting several rooms." At the same time,
though the old was being destroyed, something of sham
antique had been added m the shape of " castellated stables

PAKH-lM PARK,

149

THE BARON S WINDOW.

150

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

of rough stone work." In Neale's "Views of Seats,"
published in 1828, tne gables are not shown, the projecting
bays having then been given segmental tops and plain sash
windows. Happily, since that time the ho.:se has been well
restored, and on the south side fine bay windows have been
added in admirable keeping with the old.

Sir Cecil Bisshopp, the eighth baronet, who was con-
cerned in modernising the house, succeeded in establishing
his claim to the ancient barony of Zouche of Haryingworth,
in 1815. William de la Zouche, lord of that plnce, was
summoned to Parliament as a Baron, 1308-14, and his honours
rested with his descendants, of whom five immediately
following bore his name of William. John, the seventh
baron, was attainted in 14S5, but his attainder was reversed.

"IIIE HOUSE AND CHURCH.

and the barony of Zouche, to which that of St, Maur had been
adJed, continued with his descendants until it became abeyant
between his two daughters, and so remained until Sir Cecil
Bisshopp, sixth in descent from the elder daughter, Elizabeth,
succeeded, as we have said, in establishing his claim to the
title.

At his death it again became abeyant between two
daughters, but a year later the abeyance was terminated
in favour of the elder of them, who had married the Hon.
Robert Curzon, M P. This lady was succeeded in the title
by her son, Robert Curzon, the fourteenth baron, father of
the present Lord Zouche, in 1870. The late Lord Zouche was
a nobleman of fine taste, who riclily stored his house with
precious things. He made a great collection of early armour,
and the display at Parham was almost unrivalled, while the
gold and silver plate and ivory carvings were very beautiful,
and the library was rich in ancient manuscripts. Lord Zouche,
whose book, " The Monasteries of the Levant," is well
known, brought much armour from the East, some of it from
the church of St. Irene at Constantinople, which had been
worn by the defenders of the Palsologi against the Turks in
1452. The collection also includes three complete suits of
armour of iiCo, 1250, and 1350, and complete suits of Gothic
armour, with pointed toes, prior to 1452, as well as many
helmets and several cross-hiked swords. Lord Curzon
described his collection in the Archceological Journal, XXIL,
1865. Most of the precious manuscripts from the library have
been removed to the British Museum. In the hands of the
fourteenth baron, the great house at Parham was well cared
for, and our illustrations will show that the place is maintained
in perfect state and order.

We shall leave our pictures to tell the story of the
beautiful gardens. They have a simple, natural character,
with some quaint features, like the sundial which tells the
fleeting hours upon brass, while the pillar casts its shadow
upon the well-grown dial of box which surrounds it. There
are broad lawns on the south side, between the house and the
old church, and the trees are everywhere magnificent. The

avenue and the old dovecote make a delightful picture, and the
kitchen garden is florally adorned. There are quaint gate-
posts and iron gates, and pathways in sun and shade, where
it is pleasant to linger, and everywhere is a lavish array
of flowers.

The park is famous among the many beautiful parks of
Sussex, and has interests that are quite its own. Knox,
in his "Ornithological Ramble in Sussex," rightly speaks
of it as a forest-like park, or rather chase, with its
thickets of birch and whitethorn, and its wide-branched
elms and oaks, the latter especially grand and picturesque.
On every side it is a realm of sylvan beauty, and a
background of green hill is seen here and there between
the splendid masses of foliage. In the deer park a pond

called Wood Mill Pond
reflects a charming land-
scape, and as we traverse
the open expanses remains
of a considerable village
are found. Adjoining the
deer park is a large
wood, called the North
Park, where the pines and
spruce firs are glorious.
Knox speaks with enthusiasm
of the most interesting
lierunry there. " Advancing
with the utmost caution,
the visitor may perhaps
invade the colony without"
disturbing them, and hear
the indescribable, half-
hissing sound uttered by the
young birds when in the act
of being fed. The slightest
noise, however, even the
snapping of a stick, will send
the parent birds off at
once. The herons assemble early in February, and then set
about reparing their nests, but the trees are never entirely
deserted during the winter months, a few birds, probably some
of the more backward of the preceding season, roosting among
their boughs every night." The herons begin laying early in
March, and from the time the young birds are hatched until
late in the summer the parent birds forage for them day and
night. Their food consists of fish, and of reptiles anJ insects,
which their lengthened tarsi and acute serrated bills enable
them to seize in the shallow waters of the rivers, or in lakes
or marshes which are their haunt. The history of the
heronry at Parham is curious. The ancestors of the birds
were brought originally, it is believed, to Penshurst by the
steward of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, from Coity
Castle in South Wales, and at Penshurst the herons remained
imtil the beginning of the nineteenth century, when, some
of their nesting trees being cut down, they resented the
intrusion, and migrated to Michelgrove, some fifty miles south-
west of Penshurst, and six or seven south of Parham. The
proprietor at Michelgrove having cut some of his trees, the
birds migrated again, and established themselves at Parham in
1826. Some of them were alarmed once more by the trees
there being pruned, and they then betook themselves to
Arundel, about six miles away, but came back after a while,
and increased and multiplied, being thereafter disturbed only
by the thieving rooks. The heronry adds much inte.est to
the ferny deeps and the glorious old oaks, pines, and firs of
Parham Park.

The house, according to a common custom, stands near
the church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, and is interesting
and picturesque, and has a curious leaden font dating from
1 35 1. Beyond the sacred edifice the hill breaks suddenly into
a declivity, giving a wide prospect over the plain, in a manner
quite characteristic of this part of Sussex. The valley of the
Arun opens, as it approaches the sea, into wide and level
expanses, and thus from all the hills thereabout these great
views are disclosed. It is a beautiful and attractive country
in which Parham Park lies.

PA%H.4M PARK.

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[ 152 ]

;ANY fine houses and beautifii

gardens are in tlie Wessex

county of Dorset. The land

is ricli and fruitful — if not

pre-eminently in cornland,
\et in the abundant pastures whxh

maintain those splendid herds that make Dorsetshire one of the
chief dairying counties in England, in traversing it f i om north to
south the wayfarer passes through scenery that is wonderfully
varied and singularly picturesque. He journeys through, a
great pastoral land, much diversified by hill and hollow, with
hawthorn hedges and apple orchards, and many a farmhouse
and cottage nestling among the trees, and presently he sees
rising before him the edges of the calcareous hills which lie
between that lower country and the sea. From the heights
there are distant prospects over the land to the hills which
everywhere shut in the view, unless it be where the glistening
waters of the Channel, like a burnished shield, make a fair
margin to the outlook on the south.

In ancient days the country by the rivers was rich in a
dense forest, in wlKise glades the grunting porkers fed on the

mast of beech and oak'. Can we not
hear them sti'l when we pass through
that village significantly named of old
Latinity Teller Porcorum ? By that way
we may go in a wayfaring from the direc-
tion of Dorchester by the valley of the
Frome to the village of Mapperton, whicli lies between Toller
"of the Pigs " and Beaminster. As the crow flics, Mapperton lies
some seven miles from the sea at Bridport Harbour and within
a short two miles of Beaminster. It is not forgotten
that this is a region made known through the Wessex novels
of Thomas Hardy. Bridpoit is the " Port Breedy " of " Tess
of the D'Urbervilles," near which place she did dairy work in
her days of trouble ; while Beaminster is tlie Emminster of the
novel, the "hill-surrounded little town, with the Tudor church
tower of red stone, and the Llamp of trees near the vicarage,"
wl:ere the father of Angel Clare was incumbent. Through the
district of Mapperton, then, we may foliow Tess in some of her
weary journeys.

It IS now time to turn to the mansion we depict, and we
shall not err if we extol its true old En'j:li>h domestic

THE OLD GARDEN AND GRASS TERRACE.

(MAPPERTOS^ HOUSE.

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154

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

picturesqueness. There are
greater places of more stately
aspect, richer in tlieir adorn-
ments and grander in their
proportions, but it is difficult
to imagine anything more
attractive than tliat front of
tliis Dorsetsiiire house \vii:ch
lo-ivs out into the grassy fore-
court. The place is said to
have been erected in the tim:.'
of Henry Vll., and tliere is
little doubt that some parts of
it go back' as far, though
mani estly many details belong
to a more recent date, when
the Renaissance had carried
the classic spirit into the
domestic architecture of Eng-
land. Many additions were
made in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, and the balustrade
is pe;liaps of that time, and
later than tlie structure itself.
Much older certainly is the
wing which looks into the
forecourt from the side, with
its extremely quaint angle
shafts and the singular beauty

of its mullioned winduws, and to a much later d.ite behng the
very fine and characteristic gate-posts crested by eagles with
expanded wings.

In the time of Henry I. the manor belonged to a family
bearing the name of Bryte, and, after passing through many
hands, it came in 1604 by marriage to Richard Broderipp, from
whose family it went, again by marriage, to that of the present
owner, for Catherine Richards, the great-grandd tighter of
Richard Broderipp, married in 1780 Y.r. John Compton of tlie
Manor House, Minstead, who was ttie grandfather of the late

THE AVENUE AND STABLES.

Mr. Henry Compton. In the hands of successive owners the
place has undergone various modifications, but there is nothing
to mar its extremely beauti:ul character. It will be observed
that great richness characterises the house. Externally, the
twisted ch'mneys, the finely moulded mullions and transoms,
the admirible character of the doorway and porch adornments,
and the well-proportioned feature of the balustrade, are exam-
ples of what we say. It will be remarked also that the bays
of the structure are extremely fine, and that the gateway has
a strongly individualised character. Within, the ceiling of the

THE HENRY Vll. WING.

WtAPPERTOU^ HOUSE.

155

drawing-room is an admirable example of plaster-work, with
pendants and tleurs-de-lys in the panels, and a frieze very
richly worked with medallions, while the wainscoting of the
rooms is extremely good. In various places in the structure
the armorial bearings of the owners are sculptured and
emblazoned characteristically. Externally, the heraldic figures
on the octagonal turrets and spiral pedestals are very
good.

What shall we say about the gardens of this sweet
Dorsetshire house ? They are simple as such gardens should be.
The mansion itself is richly vested with ivy and climbing
roses, though nowhere to the obscuring of its architectural
features. Tall gate-posts crowned with balls open to the
avenue between the house and the outbuildings, which last are
among the quaintest imaginable. The gardens cover about
four acres, and have a sweet and attractive character, without
strongly marked features, though the long grass slopes,
forming terraces, are quite characteristic and good. The
presence of many trees adds very greatly to the charm of the
place. They are in much variety, which has been increased
by the care devoted to judicious planting, and flowering trees

district is given up to dairy farming, and Hardy took his
pictures of farming life from what he had seen and observed in
these Dorsetshire hills and valleys. Beaminster is, in fact,
the centre of a district famous for the "Double Dorset" or
"Blue Vinny" cheese, and the hills that surround the town
are mostly occupied by the farms, but in the broader valleys
the farms are generally larger, and produce immense quantities
of butter and cheese. The traveller who has passed over the
chalk downs and cornlands, where the sun blazes upon the
fields, is delighted to look over the lower country devoted to
dairy farming, where the lanes are white, and the darker
network of the hedges overspreads the paler green of the grass.
As Thomas Hardy says of the Vale of Blackmoor, with slight
e.xceptions, the prospect in such places is a broad rich
mass of grass and trees mantling minor hills and fair,
pastoral dales. The forests, as we said, have departed,
though some old customs that belonged to them seem
still to be retained. The produce of the Mapperton
district is carried for country consumption into Beaminster
and other towns. The main line of the South Western
Railway is a few miles to the north, but nearer at hand

THE ENTRANCE GATES.

are one of the principal attractions, though the tall elm and the
spreading chestnut seem to predominate. The broad-leaved
plane and the nodding birch are of the goodly company, and
have their part in the sylvan charms of these Dorset valleys.
Mapperton House has fine lawns and ample parterres, and it
will be remarked that the green grass space in the forecourt,
running quite up to the walls of the house, is a pleasant relief
to the grey stone of the structure.

The country about, as has been said, is very picturesque
and varied, for the house stands in a fairly elevated situation,
but sheltered by the hills and having a conical height called
Chart Knoll on the north-west. Nearly the whole of the

Newton, on the
Dorchester and

is the line that runs from Bridport to Maiden
Great Western Railway from Yeovil to
Weymouth.

Bridport is an ancient town, celebrated once for the
making of what were known as "Bridport daggers," being
the hempen cords with which malefactors were hung. Enough
has been said, however, to show that the district which
surrounds the house we illustrate is as interesting as that
attractive structure itself, and with this remark we shall

ire very glad to include in this

leave a place which
series of illustrations
England.

we

of the famous houses and gardens of

156

G.-iRDE.\S OLD AND NEIV.

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ANY are the honours and hi;zli the titles that
belong to the Dukeof Buccleuch and Queensbeiry.
Of seats, too, his Grace lias many, to wit: the
famous house of L'alkeith, near Edinburgh; Drum-
lanrig Castle and Langholm Lodge, Dumfriesshire;
Eildon Hall, near St. Bosweli's; and Bowhill, near Selkirk;
and a Northamptonshire house as vvelL Truly, a goodly
heritage and a rich, well worthy of a great peer of the realm.
It is with the beautifLil Dumfriesshire domain of Drumlanrig
that we are concerned here — well named from the "drum," or
long "rig," or ridge, at the end of which it stands, looking
down upon the Marr Burn, and commanding a noble prospect
of the valley of the Nith, with nvglity Criffel, near the
borderland, to close the distant view. The branch of the great
house of Douglas from which the Duke is descended flourished
here more than five hundred years ago, when David IL in
1356 confirmed the barony to William Lord Douglas — a wide
territory stretching trom the Marr Burn, along the western side
of the Nith, into Sanquhar Parish, and including some lands on

the other side of the river. The first Baron of Drumlanrig was
Sir William Douglas, living at the clo-e of the same century,
from whom was descended William, first Viscount Drumlanrig,
and afterwards Earl of Queensberr)-.

Some remains of the old castle are embodied in the
present structure, which itself dates from 1679-89, and was
built by William, first Duke of Queensberry. Doubtless it
was a good castellated mansion that had stood there before.
A solid, imposing structure is Drumlanrig Castle, four square
to the winds of heaven, with a mighty turret, four-pinnacl?d,
at every angle, and between the turrets curtain walls, as in
some feudal stronghold, the stout walls full of windows and
crested by an attractive balustrade. The details are very
good, and a beautiful segmental double stairway on the north
front is particularly fine. Below are the terraces and gardens,
and a long flight of broad steps, forming the great ascent, is
the approach on one side. A vast work was done by Duke
William in raising the ponderous pile, laying out the gardens,
and thickening the woods by new plantations. He seems to

THE AMERICAN GARDEN.

158

GARDENS OLD AND NEU^.

have regretted the expense, however, and would have buried
the memory of it. Tradition, at any rate, asserts that he
tied up the papers containing the accounts of his outlay and
placed upon the packet the inscription, " The Deil pike out his
een wha looks herein." But the Duk-e built well, and all around
are evidences of his taste and discrimination. Dr. C. T.
Ramage, who has written an account of the place, says it
is recorded that, when the castle was building, "Sir Robert
Grierson of Lag gifted to Queensberry eleven score of tall
stately oaks out of Craignee Wood for joists to tlie "said house,
and could spare a good cut off the thick end of them." Of
course since that time many changes have passed over the
structure, and its surroundings grievously suffered at the
hands of "Old Q." ; but it has been judiciously restored
to a state far better than the old, though the trees that
Queensberry ruthlessly cut down will be long in growing
again. Spacious and noble is the interior, and in its many

a large gravel walk down betwixt them from the south parterre
to the cascade." The cascade no longer exists, but it appears
that the present generation had knowledge of it, for its remains
were there, plashing out by the leaden figure of a man, well
k'nown as "Jock o' the Horn." It is a charming spot where
the peasantry say the elves still dance in the moonlight. Mr.
Rae's description admirably pictures the character of the old
gardens, which in great part still survives. They were laid
out in terraces ; they were divided into formal parterres ; and
they were natural only where Nature compelled them to
wildness.

Pennant also describes the old gardens as he found them
in 1772 on his journey through Scotland. He says that he
saw there a bird cherry of a great size, " not less than 7ft. Sin.
in girth, and among several silver firs one 131ft. in diameter."
The bird cherry is no longer there, and no fine silver firs
remain, but an excellent specimen of the common Scotch fir,

A MARBLE VASE.

rooms hang a large number of portraits of the Douglases and
their kin.

We may now enter the magnificent terraced gardens,
which deserve to rank with the best gardens of Scotland.
Fortunately an early tiescription of them has been preserved.
It is in a manuscript history of Durisdeer (in wliich parish
Drumlanrig lies) by the Rev. Peter Rae (1700-40), quoted
by Dr. Ramage : " The gardens of Driimlanrig are very
beautiful, and the rather because of their beauty. The regular
gardens, with one designed to be made on the back of the
plumbery, the outer court before the house, and the house
itself, make nine square plots of ground, whereof the kitchen
garden, the court before the house, and the garden designed
make three ; my lady Duchess's garden, the house, and the
last parterre and the flower garden make other three, that is
nine in all, and the castle is in the centre. Only as to the last
three, the westernmost is always more than a story above
the rest. As to those called irregular gardens, because the
course of the Parkburn would not allow them to be square,
they are very pretty and well suited to one another. They
call one part thereof Virginia, the other Barbadoes ; there goes

close to the old cascade, measures nearly lift, in girth at the
base. Pennant also described the gardens as " most expensively
cut out of a rock," doubtless referring to the magnificent terrac-
ing and the stairways. Not much rock-cutting appears, however,
to have been required ; the natural slope of the ground gave the
advantage which th.e garden archiiect and designer have taken
full advantage of. The great and stately ascent, broad and
massive, leads up to a magnificent terrace, skirting the south
front below a grass slope, and at the west end is a fine formal
parterre, laid out gaily and characteristically. Ivy climbs
up the terrace wall, from which there is a glorious outlook.
The High White Garden, with its gleaming patiiways, is a
purely formal parterre in the grand st_\ie, and has a semi-
circular garden at its termination below the wood. The
American garden is analogous, and a like character is found
elsewhere. T he contrast relieves the formal character of
the grounds, and the woodland that enframes them enhances
the effect of both, and the park is full of charm, while the
landscape surveyed from the height is truly superb. Taken
altogether, the scene is very characteristic and eminently
pleasing.

T)RUMLAUXRIG CASTLE.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE HALF-CIRCLE.

As in all old Scotch parks, the trees are noteworthy at
Drumlanrig. Two Scotch firs in Auchenaight Wood are
remarkable, and some of the yew trees are still larger. An
oak tree, which grew on the edge of what is known as Gallows
Fiat, is probably the oldest tree in the park. The woods of
Drumlanrig were glorious in the eighteenth century, but before
its close their knell had been sounded. They perished at the
bidding of iniquitous " Old Q.," fourth Duke of Queensberry,
whose memory remains as the type of an old roue — " That
polish'd, sin-worn fragment of the court." It is said that he
denuded his grounds at Drumlanrig, and round Niedpath
Castle, near Peebles, about 1798, in order to furnish a dowry
for Maria Fagniani on her marriage to the Earl of Yarmouth.
He believed the lady to be his daughter, and a like idea of
paternity also induced George Selwyn to bestow upon her a
large fortune, though malicious tongues averred that both of
them were deceived.

Thus did Wordsworth pour indignation on the Uuke of
Queensberry's wicked old head :

" Degenerate Douglas ; oh, the iiuworthy Lord!
Whom mere despite of heart could so far please.
And love of havoc (for with such disease
Fame taxes him), that he could send forth word
To level with the dust a noble horde,
A brotherhood of venerable trees,
Leaving an ancient dome and towers like these
Beggared and outraged! Many hearts deplored
The fate of these old trees; and oft with pain
The traveller, at this day, will stop and gaze
On wrongs which Nature scarcely seems to hetd;
For sheltered places, bosoms, nooks, and bogs,
And the pure mountains, and the gentle Tweed,
And the silent pastures, 3-et remain.''

And Burns denounced the degenerate Duke also, in
verses, wherein he describes the waving woods as fancy
painted them, and demanded of his interlocutor whence came
the destruction.

" Old Q." died before his work was done, but he had cut
down the wood on one side of the feochan ; on the other side
it still remains. Many stories are told of the destruction.
One is to the effect that the Earl of Dalkeith, who inherited
the estate from the destroyer, hearing what was going on,
bought back some of the trees from the company which had
purchased them. The gentry round endeavoured to save
them, and Sir Charles Mentieth used to say that he bought
back the oak tree near the castle. The despoiled estate came
into the hands of Henry Duke of Buccleuch in 18 10, and he at
once undertook the work of replanting and of restoring what
had perished, with excellent effect, for Nature, ever kindly,
has, as Wordsworth long since suggested, forgotten " Old Q.,"
and the woods and gardens are rich and admirably kept.
A fine avenue of lime trees rtms down from the castle, and
tradition says that Charles Duke of Queensberry, who formed
it, was having the ground levelled with the intention of
carrying the avenue forward for upwards of a mile, when he
heard that his son Henry had rnet with an untimely end,
whereupon in his sorrow he desisted, and not until a century
later was his idea carried into execution. The finest oak in
the park is a grand patrician tree, standing apart from all its
kind, more than 83ft. high, with a girth, at 4ft. from the
ground, of 14ft. 6in., and a spread of branches of goit.
Another fine oak is at the foot of the hiil close to the
castle. There are magnificent beeches also, and grand
sycamores and limes, which were spared the work of tlie
destroyer's hand. Formerly a herd of wild cattle roamed the
park, described by Pennant in 1770 as retaining primeval
savageness and ferocity combined with timidity — descendants
of the old Urus sylvestris, it is supposed. How the herd died
out is not k'nown.

In every way a grand, characteristic, and beautiful
domain is that of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at
Drumlanrig.

161 ]

rnpM

'HE county of Kent is richer than most shires in ecclesi-
astical and domestic architecture. It is famous also
for many other things — for luxuriant woods and
pastures, and beautiful hop gardens which emulate
the vineyards of France, while, as one writer has
said, its great houses challenge comparison with the historic
chateaux of the Loire. Some portions of the county, lik'e that

THE TERRACE STAIRWAY.

in which Sir Henry Lennard's house stands, v, hile possessing
all the charms of hill and wood scenery, are yet within easy
reach of the metropolis. Through the county ran the great road
which was the avenue of communication vyith the Continent,
and important men in every century came and went that way.
The history of Kent is therefore in a manner the' history of
the country at large. The Romans have left their traces

at Rich borough, Reculver,
Dover, Lympne, and many other
places. The royal palace at
Eltham, the stately house of
Cobham, the famous mansions
of Penshurst and Knole, the old
manor house of Ightham, the
historicwalls of Hever and Leeds,
the quaint dwelling of Groom-
bridge, and many other like
places, distinguish it greatly.

West Wickham is known to
Londoners as lying in the vicinity
of the commons of Hayes and
Keston, and the varied country
thereabout. It will ever be re-
membered that this was a region
beloved by the famous Pitt, who
lived at Holwood House, two
miles south of Hayes. "When
a boy," said Lord Bathurstto the
poet Rogers, "Pitt used to go
a-birdnesting in the woods of
Holwood, and it was always, he
told me, his wish to call it his
own." In Holwood Park, just
on the descent into the vale of
Keston, at the fo it of an old oak
tree, Pitt and Wilberforce dis-
cussed and settled the Slavery
Abolition Bill in 1788, and there
Wilberforce resolved togive notice
of it in the House of Commons.
J hnson, in his life of Gilbert
West, the translator of Pindar,
another celebrity of this district,
says that there was at Wickham
a walk made by Pitt, and "what
is of far more importance, at
Wickham Lyttelton received that
conviction which produced his
' Dissertation on the Conversion
and Apostleship of St. Paul.'"
Lyttelton and Pitt, the great
lexicographer tells us, were ac-
customed to visit West at Wick-
ham, when they were weary of
factions and debates, and to
find there books and quiet, a
decent table, and literary con-
versation.

162

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

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164

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

The ancestors of Sir Henry Lennard are of old standing in
tliis part of Kent. In the time of Edward II., the manor of
Wickham was the property of the Huntingfields, of whom Sir
Walter, for his advantage, procured the grant of a weekly
market for the place, long since disused, in 1318. The manor
passed thereafter through several families, and at length came
to the hands of Sir Henry Heydon, who, about the time of
Henry VII., built the quadrangular house of brick, with the
characteristic angle turrets, which still remains, after having
undergone changes about a century ago. It received consider-
able additions in the time of the late baronet. John Lennard,
0" Knole and Chevening, who was Gustos Brevium in the
reign of Elizabeth, purchased the manor from Sir Wiliiam
Heydon. His eldest son married the Baroness Dacre, in her
own right, while his youngest son was knighted, and was
the father of Sir Stephen Lennard, created a baronet in
1642. This baronetage became e.xtinct in 1727, in the
person of Sir Samuel Lennard of Wickham Court, M.P.,
and the estate tlien passed through female htirs. Another

grown and embattled angle turrets will impress all students of
domestic architecture. The material is brick, with stone
dressings, and there is great character in the mullioned
windo'.vs and good chimneys. The walls are richly clothed
with ivy, but not to the concealment of architectural features.
Quaintness characterises the house everywhere, and its
picturesqueness is most attractive.

In the immediate neighbourhood of the mansion are
excellent examples of brick terrace walling, and lofty piers
flanking the approach from the forecourt. The two yews cut
into cubes, with triple circles above, and birds on the top, are
notable examples of the topiary art, and their quaintness is
undeniable. Such worlcs fall admirably into such a picture.
Evidently the hand of the tree pruner is constantly at work
here, with excellent result. The dense hedges cut to a gable
shape at the top, which tlank that beautiful grass walk leading
from the house, are as good as can be found anywhere.
Otherwise there is little formality in the place. Banks of
rhododendrons and azaleis are a feature and in the enclosed

THE EAST FRONTAGE.

baronetage was created, however, in :S8o, in favour of
the late Sir John Farnaby Lennard, who in 1861 had taken
the name of Lennard in lieu of his own patronymic of Cator,
under the testamentary injunction of Sir Charles Farnaby,
Bart., of Wickham and Kippington. Sir John Farnaby had
married the daughter and heiress of Sir Samuel Lenrard before
mentioned, and their daughter married General Sir William
Cator, K.G B., a veteran of the Peninsula, father of Sir John
Farnaby Lennard, first baronet of the new creation. The
second wife of this gentleman was the only daughter of Henry
Hallam, the historian, who lived in the same neighbourhood,
and whose portrait hangs at Wickham dairt with many other
interesting pictures, including one of Sir Walter Raleigh and
his son by Zucchero. 'I he present baronet, who is lord of the
manor of West Wickham, and of Baston and Keston, derives
his name of Henry Arthur Hallam Farnaby Lennard from the
descents which have been recited above.

His house is a truly excellent example of the middle period
of English doTestic architecture, and the quaintness of its ivy-

garden, where Canterbury bells are predominant, the hardy
flowers, backed by the yew hedges, make delightful colour
pictures from early spring until the latter days of windy
autumn. The turf is excellent, and the trees are of great
magnificence. The long occupation of the place by descendants
of the builder has given it many possessors who have valued
it and have delighted to adorn it. A fine old garden figure, a
recumbent " nymph of the grot" with her water urn, remains
to indicate what were the adornments of the garden in an
earlier time.

It Will be seen that Wickham Court, though it lies within a
few miles of St. Paul's, still retains, and we may hope long will
continue to do so, all the excellent features of an old country
mansion, dignified by its antiquity, and valued and adorned in
existing t mes. Hereabout the luxuriant woods, the breezy com-
mons, and the rich pastures, all present the character of country
life, and it is a thing not to be under-valued that such an ancient
house as Wickham Court should, from Tudor times to tnese
days, have been preserved so near to the fringe of London town.

I Iti'i J

EASTON . . .

GRANTHAM, , .

THE SEAT

or

THAT might be said of Lincolnshire vvliich Csesar said
of ancient Gaul, "Est omnis divisa in partes tres."
There is the division of Holland, consisting almost
entirely of fertile fenland, with few grain crops, but
possessing a wealth of magnificent churches thickiy
dotted through the land. There is also the large and varied
division of Lindsey, with its fen, its wolds, and its sandy
coasts and dunes. On the whole, the division of Kesteven, in
which the subject of this article lies, is the prettiest and most
attractive part of this broad- acred shire. Here we have the
wooded, undulating scenery which is characteristic of middle
England, with a marked feature in the " Cliff" range, which
presents a curiously steep western declivity between Ancaster
and Lincoln. Grantham and Stamford have surroundings as
attractive as most towns in England, and Stoke Rochford,
which is the close neighbour of Easton Hall, is a village of
sweet rural characteristics, while the grand churches of
Grantham, Heckington, and Sleaford add distinction to the
region.

It is not surprising to find that this part of Lincoln-
shire, and the portions of the neighbouring shires which adjoin
it, are rich in country seats, and Easton Hall, which lies near
to the Leicestershire and Rutland borders, is, in fact, one of a

SIR HUGH A. H. CHOLMELHY, Bart

group of estates, which includes the parks of Belton, Syston,
Belvor, and Stolce Rochford. 1 he last-named of these is
illustrated and described in these pages.

Easton is a township in the parish of Stoke Rochford,
lying to the east of the Great North Road, and Sir Hugh
Cholmeley is the sole landowner. Anciently the place
belonged to the Tybtofts and the Scropes, to whom in the
course of time other owners succeeded, and in the year 1606 it
passed by sale to Sir Henry Cholmeley, Kt., descended from
the ancient Cheshire f.unily, who died in 1620.

Through the estate flows the gentle river Witham, coming
southward from Belton and Grantham, and tiie house of Sir
Henry stood upon the hill above, commanding a view of the
beautifully wooded valley. Times changed, and through the
changing taste cf generations the mansion has almost passed
away. Mr. Montague Cholmeley took down the west wing,
which was reputed to be the oldest part of the house, about a
century since, and in the year 1805 he was rebuilding it, as
well as the centre. Ihis gentleman was descended irom the
purchaser of the estate, and was High Sheriff of the county
in 1S05, being created a baronet in the following year. F.--r
some years he represented Grantham in Parliament, as did
his successo.' The present baronet is the younger and only

THE BRIDGE.

166

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

surviving son of Sir Montague Jolm Cholmeley, his motlier
liaving been Lady Georgiana, fifth daagliter of William, eigJTth
Duke of St. Albans.

The architectural features of Easton Hali, as it now stands
on the hill, belong to a much earlier form than that of the
building of 1805, but the bulk of tlie structure is much more
recent, and embodies all the best features of the domestic
Tudor style. There could, we are apt to think, be nothing
better. The large and lofty windows, v,'ith their many-storied
panes, the perforated cresting of the house, and its picturesque
gables and chimney.s, are, indeed, the features of a fme archi-
tectural conception, and in its spacious and dignified character
Easton Hall is very attractive and impressive. Within it is
extremely beautiful, and it has a very fine collection of
mediaeval arms and armour.

There is a good approach, and a characteristic gate-house,
with turrets and cupolas and an oriel windovi/ over its arch,
leading into the gravel forecourt, with the raised portions of the
gardens on the left and a fine ascent to the uppsr grounds.
On the more level land, near the house, there is space for fine
lawns, with an abundance of flowers, and the hedges are of
the best. The situation is, indeed, all that could be wished,
for the eminence is well wooded, and, by a somewhat steep
declivity, the land descends thence to the river Witham, with
a charming outlook beyond. The park- has much foliage, and

FROM TUB WITHAM.

is very fair to behold, though at Stoke Rochford Park, on the
other side of the Great North Road, the woodland attraction
may perhaps even be greater.

The problem that lay before the garden- malcer was com-
paratively simple at Easton, but in simple matters great
triumphs may be achieved. At the same time there were
dangers to be avoided. On the garden side of the house are
grand architectural conservatories, and on the terraces there is
much excellent tub and other gardening. The blue African
lily is a feature here, with many handsome evergreen bushes.
Pleasant regions are on the upper slopes, and the yew hedges
aie very fine. One admirable hedge of great length lines the
edges of the descent to the river, to which we may now turn.
There is and was abundance of wood upon the crest and slope,
and contrast in the gardenage is afforded by the numerous
grass terraces, which form an easy and downward way to a
broad lawn diversified with beautiful flower-beds near the
water.

it deserves to be noted that the plan of placing grass
terraces in this situation has a very excellent effect, though
some might have chosen to give greater variety to the descents.
The grass, however, is admirable, and if masonry terraces
had been adopted the arrangement would have had to be
entirely different. At least, it may be said that a long series
of architectural terraces on this great slope might have dwarfed

the house itself. These are
matters in which the nicest
discrimination requires to be
exercised. Otherwise there
may be great outlay, with
results not altogether
satisfactory.

The stairway by which
we go down is admirable, and
thegarden stonework through
out leaves nothing to be
desired. Sentinel yews mark
the way to where that beautiful
bridge spans the still water.
This, indeed, is a fine -achieve-
ment in stone, and the double
arching of its construction,
the stairways of ascent, the
perforated parapet, and the
globular terminals, make an
admirable picture reflected in
the placid mirror belovv. By
the water-side are walks in
w hich it is pleasant to linger
in the evenings of summer
when the shadows lengthen,
for gay and fragrant beds of
flowers are there, and beyond
is another ascent to an
avenue of trees. The river
is canalised, and its silver
surface brings a " little patch
of sky" into that enchanting
valley. The whole garden
area is surveyed from the
upper terrace by the house,
the broad reaches of the park
closing a delightful prospect.
It will be noticed that the
composition is symmetrical.
Through the midst of the
pleasaunce runs the long
pathway from the descent,
over the bridge, and between
the wall-like hedges to the
avenue beyond, and on either
hand are all the beauties that
can enrich a modern garden,
while picturesque garden-
houses are there, from which
new charms may be enjoyed.

EASTON HALL.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE RAISED WALK.

Indeed, it is a new region of beauty that lies beyond tlie river.
These dense and magnificent hedges, which would be hard to
excel, form an avenue of approach to a gateway, and are tlie
dividing feature of an enclosed tract of garden. The enclosure is
by walls and hedges, and the space is subdivided. Here are
fruit trees and useful parts of the garden, and the pleasant and
decorative form of the pleasaunce is truly admirable. Tire
garden-houses are simple, but quaint and attractive, and all
tb.e details are good.

It may be said of such a situation as this, that it possesses

tho.e elements which the Italian garden-maker loved. Here,
at least, is the varied ground of hill and hollow which gave him
the opportunity for his terraces and his flights of steps leading
from level to level. He would have accentuated by hedges or
baluslred walls some features which at Easton Hall are left
unadorned, but there is something of the distinction of national
character in the different manners in which the same essentials
are developed. This is as it should be. Mr. Sieveking, in
that fascinating volume "The Praise of Gardens," remarks
that much ridicule has been levelled at Italian pleasaunces for

THE LCNG TERRACE.

EASTON HALL.

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GARDENS OLD AND NF.IV.

THE HOUSE FhO.M THE RIVER.

being only a means of wallving up and down ttairs in tlie open
air, the suggestion being, one suppose-, that tlie Italians have
deliberately chosen to form their gardens on steep dechvities.
The choice is not always deliberate, but those are unfortunate
who have no well-accentuated slopes for their garJenage.
A witty writer, Mr. Sieveking tells us, replied to the critic,
that the Italian could find hut little pleasure in the melancholy
monotony ff an Engl sh park", and least of all in a large extent
of level lawn ; and that if you told him he was to contemplate
Nature dressed, he would probably answer that he saw in it
only Nature sinned. Now at Easton Hall Nature is certainly

THE UPPER TEklMCE.

not over-dressed ; neither is it shaved ; there is a happy
combination of effects such as we cannot but admire, and the
house and the garden are as one.

On the south side lies a lovely e.xpanse of turf, and there
also, as part of the architectural creation, lying between the
two bays of the structure, is the great conservatory. Then
the Temple Walk leads through a very pleasant region of the
garden, and the long terrace, with its hedges and slopes and
its fme ttatuary, forms another attractive feature. Particularly
worthy of note are fine flow er vases, elegantly sculptured and
adorned, which are upon the upper stairway, by the bridge,

and in other parts of the
grounds. They add interest
to the place, and, from the
same point of view, the noble
garden seat on the raised walk
may be mentioned But in
short wherever we go in such
a garden as this, lying so
advantageously in regard to
situation, designed with so
much skill, and kept in such
a state of perfection, we cannot
fail to discover muny charms
and mar.y beauties of the
garden world. It has been
said in these pages that the
character of the house should
be borne out in its surround-
ings, and v.e see that this is
eminently the case at Easton
Hall. The outlook from the
terrace over the valley has
nearly all the elements to be
sought in the best English
gardening — the varied slope,
the abundance cf flowers, the
water, the noble bridge, and
the many features of interest
beyon 1.

[ I7i 1

F

■^ E W people, having regard to the date and character of
the liouse, will be disposed to differ from old John
Aubrey in his opinion of the famous place of Longleat.
He said that it was the most august house in England.
We do not compare it with such places as Blenheim
or Chatsvvorth, but we look- upon it as probably the finest
example of that particular and charming style in which the
lighter features of the Renaissance were grafted upon the
sturdy old English character. Longleat is said to have been
designed by the famous John of Padua, whom some have
sought to identify with Sir John Thynne, the actual builder,
but there can be no certainty in regard to that, for, though
the accounts of the building are complete, no architect is
mentioned.

What were the special features of the earliest gardens at
Longleat we do not absolutely know, but there is record of
those which were laid out by the first Viscount Weymouth,
ancestor of the Marquess of Bath, who died in 1714. Kip, in
his "Britannia Illustrata," has left a bird's-eye view, showing,
with much clearness, what those gardens were. There were
groves, enclosures, long alleys with vistas, and the mounds
derived from the gardens of an earlier time. The " leaf," or
stream, from which the place is supposed to have derived its
name, had been widened out at intervals into fishponds, which
were all rigorously angular, and were bordered by chequered

flower-beds and geometiical patterns. From the door of the
house a long raised terrace, on a level with the highest step,
was carried forward to the entrance gates, and thus divided
the garden into two main portions.

The gardens of the first Lord Weymouth no longer exist
at Longleat. The third lord, who succeeded his father in
1751, appears to have found them fallen into some decay and
disorder. They were, moreover, out of fashion, for every-
where throughout England the school of Kent had gained
favour, and the hand of "Capability" Brown was busy.
Lord Weymouth called the latter in, and very soon the old
quaintness vanished, and, in place of the sequestered alley
and the trim parterre, an attempt was made to create what
was regarded as a natural garden. The hills and valleys of
that beautiful country were rich in woodland, but it would
appear that plantations were formed, and that the groups of
trees were shaped to the ideal of Brown. That garden designer
was rather famous for his treatment of water, and, though he
found many difficulties at Longleat, he was successful in
creating a lake, which was undoubtedly a valuable addition,
to cjntrast with the great masses of wood and the lofty
eminences in the extensive ranges of the park. His idea
was to produce the effect of a large river or serpentine lake
amid umbrageous surroundings.

An examination of our pictures will show- that, though the

GARDEN PLANNING.

172

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

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GARDENS OLD AND NHIV.

work of Brown
still remains,
much has been
done since his
time to alter the
character of the
grounds. The
water pavilion
and the umbra-
geous clumps of
trees are in liis
style, but near
the house are
things he would
scarcely have
approved There
is an excellent
pattern garden in
quaint beds edged
with box, full of
summer flowers;
there are yews
and other bushes
standing in
formal lines;
there is regular

plani-.ing in the garden, with excellent well-k'ept hedges.
Roses tl.jin'ish abundantly, and the arclied rose bower is
delightful. The special features, however, are few, and we
shall leave the pictures to tell the whole tale of the richness
and beauty of the Longleat gardens. Upon their face may
be noted the influence of the changing ideas which have
inspired the garden designer. The terrace on the east front
is noteworthy, but otherwise the architect has had little to do
with the gardens.

Longleat House, which is one of the greatest places in the
West, lies some four miles from Warminster in Wiltshire, and it
will give some idea of the extent of the magnificent domain if
'A-e say that the entrance is about two and a-half miles from the
mansion. Upon tlie site of the house stood anciently a priory
of black canons of St. Augustine, founded about the year 1270
by Sir John Vernon, of which the church was dedicated to

IHE VVAlEk

bt. Radegund,
a Queen of
France. The
c h u r c h ha d
several altars,
but the priory
was a small
establishment,
and in 1529,
having fallen
into decay, it
was dissolved,
and its revenues
transferred to
the abbey of
Cha r terhouse
Henton, twelve
m i 1 e s away,
which itself was
dissolved ten
years later, after
which the place
was sold by the
Crown to Sir
John Horsey.
This new pos-
sessor alienated it almost immediately to A".r. John Thynne
of Shropshire, after.vards knighted, a nephew of William
Thynne, who had published one of the earliest folios of
Chaucer.

Sir John Thynne thus became possessed of the old
mansion-house and offices of the pnory, with an orchard and
garden, covering perhaps 100 acres, but he bought neigh-
bouring land, and before 1550 had formed the greater part
of the estate. His wealth grew rapid'y, and he married
the only daughter of Sir Richard Gresham, the well-known
prince merchant of the time. He appears to have called in
his architect in 1568, and the building of Longleat went on
for many years, the expenditure being at the rate of about
,-/^i,ooo a year, which would have to be multiplied many times
to indicate its value in money of our time. Wiiile the work
was in progress, in 1^75, Queen Elizabeth visited him at

PAVILION.

FROM IHH NOKIH-HAST.

LONtjLMT.

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THE EAST WALK.

his house. He died in 1 5S0, leaving the larger portion of
the structure finished, and from the hall to the chapel court
inside, but no part of the west side was completed in his
lifetime. There is mention, howe\'er, of a garden, an orchard,
and a hopyard. His son, another Sir John, succeeded, and
added the oak screen and wainscot. Sir James, the fourth
owner, employed Sir Christopher Wren to carry on the work,
and by that eminent architect the great staircase was designed.

The knight died childless in 1670, and the estate passed
to his nephew, known as "Tom of Ten Thousand," because
of the presumed value of his estate. The nev/ owner laid out
the road to Frome, carried on extensive work in plantation,
and finished the dining-room of the house. He was a personal
friend of the Duke of Monmouth, who was at Longleat in
1680. A strange fate befel Mr. Thynne. Having married the
richest heiress in the country, the youthful widow of Lord
Ogle, he encountered ,he envy and jealousy of Count Konigs-
mark, who, with
the aid of three
confederates,
broughtabouthis
assassination
The four villains
were had up, and
the three agents
were executed ,
while the arch-
villa i n was
liberated, to be
killed four years
later at the
siege of Argos,
while the lady
married Charles
Seymour,
seventh Duke of
Somerset.

When Mr.
T h y n n e was
dead his second
cousin, Thomas
'I h y n n e of
Kempsford,

SOUTH WALK IN THE WLsTER GARDEN.

succeeded him, and was created Baron Thynne and Viscount
Weymouth. This was the nobleman who laid out the gardens,
as has been mentioned, and in his time his house became the
refuge for many years of the deprived Bishop Ken. The third
Viscovnt did much to the estate, and he it was who remodelled
the grounds He was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1765, and
in 1789, in which year he received the King, Queen, and
Princesses in great state, he was created Marquess of Bath,

The first Marquess of Bath died in 1795, and was
succeeded by a nobleman widely known for his charitable
disposition and puhlic spirit. The second Marquess, about the
year 1808, employed Wyatt — afterwards Sir Jeffrey Wyait-
ville— to make some alterations in the house, and he worked
upon the grand staircase and galleries. Many hands have
indeed been employed upon the structure of Longleat. It is
preserved in admirable state, and, as the pictures will show,
the grounds and gardens are full of charm. The orangery is

one of the

notable features,
and there is
great beauty in
the arboretum.
There are spots
of surpassing
beauty in the
park', and from
''Heaven's
Gate" the out-
look is superb.
The scenery is
varied and beau-
tiful in its rich
landscape
character, and
in its green
expanses, sweil-
i n g heights
embosomed in
foliage, its valley
and its lake, it
is scarcely
surpassed any-
where.

LONGLEAT.

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[ 178 ]

D

RAKELOWE HALL, the
home of Sir Robert
Gresley, is one of those
seats of ancient eminence which win the regard of all English-
men, for, if not here, at least hereabout, have dwelt the family
of the present possessor from almost the earliest times of
our Norman history. The hall stands in the rich meadow and
woodland country \\ hich borders the River Trent, some three
miles from Burton. A broad bend of the river fringes the
park, and opposite lies Staffordshire and the ancient way of the
Icknield Street passing on from Derby to Lichfield. Gresley,
some five miles from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and about four miles
from Drakelowe, a busy centre of industrv in these times, is
the place from which the Dral';elowe family took their name,
and some part still stands of the conventual church of

Gresley Priory, for Austin Canon, which William de Gresley
founded in the time of Henry \. In that church is a monument
of Sir Thomas Gresley, 1699, which gives the very elaborate
heraldry of his progenitors. It was already a long line indeed.
Ralph de Toeni, the standard-bearer of the Conqueror, who
bore the banner on the field of Has'ings, is said by the
chroniclers to have been descended in the female line from
Malahulcius, uncle of Rollo, first Duke of Normandy. This
Ralph was a man of fame in his day. Ordericus says of him
that he gained great glory in the wars, and was reckoned
among the first of the Norman nobles for honours, wealth,
and long service. One of his descendants, named Nigel, held
Dakelowe and other manors and lordships in Derbyshire and
Staffordshire, and was the ancestor of the Gresleys. It was
NigeTs son Will am who founded the Augustinian priory at

THE NEW TERRACNG AT DR KELOWE HALL.

DRAKELOl'VF. HALL.

It?

CREEPERS AND CLiMBERS AT THE GARDEN GATE.

wo

GARDENS OLD AND NEIP.

Gresley. The estate, it is curious to know, was held in capite
by tiie singular tenure of rendering periodically one bow
w ithout a string, one quiver of a material described as
" Tutesbir," and twelve arrows fledged and one unfledged.

Camden says that Gresley Castle, where the Gresleys
lived in those days, was a mere ruin in his time. To Willi im
de Gresley succeeded Robert, ancestor of the Gresleys,
summoned to Parliament as barons of the realm by Edward 11.
Seated at Drakelowe were in succession William, son of
Robert, Sir Geoffrey, Sir William, another Geoffrey, a Peter,
and still another Geoffrey. The eldest son of the latter was High
Sheriff of Staffordshire in the time of Edward III., but the present
family is descended from a younger son. Sir Nicholas, who
married the rich heiress of the Wasteneys. In direct succession
followed Sir Thomas
and two Sir Johns, all
of them men of note
in the shire, which
they represented in
Parliament in the reigns
of Henry IV. and his
successors, and the
grandson of the last-
named was Sir George
Gresley, created a
Knight of the Bath at
the Coronation of Anne
Eoleyn. Sir William
and Sir Thomas suc-
ceeded, of whom the
latter was at various
times High Sheriff, both
of Staffordshire and
Derbyshire.

The Gresleys were
very prominent in
coimty business, and
Sir George was one
of the committee to
arrange the details and
the collection of the
Commonwealth
monthly assessment in
1644. This prominent
country gentleman, of
whom Glover says that
he was distinguished for
learning, was the first
baronet of the family,
being raised to the
dignity on June 29th,
161 1, and his successor
in the title was Sir
Thomas Gresley, his
grandson, who died in
1699. It is from thi^
genileman that Sir
Robert Gresley is de-
scended, and he is the
eleventh baronet of
the line, being the only
son of the tenth baronet,
who died in 1868, when his successor was
Sir Robert married in 1893 Lady Frances,
the eighth Duke of Marlborough, and is a
and J. P. for his county.

Drakelowe is approached by a magnificent avenue of old
trees one mile in length. The judicious hand of the planter
has done much for the place, and the foliage is everywhere
rich and beauti'ul. The hall bears the aspect of Tudor or
Jacobean times, and its embattled walls, its twisted chimneys
and pinnacles, its noble oriels and bays, with their mullioned
windows and traceries, are e.xtremely beautiful. Ivy luxuriantly
clothes the walls, especially on the south front. The painted
dining-room in the house deserves to be mentioned. It was a
singular fancy that made men wish, while in their own houses,

AtOCER.N LE.AD WORK

but two years old.
eldest daughter of
Deputy-L ieutenant

to seem to be out of doors. Here, in a recess, we look out, as
it weie, through a garden archway, with a railing, to a lake and
mountains, while over-arching trees rise to th; ceiling, and on
the other hand the lake extends and moinitains r'se, while the
firei lace is like the mouth of some rugged cave, over which
a classic mask has been sculptured. The room is quite
characteristic, and, as a survival of an extinct taste, is
interesting.

The gardens at Drakelowe are equally rich and beautiful,
and the chief charm of the place. They are specially note-
worthy as being a pleasaunce which has lately undergone
partial transformation. Under the skilful direction of the
eminent garden architect, Mr. Inigo Thomas, the ground on the
west side of tlie house has been excavated, and instead of the

lame features of a
lawn and carriage drive
there are now fine
balustered terraces,
with double stairways,
leading down to the
water, on whose placid
surface the ancient
structure, with this ad-
mirable and appropriate
foreground character, is
reflected. One of our
pictures will show how
admirably successful is
the result. Turf walks
are a notable feature of
the garden. There is a
sense of enclosure by
bank's of trees and
hedges which is grati-
fying. The circle
garden is very fine, and
beautiful; yet its
elements are simple.
In the midst is a
circular stone -edged
basin, with a mermaid
in lead throwing
up water from a shell,
and a fringe of verdure
encircles the water.
There is then a circular
gravel path, and an
outer ring of turf,
broken up by flower-
beds, full of gay and
fragrant blooms
throughout the year.
Outside, again, is
another gravel path,
and then there are
hedges and glorious
masses of trees. The
flower - bearing vases
and characteristic seats
are part of an
admirable arrangement,
which is particularly
satisfying to the eye. The same arrangement is carried out
where a smaller stone basin occupies the centre of a
beautiful garden, from which four gra-s walks di\'erge. Here
the hedges and the turf, with the great masses of trees,
have a most admirable effect. It will be seen from our
illustrations that the new terraces, the broad turf walks,
straight gravel paths, and a magnificent environment of trees
are the features of the place. The long box garden is a
delightful resort, and has that characteristic sense of enclosure
which is essentijl in a good garden. The Drakelowe garden
is altogether charming and satisfactory, and it is pleasant
to add that it is kept in perfect condition, and throughout
the year is characterised by many successive beauties of the
season.

DRAKELOIVE HALL.

181

THE FOUR WAYS.

THE CIRCULAR GARDEN.

18a ]

BARROW COURT,

. . . . SOMERSET,

SOME five miles south-westward from the goodly city
of Bristol, in the pleasant land of Somerset, stands a
house of name and fame in tlie West Country, and a
place of very great note indeed. Barrow Court, the
residence of Mr. Gibbs, is a house of which the history
has been greatly chequered, and which lias been valued by
many who, through the inevitable passage of generations
or the slings and arrows of ungentle Fortune, have been
severed from it evermore. It has at length lighted upon good
and seemly days, wherein, brought to new honour by its
possessor, it stands as an exemplar of many excellent things,
and a triumph admirably conceived. When the work of
reconstruction began there remained the Jacobean doorway
of the old house, most of the walls, windows, old chimney-
pieces, stucco ceilings, and other features, one end of the
farmhouse part alone having been rebuilt, and the Georgian
drawing-room being replaced by a library and bedrooms over.
But there was scope for much thinking before the plan of
the construction could sliape itself fully. Then the gardens,
with their short terrace walk above the field below, their
shrubbery, and large kitchen garden, were to be restored in
beauty and to be invested with new and unfamiliar charms.
Visions of sunny courts, sequestered alleys, and fine classic

garden-houses seemed to be mapped in the survey. It was
a work which Mr. Gibbs placed before him when he took
possession of the place analogous to that achieved at Athel-
hampton in the neighbouring county of Dorset, at Great
Tangley Manor in Surrey, and at Old Place, Lindfield, Sussex
Mr. F. Inigo Thomas was the architect employed.

In ancient times this Somerset Barrow was in the hands
of the famous Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, possessor of
many manors, but, when it came again to the Crown, William
Rufus granted it to Robert Fitz-Harding, whose son married
a Gournay. Thus it received its distinctive appellation of
Barrow Gournay, though the high land to the westward,
where now Barrow Court stands, became known as Minchin
Barrow, sometimes called " Barwe." There a Gournay, or
a Fitz-Harding before him, founded a nunnery, dedicated to
St. Mary and St. Edward, and afterwards to the Holy Trinity.
The Gournays of Barrow Gurney died out in the time of
Edward I., their possessions passing to the Ap-Adams, and
from them by conveyance to the Berkeleys, to whom
succeeded the Comptons in the reign of Henry VIII.

It was, however, from the dissolution of the priory that
Barrow Court had its origin. The fallen house was granted
by Henry for the space of five years, at a rental, to one John

THE NORTH FRONT.

BAKKOW COURT.

1S3

fifc4ia2iiJiLJ;iiyt^iii^£^54*tiv':^«l*4'^^^il2"iJi^^ —

SIX MONTHS OF THE YRAR.

Drew of Bristol, who, says Leland, co.iverted the old building
into a goodl)- dwelling-house. In due course the place reverted
to the Crown, and was granted, w.th the manor of Minchin
Barrow and the rectory and advowson, to William Clarke, Esq.,
whose son Christopher sold it, late in Elizabeth's reign, to
Francis James, LL.D.

If the grey old stones of the mansion could speak they
would asseverate, as by their aspect they do, that in those
times they were mo-tly reared. The goodly house of Juhn
Drew had fallen into excellent hands, and upon the poor
remains of the old priory rose a noble Tudor and Jacobean

mansion. Later pos-cssors a.iJod otiier features, and thus the
venerable walls embody an unwritten history of men. The son
of Dr. Francis J imes sold the place in the time of Charles 1.
to Sir Francis Dodington, but Sir Francis sold it again to
William Gore, Esq., in 1659. After many changes it thus
came to the hands of those who set store upon their beautiful
possession, and who for generations continued to dwell therein,
leaving many of their monuments in the church close by. In
Collinson's "History of Somersetshire," published in 1791, is
a view of the house, dedicated to Mr. John and Mr. Edward
Gore, v;hich depicts it standing with its many gabled front.

THE KITCHEN GARDEM ENTRANCE.

184

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

closely adja-
cent to the
church, in the
m i d s t 0 f a
spacious paiic,
with belts of
majestic trees
on either hand,
and ornamental
groups stand-
i n g by the
water-side.

The Gore:.
of B a r r 0 w
Court passed
away also, and
the misfortune
of neglect crept
over the perfec-
tions of their
house. Some-
what sad was

the state into which it had fallen when Mr. Gibbs began
the work of regeneration, and now we may see by the
pictures what it has become in his hands. Let it be noted
first that its neiglibour is the church, and tliat misfortune
had overtaken the church as well as the hoLi<e. Up to
1659 it retained some of its conventual features, but in 1823
the fabric was enlarged in very poor style. Mr. Gibbs
restored it, and well was the work accomplished.

The house also grew into new beauty without great struc-
tural change, and the Jacobean entrance and many gables still
face the park as in the days of the Gores. It is a fine and
imposing facade with a grand play of light and shade upon its
surface, and the grouping with the structure of the church is
e.xtremely beautiful. From whichever side we survey the place

THE TERRACE

it presents an
attractive pic-
ture indeed.
The character-
istic gables look
out over the
gardens, and at
the rear the
m u 1 1 i 0 n e d
windows and
oriel and the
long steep roofs
face the vener-
able tithe barn,
an embodiment
of quaintness,
and the only
relic of the old
farm buildings.
Our pic-
tures of the
gardens speak

in part for themselves. It is an architect's garden, as
will be discovered, and, p.ue those who would hold back
the architect to the barrier of tlie housewall, it is not
to be gainsaid that the effect is very fine. The long terrace
with the yew hedges and descents is most excellent, and
the architectural courts at either end, in simplicity and
appropriateness of character, would be hard to e.xcel. Then
how very delightful is the idea of figuring the months of the
year on a segment of a circle by busts lifted aloft on p ers.
The garden is a monitor of the passage of tim?. It bears on
its face the signs of changing seasons. From the slumbrous
winter earth rise the heads of the fragrant spring flowers; from
the stem, seeming dead, bursts the fruit-promising blossom ; all
reaches fruition, and all in its turn decays, yet with the presage

A GARDEN-HOUSE AND TEMPLE.

BARROW COURT.

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GARDENS OLD AND NElV.

THE SUNDIAL COURT.

of another spring. Hence have we the year circle and the dial
as the ever-appropriate adornments of our gardens. The green
couit of smooih-shaven tarf at Barrow Court, with tlie liigli-
pinnacled garcen-house, the twin curved flights of steps, and
the temple with the splendid vases, is a true poem in stone.
'I he garden architect has worked well, and with force and
character that are not t > he gainsaid. Look again at the court
of the sundial, with the lofty ball-crowned piers, flanking the
segmental stairway to the balustraded terrace walk, and an
ideal garden seat. Then, once mi re, how sweet and radiant
is the iris pond, a veritaMe world of water gardening, with the
picturesque dovecote beyond. The kitchen garden entrance
is as e.xcellent as the rest. " God gives the increase" is its

THE EAST COURT.

motto and adornment. All is good and beautiful — a place
where the green turf is the friendly neighbour of the radiant
flower-bed, and where tree and shrub are chosen for some
specific end and aim.

There are lessons in such a place, of course, which will
suggest themselves to the re der— tlie charm of enclosure, the
beauty of appropriatene.-s, the excellence of detail, and the
loving care of which the garden gives testimony. It is a garden
wherein design has ruled the ere ition and attained the success,
with a woodland neighbourhod for its framework. Such sur-
roundings are often found in the case of Somerset gardens, lor
the shire was a woodland region of old, and is still rich in its
greenwood. Lovely councry lies about Barrow Court. The

beauty of Brockley Lombe was
dear to Coleridge, who in one of
/lis wanderings through this
country wrote some delightful
lines which describe the charms
of the region well, and deserve
t;) be quoted :

" With iiiaiij- a pause and oft-reverted
eye
I climb the comb's ascent: sweet
songsters near
Warljle in shade llieir wild-wood
meio ly :
Far off the iinvarj'ing cuckoo
soo hes my ear :
I'p scour tlie startled stragglers ol
the flock
That on green plots or precipices
Ijrowse :
T'rom the deep fissures of the naked
roc k
The _vew tree bursts! Beneath its
(lark green bouglis
('Mid which the .Alay-thorn bU-nds
Its blossoms white).
Where broad smooJi stones jut out
in mossy seats,
I rest — aud now have ga'ned the
topmost site.
Ah ! what a luxury of landscape
meets
Mj" gaze ! Proud towers, and cots

more dear to uie,
Elui-shadowed fields, and pros-
pect-bounding sea :
Deep sighs my lonely heart: I drop

a tear ;
Entrancing spot! Oh, were \v,y
Snra herel "

[ 187 ]

N the search for beautifu
houses — the homes of
long- lineaged gentle-
men, and not less the fruits of the genius and taste of
later days — and of stately, radiant, and sweet-scented gardens,
the county of Lincoln is found to be richer than some might
suppose. They lie broadcast through the shire, and now
another is selected to grace these pages, which picture so
many places f.iir to behold. It is a very noble example of
domestic architect' ne and garden adornment. Tlie village (f
Stoke Rochford lies in a favoured situation in the valley of
the Witham, near to the Leicester and Rutland borders, and
in the vicinity of the Great North Road, a rustic place of
rural charm, with the beautiful park of Stoke Rochford Hall
on one side and the not less attractive domain of Easton
Hall, Sir Hugh Cholmeley's place, on the other. The latter
is also illustrated and described in these pages.

The village has its distinctive appellation from an ancient
family which came from Essex, the Rochfords, of whom the
earliest possessor seems to have become seized of one of the
manors early in the fifteenth century, and who conferred their
patron\'mic upon it. There were two churches at the place,

now combined, and within the
interesting edifice, which has a
Norman arcade with massive
piers and sculptured capitals, several memorials of that
family remain. Under the eastern arches, on both sides, are
Perpendicular tombs of certain of its members, the one on the
south being under a canopy. The brass of Henry Rochford
is a very good example of monumental art.

There is also in the church a large monument to Sir
Edmund Tumor, who died in 1707, and whose family have
long been resident at this charming place. Christopher
Turnor, of Milton Erneys in Bedfordshire, had for his eldest
son Sir Christopher Turnor, a well-known Royalist judge and
one of the Barons of the Exchequer in the Civil War, and
Sir Edmund Turnor, knighted in 1663, the possess';r of Stoke
Rochford, was the latter 's brother.

The ancient house in which the Rochfords had dwelt has
long since perished, and Bi.~hop Sanderson (1661) said that
part of the gate-house thereof had been lately standing, while
near by, taken out of the ruins of the other part, might be
seen a large escutcheon with the Rochfords' arms and
crest. At a little distance to the westward, from the side of

THE lERRACB GARDEN O.N AN AUTUMN MORNING.

188

G^.RDENS OLD AND NEIV.

the hill, win-
ning the ad-
miration of
the divine,
flowed a
goodly spring
of clear water,
then used for
the turning of
an ancient
mill.

The seve:-.-
teenth cen-
tury, notwi:h-
standing that
it was a ti 1 e
of civil war,
was a pros-
perous age,
and out of
its prosperity
flowed a wave
of archi-
tectural fer-
vour, which
covered the
1 a n d w i t hi
noble domes-
tic structures.

It was in 1665 that Sir Edmund Tumor set about erecting a
new house v.irere tlie old one at Stoke R;chford had stood,
and in the next year two wings were added, which brought
the building into the form of a letter H. The good knight also
fitted up the old chapel "in a very elegant style." Stables
were built in 1676, and were so contrived as to form the
west end of the garden. We can realise what such a house
would be. There would remain in its structure those evidences
of the taste of a former time, which lasted with vigi.ur into the
seventeenth century, and linked with them would be something
of a classic aspect, giving the special character that seems to

THE SOUTH END.

have belonged
to the age in
which it was
built. There
were formal
gardens, laid
out by the
skill and care
of the old
gardener,
with the tall,
well - clipped
hedges which
enclosed the
parterres, and
terraces to
adorn the
slope of the
hill. These
gardens re-
mained until
com para-
tively recent
times in some
form, and
have very
noble and
stately suc-
c e s s 0 r s ,
formed in accordance with the character of the land. On the
wooded slope of the opposite hill was a summer-house,
"which corresponded with the centre of the stables," while
the declivities on both sides afforded ample scope for an arrange-
ment, " in the Dutch taste," of terraces and flights of steps,
which then were general in gardens of importance.

The successive members of the house of Turner who
possessed Stoke Rochford doubtless adorned it, each to his
taste, under the changing influences of the times ; and still
there are visible evidences of love for the old gardening in
those fine hedges and conventional arrangements of the terrace

THE SUNK CkOQUET LAWN.

STOKE '^OCHFORD.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

garden. The form may have changed to some extent, but
the spirit remains, and the style is wliolly appropriate in its
terraced symmetry and simple grace.

Mr. Edmund Turner of Stoke Rochford, who died in 1829,
was a well-known antiquary, and author of" Collections for the
History of the Town and Soke of Grantham," which is an
interesting survey of the antiquities and annals of many
interesting places, and contains "authentic memorials" of
Sir Isaac Newton, the great astronomer, who was born at
Woolslhorpe close by.

The existing house of Stoke Rochford is modern, and a
very noble example of the best Jacobean style, with some
elements of an earlier character. The older manor house
stood somewhat nearer the bridge over the ornamental water.
The character of the hall is seen well in the pictures, and is
unquestionably imposing and picturesque, with a good deal of
richness and gaiety in its composition. The noble conservatory
built by the architect as a part of the structure, and therefore
perfectly harmonious, w'.ll be observed at the south end. It is

The house is surrounded by a beautiful park, rich in its
variety of surface, and distinguished by the presence ot fine
patrician trees, some thorns being especially noteworthy. A
spring rises near the bridge, and forms a sparkling cascade,
issuing from the limestone, and herons may often be seen
haunting the borders of the brook, and seeking food for
their young. The situation lent itself to the hand of
the gardener, for there were level expanses for his regular
ornamental efforts, and the slope gave scope for excellent
terracing. The pattern gardening, with box edging, is
very good. The grass descents, by which many pleasant
garden resorts are reached, give character to the place, and
the foliage is very beautiful wherever we look.

Note how the sunk croquet ground is embowered by
imposing masses of dark green, and you will see how the true
character of the old enclosure by tall yew hedges, extremely
fine and as good as may be found in most places, is retained.
The effect is most admirable in this typical example of good
gardenage. There is colour, both rich and varied, and strong

bTATUE IN SHADOW.

crested by ornamental stonewoik ai^d characteristic urns, and
its roof is thus concealed. There have been many arguments
as to the merits of architectural conservatories. They may
not always gratify every aspiration of the flower-grower,
but there are situations in which th.y aie wholly .successful,
and Sttke Rochford seems to be one of them. None, at
least, can gainsay the high architectural merits of the
con^ervat ries there.

The enclosed forecourt on the west front is true to the
spirit of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and in
the lofty gables and bold chimney stacks there is much
that is attractive, while a bold play of light and shade
has been obtained by a skilful grouping of the structural
masses. The character of the house is, indeed, both animated
and stately. The forecourt is enclosed by a most beautiful
clairvoy^e, and the entrance gate is an admirable piece of
work, while the enriched flanking piers, crested by splendid
sculptured urns, are in excellent character. Better garden
architecture could scarcely be.

character imparted in a most successful way. These glorious
dark hedges and superb belts of trees offer a pleasing contrast
to the sunny outlook over the green lawns ; but, indeed, the
whole place is rich in its variety of attraction. The sculpture,
which is never intrusive, fills a right place in this well-
arranged pleasaunce, and the carved urns and vases are
particularly noteworthy. They are of the finest art character,
with the elegance of old Greece, and are in more delicate style
than is commonly found in garden sculpture. In this matter,
as in many others. Stoke Rochford may serve as an example.
No garden that is not puiely natural can ever dispense
with distinctive features, be the}' of a topiary character,
or sundials or temples. Long usage has sanctioned the
introduction of the urn, w h ch is endeared in memory
by associations of literature and emotion, and the artistic
SLiccesses attained in its adornment — as is exemplified at
Stoke Rochford — are proof enough that the practice is
sound. Here are distinctions found in very many good
gardens.

[ 101 J

4-»ik'.wwiw...Bw»>'"V'j;T^:

e^

. . HALL,

surroLU, . .

I S HENTWELL ^^.]tep..|^ § the: residence:

;;# . . . HALL, |ili:M|ll-

'Ku-- RBcKKt.

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I MR. H. TURTON NORTON.

TPTY^'Mli'llHt""^' ' »i''*^*>^

SMsii:iiifOSS3

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i;liiii<l!| V'l

KENTWELL HALL, at Long Melford, in Suffolk, is
just such a house as we should expect to find in
the level land of East Anglia, There are many such
antique mansions of red brick, with mullioned
windows, buttresses, turrets, and cupolas, in that
region, much enriched in their character, and fine types of
the old Englisli dwelling-place. Some are illustrated in
t'"ese pages. Kentwell Hall retains far more of its original
character than most other Tudor houses, and it has been little
altered since it was built, though in 1826 a fire occurred in
which the dining-room was burnt, and devastation extended
through to the garden side. Originally it was one of those
places made defensive by art, though built at a time when the
need of defence had mostly gone, and its moat remains complete
and perfect, access to the house being gained at two points by
quaint brick bridges. The approach is through a notable lime
avenue, planted by Mr. Thomas Robinson in the )ear 1678,
all the trees in which appear to have been pollarded, and no
stranger who comes to Kentwell on a summer's day, when
the long avenue, now forming a natural arch of foliage, is
flecked with light and shade, can withhold admiration when he
emerges to discover the manifold beauties of Kentwell Hall.

For our immediate purpose, looking for the garden
attractions of the place, perhaps the chief interest lies in the
moat, the fine tree-, and the level lawns. The presence of
water is always an attraction, and when it is found in an
ancient moat it appeals to the imagination as well as to the
aesthetic sense, while it recalls the day when the warder would
hold parley wi'h the stranger across the water-ditch. Its placid
surface has a singular value in its immediate neighbourhood to
the house and the garden, for it imports a patch of sky, as it
were, into the foreground, and reflects the picturesque gables
and the fine trees and garden things that grow thereby. A
moat might doubtless be treated in many ways. It might be
margined by a terrace ; or it might be bordered by flowery
meads; or, again, as at Kentwell, its edges might be grass
slopes and picturesque walls of buttressed brick. This Suffolk
moat favours the growth of water-loving plants and trees, and
the walls that flank it are delicious in hue and character. The
lichens cleave to them, giving them patches of cool and glowing
colour, and ivy and climbing plants look over them. Th:;
bridges are simple, but beautiful, with their quaint arches
doubled by the silver surface. Valuable, therefore, in the
garden is the ancient moat Within it lies a well-kept space of

THE SOUTH-VVESl AbPHCl.

192

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

floral beauty,
and beyond it
are level lawns
and radiant beds
of flowers. The
trees also, with-
out being of
great size, are
beautiful in form
and disposition.
Ivy has taken
kindly to the
structure itself,
perhaps even
with too tena-
cious a grasp.
But the pictures
are a sufficient
recognition o f
the fine garden
character that
springs from the
features alluded
to — the ancient
moat, the sylvan
beauty, and the
place.

We may now turn to the history of this stately Suffolk
abode. The Saxon thane who had been in possession belore
the Conquest gave place to the followers of William, and Sir
William de Valence, who doubtless belonged to the family of
the great Earls of Pembroke, owned it. He was killed in
France in 1296, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Other
possessors followed, and at length, by the marriage of Dame
Catherine Mylde with Sir Thomas Clopton, Kentwell came to
a family whose members held it long, and to whom the erection
of the present house is due. The Cloptons had been settled
in Suffolk long before they acquired Kentuell, and their
memorials may be seen in many churches thereabout.

It would appear that during the troublous times of the
Wars of the Roses, the family residence was at a place called

THE EAST FRONT

level lawns that are spread about the

the Pond Wood,
lying about
three-quarters of
a mile from the
present edifice.
At a later date
a dwelling-house
was built upon
the present site,
of which some
part appears to
remain in the
existing edifice,
which dates from
the middle of the
sixteenth cen-
tury . It is
referred to in a
\\ill, dated 1560,
by Dame Eliza-
beth Clopton, as
' ' my new man-
sion house of
Kentwell Hall."
The descendants
of Sir Thomas Clopton continued to live at Kentwell until
the death of Sir William of that name, who, by his wife Anne,
daughter of Sir Thomas Barnardiston, left a daughter and
heiress, Anne, who married the famous Sir Simonds D'Evves,
the antiquary, whose autobiography gives such a striking
picture of his times. The heiress was at that time of the
mature age of fourteen, and the marriage took place at
Blackfriars Church in October, 1626, in which year D'Ewes
was knighted. He always maintained a romantic affection for
his wife, and his later years appear to have been lonely. He
threw in his lot witli the Parliame t in the Civil War, and died
at his father's house, Stow Langtoft Hall, Suffolk, in 1650.
Sir Simonds appears to have made little use of Kentwell, and it
passed v/ith his only surviving child, Cecilia, to Sir Thomas
Darcy, Bart., who married her. Subsequently it was sold to
Sir John Robinson, Prothonotary of the Common Pleas in the

THE WEST END OF THE MOAT.

KENTIVHI.L HALL.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEJV.

THE SOUTH WALL OF THE MOAT.

time of Charles 11. Earlv in the eighteenth century it was
again sold, to John Moor, Esq. and afterwards to Robert Hart
Logan, Esq., High Sheriff of the County in 1828, and M.P.
for the Western Division. About the year 1838 the estate
passed once more by sale to the family of Starlcie Bence, and
it is now the property of E. Starkie Bence, Esq., J. P., D.L.

Since its erection, more than three centuries ago, Time,
far from detracting from its beauties, has only added thereto,
by imparting to it the present lovely and mellow tones and
shades of colour, and rendering more venerable the fine trees
about it. The general features are well preserved. The plan
is that of the letter E, which was usual at the time, the great
hall being in the centre, and one of the two wings being devoted
to the offices. There is tine painted glass in the library,
including the arms of the Cloptons, Howards, Waldegraves,
De Veres, Tendrings, Myldes, and otlier families which
have been con-
nected with the
house. Ex-
ternally the
mansion is
almost in as fine
a condition as
when it was
built, and the
frontage presents
the peculiarities
and beauties of
the Elizabethan
style. A descrip-
tion of the place
in 1676 is of
interest. It de-
scribes Kentwell
as '-' a very fair
brick house,
with i; w e 1 V e
wainscot rooms,
the park stored
with above 150
deer, a double

dove-house, tlsh-p;)uds, and other conveniences, besides timber
in the ground and woods considerable." The old timber and
" bricknogged '' brew-house and offices, the bases of which are
washed by the moat, are as picturesque as well could be.

Kentwell Hall is in every way a place well worthy of
being enshrined in the affections of East Anglians. It is a
style that has been perpetuated in many modern buildings,
and which has the merits of dignity in character and of beauty
in detail. Places so constructed should naturally have about
them fine and spacious gardens. There is in their
neighbourhood ample scope and opportunity for gardening
in many styles. In the old times, doubtless, there would
have been walled or well - hedged enclosures, with

pleached alleys and bowling
Kentwell will malce it clear
triven to the surroundings of

GABLES AND TURRETS.

greens ; but the pictures of
that another form may be
such houses, and certainly
the house rises
charmingly from
its foreground of
well-kept grass,
moat, and ivied
garden walls,
and groups ad-
mirably with the
beautiful trees
that are its
neighbours. An
abundance of
flowers adds the
final charm, and
it is not sur-
prising that
those who live
there have come
to love the old
place, the very
brickwork, and
the weeds and
lichens which
have clung
to it.

[ 137 1

M

;OYNS PARK is a fine house of true East Anglian
character, lying adjacent to the little town of
Steeple Bumstead, sometimes known as Bumstead
ad Turrim, and so named from an ancient tower
which once stood in that northern part of the
county of Essex, not far from the borders of Cambridge and
Suffolk. The house belongs to a large class of mansions
distinguishing that region, which, as most people know, has
added no little to the charms of our domestic architecture.
It is a superb creation, fashioned in the familiar brick of that
part of England, with sweet and graceful gardens about it, and
it stands high among the architectural gems even of a count}/
which possesses, in Layer Marney Tower, an example of old
brickwork that has no superior in the land, Moyns Park is a
brother house to such places as Kentwell and Melford, in Essex,
and to Helmingham, and a dozen more like houses in the
neighbouring shires. The East Anglians were manifestly men
of substance and discernment in the period in which English
houses were being built in large numbers, during that new
burst of prosperity which marked the Tudor times. Hence it
is that to Essex, Suffolk, Cambridge, and Norfolk we look for
some of the finest examples of old English architecture in that
style, which, although it well accords with stone construction,
was perhaps best expressed in brick.

The estate of Moyns tal<es its somewhat curious name
from a family which anciently possessed it. Shortly after the
Conquest, men of the name of Le Moyne, or Le Moign, " the
Monk," were settled there, their name sometimes being written
Mohun. A certain Robert FitzGilbert le Moign, who possessed
the estate in the time of Edward II., seems to have been
descended from the original tenant of the Domesday survey,
and his family had estates in other places in the vicinity. In
the reign of Henry Vll., by the marriage of Joan le Moyn to
William Gent, the estate passed to the family of the latter.
The Gents had been settled at Birdbrook and other places in
the neighbourhood, and had had an estate at Wimbish as early
as 1328.

The new possessors became people of considc^ration there-
about, and Thomas Gent, who was a person of note, learned
in the law, and described as the ornament of his family, was
the builder of the noble west front of Muyns Park. He was
educated at Cambridge, and entered at the Middle Temple,
being called to the Bar, and he acted as Lent Reader there in
1 571 and 1574. He held the lucrative office of steward of all
the courts of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford. He entered
Parliament in 1571 as Member for Maiden, became a sergeant-
at-Iaw in 1584, and was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer in
1580, in which year he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, who

THE SOUTH GARDEN.

198

GARDENS OLD AND NFAV.

THE PERGOLA AND GRASS WALK.

{MOYNS PARK.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

held Sir Thomas
Gent in hi^h
esteem for his
learning and
virtues, and, as
a special mark
of her favour,
granted him a
licence to be
Judge of Assize
in his 0 \v n
county. He is
celebrated by
Thomas Newton
in It i s ''En-
comia " for his
religion, virtue,
piety, modesty,
and truth. The
knight married
an heiress in the
person of the
daughter of Sir
Joiin Swallow of
Hocking, and had
seven sons and

six daughters. The name of Baron Gent deserves to be
remembered in East Angiia as the builder of the main frontage
of Moyns Park. Behind it remain portions of the older house,
and the dairy is said to be of the fourteenth century. The place
was moated, like most other great houses on the level ground,
as a measure of pio'ection, and one portion of the moat still
remains, spanned by a modern bridge. The west front,
which is the finest architectural feature, is symmetrical.
There are four gables, the inner ones being smaller and
stilted, and in each inter-space is a magnificent semi-hexagonal
bay. That in the centre forms a porch, and has the arms
over the door, while above is a noble window. Each window
in these splendid bays has eighteen lights, formed by finely
moulded mullions and transoms, and all the other windows are

THE BOWLING GREHN.

of the same
character. The
chimneys rise in
very bold stacks,
and add much
to the dis-
tinction of
the outline. The
older features
behind have a
pictuiesqueness
that is quite their
ow;i, and it is
delightful, from
the west front,
to traverse the
south walk along
the grass beneath
the pergola, and
to pass back-
wards as it were
from Elizabethan
times to still
earlier days.
The w h 0 le
appearance of
the place is most picturesque from every point of view, and
the varied colour assumed by the old brick adds a great
deal to the charm of the pictures it presents. Ivy loves
to vest such structures, and it is needful to be watchful lest it
cling too closely. The growth at Moyns Park, where the
vigorous climber shows a tendency to become rampant, is at
least 3ft. thick on the walls. It completely vests the great
gate-posts topped by the eag es, and conceals their architectural
character. The extent to which ivy should be allowed to grow
must, of course, rest with those who possess the places to
which it clings. Its further growth is checked at Moyns Park,
but it might be pleasant to discover the architectural merits of
those tall gate-posts. Within, the house is spacious and dignified,
and is well plenished and adorned in accordance with its style.

LUPINES AND POPilLS.

CMOYNS PARK.

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QUAINTLY-CUT SHRUBS.

The son of tlr? builder of Moyns Park was Henry Gent,
High Slieriff of tlie County in 1632. He died in 1639, iiis
eldest son, Thomas, of Lincoln's Inn, having passed away in
the previous year, leaving an only daughter, Frances, heiress
to a considerable estate, which she conveyed to her husband,
Sir Edmund Alleyn, of Hatfield Peverell, in the same county.
Once more an heiress succeeded — Arabella Alleyn, who was
twice married. The estate of Moyns Park had, however, been
excepted from the female descent, and passed to George, the
second sen of Henry Gent, mentioned above, upon whom the
estate had been settled by his fatlier. Successive possessors
bore the name of George, and one of them died in 1748 at the
age of ninety-four. Upon the death of his son the place passed
to a collateral branch, and through various hands to those of

THE FISH-FOND.

the late Major-General Cecil Robert St. Jolin Ives, who at one
time commanded the Royal Horse Guards (Bkie), and died
in 1896, having mairied the daughter of Lord Talbot de
Malahide.

The gardens of Moyns Parl< do not demand extended
notice. Their character is simple and beautiful. There are
ample sp.ices of lawn, e.xcellent grass paths, and an admirable
long bowling green, flanked by a dense yew hedge kept in
rounded form. Some other quaint features, in the shape of yews
cut in table-like shape, are in the gardens, but generally speaking
there is an absence of formality. Roses grow rampantly upon
the garden walls, and there are long herba.'e >us borders fLill of
lupines, proud poppies and pasonies, and phloxes, and having
gay colonies of other flowers that fill them with raJiance.
From the pergola under the old gables
on thi south side the rose garden
may he en ered, and is full of colour
and fragrance. Th; ornamental trees
aie numerous and of fine character,
and there are evergreens which have
a we come effect in the winter-time.
The value of trees and bashes re-
taining their leaves when many have
fallen is everywhere recognised, and
tiiere should be n ■ ornamental garden
devoid of this beauty in the months
of winter. Moyns Park is well fur-
nished in this respect. In one place
is a fish-pond, with sloping grass
margins. It may be mentioned, too,
that from the gate-posts excellent
hedges extend to enclose the forecourt
of the house. The park covers
about 200 acres, and is well wooded
with a profusion of fine timber. The
ground is level, and does not, there-
fore, present many advantages ; but
excellent planting bears its fruit, and
the ancient place lies am'd very
pleasant surroundings.

[ 203 ]

■HEN the Duke of West-
minster came into his
own, he succeeded to
a p;oodly heritage indeed. His ance.-.tors were migiity men
in ancient days, strong in counsel as in war, and perhaps
above all things else great huntsmen, and official Nimrods
in their time; bearing now a name of famous meaning,
to which they have added many honours. For more than

THE GATtS OF THE KllCHEN GARDEN.

a hundred years the stables of their descendants have
sheltered many a winner on the turf, and the association of
the Grosvenors with the sports and occupations of outdoor
life in the field is appropriate to those in whose veins flows
the blood of the great Hugh Lupus. The late Duke did an
excellent thing when he commissioned Mr. G. F. Watts, R.A.,
to adorn the grounds of Eaton Hall with the fine equestrian
statue of that historic huntsman, which, in its might and

majesty, may well compare
even with the most famous
equestrian figures of the Italian
Renaissance.

Eaton Hall is a great and
imposing structure, possessing
the aspect of stately mag-
nificence. There is nothing
merely picturesque in the
groupmg or outline of the
structure. The place has had
a somewhat singular architec-
tural history. In the
eighteenth century there
stood upon the site an old
brick house of plain character,
wliich had been built by Sir
Thomas Grosvenor about the
reign of William 111. It con-
sisted of a central block, with
two advancing wings, and in
front of the house was a
forecourt, enclosed by raili igs
of iron, and with a fountain in
the midst for its adornmer.t.
Such a structure might content
the age in which it was bu it,
hut when the romantic spirit
passed through the land, and
men learned to look with
admiration upon the art of
their mediaeval forefathers, it
followed almost necessarily
that a new mansion should
replace the old. In the
year 1803, therefore. Earl
Grosvenor undertook the work
of rebuilding the h.ouse upon
the early foundations. A
ce.tain iV\r. Porden was his
architect, and it is declared
that this gentleman's object
was " to adapt the rich
variety of our ancient ecclesi-
astical architecture to modern
domestic convenience." The
methods employed were

204

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

undoubtedly singular. Details were drawn from York Minster
and from many other ecclesiastical edifices in tlie land. Ricli
tracery filled tlie windows, but it was of cast iron, and many
a storied pane cast its glow of colour upon the richly-carpeted
floor. The ingenuity and resource of Mr. Porden were extra-
ordinary, but he laboured undoubtedly under a difficulty in his
effort to breathe newlifeintotlie deadbones of the great medi^Eval
style. His efforts were higlVy appreci.ited, nevertheles-i, and
some were moved to rapture by the wonders they saw at
Eaton Hall. The structure had been bLiilt at a cost of about
i^i, 000,000, but the late Duke was naturally not contented
with all that had been done, hi his day Gothic architecture
was better understood than in the early years of tlie century,
and he therefore employed that eminent architect, Mr. Water-
house of Manchester, to revise, if t!ie term may be used, the
work of Mr. Porden, and to bring it into conformity with tlie
truer spirit of mediaeval art. It was this wjy that Eaton

and at once realise the spaciousness of its chara:ter. Here-
about the land is mostly level, but where the hand of culture
has worl-ced, beautifying what it touches with the richness of
foliage, in variety of charm, all sense of monotony disappears.
Indeed, at Eaton Hall, as at most other great places in England
which have remained in the good hands of possessors who have
treasured them, many lessons may be learned, and none mora
valuable than t lat of the supreme importance of foliage bold'y
used to impart the great masses which give dignity and repose
on the one liand, and the brighter aspects of sylvan chara.ter
on the other. Was'^.ington Irving was' used to remark that it
was the character of an English gentleinan to love his woods
and trees. To "build like Bathurst " and tj "plant lh-:e
Boyle" was indeed, long before his time, the honourable
ambition of the patrician Englishman, and how well that
ambition has been realised we may see at Eaton Hall.

Entering, the.i, by the Grosvenor Lodge, we pause a

THE SOUTH OR ITALIAN GARDEN.

Hall assumed the fine and imposing character which it now
possesses.

There have always been many visitors to delight in the
attractive scenes that abound in the neighbourhood, to survey
the beauties of the house and its gardens, and to learn the
interests of its stables. When Syntax journeyed that way — •
and how he did so may be seen in Rowlandson's illustrations —
it was his good fortune to meet, as many may now, with a
trusty guide, albeit in these days the guide may not be such
an important civic dignitary as he seemed to be in those. For
the guide of Syntax accosted him in this wise :

" In this faiii'd town I office bear;
Naj-, I'm of some importance here —
An alderman, perhaps a mayor;
And I shall find it, sir, a pride
Through ev'ry part to be your guide."

Those who approach Eaton Hall will generally do so by
the principal entrance from Chester. They could, indeed, do
no better than thus to reach the great domain by the Grosvenor
Lodge. They are brought to the threshold of a noble place,

moment to reflect that its picturesqueness arises from the fact
that it is a structure inspired by St. Augustine's Gateway at
Canterbury. Then for three miles there is an enchanting drive
through the park, diversified by many a belt of noble trees,
and affording to the visitor glorious prospects of the widespread
" Vale Royal of England." This approach brings him to tl'.e
grand entrance, which is a lofty vaulted portico on the
western side. It would be pleasant to survey the beauties
of art that are within. What deserves to be noticed is that
the greatest richness of handicraft prevails through jut the
structure. The masonry work, like the statuary in the garden,
and the wood-caiving and inlaying are exceedingly good. The
most capable artists have been engaged on the creation, and
the interior is a triumph of skill. Here is an art collection
which ranks among the best in the land. Here is a library
famous for its riches, and how gloriously those riches are
housed ! Here we have a multitude of choice and rare objects
brought from many lands.

We shall not be tempted, however, to enter the hall or
to survey its treasures. Our business is with the exterior

EATON HALL.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

attractions of the place, and we have already made acquaint-
ance with the glorious trees of ancient growth, the groups and
individual trees which are the attraction of the park, with the
younger plantations, skilfully disposed. Great and beautiful
are the gardens, as the illustrations will show. Their earlier
predecessors are known to have been of a quainter aspect,
with the well-known features of dense yew hedges and
clipped trees, and one old visitor when these had been swept
away remarked that an e.xcellent metamorphosis had been
wrought by the removal of leaden gods and goddesses, of lions,
peacocks, and temples, all shaped out of yew, and " all in rank
and file according to the military rules and regulations of the days
of Marlborough and his ro\'al mistress Anne." LancelotBrown —
the famous or notorious " Capability " — wrought the change.
He declined to accede to the wish of George II. that he should
" improve " the gardens at Hampton Court, "out of respect to
himself and his profession," but we have the assurance of
Chatham, in a letter to Lady Stunhope, that he was an esquire

ingly attractive. Here, as everywhere else at Eaton, the
sculpture is exceedingly good, for eminent hands have been
employed in adorning the grounds with suitable figures and
groups, which are not surpassed in England. The vases and
stonework are of the best, but we may regret the absence of
the leaden gods and goddesses whom Brown seems to have
removed. The glorious banks of foliage which enframe this
charming place complete a superbly attractive garden picture,
but it will be observed that the view is not restricted, and that
an opening is left in the belt of trees to admit a wide outlook
through the park.

Another remarkably beautiful garden is on the south side.
This is somewhat Italian in character, although it may be
remarked that the distinction between the national styles of
gardening is not very clearly drawn. The enclosing yew
hedges are as good as can anyv/here be found, and within the
chosen space the sculptor has exercised his skill. Here is the
Dragon Fountains with appropriateness in the figure, for those

THE BROAD WALK.

en titre d'office, shared the private hours of the King, dined
familiarly with the Duke of Northumberland, and sat down at
the tables of all the House of Lords.

" Bards yet unborn
Shall pnj- to Brown that tribute fitliest paid,
In strains the b;auty of his scenes inspire."

The effect of his skill in landscape gardening may be seen
in the grounds at Eaton Hall, but many other workers in the
same field more eminent than he have modified his work,
and given to the gardens the particular character they
possess.

The principal pleasaunce is on the east, overlooked by
the great fagade. There is here a superb outlook from the
upper terrace, and then by broad descents we go down to the
glorious parterre. It is a feast of colour in rich and rare
variety, and the contrasts afforded by the spaces of green turf,
and by the dark hue of yews and Portugal laurels, are exceed-

who have studied early mythology know that the fabulous
beast, after having inflicted upon man untold woe, by stealing
from him the fountains of water, and afflicting him with famine
and disease, became later the guardian and possessor of those
life-giving streams which, in the earlier mythologies, he had
stolen for his own.

The mention of the fine sculpture will have suggested to the
reader that there has been no stint in the embellishment d the
grounds with the best works that art could supply. This will
again be seen in the magnificent ironwork. The splendid
grille at the entrance to the avenue is a noble example of the
ironworker's skill ; and there are other rich and elaborate gates
also, splendid examples of the skill of the craftsmen in metals.
These add much to the attraction of the gardens ; but, indeed,
wherever we go something will be found to delight or charm in
the glorious gardens of Eaton Hall. The skill of Mr. Lutyens
was employed by the late Duke in further adornment.

BA-rON HALL

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

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t 209 ]

THE fine seat of the Marquess of Lothian near Dalkeith
stands on the site and embodies in itself the founda-
tions of the Cistercian Abbey cf Newbattie, or New-
bottle, founded in the year 1140 or 1141, according
variously to charters and chronicles, by King David 1.,
who also established Holyrood and many other ecclesiastical
centres in Scotland, The situation is such as the Cistercians
loved, and one that has favoured the efforts of the garden-
maker's hand. It was not for the Cistercians to settle in the
busy haunts of men ; they had chosen rather the seclusion of
the wood and the wild. While the Franciscans worked in the
town, and the Benedictines loved the hills, the followers of St.
Bernard of Clairvaux sought the valleys by the streams. At
Newbattie, the South Esk, escaped from the green hills of
Temple and the woody ravines of Dalhousie — ever to be
associated with the famous " Laird 0' Cockpen " — widens into
a valley, giving place to a long range of meadows or level
"haughs." Behind, to ihe north, are the remains of the
monastic village, where once dwelt the hinds and shepherds,
separated from the Abbey gardens by massive stone walls,
a-cribed to William the Lion. These ancient walls still form

the boundary of the park on that side. Beyond the stream
the bank rises somewhat abruptly, and is broken into ravines,
much wooded, which, upon investigation, are found to be the
remains of ancient coal-workings. The monks of Newbattie
were probably the first to develop the coal industry in Scotland,
but the method of winning the mineral in those times was more
like quarrying than the coal-mining of these days.

The Abbey was not placed in a position to command
extensive views. Sunk in the tiollow in the midst of the
woods, where ancient beeches and venerable sycamores
flourished, the situation calls to mind such seclusion as St.
Bernard had sought at Citeaux. It may be worth while here,
since the Cistercians accomplished a vast work in developing
the agriculture of this country, to recall the fact that Clairvaux
was the daughter house of Citeaux, and that from it sprang the
twin foundations of Fountains and Rievaulx. It was Ailred
of Rievaulx who went forth with a party of brethren to found
the first Cistercian Abbey in Scotland— the historic house of
Melrose — and from Melrose went out the brethren who
established themselves at Newbattie. Thus a perfect chain
hrinjis us from Citeaux to the bank's of the South Esk. The

THE SOUTH TERRACE.

210

G.^RDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE TERRACE BY THE RIVER.

situation of all the British Cistercian houses is similar — they
lie among the woods by the streams. The architectural
character of Newbattle is mostly unknown, though, in recent
^-imes, the foundations have been largely excavated.

The situation in the Midlothian vale is very beautiful
and the climate propitious to tlie things that grow, in th-:
Statistical Account of Scotland it is remarked that the air by
the river is exceedingly milJ, while at ihe Roman camp — on
the neighbouring Irll — it is very keen. The Abbey of New-
battle flourished until the Dissolution, when its revenues were
returned at ^£1,413 in money and divers payments in kind.
After the Dissolution it was held by Lord Mark Kerr, "the
richt vener-
able," W'llO
was commen- '
dator of the
Abbey, and
who con-
tinued
t h 1' 0 u g h 0 u t
his life to
take a promi-
nent part in
ihe civil ard
ecclesiastical
aff ai r s of
Scotland. A
fine head of
him, by Sir
Antonio More,
1 55 1, hangs
at Newbattle
Abbey. He
was s uc-
ceeded by his
son Mark-,
who, in 1587,
obtained from
James VI. a
patent erect-
ing the lands

m^^Mti^-..

THE EAST FRONT.

into a barony, and in 1606 was created Earl of Lothian. The
property has since remained in that family, from which the
Marquess of Lothian is descended.

The existing structure dates from about a century ago,
but has since been enlarged considerably. The older portion
of the mansion, much overgrown with ivy, lias notable
picturesqueness, and in the form of its windows and its
twisted gables and gablets it possesses a character that seems
to spring from the soil. It has been made more imposing by
the addition of modern castellated buildings, which are
commodious and attractive. Although outwardly the house is
modern, it occupies a portion of tlie site of the ancient

monastei y, o'l
... . which the

foundations
are partly
hidden, and
the old work
is still visible
in parts, and
here and there
a n t i q u e
mouldings
peep out.
I he interior
is extremely
interesti ng.
The pictures
are of great
note. There
areportraitsof
Henry Vlll.,
Margaret
Tudor, and
Sir Thomas
More by
Holbein. The
works of
Albert Diirer
in England
are few, but

^'HWti-^-nLF -/IBBkY.

211

N e vv b a 1 1 1 e
possesses a
Virgin and
Child. There
are examples of
Titian, Raphael,
and many more,
including
English artists
like Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and
portraits of
Hawkins,
D r a k' e , an d
Cavendisli are
adorned with
wreaths carved
by G r i n I i n g
Gibbons. The
books and
manuscripts are
of great value,
and some of the
latter belonged
to the old Abbey
of Newbattle.

We may now survey the enchanting scenes which are
found in the gardens and park by the course of the South Esk
River. For something like two miles does th:s beautiful
stream wind its way through the valley and park. The
woodland scenery is superb, and some of the trees are of
great antiquity. They are mostly oak, ash, elm, beech, and
plane, with various firs. Many are of remarkable size and
beauty, and the planes and elms are very majestic. The
greatest of the patricians is a mighty beech, said to be the
largest in Scotland. It is looft. high, w:th a vast spread of

IHB NuRIH SUNDIAL.

foliage, having a
circumference of
400ft, The great
tl e p e n d i n g
boughs have
rooted them-
selves in the
s(jil. There are
also huge
sycamores and
cypresses. The
plantations are
very extensive
and are well
k' e p t , being
regularly
t limned and
pruned. The
near approach of
these great
woods to the
house is one of
til e most en-
chanting
features of the
place. It brings
trie charms of the landscape, with great richness of character,
into close juxtaposition with the formal gardening, and the
effect is very beautiful.

The opportunities of the garden designer were certainly
very many in this lovely place. The green lawn in the valley
bordering the river, with the great woods fringing the banks,
was an ideal place for his work. The v/oods nearly meeting
in eitlier direction form the lawn into a kind of amphitheatre,
and the garden is the gem set in the glorious surroundings.
The arrangement is purely formal, but completely satisfactory.

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THE EAST SUNDIAL.

212

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

The enclosure is formed by an admirable yew hedge, dense
and close as a wall ; bat this boundary does not completely
surround the garden, which on one side is margined by the
river and the wood. Straight pathways divide the space into
formal parterres, and there are stone-fringed flower-beds as
attractive features. One part of the area is devoted to pattern
gardening, and affords a very beautiful example of that style
of work. The pictures will show in what admirable state the
gardens are kept, and will also illustrate how the friendly neigh-
bourhood of the woods makes pleasant this form of gardening.
Along one side of this pleasaunce the South Esk flows, and the
steep wooded bank beyond is superb in its sylvan beauty.

Near the stream, embayed in the yew hedge, stands a
magnificent sundial, and another is not far away. " What an
antique air," said Charles Lamb of the dials of the Temple,
"had the now almost effaced sundials, with their moral
inscriptions, seeming coevals with that time which they

Along the bank of the river, and between the house antl
the wood, runs the south terrace, which is one of the most
attractive regions of these enchanting gardens. Behind us are
the verdant and flower-gemmed places, and before us the
pellucid stream and the woodland haunt of the squirrel and the
murmuring wood-pigeon. Every variety of water plant appears
to be cultivated along the margin of the South Esk, and the
richness of the scene is extremely attractive. It is a
combination of garden, wood, and river not surpassed in many
places. Again, as a contrast on another side, are level la.\ns
as an attractive foreground to the enlarged structure, being the
place where, in ancient times, monastic buildings stood.

The splendid character of the Newbattle trees is found also
in those which form the great avenue in the approach from the
south, of which the length is over five hundred yards. They
are very majestic, and the whole character is one of much
magnificence. The great double gate-house, dating from the

THE MAIDEN Bi^IDGE.

neasured, and to take their revelations of its flight immediately
rom heaven, holding correspondence with the fountain of
light! How would the dark line steal imperceptibly on,
watched by the eye of childhood, eager to detect its movement,
never catched, nice as an evanescent cloud, or the first arrests
of sleep ! " Scotland is famous for its very picturesque and
attractive garden sundials, and excellent examples are at
Balcarres, Pitmedden, Woodhouselee, Duthie Parkin Aberdeen,
Stobhall in Perthshire, and other places, all offering a marked
cntrast in style to such English dials as we have at Wrest in
Bedfordshire, at Wilton, and at Kew. The Newbattle dials,
perhaps, surpass any others. They rise from octagonal bases,
resting upon flights of steps, and with grotesque creatures
supporting the upper parts, upon which are the several
gnomons, while a pinnacle crowns the whole. The effect is
rather font-like, but the dials are singularly beautiful and
quaint, and are very richly worked.

early part of the eighteenth century, is truly noble iri its
broad and simple character. Two great gate-posts, wiih
pilasters on every face, support magnificent urns, fluted, and
adorned with wreaths, and on either side of the posts are
short colonnades turning outwards, to unite the gateway with
the gate-houses, which are picturesque buildings of native
stone, with dressed angle-pieces. Each of these houses is
crested with a fine balustrade, crowned with pinnacles and
urns, and there are other architectural adornments well
befitting so noble a place, while the dense woods behind form
a fine background to the admirable architectural composition.

Among the great houses of Scotland, this beautiful seat of
the JVlarquess of Lothian holds a deservedly high place. It is
not stately like sjme, but it has attractions in its woodland
landscape that are not possessed by many. Its gardens,
too, are radiantly beautiful, and are a very fine example
of the gardener's art

f 213 1

the: residence:

or ....

WOODSIDE, .

RICRMANSWORTH, ADELINE:, DUCHESS OF BE:DF0RD

AN interesting garden is tliat at Woodside, Clienies, near

/\ Rickmanswortli, in Hertfordsliire, lying just beyond

/ — * the village, near the foot of a somewhat steep hill

■^ *- tliere, because it is so beautiful and quaint and yet

quite modern. An intense love for natiu'al beauty

has inspired the creation, and it will be seen that the work

has been conducted in a truly artistic spirit, and with fine

imaginative talent. This, indeed, we should have expected,

for the designs and "lay-out " were the work of Mr. Lutyens,

the eminent architect, who is so well versed in garden lore

and design.

The slope suggested the terraced character, and it is
notable that the garden embodies the character both of the
slope and the terrace, of the natural and the formal, the green
lawns leading downward being the framework for that delightful
descent. Turf, one of the most beautiful things to be found in
these latitudes, is not wanting. Descending, then, by sloping
paths and stairways between the lawns, and by a delightful
sundial, you reach the Pond Court, which is the central feature
of the garden most admirably conceived. You have passed,
as you approached it, by gay flower-beds and rich green yew
hedges, and find something verv quaint in the wooden pavemei t

and the stone edgings of the flower-beds in the court itself.
Above the pond, the pillars, which have a true Jacobean cast,
bear heavy beams, and upon them climbing roses have cast
their ten.'rils. Here is the characteristic of the old English
garden — its simplicity. The whole of the court is enframed
by yew hedges, and at its corners are delightful seats.

Nothing could surpass the special charm of the surroundings.
On one hand you pass by an opening in the hedge into a
beautiful rectangular enclosed garden, where other fine hedges
enframe rich flower-beds and green grass edgings, and at the
other end is a most tasteful seat, where it is pleasant to sit and
look at what has been left behind. Here, screened off, is a
retired and sheltered place, such as Chaucer might have loved,
and where many lovely blossoms flourish. The trees beyond
this garden are singularl}' beautiful, and lend richness to this
part of the grounds. Then, on the other side of the Pond Court
is th.e rock garden, where irises and other water-loving plants
find a congenial home. Here is a delightful contrast of character.
From the semi-formality of the enclosed garden courts, you have
passed, before reaching the foot of the slope, into a tract of the
garden where Nature is tempted to manifest, among rocky
surroundings, some special charms.

HER GRACE'S GARDEN.

214

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

From the
paths near the
house all the
beautiful things
which we have
described may
be surveyed.
Water pervades
the place, for
from the Pond
Court an J the
rock garden it is
but a few paces
to the river,
which flows at
the foot of the
slope, with an
old flour mill on
the left. Most
tempting are Uie
walks laid out
by the stream.
Here great firs,
sycamores,
and elms over-
shadow the
way, as well as
daffodils light up

THE SUNDIAL

many ornamental trees, while nodding
the grass and irises border the stream.
The water is crossed by a bridge which is very tasteful, and
beyond it is another region of delight in the rose garden, divided
into square spaces, ;ind neighboured by a delightful croquet
lawn. The details of the garden have been carefully thought
out, and no point of harmony or contrast has been overlooked.
The shrubs and trees in the upper part of the garden have a
most happy effect from below, and the vistas opened through
the grounds in ev.-ry direction, and particularly from the neigh-
bourhood of the Pond Court, are extremely delightful. TruK-,
before the gardener began his work', Nature had done very
much to prepare for the exercise of Lis skill. There was a
green slope, and there was a flowing river in two branches

at the foot, and
the whole of the
area was graced
by beau tifu 1
trees. There
was nothing ex-
ceptional in
these conditions.
They may be
f u Li n d almost
a n y w here in
sunny England;
but not every-
where has such
a sympathetic,
discerning, and
artistic hand
been found to
plan and work-
out such a crea-
tion. And yet it
is astonishing
how few and
simple, and how
easily obtain-
able are the main
essentials of a good garden, and strange therefore how rarely
these essentials are well employed. The garden of Adeline
Duchess of Bedford is a very successful example, and a very
suggestive one, as to how, where magnificence is not sought —
and vihere, indeed, it may not be desirable — the talent of a
skilled hand may produce what magnificence could not achieve.
In this garden all the work is particularly good, and the masonry
is everywhere as excellent as could be desired. Note, for
example, the character of the edgings to the flower-beds in the
Pond Court, and the wholly satisfactory character of the rose-
twined pillars and the panelled masonry. Then, again, it was
an admirable idea tiius to create in the Pond Court a centre
from which the various features of the garden might open out,
and the excellent result is conspicuous in our pictures.

LOOKING FROM THE COURT.

IVOODSIDE.

215

THE TERRACE.

QI6

GARDENS OLD AND NHIV.

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[ 217 ]

BARNCLUITH, ^"^ ^^^^

or

. . HAMILTON, LORD RUTHVCN

/^"•)v,.

THE romantic hillside Scottish garden of Lord Ruthven
lies in a glorious part of the Middle Ward of Lanark,
a region full of history, where the stern walls of
many a fortalice still rise on the mountain crest, or
frown on the brink of the chasm — ivy-mantli-d ruins,
dating from the days of Drumclog and Bothwell Brig, and long
before. Beautiful gardens they are, lying like a gem in a
great country of peat-stained burns, which linger in dark po Is
beneath umbrageous woodlands, and break then into yellow
torrents over rocky ledges in their haste to join the broader
waters of
Avon and
Clyde. A
luxu r ia nee
characterises
this district
which is not
found every-
where i n
Scotland, and
Nature has
dealt kindly
with the
legion. It is
true that the
higher hills
are often
waste, and
given up to
the swelling
moorland, biit
along the
river courses
the sylvan
scenery is of
the most
e nc hanting
beauty. It is
the country
described by
Scott in "Old
Mortality,"
and he speaks
of the grand
woodland
character of
the landscape
along t h e
Clyde valley,
where the
forest breaks
into level
ground and
gentle slopes
neartheriver,
forming cul-
tivated fields,
interspersed
wiih hcdge-

QUEEN MARY'S FOUNTAINS.

rows, tre s, and copses, "the enclosures seeming as it were to
have been cleared out of the forest which surrounds them, and
which occupies, in unbroken masses, the steeper declivities and
moredistant bank-s." From the peat on the moors the streams
take their colour, "a clear and sparkling brown, like the hue of the
cairngorm pebbles," and go rushing through this romantic region
in bold sweeps and curves, partly seen and partly concealed by
the trees which clothe their banks. Such is the romantic setting
of Lord Ruthven's remarkable terraced gardens, masterfully
formed upon the rocky steep above the Avon. The visitor

approaching
1 r 0 m G I a s -
gow to Hamil-
ton will pass
by Ruther-
glen and by
Bothwell
Castle, on the
lofty bank of
the Clyde,
one of the
most imposing
baronial ruins
in Scotland.
At Bothwell
Bridge was
fought, i n
1679, the
famous battle
between the
Royalist
troops under
M 0 n m 0 u t h
and the forces
of the revolted
Covenanters,
wherein the
Covenanters,
who had been
victorious at
Drumclog,
were alto-
gether over-
thrown. Very
graphically is
the fight
described
in "Old
Mortality."
Hamilton, a
cheerful and
prosperous
1 0 w n , was
once distin-
guished as a
Royal resi-
dence, and
after w a r d s
was the chief

218

GARDENS OLD AND NRV.

FROM THE THIRD TtRRACE, LOOKING SOUTH.

BA^NCIAJI-TH.

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220

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

burgh of the Duchy of Hamilton. Here is the stately palace
of the Duke, standing close to the town — the place where Mary
collected her adherents in 1598.

At this place the Avon, rising near the border of Ayr,
flows into the Clyde. It has passed in its lovely course through
the vale to which it has given its name, and has entered
Hamilton Parish at Millheugh Bridge, a little below which it
flows through a m -gnificent defile, bounded on each side by
majestic rocks of romantic aspect, rising 200ft. or 3aoft., and
richly clothed, in some cases almost to the summits, with stately
and venerable oaks. Nearly in the centre of the defile are the
remains of Cadzovv Castle, celebrated in Sir Walter Scott's
ballad, seated 0 i a rock' which ascends perpendicularly to a
height of 20oft.. above the bed of the stream, and on the
opposite bank is the banqueting-house of the Duke of Hamilton,
a charming creation, modelled upon the design of Chatelherault,
from the dukedom of that name v,diich his Grace holds in the
peerage of France. It is a region of natural loveliness, the tra-
ditions and characteristics of which appeal very powerfully to
the national sentiment of Scotland, and the course of the Clyde
and its tributary the Avon are both memorable in history.
The first of these is grand and spacious, the latter more
touched witli the beauties of wildness and remoteness.
In its romantic gorge are the house and the gardens of
Lord Ruthven, illustrated here-, rising in terraces on the
western bank of the river, which, after forcing its way
along th ' rocky channel below, flows through the fertile valley
and falls into the Clyde, as we have said, near Hamilton
Bridge. Very considerable antiquity is assigned to the quaint
old gardens in the D.,tch taste at Barncluith, and one authority
says that the\' were laid out in or about the year 1583. The
terraces formed on the rocky steep are of later date, and the
whole garden, in the course of generations, has undergone
many changes. The fall of the ground being natural gave
many advantages to the garden-maker, but, 011 the other hand,
there were great difficulties, and it was not without the exercise
of high skill that the gardens were formed as we see them.
Even now thc-y are scarcely finished, some of the balustrades
on the edge of the terraces being wanting.

Terrace-making is an art that has exercised the ingenuity
of many Scottish gardeners and architects. John Reid, in his
"Scots Gard'ner " (1683), gives instructions to those who
would make terraces upon the natural declivity of the land.
" As to terrass walks, if the brow on which you make them be
not too steep, the work will be the more easy. If you build
them up with walN, be careful to found deep enough according
to the level ; and if the middle of the terrass be on the central
line of the house, or of any walk, make the stair to part at a
plot on the head, going down on both sides. So much of the
staircase rnay, be within as that the outer edge thereof may be
in a line with the border of the wall ; by this it mars not the
walk ; the rest may be at the ends. Plant the borders at the
upper side of the walk with wall trees ; the under side, being
but an ell high, with laurels, etc. But if your terrass consists
only of walks and sloping banks, you may have the border at
the head and foot of each bank, on either side of the walks,
planted with standard cherries, etc., and the banks of violets,
strawberries, or grass."

There are more stately terraces in Scotland, but, go
where we may, we shall find none so full of the ravishing
sweetness, or so happily embodying the features of the
architectural an J na.ural styles as those here depicted.
Reid's principles rather than his details are exemplified at
Barncluith, the character of the ground having enforced the
disposition of the stairways. There are four terraces or walks
most picturesquely and beautifully planned and constructed..
'1 he bed of the Avon is some 50ft. below the level of he
lowest of them, and the declivity is very steep. This lowest
walk is a grass terrace, deeply shaded by trees, and at one end
is a iquaint old garden-house, with a twisted double stairway
leading to its upper storey, while at the other end is a charming
circular basin, frorti which rises a low fluted column, with a
vase-like top filled with flowers, throwing up a sparkling jet of
water. The balustrade at the edge of the declivity is very
charming, and the nature of the slope causes the wall to curve
near the fountain. A beautiful acacia grows upon the terrace.

and its lovely enduring green and beautiful flowers add much
to the charm of the place. At the end of the terrace near the
fountain are two rustic arches under the upper wall, and a
rustic stairway leads up to the higher levels. The retaining
wall of the second terrace walk is covered with ivy and
climbing plants, and crested with characteristic vases. Above,
upon the level which it bounds, is a gravel walk, with a border
of flowers, giving access at one end to a second garden-house.
Roses border the way, and there is a stone bank supporting the
next higher level, overgrown with wallflowers, ferns, etc.
Still mounting the steep, therefore, we reach the third terrace,
which is a beautiful grass walk, bordered by a long flower-bed,
and commanding a charming outlook over the sylvan gorge.
The retaining wall of the fourth level is agaiq clustered with
climbing plants, and there are several yew trees along the
upper border. Very quaintly are these cut, and they possess
a curious attraction, in contrast with the gay flower-beds
which neighbour them. A baiustraded wall, with vases, is
behind the terrace, and there are many pleasant places to
explore, the f recourt of the house being on that side.

The pictures will show how very delightful is the effect of
this terracing upon the declivity above the Avon. The masonry
is exceedingly good, and there is a happy union of classic
formality with something of rustic charm. There were oppor-
tunities which do not fall to every garden-maker's hand, but
not every designer would have used them so well. The
illustrations will complete the description of this delightful
hillside garden. It is a place full of suggestion for tho^e whose
houses may lie adjacent to woodland gor.^es, which present
opportunities that are not always realised, and such places
need not always be left in native wildness. The formation at
Barncluith is rock, and much excavating must have been
required, but the soil is deep enough to give rootage to the
splendid trees, while the sunny slope is conducive to a luxuriant
growth of flowers. The place is as beautiful in winter as in
summer, for the green yews are there, and the other trees lilt
their varied tracery against the sky, while below the rushing
sound of the Avon is heard. It is a fine river, full of salmon,
trout, perch, lampreys, and silver eel.

Allusion has been made to the splendid growth of trees in
this region. Hamilton Wood, on the Avon and the Barncluith
Burn, is a great woodland tract, which, with its gnarled and
venerable trunks, represents practically all that remains of the
ancient Caledonian Forest. The storms of centuries have
blown over some of the oaks, which thrive extremely well,
many being venerable trees of great size, some even measuring
36ft, in girth. Larch and Scotch fir are numerous, and the
river banks are crowned with luxuriant foliage. Silver and
spruce fir succeed, and the cedar of Lebanon has attained
considerable size. Here may be seen the only herd left in
Scotland of the old white Caledonian wild cattle. The Barn-
cluith Burn joins the Avon about half a mile from the town of
Hamilton, after flowing down through the wood, and leaping
over five or six declivities in brawling picturesqueness, adding
greatly to the beauties and attractions of the scenery.

" In one impetuous torrent, down the steep
It t'lundering shoots, and shakes the country round,
At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad;
Then whitening b}' degrees as prone it fells,
And from the loud resounding roclis below
Dashed in a cloud of foam it sends alofc
A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower."

These lines have been used of one of the neighbouring
Falls of Clyde, and they may be applied, with modification,
to the lesser falls on the Barncluith Burn. The whole
of the vale of tlie Avon, with the gorges of its tributary
burns, is markedly beautiful, and has all the charm that
is found in Scottish river courses, with a richness that does
not invest them all. The gardens of Barncluith have also,
as we have seen, a marked and attractive character, and
the succession of terraces has probably in its kind no rival in
Scotland. There is picturesqueness in their character, arising
from varied treatment, too rare in formal gardens, which may
serve to show that formal gardening is no bar to the introduction
of a sweet naturalness, but rather that it lends itself to such a
character. It is a lesson for the garden-maker which the
pictures in this volume will not fail stro.igly to enforce.

[ 221 ]

. ¥

i!«iw<*m""nM««

V. ^>\

AGECROrT
. HA-LL

LANCASHIRi:.

Sii^iaii^

Mr. ROBERT DAUNTESEY. ,1

-■'''"'"''■''• ''-^'-11 'lIHltllllV' -'"••" '' .iH

A GECROF T HALL is one of those strongly indi-

/\ viJiialised mansions of ancient date in which the

/ — \ county palatine of Lancaster is singularly rich

•* *■ Wh it that district of England may lack in the genial

climate that vests the brick dwelling-places of

Soutliern England with those lichens which, in their hues of

orange, yellow, green, and grey, form so incomparable a

vesture, it has compensation for in those "magpie" moated

structures, impressive in time-worn oak, rich in beautiful

carving, picturesque in their many gables and their grey slate

roofs, which grow mellow under rain and sun. When such

houses are valued and preserved lik'e the old mansion house of

Agecroft, and others illustrated in this volume, and are made

beautiful with gardens and pleasure grounds, they do most

certainly deserve to hold a high place among the quaint and

beautiful mansions of the shires. Agecroft is both fortunate

and unfortunate — fortunate in the loving care which adds new

beauty to its antiquity, unfortunate in ihe fact that the country

thereabout i> much given over to the busy whirl of modern

things. Yet advantages mav be won e\-en where discouragement

might prevail, and thus close to Agecroft Hall is a pond or
lake, formed by the sinking of the ground, owing to coal mines
below, and constituting a very pleasing feature amid the trees,
over-hung by flowering bushes in the garden. The h'well flows
near by; in truth, somewhat lower down, a Stygian stream,
bearing in waters no longer pellucid the waste products of
many manufactures. Nevertheless, the coiu'se of the river in
this part of the valley has considerable elements of beauty,
and the winding stream, with overhanging woods, is not
v\'ithout attractions.

Agecroft Ha 1 stands upon a low tongue of land which here
stretches down from Pendlebury into the valley, and the house
is probably, as the crow flies, not more than four miles from
Manchester Cathedral. These ancient halls manifest a predilec-
tion on the part of their builders for the neighbourhood of rivers.
It was convenient to have water near, and very often the
stream possessed some advantages in the matter of defence.
It is interesting to ob erve that near these ancient oaken
structures we rart-ly find much in the way of formal gardening,
and, save for a bridge or a garden seat, the arch tect seems

T.l'iz SIDE PASSAGE IN THE QUADRANGLE.

222

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

rarely to have
played a large
part. Simplicity
characterises
the surround-
ings, and there
is nothing to
delay the pen in
a description of
the great charm
of the lawns,
flower-beds, and
hedges. These
are all-sufficient
in their relaiicn-
s h i p to such
houses, and none
can deny that
the pictures pre-
sented of house
and garden are
singuUrly sweet
and attractive.

The views of Agecroft Hall will show how, without great effort
and without ambitious design, eminently satisfactory results are
attained. Fortunately for this ancient place, it has fine trees in
its neighbourhood, wherein rooks have built their nests, adding
something of an air of dignity and antiquity by the presence of
their busy colonies in the boughs.

And now, in regard to ihe character of this great class of
Lancashire houses — and let it be said that Cheshire possesses
them also — it might be useful to refer to several of the venerable
confraternity, such as Speke Hall, near Liverpool, Smithel's
Hall — which has a place in these pages — Samlesbury, Ordsall,

THE EASr FRONT.

Crumpsall Old
Hall,' Haugh
Hall, Barton Old
Hall, Urmston
Old Hall, Kersal
Cell — a very
pretty example
of timber archi-
tecture, quite
near to Agecroft
— a n d many
others. The old
halls, mansions,
and manor
houses of Lanca-
shire are a
mixed company.
Many have
fallen upon evil
days, and are
half ruined or
divided into
cottages ; others
have been swept away, leaving some fragment for memor}' ; and
comparatively few are those preserved. In the northern part of
the ccunty the dwellings are more castle-like, but the typical
Lancashire hou^e is of timbei', and belongs to the time of the
Tudors or of James, and, especially in South Lancashire and
Cheshire, possesses the general characteristics of the example
we depict. They have bars, vertical and horizontal, angles and
curves, oriel windows, and many gables to break the skyline.
Inside are chambers and corridors, many and varied, and
antique stairways leading to the upper storey. Everywhere
is oak panelling, with fine carvings, and in the more dainty

FROM THE STABLE-YARD.

^GECROFT HALL.

223

THH ANCIBNT ENTRANCh.

224

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

parts the wainscot is divided by fluted pilasters. A prodigious
amount of oak lias been employed in building a quadrangular
house like Agecroft. It would almost suggest to us that a
grove of oaks must have bowed beneath ihe woodman's axe
ere that structure was raised, and the operation must have
somewhat resembled the building of a great ship, for here, too,
the seasoned timber was jointed and pegged to withstand the
storms.

Agecroft occupies a somewhat peculiar position. On the
west side is the edge of a steep cliff, and there are evidences
that the three remaining sides of the quadrangle were protected
by the moat. The square is complete, and measures about looft.
externally, and the main gate, which has a beautiful Tudor
arch, with a lovely oriel window over it, is on the east side. It
would appear that a large part of the house was built in the
reign of Henry VII. or his successor, and the beautiful carving
of fine Perpendicular character, in the corbelling of the windows
on the east front, is verv noleworthv. Owing to The effect of

It is, however, time, having described the house itself,
that we should say something about those who have lived
therein. In 1327 John de Langley and Joan his wife paid a
fiiie to William de Langley, Rector of Middleton, for the manor
of Pendlebury and other lands, and here the knightly family of
Langley of Langley established itself. To this family is said to
have belonged Robert Langley, Bishop of Durham, Lord Chan-
cellor of England, and a Cardinal. He was supervisor of the
will of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and, by his will, left
a number of books to the College of Manchester, in the founda-
tion of which he had been concerned. It is interesting to know
that in the windows of Agecroft Hall are portions of ancient glass,
zealously protected by wire frames externally, in which are the
bearings of the Langleys and of John of Gaunt. The house
and estate came in 1560, on the death of Sir Robert Langley,
to his daughter and heiress Anne, who married Thomas
Dauntesey, and thus Agecroft passed to the family which long
continued to reside there. It was afterwards occupied by the

THE EAST PROMT IN QUADRANGLE.

weather the south face of the building has called for partial
renewal, and not much of tiie ancient plaster-work" remains,
but the east facade is quite original.

Passing through the arch we reach the interior of the
courtyard, which is picturesquely attractive. Opposite to us
is the long window of the great hall, with magnificent decorative
timber-work over it, the kitchen and offices and the servants'
quarters to the right, and ihe family apartments on the le't
hand, with the chapel, now converted to the dining-room.
Mr. H. Taylor, in his " Old H.ills in Lancashire and Cheshire,"
says that originally Agecroft had open galleries as corridors in
one portion of the quadrangle, similar to those which may still
be seen in many old hostelries ; but, with the exception of one
short length, th, se are now enclosed. The interior has been a
good deal modernised, and the great hall is now used as a
billiard-room. It was doubtless inevitable that some changes
should be introduced, but it is satisfactory to find the place so
greatly valued and so well preserved.

Rev. Richard Buck, and there have been other occupants, but
.V\r. Robert Dauntesey is in possession, and the house is in
good hands.

Enough has been said to indicate the character and history
of Agecroft Hall. It may be interesting to mention that at
the bottom of the hill the Irwell is crossed by Agecroft
Bridge, which leads to Kersal Moor. The river was once pure
and well stocked with fish, but much more than a century
ago pollution had set in. A certain Mr. Rasbotham, writing
in 1786, said: "The river hath trout, shoulders, chubbs,
dace, gudgeons, and eels. Salmon came to it before
the establishment of the fishery at Warrington, higher than
this township; but there is no such thing experienced at
present." Those who know the Irwell will wonder that
salmon should ever have visited its waters. That day is
long past, but we may hope that the ever-growing bustle
of modern things may yet fur centuries spare the ancient
beauties of Agecroft Hall.

■1GECK0F7 HALL.

lib

PEGGED AND JOINTED ENGLISH OAK.

226

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

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L^27 ]

WHHTHh'R we regard Westwood Park- from the
historical, the pei'sonal, the architectural, or the
gardening point of view, we shall find that it is
an luuisualiv interesting place. It has ciiarac-
teristics that are not discovered in many great
seats, and it has been associated with not a few men of
eminence in tlie State and Societ\'. The house lies something
5ess than two miles to tlie west of Droitwich, in Worcestershire,
'n a very fine situation, upon an eminence commanding very
beautiful prospects, and its park covers about 208 acres, w ith
a fine lak'e in view of the mansion on the east side. The
park is laid out in " ra_\'s of planting," as shall presently
be described. Here, in ancient times, was a small prior\' of
Benedictine nuns, subject to the Abbey of Fontevraud, the
site of which appears to have been upon the slope of the bank
above the present fish-ponds. Aftrr the Dissolution, the place
was granted by Henry VIU. to Sir John Pak'ington, a sergeant-
at-law, who was gi\-en man\' judicial offices, chiefly in Wales.
When the k'night died he possessed some thirty manors, and
the greater part of his estate passed to his nephew, Thomas

Pakington, the son of his brother Robert, who had been
murdered in London in 1537. The new possessor was
knighted by Queen Mary in 1553, and died in 1571.

It does not appear to be known with any certainty that a
mansion house existed at Westwood at the time, and the
central block of the existing structure dates from the possession
of Sir John Pakington, who succeeded on the death of his
father. Sir Thomas. When Queen Elizabeth visited Worcester-
shire in August, 1578, she seems to have been attracted by the
wit and the handsome person of the squire, not yet Sir John,
who had been educated at Christchurch, Oxford, and had
studied the law at Lincoln's Inn. The Queen invited him to
Court, where he was received with great favour, and plunged
into the vortex of the fashionable life of his time. Pakington
was knight d in 1587, but he appears to have outrun his means
and to ha\'e been enmeshed in financial difficulties.

His residence was then at Hampton Lovett, but he seems
to have conceived the idea of building a kind of banqueting-
house or place of resort at Westwood. To him the central
portion of the house is due, but it did not become the residence

THE ANCIENT GATE-HOUSE.

228

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

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pn.s-Jivooij p.-uiK.

229

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GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

of the family until after the Civil War. It stood in the midst
of a fine woodland, and PaK'iniiton constructed a lake, probably
represented by the present sheet of water. His lak'e,
however, encroached upon the highway, and his right to divert
the road being questioned, lie very impetuously ordered his
embank-nients to be cut througli, and his waters were dispersed
through the \-alley, probably to the dismay of those who had
opposed him. Sir John had married the daughter of Humphrey
Smith, the Queen's si'k-man, widow of Benedict Barnham, and
she. had broLight him a considerable estate, which enabled him
to retrieve his fortunes.

The Icnight was succeeded by his son John, who was
created a baronet in 1620, and was h\.F. for Aylesbury, in

CENTRE OF ROSE GARDEN.

which district the family had estates. He died as a \'oung
man, and was succeeded by Sir John Pakington, the second
baronet, who suffered much in the Ro)'al cause in the Civil
War, and to whom the present character of Westwood Park
must be ascribed.

The house at Hampton Lovett had suffered heavily in the
Civil War, and the cavalier baronet transferred his residence
to Westwocd. The King came to his assistance, and a grant
"f ;£4.ooo was made to him under the name of " Edward
Gregory," as the King explained, lest the example should be
prejudicial, it w as at this time that Westwood received the
four diagonal wings, which w eve built cut from the original
structure, giving it a form that appears to be unique. The

THE EXIT FRO.Vi THE ROSE GARDEN.

noble bay windows rising to the third storey, the quaint gables,
and the striking character of the diagonal wings all mark-
out Westwood Park' as an extremely fine example of the
architecture of that time.

What is speciall}- worthy of note is that Westwood Park
does not stand alone. 1 here is the grand and characteristic
gate-house, which may go back to the time of the first builder,
with its admirably picturesque gables, its arch, and the delight-
fully fantastic character of the lofty structure which supports
the cupola roof in tfie midst. At a little distance from
each wing, and l)'ing in the diagonal direction from each
corner of the house, stood most picturesque garden-houses or
banqueting-rooms, of which two still remain, and are fine
examples of garden architecture, their
old brick walls, mullioned windows,
quaintly corbelled chimneys, and
picturesque tiled roofs giving them
a most attractive appearance.

The site of the house upon an
eminence in a wooded country doubt-
I less suggested the distribution of the

grounds, which are admirably illus-
trated in a bird's-eye view by Dr.
Nash. The private garden seems
to have been on the north-west, and
to have been divided by paths crossing
both ways, bordered by formal trees,
into four portions, though not of equal
size Opposite to each angle of the
house, and again opposite to each
front, a way was cut through the
wood, so that in each of these direc-
tions there was a vista and an avenue.
A large circular space was cleared of
timber round the house, and at some
little distance further away a circular
road intersected the avenues, so that
the wood was cut up into segments
of sylvan rings. It is true that the arrangement was not
carried to completion on one side of the house, where the
ground declined to the lake, and in this direction was a broader
outlook, which gave variety. This symmetrical plan of the
garden at Westwood deserves to be specially noted. With its
garden-houses and avenues the place had features that may be
said to have brought it into relation with the school which we
associate with Le Notre.

Sir John Pakington, the cavalier baronet, died in 1680,
and was succeeded by another Sir John, who spent a retired
life at We,-t\\ood, and was reputed to be one of the fin-st
Anglo-Saxon scholars of his time. He represented his county
in Parliament from 1685 to 1687 Dean Hickes was his
intimate Iriend, and appears to have
written soine of his learned works at
Westwood. His " Grammatica Anglo-
Saxonica" is dedicated to Sir John
■ Pak-ington, and the beauties of West-
wood and its gardens and park at the
time are set forth

The student baronet was succeeded
b\' a worthy gentleman, another Sir
John Pakington, who lived until 1728,
and is supposed to have been the
original of the famous Sir Roger de
Co\-erley. It is true that Addison
disclaims having had any originals for
his characters, but, although Sir Roger
does not altogether answer to Sir John
in the circumstances of his life, there
are undoubtedly resemblances in the
two personalities, and again in
Coverley Hall and its surroundings,
as resembling Westwood Park, with a
ruined abbey near it, and its pleasant
walks "struck out of a wood in the
midst of which the house stands."
Addison's baronet was a bachelor, btif

IVESTIVOOD PAKK.

231

"'*»tta»)l*8^,.

THE PORCH.

Sir John Pakington was twice married. Two of his sons pre-
deceased him, but his third son, Sir Herbert Perrot Pal\ington,
succeeded at Westwood Park as fifth baronet, and, lil<e many
of. his ancestors, represented his county in Parliament. Sir
Herbert's two sons— Sir John and SirHerbert-^foilowed.himin
succession, and the baronetcy became extinct on the death of Sir
John, the eighth baronet, in 1830. The eldest daughter of tlie
seventh baronet had married Mr. William Russell, of Powick
Court, and their son, Mr. John Somerset Russell, who, on the
death of the last baronet of the original creation, liad taU-en tlie

name of Pakington in lieu of Russell, was himself created a
baronet in 1846. This gentleman was a well-known politician,
and was Colonial Secretary, twi'-e First Lord of the Admiralty,
and Secretary of State for War. He was made a G.C.B. in
1859, and in March, 1874, was raised to the peerage as Baron
Hampton of Hampton Lovett and of Westwood, Worcestershire.
Westwood Park is illustrative of much that is notable in the
history of the country. Its present owner is Mr. Edward
Partington, whose son-in-law, Mr. R. B. Ward, resides
there.

232

GARDENS OLD AND NFJV.

[ 233 ]

THH JLidicioLis guide who instructs the visitor iis to how
l^est to see the notable p'aces in the upper valley of
the Severn, in that romantic part of it which lies
adjacent to Welshpool and below Montgomery, will
often tell him to drive from the former place to Povvis
Castle, where he may survey its ancient glories, and then, cross-
ing the Severn by the bridge, to visit the splendid modern domain
of Mrs. Na\lor at Leighton Hall, rich in recent improvements,
in farms, mills, and sawing establishments, and so beneath the
shadow'of Leighton Church to return to Welshpool. Some-
thing like this has been done in these pages, for the reader
has looked with delight upon the pictures of antique Powis and
the glory of the terraces on the steep, and now has before him
the picturesque and noble mansion of Leighton Hall, and the
loveliness of its well-kept gardens and grounds, from which
Powis Castle is itself a prominent object in a beautiful landscape,
famous for its grand hills and w/)oded steeps, and the meadows
by the river Severn, here but a youthful stream that may be
passed at Leighton ford. Hereabout are fine prospects of the
Vale of Severn, and from the heights on; may look upon

Moel-y-Golfa and the Breiddin Hills, and, if the day be clear,
even Plinlimmon, Cader Idris, Snowdon, the Arans, and
Arenigs are within the view.

Leighton is a small parish in the hundred of Cawrse, ii.
Montgomeryshire, about two miles from Welshpool, and the
Hall l;es in the valley, nearly at the foot of the Long .\'\ountain,
which forms a range running north-east between this point and
the Breiddin Hills. It is a region full of history and rich in
romantic traditions and associations, and here was fought the
last contested battle for Welsh independence in 1294, when the
Welsh were commanded by Madoc, Llewelyn's brother. It is
not surprising that such a district should have attracted the
wealthy, and the region is somewhat famous for the beautiful
seats that distinguish it. In the neighbourhood of Leighton
Hall are Garth, Nantcribba, Glansevern, Vaynor, and other
fine places. To Mr. John Naylor, J. P., D.L., at one time
Sheriff of Montgomery, the architectural beauiies of Leighton
and the perfection of its surroundings are mainly due. In the
work- of erection, and of adornment within and without, there
was scope for much wise planning, and for the exercise of fine

FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

234

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

artistic tas te.
How well all was
done the pictures
will disclose. In
bringing to per-
fection such a
place as Leigh-
ton Hall, de-
veloping its
individual
character, and
surrounding it
with gardens like
these, many
qualities were
called for, but
the chiefest of
them was love
for the higher
forms of art, and
the resolve to
give splendour to
the dwelling.

A re hitec-
turall)-, Leighton
Hall is imposing
and stately. It is well and substantially built of stone, in a
tasteful adapiation of the medieval style of the fourteenth
century, witii tall gables and mullioned windows, and co\'ers an
ample space of ground. There rises from it a lofty octagonal
buttressed tower, with an embattlement, somewhat ecclesiastical
perhaps in its character, and having a turret and a gallery for the
outlook. There is much to survey in this romantic vale, and
the tower promises to those who climb a truly glorious prospect.
Within, of course, the house is choice and beautiful 'in design
and plenishings, and is somewhat famous for its pictures and

THE EAST TERRACE FRO.M THE SOUTH-EAST.

other art
treasures. With-
0 u t are the
arti stically at-
■ tractive gardens,
w h i c h are
mainly oiu' sub-
ject. Such a
house demanded
beautiful grounds
for its comple-
ment, and it is
deserving of note
thatthe harmony
between the
mansion and its
surroundings is
such as we
should desire.
The opportuni-
ties were many,
and they have
been well used.
An undulating
space at the loot
of the hills
suggested special treatment, and gave unusual opportunities
to the garden architect. It was decided, for the convenience
of the ways, and also, we may suspect, for the stronger
character of the gardens, that the hollows should be
spanned by bridges. The Lion Bridge illustrates,, the
style of work', and alike in solidity and elegance is admirable.
Its buttressed piers rise from a sylvan dell, , and .carry a
roadway flanked by a balustrade, and having, pleasant seats
for those who would linger thereby. Those who would
descend may do so by a simple but truly admirable stairway,

THE SOUTH-EAST TERRACE.

LHIGHTON HALL.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE LION BRIDGi.

which leads by several flights into the enchanting region
below.

On the south side of the house is the principal garden,
which is in a measure formal. A terrace lies along the front
of the mansion, stone-edged, and having stairways down to
the level space of greensward, with its flower-beds and
flowering bushes. Here is a magnificent fountain rising from an
octagonal basin, with dolphins below, and very finely modelled
figures above. It is well seen in one of the pictures, and is
truly a glorious work in bronze. There is much staaiary in
the gardens, and this is the material of nearly all of it. The
effect is superb, for bronze, like lead, has a hue that falls well
into a garden picture, and it lias the advantage that its
hardness and quality make it the fitting vehicle for fine artisiic
expression. Now the statuary in this material at Leighton Hall
is by eminent
artists, and in
pose, lovely con-
tour of limb, and
excellent model-
1 i ng is most
excellent v/ork
of the sculptor's
hand. The
Venus and Cupid
below the east
terraces in this
garden isalovely
example of work,
and the amorini
ever ywhe r e
have individual
merit and
character, while
t.".e Icarus, in
defeated ambi-
tion, falling
headlongintothe
pool as a minia-
ture JEge3.n, is
both orijrinal

BOYS OF BRONZB.

and admirable. The vases also are bronze, and are most
beautifully wrought. There is nothing more difficult than to
place sculpture well in a garden, but the success at Leighton
Hall is complete, and very few gardens can boast of such
admirable statuary.

At the east end of the garden the ground rises, and the
terraces and stairways, which are of fine and unusual
ciiaract;r, lead up the slope to the park', wh.ere the foliage is
magr.i cent. 1 he belts of trees that enframe the garden are a
fine and reposeful feature, and are of varied hue and foliage.
At the other end of the principal garden the ground falls, and
there the landscape character will delight those who love
natural gardenage. In this quarter is a smalllak-e or pool — the
same into which the son of Dsedalus p iinges in his hiadlong
tall — bordered by grass slopes, and reflecting th; umbrageous

landsc.pe. Here
are great masses
of water-lilies
and other water-
loving plants,
and on the banks
the rhodo-
dendrons are
glorious in the
summer, vvh.le
the trees are of
beautitLil orna-
mental varieties.
It will have
been noticed that
the lormal and
landscape fea-
tures are closely
juxtaposed, and,
indeed, each is
the foil and com-
plement of the
other. So far we
have noted noth-
ing of the really
old sell 0 ol of

LFJGH70N HALL.

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GAkDENS OLD AND NEW.

gardenincf, but this is
found in the walled
library garden, which
lies near to the east t nd
of the principal garden.
Tliis is a most beautiful
and sequestered resort,
seemingly set apart for
studious reflection or
pleasant converse. Tlie
wall that encloses it
has an excellent copin,::,
and the low buttresses
are of the same period
a^ th;" house. I he area
is grass, with flower-
beds framed in the turf,
the garden being divided
into spaces by gravel
paths, and whr're the
greund rises a low-
terrace has been
formed, with a grass
slope and a tli^ht of
steps ascending, beyond
which is a vista through
a green archway to thi
garden beyond.
Flanking the stairway
and the path are dc-
I'ghtful liitle amorini of
individual merit, all in
bronze, lik'e tb.e rich
n.jwer vases which are
in the area, and upon
their st.ne pedestals
these Ime the top of the
grass ^lope that has
been allud-d to. The
walls of this library plea-
saui^ce are themselves
gardens, and have a
. esture of loveliness in
the flowering climbers
that clothe them.

.Here roses flourish abur.dantly, and the fine sylvan baclcground
completes a truly beautiful garden picture.

Though there is at Leighton a most charming dwelling-
house, with alt' active pleasure grounds, and a considerable
estate, the character of the whole is simple, and there is little
to delay the
pen. W h a t
we observe is
a happy union
of various styles
of gardenage —
the broad
and effective
character cf th.e
principal garden,
with its foun-
tain and admir-
able statuary,
the excellent
and original
terraces at
the east end,
where the
ground rises to
the ^ylvan park',
the charming
landscape fea-
tures on the
other hand, with
the lake as
the gem of

fCARUS.

he most certainly exclude
bro:ider vievi', he might have
Ch u'ming indeed is the scul
Hall, though some purists
exclude it on the ground of

SUUIH tiND UH llic L-AST GARDkN.

the whole, and the
radiant '-pace of the
retired library garden
within its walls.
Various periods and
features of gardening
a;e thus represented,
a n d a n a d m i r a b le
setting is provided for
the architectural
s pi e n d 0 ur of the
mansion. Reserve is
another distinguishing
character of the
gar dens. Tlie re i s
no lack of richness,
as the visitor realises
when he traverses
these enchanting
places. It was no
small thing, f o r
example, to bring
together so many
excellent work's of
sculpture, and to
dispose t em well.
They import into the
garden something of a
spirit that is alien to
that of the architectural
period to which th.e
house belongs, but
the result is undeni-
ably pleasing and
attractive. There is
a partial break'ing and
intermingling of styles
w ich adds a fresh-
ness to the older
forms. Here, perhaps
a lesson may be
'='uggested. Let not
the garden planner set
up too rigid a mstho.i
in his work, else will
some Ihings whxh, w.th a
welcomed to his satisfaction.
ptLue in the garden at Leiglitin
might have been willing to
its being the out;ome of the
classic and
naturalistic
school. There
are many beauti-
ful gardens in
this part of
Wales, a-d those
of Leighton Ha 1
deserve to be
accorded a high
place among
them. They are
rad.ant, beauti-
ful, varied, and
architecturally
i n foresting,
t'.ierefore both
admirable and
attractive. The
tall spire of the
modern Early
English church,
erected by Mrs.
Naylor, adds to
the attractions of
the landscape.

r 23S ]

\ ST. FAGAN'S
. . CASTLE,

CARDIFF, . . .

THE SEAT . . .

or ... ...

LORD WINDSOR.

THE picturesque Welsh village of
St. F;igui's, lying upon the
river Ely, not far from ancient
Llandaff, takes its name from
the saint to whom the quaint
old Norman and Decorated clunxh there
is dedicated. Tradition alleges that the good man arrived in
Britain about the yexx i8o, and that he founded a church in the
Ely valley, of which the e.xisting structure is the successor.
The village of St. Pagan's, with its many quaint, old-fashioned
ihatch-roofed cottages, its Tudor gabled mansion, and its
interesting church, almost iiidden among spreading trees, is
one of tiie most charming and pleasing in that part of the
Principality, its principal attraction lies in Lord Windsor's
beautiful seat, the castle of St. Pagan, which, though not of
imposing grandeur, indeed possesses in its hoary walls and
many gables, its ancient features, and its Tudor embellish-
ments, a character which we love to find in the old houses
of the land.

The oldest portion of the remains probably dates from

('i^fctLH V,fcmj^ <;..

the thirteenth century, indicating the
existence of a strongly fortified dwelling-
ilace, commanding the neck of the Ely
valley. This castle has left features of
interest in our garden pictures, and of
value in the garden plan. St. Pagan's
underwent reconstruction later on, and Rice Merrick refers
to it, in 1578, as one of the castles near the "frontiers of the
mountaynes." Its owner at the time was one John Gabon,
a doctor of the law, and it seems probable that the manor
house was built about that date. It possesses the gables,
mullioned windows, and chimneys which we associate with
Tudor days, and is a bold and impressive house, standing on
the crest of the hill, and looking, from its many windows
and ancient embattled walls, over the gardens which lie upon
the slope and in the valley to the landscape beyond. The
position is very advantageous, and has lent itself extremely
well to the formation of the gardens.

Before describing them, let us note the fact that the
neighbourhood was the scene of a very sanguinary engagement

THE LEAD TANK IN THE FORECOURT.

240

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

in the Civil
War. The
Royalists had
arranged a plan
by which the
entrance of the
Scots into
England was to
be a signal for
a simultaneous
rising in every
quarter of the
kingdom, but the
zealoftheWelsh-
m e n did n o t
brook delay, and
a force of 8,oo3
men q u i c k 1 \'
gathered. Chep-
stow was sur-
prised, Carnar-
von besieged,
and Colonel
Fleming
defeated, but
success led
on the Welsh to
towards Pembrolce

A SUNiNY CORNER

t'li^ir ruin. Lau^hern was hastening
on May 8th, when, at St. Pagan's, he
encountered the Parliamentary forces under Colonel Horton,
who had been sent by >. romwell to enforce disbandment. A
hard-fought engagement took place, in which the Welsh were
defeated with great skuighter and the loss of many prisoners.
Of St. Pagan's parish alone sixty-five inhabitants were sl.iin,
and it was impossible to reap the next harvest for want of men.

The Parliamen-
tary tide flowed
on to P e m-
broke, where
a siege ensued,
which detained
Cromwell's
f irces for six
week's before the
place sur-
rendered.

In the se\-en-
teenth century
St. Pagan's
C IS le, or manor
house, passed
into the h:inds
of the family of
Lewis of the
Van, and by the
marriage of Miss
Lewis with the
tliira Earl of Ply-
mouth, who died
in 1732, it came
to a fainily new
to the district. The Earls of Plymouth did not reside much at
St. Pagan's, and the castle appears to have fallen into disrepair.
Part of it was, in fact, u ed as the village school, but the late
B ironess Windsor gave it as a residence to her son, the Hon.
Robert Windsor-Clive, after his mirriage with Lady Mary
Bridgeman. This gentleman largely restored the old house,
and furni^lled it with excellent taste, colecting the old calc
and fine tapestry and china which it now co .tains. A great

MARBLE VASES ON 1 1 IE TLkkACL.

ST. FAGAU^'S.

241

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242

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE BAITLEMENT WALK.

deal was done at this period, and many imp.ovements and
alterations in the grounds were suggested by the rough old
walled garden and the picturesque contours of the ground.
It remained, however, for Lady Mary Windsor-Clive to carry
on the work after the death of her l-.usband, who had designed
and completed the terraces and fish-ponds, which are such
an attractive feature in the place. The present Lady Windsor
has added much to the beauty of the gardens, and work is still
going on, so that the charming house and surroundings of
bt. Pagan's maybe expected to grow in their attractions.

Entering the grounds by the gate on the north side, very
beautiful is the picture discovered. A broad drive, flanked by
trees, and by green and spacious lawns, lea Is to an archway
through the ancient castle wall, behind which rise the lofty
gables of the
Tudor structure.
The grey walls
of the ancient
place gave rare
attraction to the
scene, and a
dovecote raised
upon a pillar is
a feature of
interest in the
garden. The
archway through
which we reach
the forecourt is
rich'y clothed
with ivy and
flowering plants
vvi'hin and with-
out, and in the
centre of the area
stands upon two
steps a superb
and very re-
markable leaden
cistern, s ur-

J'JMPHRS IN AUiUMN MIST.

rounded by grass, which we illustrate. Such an object
is very unusual in our gardens, and is perhaps unique,
but the history of it seems not to be known. It is a glorious
example of craftsmanship in lead. The date is 1620, and the
tank bears the Royal arms. Grouped about it are features of
exceptional interest — on one side the rugged walls of the
medieval castle, on the :ther the many-windowed structure,
luxuriantly vested v/ith loses and climbing plants.

Tlie principal garden front of the house, however, is on
the other side, where the embattled wall, after partially
enclo ing the forecourt, extends towards the crest of the hill,
which it lines with most admirable and picturesque effect,
giving a glorious outlook' over tlie terraced gardens to the
south. There are gardens, however, on the north side of the

wall, lying on
the right of the
approach to the
house, of which
something may
be said before
we pass to those
on the slope.
Here is the
moated rose
garden, which
has the unusual
f e a t u r e 0 f a
narrow stone-
margined water
channel sur-
rounding its
Central part.
Roses flourish
abundantly, and
group wit h
admirable effect
against the
grey stone
walls of the
0 1 J building.

ST. FAGAUX'S.

243

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GARDENS OLD AND NEU'.

ROSES AND TRELLIS-WORK.

for on this side tlie remains of tlie ancient castle are many
The garden of annual flowers, enclosed within walls, is a
delightful example of gay and successful gardening, and the
walls are floral also. Near by is the characteristic and
fanciful trellised garden, a triumph in its way, and the rose
garden proper is also on this side. The rosery has been
formed by the present Lady Windsor, and is a perfect dream
of loveliness, and an ideal home for the queen of flowers.
Here are bowers, screens, and pergolas with delightful green

turf paths, and beds of the best varieties in yreat masses,
the borders of iiardy flowers arranged in a free and natural
manner. There is also an orchard, in which are well-grown
old trees, rich in blossom and heavy with fruit in the season.
This is a happy place also for the cultivation of bulbs, and a
succession of crocuses, narcissus, tulips, and other spr ng
flowers m ikes this part of the gardens a place of enchanting
beauty in the early months of the year. We are tempted to
recall the thoughts of Ruskin in this garden — to think that the

THE STONE WALK IN THE NORTH GAFDBN.

ST. FAGAUX'S.

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GARDENS OLD AND NF.IV.

flowers rightl}' flouris!-; here
for those who love them. "I
know you would like to think
that true," he says; "you
would tnink it a pleasant magic
if you could flush your flowers
into brighter bloom by a kind
look upon them ; nay, more,
if your look had the pjwer,
not only to cheer, but to
guard ! " Something like
this seems the influence at St.
Pagan's.

Tlie long embattled wall
which crests the hill there,
separates the delightful garden
region on the elevated land
from the romantic beauty of
the terraced garden on the
southern slope. The wall is
the most important portion
of the old castle still remain-
ing. It overlooks the Ely River ;
and the "wall walk," which
commands tlie prospect, is well
preserved, and terminates in
a small turret, being a pic-
turesque part of t!ie modern

offices built in the middle of the last century. From this e.xalted
position in the castle gardens there is a great deal to survey,
and the quaint turret is the place for the outlook in its realm
of flower-land.

The terraces are in close proximity to the mansion,
and there is a most lovely view over them from the battle-
ments, terminating bjlow in the fish-ponds, which reflect

THE HIGHER POND,

a magnificent growth of trees, partly enclosing them on the
furtiier side, over whose topmost branches, from our lofty
position on the hill, we look out to the lovely landscape beyond,
rich in the s)'lvan beauty and green spaces of the country.
There are five successive terraces, edged with stone or grass,
and some of them having grass slopes, while the descent
from the house is by a fine fl ght of steps, flank-ed on either side

THE LOWEF. POND.

ST. rAGAU^'S

I'M

by rows of junipers. The arianj,c;iiL'nt is supcrli, anJ may
serve as an example for many who would form tlicir gardens
on the slope.

In such a garden, where formahty has not been sought,
it is natural to find that tlie aichitectural featLires are few.
Yet, at the various descents, the work- is extremely good
and very characteristic, and tlie masonry is handsome, and
falls rightly into the garden picture. An abundance of flower
vases forms an attractive feature, and roses and pelargoniums,
the blue African lily, and multitudes of fine flowers are thus
cultivated in perfection. All along the terrace walls also
exceeding care is displa)-ed in cuhivating beautiful things.
Here are exquisite borders, full of admirable plants, and the
walls are rich in flowering climbers. It is a garden of subtle
and abundant charm, created and tended with unfailing sk'ill
and care.

The garden melts, as it were, into the surroundings on

The village of St. Pagan's may be described as a garden
also. It has that picturesqueness which we delight to find in
our rural villages. The quaint cottages, admirably picturesque
in their irregularity, are embowered in fragrant shrubs and
trees, their porches gay with sweet-smelling honeysuckle and
jasmine, and roses climbing to their chimneys. There is
nothing to break the rural ch.irm, and St. Pagan's is a village
dear to the artist, who finds in the quaint cottages and in the
ancient walls of the castle many subjects for his pencil.
The church is a feature in the landscape, and its ancient
character and many 'memorials make it interesting to the
antiquary. The neighbouring country adds the right grace
and charm. There are undulating pastures, wide sweeping
dales, v/oods, and rippling streamlets, all constituting a most
agreeable country.

We remember that it was here the famous battle was
lost and won, in which, in some measure, was decided the

THE EAST END OF THE TERRACE.

this side, and when at length, going down by the various
descents, we arrive at the border of the ponds, where the
water-lilies grow, we find ourselves in a natural landscape
— a transition most delightful. In the silvery surfaces of the
ponds the surrounding trees are reflected, and when we have
passed to the other side, looking back we see the house
reflected, with all its terraces and gardens — truly an enchanting
picture. The two ponds, though close together, are separated
by a walk giving access to the park beyond.

On th,e southern slope, where the terraces are, all things
prosper, and the terrace borders are triumphs in successful
gardening, the place being beautiful and fragrant because of
the admirable selection of flowers grown, from early spring
until the last vv'inds of autumn have blown. The trees are
magnificent, though not of great size, and include fine planes,
lovely birches, branching oaks, and stately and imposing
conifers, which last are green all the winter through. Indi-
vidually and in masses the trees adorn both the foreground
and the distance with admirable effect, and the outlook' over
the garden, with the rushing streamlet and v/aterfalls, and the
perfect sylvan beauty, conjures up in the mind the idea of
some southern land.

fate of a kingdom and a commonwealth, but we may say
with Byron :

" Those days are ,s;oue, but beaut}' still is here ;
Sta'.es fall. Arts fail, but Nature doth uot die."

We must add that to the present Lord and Lady Windsor, who
are true lovers of all that makes the country and country
houses beautiful, are due the preservation and the enrichment
of the sylvan and rural beauty of St. Pagan's.

The r.ver Ely flowing through the valley enhances the
cliarm of the landscape. Few would suspect that within a few
miles lies the busy port of Cardiff, where the ships ever come
and go, and the town is busy with the hum of men. Up on tlie
hill at St. Pagan's, or down by the fish-ponds and the woods,
we do not think of such things. We are content to look upon
the beautiful terraced gardens, to linger in the rosery, or
among the annual flowers, and to endeavour to trace out the
plan of the old castle which stood here long ago. Much of
the beauty of these islands is due to the care and judgment,
and the love of natural things, of those who, like Lord
and Lady Windsor, devote themselves to beautifying and
adorning with new attractions the places in which they
dwell.

■248

CARDHNS OLD AND NEW,

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[ 249 ]

TIIH famous house of Littlecote — the ancient home of
the Uart'lls and the Pophams — stands within the
Wiltsliire b ii'der, but at a distance of some tiiree or
four miles from Hungerford in Berlcshire. Leland
describes its grounds as "a right faire and large
parke hangynge upon the clyffe of a highe liille welle woddyd
over Kenet," and the description is true to-day, for tlie Kennet
still flows through the park, and the woods still are nreen.
The situation is low, aid the land by the house level, but
higher to the south, so that as tiie visitor nears it, approaching
by the old avenue, he sees the red brck walU and the gables,
of which there are somi forty, and the chimney-stacks rising
above the hedges and garden adornments. Truly a house
of marvellous charm is this, in a grouping of okl-.vorld
picturesqueness, a feast of colour also, when seen in the
setting sun, with the dark green foreground and the sky
behind, and countless panes in its mullioned windows to reflect
the evening glow. The alterations made nearly a century ago
by General Edward Leyborne-Popham, who had married the
heiress of the Poph.ims and taken the name, do not in any
way break the nntique spell.

What kind of garden should we desire to adorn such a
house ? We might have chosen a low terrace, perhaps, for our

outlook, bLit, in any case, we should have demanded simplicity.
Now, simplicity is the dominant characteristic of the place.
Tliere is enclosure by walling and hedges, and every wall is
used as the support for fruit trees or climbing flowers. The
Kennet lends a branch of its stream on the north side to form a
trout water in the garde s and meadows, and there are well-
kept grass walks on either side, flanked by glorious borders of
herbaceous flowers. Here sta ely lilies, giant hollyhocks, gay
phloxes, glorious poppies, and tall foxgloves, snapdragons, and
lark-spurs tluuiish, with many a humbler gem at their feet, and
the unrivalled background of a dark, dense hedge, or a mossy,
well-clothed wall. There are beautiful lawns, and abowlinggreen
covered with perfect turf, and a quaint " Dutch garden " —
though why that fair retreat should not be English no man can
say. Fhiwer-beds and garden seats are there also. Then the
south court is approached by a superb iron gateway, leading
to the grass plot, the dial, and the porch, and we think of the
generations of Darells and Pophams who have entered that
way. Everywhere are fine trees rising naturally in masses
and affording cool shide and the aspect of repose. The park,
which is some four miles in circumference, is varied in character
and contour, and picturesque, \^ ith a certain wiidness in its
aspect that is charming and beautiful. On one side rises a

THii SOUTHERN COURT.

250

GARDENS OLD AND NHIV.

THE COAT OF ARMS OVliR THE DOORWAY.

THE NORTH hkOMI AlNL) BtAVLING OkEEN.

LIJ-ILHCOTF..

251

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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

lofty hill,
crowned with
wood, and form-
ing a fir.e con-
trast with the
luxuriant and
level meadows
extending along
the banks of
the Ken net.
Radiance, sweet-
ness, and natural
attraction are
everywhere to
be found.

L i 1 1 1 e c 0 1 e
was long the
seat of the
Darells,and here
lived, in the six-
teenth century,
William Darell,
the last of the
line of its
builders, whose

stormy career is still recounted by the neighbouring peasants,
when they tell the tale of "Wild Uareli." Tlie story gues
that one dark and stjrmy night a hasty messenger arrived
on liorseback at the cottage of a Berkshire midwife, demanding
her services for a lady. Plenteous was the reward, but he
strange condition was tliat the woman sliuuld be blindfolded,
and be carried on the horseman's pillion to her duties. Her
scruples were overcome, and the pair rode on until they
reached a lonely mansion, where the midwi e, still blindfolded,
v/as conducted to an upper room. She performed her diities
to a lady, whom tradition avers to have been masked, but
scarcely had the new-born infant been thus strangely ushered
into the great world, when a man of ferocious aspect entered,
and brutally extinguished its new-budded life by flinging it
on the back of a great fire which roared on the hearth, amid
the shrieks of the mother and the cries of the woman.

THE NORTH LAWN.

Then the
midwife, again
blindfolded, was
mounted on the
pillion, and,
hurriedly riding
in the break-ing
day with her
silent com-
panion, was put
within her own
doors ; but the
strangeness of
the summons
had aroused her
curiosity, and,
en reaching the
house, she had
counted the
steps and had
cut a piece
out of the lady's
b e d - c u r t a i n .
Thus ultimately
was the horrid
deed brought home to its cruel author, and palpable was

Yet Darell escaped the penalty

his uuilt.

the proof of

of his crime. Old Aubrey avers that a dark transaction
wrought his freedom. " The knight was brought to his
tryall; and, to be short, this judge had his noble house, parke,
and mannor, and (1 thinke) more, for a bribe to save his life."
The judge in question was Sir John Popham, Chief Justice
of the King's Bench, a sound lawyer, but a severe man,
who presided at the trials of Sir Walter Raleigh and Guy
Fawkes. TiTe story, it must be confessed, seems improbable,
though it is not to be denied that Darell lived, and that
Popham possessed his estate, but it would appear that Darell
sold the reversion to him in 1586, and that he entered into
possession v/hen the murderer died in 1589. The manner of
his death is stated by tradition to have been consonant With
his desperate and passionate life. He had always been a wild

TlIU WESlbkN CoUkT.

UTTLECO-JE.

2r,B

A FLOWER BORDER BY DIE TROUT S1REAA1.

^^^:^l^^^^^^j^ i mi^' ^ ";

THE ORANGERY.

^54

GARDENS OLD AND NHIV.

THE ASCENT TO THE BOWLING GREEN.

horseman, and thej' say, dasliing in frenziaJ career across the
park, his steed fell in the headlong course, an I was killed with
his rider on a spot still known as " Darell's Leap."

Such is the story told with bated breath at Littlecote,
lending a strange interest to the old house and the grounds
in which these scenes were enacted. The place, in all
appropriateness, has its haunted room, and the curious will like
10 know that it is the chamber with the open window in our
picture of the north front and bow ing green. With th.e
Pophams the house long remained, and happily it is still in
their possession. The judge's only son was S.r Fr ir.cis
P 0 p h a m , a
soldier and poli-
tician of lit'gious
temperament,
who died in 164/;.
His son John had
died before him,
and was buried
wilh great pomp
at Littlecote in
1638. A 1 e .X -
ander, the second
son, succeeded
at Littlecote,
and, after siding
with Parliament
in the Civil War,
entertained
Charles IL at
his house in
1663. The buff
jerkins of the
day still hang
in the hall.
The third son of

THE SOUTHERN FORECOURT.

Sir Francis was Sir Edward Popham, a distinguished admiral
and general, who was buried in Westminster Abbey in 165 1.
It is unnecessary, however, to follow the generations
of the Pophams of Littlecote. The present owner is descended
in the female line from Alexander Popham, just mentioned.
Macaulay records that William of Grange, after his con-
ference with the Commissioners of James at Hungerford,
December 8th, 1638, retired to Littlecote, where a great
assemblage met him. He occupied the rooms of which the
windows, shown in the picture of the north-west corner
of the garden, look' out along that lovely grass walk. The

present owner is
Mr. Francis
William Ley-
borne - Popham,
eldest son of the
late Mr. Francis
Ley borne - Pop-
ham, D.L., J.P.,
of Littlecote, who
died in 1880. Mr.
Leyborne - Pop-
ham married, in
1890, Maud
Isabel, daughter
of the late Mr.
Henry Howard,
of Greystoke
Castle, Cum-
berland. For
some years
Littlecote has
been let, and Mr.
Leopold Hirsch
is the present
tenant.

t 255 ]

WITHIN some three miles of tlie busy Lancashire
town of Bolton-le-Moors, noisy with the hum of
the spind'e and the rattle of the shuttle in the
loom, stands ancient Smithills Hall, apart in its
gardens, and preserving its old-time splendour
undimmed. In these pages several of the black and white^or
"magpie," as it is sometimes called — tinber-work houses of
Lancashire have been depicted. We might dwell upon the
charms of that old English style, which has few finer exemplars
than the house of Smithills, but it is perliaps uiinecessary to
refer again to the general character of such places. What is
specially gratifying in regard to this antique house is that,
though it lies so near to a manufacturing town, it is maintained
in something even greater than its pristine charm. Such
additions as have been male to fit it for a modern habitation
are in admirable fast?, and the stone enlargements are in
e.xccllent harmony with the whole structure.

Beautiful gardens and a good park are the setting of

the place. Their character is broad and simple, and without
elaboration, as will be seen from the pictures, and the effect
is eminently satisfactory. In the ancient courtyard there is
a pleasant arrangement of flower-beds. The long lawns which
are upon the south front form a raised terrace, and there is
nothing to detract from the architectural proportions or the
harmony of the structure. At the outer edge of this terrace
runs a low wall without any balustrade, and there are three
simple descents, with stonework margins and the old adornment
of stone balls.

The stairways lead down to a long walk, with a fine
flower border under the wall, and a grass margin on the
other hand, beyond which is another low stone wall with
grass lying below. The garden masonry is everywhere
excellent, as may be noticed in the illustration of the ascents
to the mount. That mount is a feature in the gard?n, and
it has been conjectured that it was the mound or base of a
fortified tower, which it is believed anciently stood upon the

THE DOMESTIC CHAPEL AND GOSPEL HALL.

256

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

THE GARDEN IN THE COURTYARD.

THE ASCENT lO IHE A\UUNT.

SMI-THILLS HALL.

257

spot. The trees

about Smithills

Hall are tine

a n ti w i d e -

spreading, and

add a great deal

to the charm of

the pictures.

in some places

ivy clings to the

structure, as

well as various

flowering plants.

Gen e r a 11 y

speaking it may

be said that the

garden is good,

simple, and

appropriate. In

this, of course,

there is a

lesson It is,

that much may

be achieved

without either

great labour or great expense ; and in this matter Smithiils

might well be an example.

The site of the Hall presents many analogies to those of
other Lancashire houses, and it is reasonable to think that
it was selected because of the facilities it presented for defence.
In this matter it is like Agecroft, Little Bolton Hall, and the
well-known " Hall i' th' Wood" in the same neighbourhood.
Smithiils stands on the edge of a steep cliff, at the bottom of
wliich flows a tributary of the river Tonge, while on the
other sides, in former times, there was the p'otection of
a moat.

The glen which results from the steep declivity adds
picturesqueness to the place, and a rocky bridge and overflow
have a:i agreeable touch of wildness, and give to the park
a great deal of natural charm. The water of the glen comes
down from the hills above, forms a basin or lak'e, and runs
into a ravine of rock towards Bolton and the bLisy places
which lie at the foot of the hill. The arrangement of the

THE GOSPEL HALL, EAST SIDE

house shall pre-
sently be des-
cribed, but, while
we are speaking
of its situation,
it may be
interesting to
say that the old
g a t e - h 0 u s e
seems to have
Ix'en at the
south-west
corner of tl'.e
quad r a n g 1 e ,
as is marked
by an avenue
of limes which
leads that way.
The quadrangle
is not enclosed,
as in some
houses of the
class, but is
open on the
south side, and
the more modern erections have been added in an extension
westward.

In very ancient tinirsthe place belonged to the great house
of Lacy, and it passed to the Stanleys of Lathom, and then to
the Radcliffes, who were seated at Smithills in the reign of
Edward III., and were a branch of the Kadcliffes of Rad.liffe
Tower. Joanna, the daughter and heiress of Sir Ralph
Radcliffe, conveyed Smithills to her husband, Ralph Barton of
Home, Esquire, at some date after 1450. The older portions
of the present house at Smithillsi with their singular enrich-
ments, and very fine internal carvings, were built by Sir
Andrew Barton in the reign of Henry VII., and it is interesting
to note that the rebus of his name — a bar and a ton — with
the initials "A.B.," still remains in the panelling of the
dining-room.

It was during the residence of the Bartons at Smithills
tliat a somewh'.it remarkable episode occurred there. Those
were bitter times, whe 1 the hand of one man was often set

THE GARDEN FRONT OF SMITHILLS HALL.

258

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

^i^—

rHh: HaLL and lis ItlRRACEi

upon the throat of another, and when the wrongs of one reign
brought their retiibution in that which follovved. It is recorded
that in 1555 a young curate, named George Mar^h, was appre-
iiended and brougiit before Justice Barton at Smitliills, on the
charge of holding heretical opinions obnoxious to the govern-
ment of Queen Mary. At the examination Marsii's frien Is,
foreseeing the dangers, entreated him to conform, but he stood
steadfast, and, stamping his foot on the ground, exclaimed :
" If my cause be just, let tlie prayers of thine unworthy
servant be heard." Thereafter, so the story goes, the foot-
print remained, and was regarded with veneration ; and even
now, as if to confound the incredulous, it may be seen in the
passage by the "gospel hall." A panel in the floor is raised,
and there something like the imprint of a foot is seen, while
above is an inscription on the wall recording how George
Marsh of Deane, whose footprint it is, was burnt at Chester
in Mary's time. It appears that, after being examined at
Smithills, Marsh wa> taken before the Earl of Derby at
Lathom, and was burnt outside the walls of Chester on
April 24th, 1555.

Sir Thomas Barton of Smithills died in 1659, and the
estate passed, with his daughter Grace, as sole heiress, to
Henry Belasyse, M.P., eldest son of Thomas, first Viscount
Fauconberg, whose descendant, the third Earl, sold the manor
in 1 72 1. It afterwards passed to the Byroms of Manchester,
and was sold for ;!^2i,ooo to Mr. Richard Ainsworth of Helli-
well, who died in 1833. It thus reached good liands, and,
through the care of that gentleman and his present successor
in the estate, has been broug'.t to a new state of perfection.

Mr. Henry Taylor, who has wriiten a very interesting
book, entitled " Old Halls in Lancashire and Cheshire," says
that the architectural history of Smithills is more beset with
entanglements than that of almost any other old house he has
dealt with, in consequence of the great number of a teiations
and rebuildings in mediceval and subsequent times. The
difficulty of unravelling the confusion is increased by the
unusually large number of rooms and the great size of the
house. From the architectural point of view, the main interest
is on the eastern side of the quadrangle, from which the
domestic part has gone westward, where the more modern
portions lie in an added wing. The courtyard, which, as we

have said, is open on the south side, is about 60ft. square.
On the north is the great hall, with the pantry and buttery,
and across the western end of the large apartment are screens,
with an ancient passage through the building from north to
south. At the east end stood the high table, with a canopy
over it, but at the close of the eighteenth century the great
hall was converted into a brew-house, the side walls raised,
and a false roof of flatter pitch added, and a new floor. The
walls have been all more or less rebuilt, the first rebuilding
being from wood to stone in Tudor times. There is now an
open timber roof of very great beauty, and from it the date
of the earlier building may be taken.

Entered by a door at the back of the high table was the
smaller hall, or lord's chamber, now divided into rooms, and
further east was a charming withdrawing-room or banqueting-
room. The dom stic chapel is on that side also, and may be
seen in the pictures, with a cross upon the gable and ivy
cloliiing the walls. Unfortunately, it has suffered damage
in past times by fire, and so is not S5 generally interesting.
On the western side of the quadrangle are apartments with
massive oak timber roofs, built originall)' without the corridor,
which is now seen. This was added in the Jacobean period
to provide means for entering the upper rooms independently,
and is supported by an arcade of oak columns, forming a
verandah to the lower rooms, where is the splendid old oak
carvmg, with the ancient linen pattern, the rebus of the bar
and ton, the oak leaves and acorn, and quai.it legends, most
ot the oak having been taken from the old withdrawing-room
on the other side of the quadrangle.

Such, then, is the ancient Lancashire house at Smithills.
In its surroundings, though we might wish the busy hum of
the urgent world somewhat further away, there is very much
that in our garden survey we have been able to admire.
Those broad expanses of grass, that simple treatment of the
tei racing upon the gentle slope, the presence of those old
trees, and the encouragement of those gorgeous colonies of
radiant flowers, seem to present together all that we should
wish to find in the surroundings of such a house. Long
may Smithills Hall remain as the exemplar of good things
coming down from ancient times, and well preserved in
modern days.

[ '^59 ]

GROOMBRIDGE PLACE, near Tunbridfre Wells,
separated from the neighbouring county of Sussex
by a stream of tiie Medvvay, is celebrated among
all the great houses of Kent.. Its historical and
personal interests and associations are many, and
its present attractions conspicuous and even famous, while the
neighbourhood is as beautiful as any in that part of EnghmJ.
In its moated and terraced gardens there is a great deal to
admire — so much, indeed, that too many have sought the
privilege, and now, it appears, the place is not shown. The
more welcome, therefore, should be the pictures of it presented
here. Groombridge is a hamlet and manor in the Kentish
parish of Speldhurst, which in the time of Edward I. passed to
a younger branch of the powerful family of Cobham of
Cobham. Its owner, at that time, was Henry de Cobham,
who was commonly known as " le Uncle," in order to
distinguish him from another of the same name. He obtained
a charter for a weekly market there, which was a notable
source of revenue, but presently alienated the place to the

Clinto:"S, and Sir J<ihn of that family possessed it in the days
of Richard II. His descendant in the reign of Henry IV. did
homage, and became Lord Clinton and Say, the latter title
coming through his wife's inheritance. From this nobleman
Groombridge passed by sale to Thomas Waller of Lamber-
hurst, to whom succeeded John Waller of Groombridge. The
Wallers were a great family in Kent and Sussex, and, although
Groombridge Place is later, some of the buttressed walls
probably belong to their time. It was a place well moated
and made defensible by art.

The son of John Waller of Groombridge was Sir Richard
Waller, a valiant soldier, who did gallant service at Agincourt.
His name does not occur in the roll of those who were there,
but tlie same is the case with some others, including the
famous David Gamme, or squint-eyed David, who was
k'nighted on the field, and whom Sir Walter Raleigh extolled
as a modern Hannibal. Let us not wonder, therefore, at the
omission from the proud list of the name of the knight of
Groombridge. Sir Richard Waller would have merited the

THE NORTH TERRACE.

260

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

eulogv, for he it was, as we most creJibly hold, who tonl< 1he
Duke of Orleans on the field. The shocking massacre of the
fight is well k-nown, and although the circumstances are
somewhat obscure, it is on record that Waller laid hands on the
Duke, who, for his welfare, was discovered alive under a heap
of the slain, it has, indeed, been asserted that Sir John
Cornwall was tlie actual captor, but the statement can scarcely
be correct, for, though Cornwall afterw.uds had charge of the
Duke, there can be no doubt that the noble captive was
confided to the custody of Sir Richard Waller, as was his due,
wlio held him captive at Groombridge, It would appear that
the seizure of this important prisoner was profitable to tiie
Kentish knight, for he rebuilt the house on the old foundations,
and was a benefactor to Speldhurst Church. The Duke was
afterwards confided to Sir Thomas Chamberworth, and then
to Sir John Cornwall. Waller is said to have had, as an
addition to his achievement, the arms of France on an

Lord Dorset in France in \6\o, af^erwards going as envoy to
Denmark". He gained the favour of many great people, and
had profitable oftlces conferred upon him. About the year
1618 he had grown rich enough to buy Groombridge, and
in 1625 he rebuilt the chapel there in gratitude for Prince
Charles's return from Spain, and perhaps with an idea of
further Royal favour. As a matter of fact, Charles gave
him a manor in Berlcshire at the coronation, and he had
possessions elsewhere. Charles doubtless felt that he could
depend upon Mr. Packer, but when loans were asked in
1659-40, it is on lecord that the squire of Groombridge refused,
and fi.irthwith allied himself with the Parliament. Unk'inl
pi'rsons have represented him as self-seeking, avaricious, and
even treacherous ; he certainly was a good business man. He
may also have imbibed new political doctrines from his friend
Sir John Eliot, but the Cavaliers naturally did not like him,
and all his propertv, save Groombridge, was sequestrate-i.

THE CONSTANT RUNNING STREaA\.

escutcheon hanging by a label on a walnut tree, with the
motto " Fructus Virtutis."

His grandson, William Waller of Groombridge, was Sheriff
of the County in 1530. To him succeeded another William,
whcse son, Sir Walter Waller, buried at Speldhurst, was the
father of Ge rge Waller and of Sir Thomas, who, though his
younger son, succeeded him at Groombridge. The latter was
Lieutenant of Dover Caslle in the time of James L He
alienated the estate to Thomas Sack\-ille, Harl of Dorset,
Lord Treasurer of England, but that nobleman's grandson
conveyed it to John Packer, Esq., Clerk' of the Privy Seal
to Charles L, who rebuilt Groombridge Chapel.

In the new possessor we encounter another interesting
man. Packer, who was born at Twickenham, and had studied
both at Cambridge and Oxford, grew to high favour at Court,
under the patronage of Burghley, of two successive Earls
of Dorset, and of Buckingham., and he travelled with Thomas

It was by Mr. Packer's son Philip, to whom Groombridge
came, that the present house was built, and to the same date
we may attiibute the gardens. They underwent many changes
later on, it is true, but perhaps in the general disposition of them,
within and w ithout the moat, and on the slope, where those
enchanting terraces are, the arrangements remain the same.
Mr. Pliilp Packer had good friends and advisers, and among
them John Evelyn, who appears to have been his intimate for
many years. The author of " Sylva " would have liked to
see the house in a higher situation, for the outlook', but he
must have recognised the great advantages the moat and the
embosoming foliage presented. The moat was bridged, and
the gardens were laid out afresh. The place became much
what it now is, though tl'.e grounds have since grown in
richness and character, and are more beautiful than ever they
could have been in the times of Philip Packer and John E\el\n.
Perhaps the peacocks of Groombridge, which are famous now,

G^iOOMBRmOH PLACE.

261

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C.^RDH\'S OLD AND Nl-W

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Giioohmi{mr,n place.

268

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264

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

filled then the

sylvan valley

with their

raucous cry, and

spread their

glories on the

terrace v,'alls as

in these days.

Certainly the

place became

beautiful, with

attractions to Mr.

Packer's mind.
It has been

stated that when

Evelyn returned
from Italy

enraptured v\ith
the cljssic taste,
he persuaded his
friend to rebuild
the house at
Groombridge in
that style.
It does not

Seem, however, to possess very much of the Kalian character,
though the portico and loggia are Ionic, for the roo's and
windows are \'ery much in the Dutch character. It may well
be that Evelyn's advice was sought in regard to the arrange-
ment of the grounds. He went to Groombridge in July, 1652,
and heard a fermon at Mr. Packer's chapel there, and in his
diar}' describes the house as "a pretty, melancholy seat, well
wooded and watered," and he records the fact that the chapel
had been built by Mr. Packer's father in remembrance of the
return of Prince Charles safely out of Spain.

Evelyn recorded another visit to Groombridge in August,
1674, which seems to explain his view of the melancholy
character of the seat. " I went to Groombridge to ^ee my old
friend Mr. Packer ; the house was built within a moat, in a
woody valley. The old house has been the phice of confine-

THE NORTH GARDEN.

mentof theDuke
of Oiiians,taken
by one Waller
(whose house it
then was) at the
battle of Agin-
court, now de-
molished, and a
new one built
in its place,
though a far
better situation
n a d been on
the south of the
wood, on a grace-
ful ascent. At
some small dis-
tance is a large
chapel, not long
since built by
Mr. Packer's
father, on a
vow he made
to do it on
the return
of King Charles 1. out of Spain, 1625, and dedicated to
St. Charles, but what saint there was then of that name
1 am to seek-, for, being a Protestant, I conceive it was not
Borromeo."

It is pleasant to associate John Evelyn with this lovely
place in the region of England he knew and described so well.
It is something, indeed, of classic ground that we tread in the
beautiful terraced gardens of old Groombridge, and though
Evelyn would have liked a site on the hill, few will question
that the place gains much by the ancient moat spanned by its
three bridges on the north, east, and west. Mr. Packer was
buried in Groombridge Chapel, and was sticceeded in posses-
sion by his son John, and then by h.is grandson Philip. The
last-named died unmarried, when Groombridge Place came to
his sisters as co-heiresses, and was vested in the Court of

THE NORTH BRIDGE.

C^OOMBRWGE PLACE.

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THE NORTH-EAST WALK.

THE Gateway and the peacocks.

G'ROOMBRmGE PL/ICE.

267

268

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

#/?*-S^-^

THE STABLES, SOUTH-EAST CORNER.

Chancery, where it remained until it was purchased by Mr.
William Camfield towards the end of the eighteenth century.
It passed througli the hands of otlier owners, and came
into the possession of the late Rev. John J. Saint of
Groombridge.

The broad moat is the distinguishing feature of the place.
The main approach is by a bridge that spans it, leading to
two lofty gate-posts, topped by acorn-like adornments, and
clustered, like the bridge, with ivy. This brings us to the
entrance, and there is little space for gardenage between the
moat and the house. Nevertheless, the immediate neighbour-
hood of the edifice is rich and glorious in its abundant flowers
and its wealth of greenery, and there are lawns and flowering
bushes, while on the east side a sundial has an appropriate
place.

The grouping of the structure with these neighbouring
gardens is very fine, and the effect most beautiful. It is
a grand composition in colour, for the mellow brickworlc
contrasts delightfully with the green things that grow there.
On the placid surface of the moat many are the chaming
objects reflected, and the antique walls and loft\' roofs, thus
doubled, form a picture not to be forgotten when seen with
the gardens and woodi behind in the full pi ime of the leafy
month of June. The old hrickwoik, the ancient buttresses of
the walls, the gate-posts with their ornan-.ental tops, the fruit
trees and flowering climbers, the splendid herbaceous borders,
and the sequestered ways, like that under the pergola to the
garden seat, are the features of truly delightful gardenage.
It is a summer garden that we depict, but Groombridge is
beautiful at all times of the yea'-, with charms that the town-
dvvelier would scarcely suspect. Thus in the winter frosts
the old brickwork assumes a deeper hue, contrasted with the
delicate silver tracery of the boughs and the snovv-ladtn
evergreens.

The foliage is magnificent in character and \-ariety, and
planting long ago bears its fruit now. Nothing could surpass
the magnificent colour and form of the sylvan groups.
Passing the bridge, and ascending the slope, the terraces are
readied, from which all may be surveyed. There are pleasant
ways by stairs and green slopes, where stone edgings mark'

the ascent, with vases full of flowers, and when we reach the
top, with the glorious trees behind us, there is an outlook over
the house, gardens, and water spaces which appeals most
povveifully to the imagination when its beauties are contem-
plated and the historic memories which make it famous are
recalled.

In such a garden as this there is infinite charm because of
its great variety. There is the pleasant border by the old
brick and stone garden wall, with the huge buttresses, and the
vista beyond to the pergola. Look again at the moat, reflecting
the cultivated woodland, margined with a terrace walk, and
crossed by bridges thickly grown with ivy, while the moat
walls give kindly hospitality to many plants that root them-
selves therein. Then there is the pleasant fountain in the
north garden, where the triton blows upon a shell in a region
of sununer flowers and evergreen bushes. The green slopes
by the water are a great feature, and water counts for much in
the character of the Groombridge gardens. Still more notable,
perhaps, is the prodigal growth of flowers in the long borders,
like those which margin tlie grass walk in the upper garden,
where the history of the year may be read. Here we think
the first snowdrop came, here colonies of crocuses, daffodils,
and narcissi also ; the blue gentians followed, and the colum-
bines, and the great globe pasonies, the dark blue monk's-
hood ; perhaps, the spiked veronica, and the meadow-sweet,
the lady's-mantle, and the evening primrose, and then in the
late autumn the tall-growing lilies, lancifolium, it may be, or
auratum.

The more stately part of the garden, with its trimmed
hedges of yew and laurel, recalls the days of Evelyn. He was
ever counselling and advising his friends. Thus, when he
went with his " brother Evelyn " to Wotton, it was to give
him directions about his garden. There a mountain, overgrown
with huge trees and a thick'et, was to be removed, and the
moat was to be drained, which was done at no great cost.
Perhaps in these days Evelyn would not have recommended
the destruction of moats. At least we may congratulate our-
selves that, notwithstanding his opinion, Groombridge stands
where it did, with the moat to reflect the charms of its
architecture and its garden.

[ 26y J

^EW great places in the east of
England have so inaJequate
a record of their past as
Lord de Saumarez's mansion and famous gardens at Shrubland.
Some remains of the original house still exist at a little
distance from the present Hall. The date, 1637, and the
initials, N.B., show that it was proLoab!\' built in the later
days of its tenure by the Bacons. It appears that the place from
the days of Edward III. passed through a great number of
hands, and did not remain long in the possession of any famil/
until Helen Lytton, granddaughter of Sir Robert Lytton of
Knebworth, brought it to Edward Bacon, tb.ird son of Sir
Nicholas, the Lord Keeper. It remained in the Bacon family

for four gentrations following ihe first ow.ier of the name, and
was sold, after th^ death of the Rev. Nicholas Bacon in 1795,
to Mr. William Middleton of Crowfield, who was created a
Baronet in 1804, and assumed, by sign-manual in 1822, the
name of Fowle, in addition to and before that of Middlet'..n.
Sir William was a native of South Carolina, rnd a grandson of
a former Governor of that colony. The estate, after the
death of his son, Sir William Fowle Middleton, passed to his
nephew, Admiral Sir George Brok'e-Middleton, and after his
death to his niece, the present Lady de Saumarez, daughter of
the late Captain Charles Acton Broke. Sir Philip Broke, who
commanded the Sliannon in the famous action against the
Chesapeake, married a daughter of Sir William Fowle

THE UPPER TEMPLE.

■270

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

Middleton. His fourth son took the name of Middleton from
his mother's family. The hero of the Shannon was thus
the ancestor of the lady wlio now owns Shrubland, and is
married to the descendant of another of the most famous of
English Naval heroes. The site of Shrubland is the finest of
any house in Suffolk, except those on the Orwell River. The
valley of the river Gipping, a small deep navigable stream,
which runs down fr^m Stowmarket to Ipswich, forms in front
of the place, a typical alluvial valley, of the kind which
Constable delighted to paint. The side of this valley, on
which the house stands, is one of the last pieces of chalk in
East Suffolk, with light sandy loam above it. The contour is
far steeper than that of the ordinary heavy loams of the
county, which lie for miles behind the park. Consequently, it
forms a long elevated ridge, all covered with park and woods
from foot to crest, where the Italian house and stately garden
architecture of Sir Charles Barry had full scope for display.

The gardens and pleasure grounds are exceptionally large,
even as those of the great houses go ; and the gardens and
"kept" grounds cover sixty-five acres. There are greater
houses in England than Shrubland Park, but probably not
another possesses such a very stately example of the
;Trand style of gardening, as the creation of comparatively
recent times, and in a situation where a great and truly
magnificent descent from level to level could be formed
upon so attractive a sleep. To survey these gardens is,
indeed, something of a liberal education in the splendid
aspects of the art of gardening. Through the centre runs a
maghificent green drive bordered with arbor-vita; and yew.
Green drives are als ) cut and kept mown through ihe
parks and woods as additions to the garden views Sir
William MidJleton has long joined the majority; but his
memory is still k'ept green, especially among the people
on the estate. He held Shrubland during the years when

A WALK BY THt GREAT STAIRWAY.

The splendour of the gardens must appeal to all. They are
set in a large wild park, full of deer, and planted with trees
both new and old. The latter belong probably to the era of
the old Hall, the former to that of the present house, which
was rebuilt for Sir William Fovvle Middleton by Sir Charles
Barry in 1830. Sir Charles also designed the elaborate
and immensely costly garden architecture and " lay out,"
assisted largely by Lady Anne Middleton (a sister of Earl
Brownlow) in improving the great additions — not the
first instance in which a lady has exercised an important
influence in the highest developments of garden design.
'['he "Brownlow Terrace" still recalls the memory of her
family. The ancient chestnuts, which probably formed the
avenue to the old house, were spared where possible. Thirteen
still remain, probably among the largest and oldest in England.
The measurement of the finest tree is, at the present time,
37ft. in circumference at the base. At 3ft. from the ground it
measures 22ft. gin., and it is 88ft. 6in. high. What was
formerly the largest tree, but now sadly broken by storms,
is 47ft. round on the ground line, and 30ft. at 3ft. from the
ground.

agriculture was in its most flourishing condition and the
fine estate was yielding its maximum return, and this,
with his other revenues, he spent mainly in keeping up his
demesne as well as a place of the kind could be maintained. In
the history of the great country houses a prime factor is the
revenue spent upon the wages of those who.-e hands are busy
from year's end to year's end in the upkeep of all this beauty
and stateliness. Few persons, except the owners, know what
the maintenance of a great place means, or the number of
n:en employed.

The "lay-out" of the gardens may be gathered
largely from the illustrations. The ground lent itself to
terracirg, and terraced it was, with the utmost splendour of
material, design, and decoration. Two tiers, the first decorated
with ^a Pailadian archway, adjoin the south front. Below
this is the first terrace garden. This is probably as fine
as anything of its kind in EnglanJ. What is called the
Upper Temple is a splendid piece of garden architecture. It
is really a gate-house, through which further flights of steps
lead to the lower gardens and the Lower Temple, a less
satisfactory piece of work', in which, though the architect

SH1{UBLAN^D PARK.

Ill

did not desert
purely Italia n
models, the
effect at a
distance is
sligiitiy Sara-
cenic. From the
grand stairway,
looking soutli, is
as fine a pros-
pect of formal
garden arrange-
ment as can be
seen elsewhere
In England. The
whole coup d'a'i!
is complete.
Successive
stairways and
b a 1 u s t r a d e d
platforms
drop do w n
through cedars
and pines to the
lower gardens,

the circular fountain basin being immediately at the foot
of the stairway, and an immense lower terraced garden, with
perfectly formal bedding, and a semi-circular sweep on either
side of balustrading, and another terraced slope, lead to the
parks and woodlands below. Beyond is the wooded valley,
and the timbered line of hills far beyond it, a representative
English landscape, in which, on the principle that all good
things go together, the splendid and extensive Italian
gardens take their place as foreground with admirable
effect. The vast amount of building, the hundreds of

THE LOWER

thousand s
of cubic yards
of earth re-
moved, and
the extent of
walling a n d
t e !• r a c i n g ,
account in part
for the staff
of masons and
b 1- i c k makers
kept on the
estate, doing
almost entirely
ornamental, or
at any rate
non - remunera-
five, work.
There are no
odd corners
at Shrubland ;
every side
was cared for
equally. The
east terrace,
for instance, has its gushing fountain. Close by is a stone
terrace set with vases and statues down to the fern gates,
made in a design admirably suited to the classical setting of
which they are an ornament. It will be seen that at a greater
distance from the house, and lower down the slope, the garden
architecture assumes a lighter character. Pierced parapets
take the place of the heavier balustrades. The garden-houses
have Anglo-Italian finials and decoration and flat pierced work,
and children and cupids replace adult gods and goddesses and
classic busts. This is seen in the view of the panel garden

■:^a3.:iafiii3ef>.-S2i

THE EAST TERRACE,

272

GARDEhlS OLD AND NEW.

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GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

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ON THE LOWER TERRACE.

and the lower terrace. From the sides of these subordinate
gardens vistas like the famous green walk run out into
the pleasure grounds. But perhaps the most striking use
of turf terracing is that of the crossing lines of sward, such as
that which runs for a great distance right through the grounds
at the foot of the stone terraces, passing the lower pleasaunce,
with its upright yews, its pavilions and cedars. Modern taste
has mitigated the severe classicisms of the Shrubland
gardens by covering tlie balustrades with roses and letting
climbing plants drape tlie terrace walls. But they still
remain one of the finest examples of the Italian style of

garden embellishment as
British architects under-
stood it.

When Sir William
Fowle Middleton died the
estate was vested in a
trust, now terminated, but
of a kind containing
rather unusual provisions.
The upkeep of the gardens
was specially provided
for by an endowment of
i^2,ooo a year to be spent
in their maintenance. It
probably was not at all
too much for the task.
There are serpents of
golden yew lying on green
cushions of turf, gardens
hanging looft. above
other gardens, and along
the great transverse walk
is a whole series of
gardens each in a different
style. You take your
choice of anything you
fancy, or can imagine
yourself in Japan at one
moment, or at Hampton
Court the next. Going to the right from the panel
garden the visitor sees the fountain garden, a blaze of
colour ; next is a Chinese garden ; then a box garden
follows, devoted to the treatment of that staple of the topiary
art ; a verbena garden follows, and then a maze. The poplar
garden is greatly in place in Suffolk, where that tree forms in
its wild state the most striking feature in the landscape. There
are also a rose garden, a tent garden, and detached groups of
flowers stretching away to lake and wood. The looking-glass
garden sends two brilliant borders up to an open summer-
house, whence the coup d'ceiL can be surveyed at leisure.

THE FERN GATES.

SH%UBLAN^ PARK.

275

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276

GARDENS OLD AND NEW,

r '-^77 ]

N C E the time when
William the Conqueror
laid the foundation of
Windsor Castle each Enp;lish Sovereign in succession has
added to it an expression of his or her individuality, and that
of the longest lived of tiiem all lingers there still. We
scarcely know what great and inspiring memories may not be
evoked by the prospect of these enchanting scenes. Here the
long line of our Sovereigis has lived. Hither have come the
Ministers of State, the great soldiers and seamen, heroes of
every sort, the highest personages in our literary and art
nnnals. How many great men have looked upon these
historic scenes, which many are now privileged to survey !
Frogmore especially represents the tastes and character of
Queen Victoria, jusi as Sandringham, the place which has,

so to speak, grown up under his
ownership, represents those of King
Edward VII., while Windsor is the
great exemplar of Royal taste and kingly majesty. Already
the places are being changed and modified. Throughout her
whole life, but especially towards the end, Queen Victoria had
the affection of a strong nature for what was old and endeared
by long association, so that she was averse to the removal of
ancient landmarks. And what a great deal Windsor and
Frogmore must liave been to her ! Here was her stately
and historic home during life, and for long years of
widowhood she contemplated sleeping in death side by
side with her beloved husband under the mausoleum she
had erected to his memory at Frogmore. Set there
in stillness, amid sombre green trees, it suggests Goethe's

THE ROSB GARDEN.

278

GARDENS OLD AND NEW,

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FROG[MORE AND IVINDSOI^.

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280

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

solemn line, "Stars silent over us, graves under us silent."
Within a hundred yards is the tomb of her mother, the
Duchess of Kent. There remains the simple tea-house
where so mu:h of her time was spent, and close to it two
very fine old evergreen oaks, holm or holly oaks, as they
are sometimes called. Between them and under the shade
cast by the dark foliage of their gnarled limbs she used to
receive endless visitors who came about affairs — Cabinet
Ministers, diplomat! ts, and the others who have business
with Royalty. Queen Victoria ever deliglited in trees, and
there are few parts about Frogmore that are not distinguished
by noble specimens. There is the beautiful lime avenue, one
of the finest extant, in which the upper parts of the trees are
thick with bunches of mistletoe ; we know of no other place
in England where it grows more profusely. Not far from the
Duchess of Kent's tomb there are three remarkable trees. One
is a maidenhair, Salisburia adiantifolia, said to be the finest of
irs kind in Europe ; another is a towering deciduous cypress ;
and the third a Californian Thuja gigantea, planted by the
Princess Hohenlohe in 1857. Of a curious historical interest
is the well-known Lu'her beech. Its history is written in
the tablet placed at its root. " This tree was raised from
the beech tree near Altenstem, in the Duchy of Saxe-

to be attempted. Plot ar.d box edging and yew hedge are to
all appearances left as she found them. But the rose garden
at the further end has, of course, received the magnificent
roses developed by scientific nineteenth century horticulture.
In all the grounds there is nothing more eloquent of the
late Queen's tastes than this exquisite, tasteful, and
admirable private garden. Fragrance, floral beauty, the
reposeful aspect of the hedges and borders, and the
general air of quiet and calm, are the note of character
in this pleasaunce. Time and long usage have imparted
to it a sweetness of their own, and it is easy to believe
that in this seclusion the widowed Queen found solace and
refreshment.

This quiet feeling is very appropriate at Frogmore.
The house itself is elegant rather than grand, and was long
the residence of the Duchess of Kent. The estate is an ancient
demesne of the Crown, although during the Civil Wjrs it was
sold by Charles I., but was returned to its original owners
during the reign of his son Charles II. The house was built
by Queen Charlotte, who at her death bequeathed it to the
Princess Augusta, who resided there till 1840. The approach
is by a semi circular drive, pi inted with shrubs, and there are
many art treasures within. A very fine and pleasing building.

LEAD VASES, AND IHE CASILE TERRACE.

Meiningen, called Luther's Beech, under which Dr. Martin
Luther v/as arrested and conducted from thence to Wartburg
in 1 52 1. The little offshoot was brought to England from
Meiningen by King William IV. in 1825, and planted by
Queen Adelaide near the house at Bushey Park. Her
Majesty bequeathed it in her last will to His Royal Highness
Prince Albert, with the request that it might be trans-
planted into the enclosure at Adelaide Cottage." This was
successfully done in 1856. Queen Adelaide's Cottage was
originally a keeper's lodge, but was greatly enlarged and
improved. Very pretty and attnctive it looked, with its
surrounding borders of simple spring flowers — primroses,
wallflowers, forget-me-nots, and the like.

In the late Queen's favourite and private garden the
spectator breathes a very old-world air. It is surrounded with
thick yew hedges, which themselves testify to the clipping
and care of several generations — -how many or how long
it would be difficult to say. Then you come first to tiny
flower-plots laid out in the formal, simple style of the early
Georgian, or an earlier period. Each has its tiny box
edging, and the general effect is one of being carried back for
at least two hundred years. Here Queen Victoria followed her
fine conservative instincts, and would allow no modernisation

it was, as will be remembered, given by the late Queen as a
residence to the Prince and Princess Louis of Battenberg.
The gardens comprise about thirteen acres, and an artificial
lake, which we believe was dug out simply for the purpose of
finding employment for the labourers in a spell of depression,
enhances the beauty of the surroundings.

Our picture gives a good idea of the formal plots and
trim shrubs and neat walks of the terrace, with its fine lead
vases, all in keeping with the strong, stern lines of the
castle, which completely dominate every other feature of
the landscape. There is something severe in the arrangement,
but, as the gardens are surveyed, new and attractive beauties
are disclosed. We should scarcely expect to find these
gardens like others. The Windsor gardens are, indeed, great,
distinguished, and Royal. In themselves splendid, they
disclose from their terraces prospects that England can
scarcely surpass. The park is noble and truly Royal also,
with the magnificent avenue of the Long Walk, three miles
in length, flanked by its double lines of glorious elms, and
terminating at Snow Hill, where is Westmacott's statue of
George 111. Other avenues are hers, like Queen Anne's
Ride, and there is the famous Rhododendron Walk, where
one may stroll for a mile among the radiant flowers.

FROGChlOKB AND lVIN/)sn%

281

A MARBLE URN ON THE TERRACE AT WINDSOR.

282

GARDENS OLD AND NEW.

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HADSOR, . .

DROITWICH,

the: residence: . .

OF

LADY HINDLIP.

THE pleasant county of Worcester is famous for its many
fine houses, great churciies, and picturesque villages.
It is a county of orchards, gardens, and cornfields —
though there are now fewer of these than of yore —
where the rustic cottages are garlanded with flowers,
and the great houses stand bravely in tire midst of great
domains. Its rural fame of rare productiveness is of ancient
date, for William of Malmesbury describes it thus: "A land
rich in corn, productive of fruits in some parts by the sole
favour of Nature, in others by the art of cultivation, enticing
even the lazy to industry by the prospect of a hundredfold
return ; you may see the highway clothed with trees that
produce apples, not by the grafter's hand, but by the nature
of the ground itself, for the earth of its own account rears
them up to fruit in excellence of flavour and appearance, many
of which wither not under a year, nor before the new crops
are produced to supply their place." Robert of Gloucester,
too, referred to the rich fruitage of Worcestershire where he
describes the character of various places in England.

Here stands the fine house of imposing aspect which we
depict, plain in its classic severity, but expressive both of
domestic comfort and of cultured leisure. It is a place of
some antiquity, altered and modernised by its present owner,
Major Hubert George Howard Galton, R.A., or his predecessor.
The Amphletts were former owners here ; and of them several
monuments may be seen in the village church, which is a
fine Decorated structure possessing some ancient glass. Here,

also, is a memorial brass of the late John Howard Galton of
Hadsor Hall. The church stands near the house, as was the
custom in olden times, when it was often but a stone's throw
from the cradle of the child to the place where his aged bones
should lie. Mr. Galton did a great deal to beautify Hadsor>
and his fine taste may be seen in many parts of the structure
and its surroundings. Within is a fine and valuable collection
of pictures, including admirable portraits by Reynolds of the
sixth Duke of Hamilton and his wife, one of "the beautiful
Miss Gunnings." There are examples at Hadsor also of
Vandyck, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Mytens, Cuyp, Berghem,
Morland, and many more ;_ as well as sculpture by Thorwaldsen
and Canova. These, and the rich plenishings of the stately
rooms, are beautiful features at Hadsor ; but they are rivalled
by the attractions without, where the garden is a most
successful example of harmonious grouping, very charming
and reposeful in character.

There were old gardens and pleasure grounds here, but
the late Mr. Galton remodelled them entirely, and they were
laid out with the assistance of eminent gardeners. The
situation was favourable for good garden effects, for the
sheltered position and deep rich soil favour the growth of
tender things ; and it will be seen that in tubs and vases'
palms are finely grown. A broad and ample terrace extends
before the house, excellently laid out with flower-beds. Let
it be noticed how appropriate is the character. There is no •
gulf between the mansion and its gardens, and we pass, from

THE WHST WALK.

284

GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.

THE CIRCULAR BOX-HEDGED GARDEN

the terrace by the steps to the lower hiwn, with the feeling
that the architectural character is fading into the landscape
and the woodland as we go.

The garden architect has wrought e.xcellent tilings in
stone at this house. The finely-worked balustrades and the
masonry supporting walls are as good as could be wished, and
the many vases which adorn the place are all of the best, and
are rich in masses of flowers. A surprisingly beautiful colour-
effect is gained by making such vases as these brilliant points
of glowing hue, to contra>t with the cool stonework and the
various greens of lawns and trees.

The garden seat is an
extremely pleasing example of
what we have said, for stone
and flower growth are here
brought together in satis-
factory fashion. What more
pleasant place could we wish
than this in which to welcome
the vernal sun, or in the
fading autumn to catch the
glow of his fading beams ?
The flower vases here are
particLilarly fine, and the
splendid yew hedge behind is
the foil that enhances the
charm. For in the matter of
well-hedged gardens, again,
Hadsor is as we should wish
it to be. The trim lines of
these well-k'ept hedges remind
us that in the "ductile yew"
and box we are able, without
grotesqueness or exaggeration,
if we will, to express some-
thing of architectural charac-
ter ; and thus the hedge or
the formal bush may be the
link between the house and
iti green surroundings. There
is an attractivecircular garden,
full of beautiful things, and enclosed by an excellent box hedge,
with notable variety in the manner in which it is cut.

From such a garden wandering we return with the impres-
sion that Hadsor is a place wherein an excellent artistic idea
has found embodiment. It is a study of harmony and of con-
trast, in which, from opposites, and from things of like nature,
we find developed a spirit of completeness that is delightful.
Hadsor, indeed, though not one of the most imposing places
in Worcestershire, is one that deserves special considera-
tion for the harmony and beauty of its architecture and its
garden.

A GARDEN SfcAT.

190204

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