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ARCH LIBRARY
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Presented to
The Library
of the
University of Toronto
by
frank Darling,
LL.D., F.R.F.B.0., W’W.C.A,
GARDENS
OLD-& NEW
“& ITS GARDEN”
ENVIRONMENT
ON THE ORANGERY TERRACE AT MARGAM PARK,
~GARDENS
OLD6NEW
THE COUNTRY HOUSE &r ITS
GARDEN ENVIRONMENT
THE SECOND VOLUME
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLES LATHAM.
LON DON
PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICES OF COUNTRY
LIFE § 2O0TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT
GARDEN % % GEORGE NEWNES LIMITED
7-12 SOUTHAMPTON STREET STRAND
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
rts sa
or Sb.
: http://(www.archive.org/details
A gecroft Hall, Manchester . : : 221
Albury Park, Surrey. F : pageeD.2.41
cAldenham House, Herts. : : ; 113
Amesbury Abbey, Wilts. ; ; : 126
‘Balcarres, Fifeshire > z ; Be eee >
Barncluith, Lanarkshire : { * 216
‘Barrow Court, Somerset . : : 182
Borde Hill, Sussex ; ‘ P 4) MXXIX:
Brokenhurst Fark, Hants ; J ‘ 14
Castle Ashby, Northants : : : XV.
Chastleton House, Oxon. : : ; 130
Chirk Castle, Denbighshire. ; : 101
Chiswick House, Middlesex XXXI., XXXVIII.
Compton Wynyates, Warwick ; ; 119
Cranborne Manor House, Dorset . : 135
‘Danby Hall, Yorkshire : : Nise, ol 8
‘Drakelowe Hall, Burton-on-Trent . ; 178
Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire : 150
‘Drummond Castle, Perthshire . y I
Easton Hall, Grantham, Lincs. : ; 105
Eaton Hall, Cheshire. J ; 203
Eydon Hall, Northamptonshire. : 71
Frogmore and Windsor : : 2 276
Fyfield Manor, Wilts. . ; : . XXIX.
Grimston Park, Yorkshire A : 2 9
Groombridge Place, Kent XII., XIIl., 259
Gwydyr Castle, Denbighshire ‘ ; 29
Hackwood Park, Hants. F : miei od |
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire : ; ; 45
Hadsor, Worcester : : : $ 282
X., XIV.
XVI., XVII., XXX.
Hampton Court, Leominster
Hampton Court, Middlesex
Harewood House, Yorks. : = . 105
Hartwell House, Aylesbury. : : 24 Oe
Hewell Grange, ‘Redditch j ; Cape. delle
Highnam Court, Glos. XX , XXI.
Hoar Cross, Burton-on-Trent ; F 51
Holland House ; P : : i XLL
Inwood House, Somerset
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
Kentwell Hall, Suffolk
Leighton Hall, Welshpool
Linton Park, Kent
Littlecote Hall, Berks.
Lochinch, Wigtownshire
Longleat, Warminster
“Mapperton House, Beaminster
Margam Park, Glamorgan
Marks Hall, Essex
Melford Hall, Suffolk
Mere Hall, Droitwich
Moyns Park, Essex
Munstead Wood, Godalming
Newbattle Abbey, Midlothian
Okeover Hall, Derbyshire
Orchardleigh Park, Frome
Orchards, Surrey
Packwood House, Birmingham
Pain’s Hill, Surrey
Parham Park, Sussex
Penshurst, Kent
Pitchford Hall, Shropshire
Powis Castile, Montgomery
St. Fagan’s, Cardiff
Sedgwick Park, rorsham
Shrublands Park, Ipswich
Smithills Hall, Lanes.
Stoke Edith Park. Hereford
Stoke Park, Slough
Stoke “Rochford, Grantham
The V-yne, Hants.
Westwood Park, ‘Droitwich
Wickham Court, Kent
Wilton House, Wilts.
Woodside, Herts.
PAGE
XXX., XXXIV.
XXXV.
IgI
232
XIX.
248
XXXVI.
171
152
Frontispiece
. 93
. XXXVI.
i
143
197
39
208
XXXII.
35
97
: 58
XLIV., XLV.
147
XXXIII.
89
64
239
83
269
255
XVIII.
XLII,
: 187
XXIII., XXVIII.
226
; 161
XXIV., XXV.
213
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HE 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 beauty
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
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Bomuns.;. Sue uivanw.
J
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 character 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 custem 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 OF AN OLD
STAIRWAY.
GARDEN
vs GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
a
Hedzoy § Kean
THE GREAT YEW ARCH,
essential, with a truer understanding of the manner in which
fl:wers shall be cultivated, holding their large piace 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 pleasute 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 Il.,’’
in which the ladies would dance, or tell tales, or sing, and
where the bowls were sped, reminding the Queen how often
Fortune ‘‘ 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 exemplitied in gardens of the present.
It was suggested that while some look upon the garden as an
extension of the house into its surroundings, others have
regarded it in approach of wild Nature to their 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 f
rmality of character is doubtless
from this relationship, and history shows that
engend
some constancy of features in this formality has existed in
widely different ages. The Tuscan gardens of Pliny the
HAMPTON COURT, LEOMINSTER.
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 kind—that all gardening
is ina 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
sundia!, 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. xt.
and very many in England also, and here and there, as at
Broughton Castle, Banbury, pretty devices and quaint conceits
like that recorded by Andrew Marvell, 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. The
great master was Le Notre, creator of the famous gardens at
Versailles, Chantilly, Saint Cloud, and Meudon. William III.
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
fine work in this grand manner. The stately avenue was often
Sassociated, as at Hampton Court, with the still canal, and to
the same period belong some other charming features—the
leaden statues and the gates and clairvoyées of hammered
iron. Pecularly 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 Bourbon 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
Frangais’’ 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 with her inclosure green,
As with a rural mound, the champain head
Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
Access denied; and over head up-grew
Insuperable height of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan 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.
GARDENS
OLD
AND. NEW,
THE WESTERN LAWN AT GROOMBRIDGE, KENT.
‘ADACINEWOOND LV qFOVANAL
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‘In this pleasant soil
His far more pleasant garden God ordain’d.
t shades
nt, and fed
snots, but Nature boon
e on hill, and dale, and plain,
iorning sun first warmly smote
The o} € nd where the unpiere’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
Lays 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 crystal 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 make
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A WAYSIDE COTTAGE NEAR
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 hisown. Roses are clustering on the
wall, or flinging out their fragrance below in the sun, mingled
with the rare perfum: e 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 pzonies,
10 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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
HAMPTON COURT, LSOMINSTER.
of its charms must indeed be sought in a pleasaunce that is
ordered and possessed with some character of formality. To
such a garden belongs the terrace, which, 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 enquire 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
CTION.
},
INTRODU
“KEGHSV ATLSVO
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GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
YVil.
THE GEOMETRICAL GARDEN, STOKE EDITH PARK,
1E EASTERN END OF THE. SOUTH TERRACE, STOKE EDITH PARK.
INTRODUCTION. WIR:
THE SECOND TERRACE, LINTON PARK.
ex, GARDENS OLD’ AND NEW.
wasa descent to vn suri d by a walk of cut evergreens.
Beyond tl wn circus, such as has since existed in
many nd 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
vere meadows and fields interspersed with thickets owing
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. e 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 the 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
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
1 many ex English gardens, into four equal parts by
cross all h 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 common feature in the surroundings of old
English houses, an e often extremely beautiful.
B \ 1 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
and curi¢ levices were added. Bacon also had a
WALK, HIGHNAM.
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 a'tered,
but has its original 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
XX1.
INTROD®@CTION,
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of John Evelyn. hus is one garden of the time
described :
“My garden sweet, enclosed with walles strong
Iiubanked with benches to sytt and take iy rest,
Phe kn so enknotted it cannot be exprest
With arbors and alyes so pleasant and so dulce.”
rhe 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 kinds 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, orchard
and flower garden, which. lie
so mixt, and “interwoven, with
one another, that if a foréigner
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. Ba
As for my self, you will find,
by the account which | 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 garden is neither
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
ject’s delight in rural pleasure and*his ambition of. rural
nce. We may suspect a little sense of humour where
nderous doctor tells how the Arcadian poet began to
prospects, to diversify his surface, ‘to entangle his
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Hudson. & Kearns
valks, 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 to 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 eye will be pleased,
4
and to thicken the plantation where there is something
THE ITALIAN COLUMN WITH LEAD FIGURE, WILTON.
AND. NEW.
to be hidden—demand any great powers of the mind |
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.
In 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.’
Walpole could see
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 every
entrance was xzuarded 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, ani where discon-
tinued by different levels, its
course appeared to be cecn-
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 yet
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,’’ 1794, seems best to have expressed the ideal
of those who practised the art. The garden must display
natural beauties and hide natural defects in every situation.
It should give the appearance of extent and freedom, by
INTRODUCTION,
WILTON.
THE ORANGERY,
xXXUI. 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 the 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 was 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 sufficient
condemna-
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
tC he@eu gh
vistas at right
angles, every
visible accom-
paniment was
in union with
it, and the
systematic
regularity of
the whole
was discerni-
ble from
every point
of sight; but
when, accord-
ing to the new
fashion, all
around was
tion of them
lan y
the itural
style, and the
work of
Southc
at Woburn A STONE SEAT, DANBY,
levelled and
thrown open,
tines; po or
square edifice
was exposed
alone, or with
the accom-
panimentonly
2s ‘GOOMADVH LV LVAS FOVYNAL ANOLS V
Br
itt ge ak
Ave
4]
Wace tee
aly oe eb, ge
INTRODUCTION.
and porticoes amidst spacious lawns
rular clumps or masses of wood and
sheets of water. He did not know a more melancholy object,
neither associated nor harmonised with anything. He
view from one of these solitary mansions was
| than that towards it.. Mr T. James was a
er times, who, in ‘‘ The Flower -Garden,”’
ss to say of the evil days upon which
of its regular windows
interspersed with irre
writer of
1852, had scathing
gardening
and the
had
natural or
English style of which
we were
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 I., 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 take
pride in any advance in
national taste.
What may be said
for the landscape gar-
deners is that 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 hiss =““Ideas -ofs-a
Universe,’ that every-
thing has its own 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 kind 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
proud. He
A SUNDIAL
dark and rich verdure the bright, old-fashioned flowers
in the sun. We may. see that in such a manner of
lesign there is a proper transition from the architecture
house to the natural beauties of the paddock and the
There are fine rectangular gardens of varied character
at Montacute, Venn House, Ashridge, Ham House, Athel-
Newstead, Hoar Balcarres, and in many
great English and Scottish gardens. Here may be found
inspiration by those who would excel in such character of
park.
hampton,
other
Cross
GARDENS. OLD
AT
AND NEW.
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
recrudéscence; the
modern gardens of
Elvaston,. Derbyshire.
At Packwood the
shapely yews are
grouped in ordered
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. contrary—that
such quaint features
are incompatible with
THE VYNE. 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 like 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. LN:
terrace, flanking or surrounding the garden, is own brother
to the enclosing yew hedge. We may see in the 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 which to overlook a
well-arranged parterre, where 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 course, garden architecture is not confined to the
building of summer-houses upon terraces. Some may like
to have their retiring-place aloft in a tree, like 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 oak, 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 character 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. In 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
deka
THE SUNDIAL, FYFIELD 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 Groombridge,
with their stairways and various features, are a study in
themselves, and there are examp'es 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, with 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
Chiswick House, at
Ilford 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
seat without flower
vases to adorn it.
Note the lovely
examples at Hackwood,
a Groombridge, and
in 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
adornments, and nothing could be fairer or more beautiful
than a characteristic: vase well filled with a wealth . of
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,
GARDENS OLD AND NEW
“f
TOI NE
é Ta
bit
aaa
THE LION GATE, INWOOD.
wm
<0
ONE OF THE. IRON GATES, HAMPTON COURT,
INTRODUCTION.
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
XXX1,
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
Deedalus plunging headlong into a miniature 4igean. There
THE GARDEN GATES,
the black slave kneeling to support an urn at Melbourne,
Derbyshire, and at Renishaw 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
CHISWICK HOUSE,
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
XXXIL GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
sprouting out like a pyramid, upon which were perched small
birds that streamed water out of their bills, while another
fountain was in the Grove of Diana, where Actzeon was turned
was sprinkled by the goddess and her
nymphs, What it is necessary to avoid is; an over-elabo-
i 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 Alexancra’s dial proclaims at Sandringham. They
pass, but the garden: monitor has only the stealing shadow
when all things are gay. Sometimes dials are shaped of the
into. a stag as
ration, destroying
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 may 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, asin the
stately stonework known 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
t
THE ENTRANCE GATEWAY, OKEOVER 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 fountain’s sliding foot,
Or at some fruit-tree’s mossy root,
Casting the body’s vest aside,
My soul into the boughs does glide;
There, like a bird, it sits and sings,
Then whets and claps its silver wings,
Andtill prepared for longer flight
Waves in its plumes the various light.
Ilow 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 may 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
KXXI11,
INTRODUCTION,
“LSUNHSNAd
‘SddLlS FOVUNEL
QNV ALVD
Vv
XXXIV.
the token of h's estate ard his goodwill. Upon gates and gate-
have therefore lavished. their skill, and
tals of the baptistery at Florence onward to
lay, the gateway has many a time been a
; 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 the
lofty pillars supporting the vase or the heraldic beasts holding
the family arms should be well proportioned and well wrought
in style 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 cr clairvoyées; but, whether with these
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 cesigned them, and who, it may be
houses great
from the f:
the example
creation notablefor Character and*beautiful design.
mous p
Fir 5 Hea
THE ITALIAN
interesting to remembcr, was also emp!oyed by Wren to
fashion the iron gates of the choir of St. Paul’s. The actual
hand:craftsman was Huntingdon Shaw, of whom his epitaph
in Hampton Church rightly says that he was ‘‘an artist in his
way.’’ Let not the maker of gardens aim at anything so
ambitious. For a palace the gates of Tijou and Shaw are
appropriate enough ; but rather let us welcome such handsome
work as exists at Compton Beauchamp, Berkshire; Ragley,
Warwickshire; Norton Conyers, Yorkshire; Bulwick Hall,
Nort! ampton; Stcneleigh, Warwickshire; Belton, Lincolnshire ;
5
t
and Barlborough Hall, Derbyshire. Excellent as a modest work
the garden gate which is illustrated at Inwood, hanging
tle simple brick 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 ani enriched in the ironwork, and is flanked by
rusticated piers of stone, upon which stand well- wrought
urns. A simple gat way at Chiswick House, overhung by
between
GARDENS OLD
AND NEIV.
wistaria and flanked by ivy-covereJ piers, is an example that
many might follow. The ironwork at Inwood has been alluded
to, and the low garden cate and railing in floreated ironwork
may also be noted as an admirable example of handicraft in
this manner, while the fruit-bearing Cup'ds on the gate-posts
are suggestive of such adornment.
We may now turn to another beautiful garden feature in
which Nature triumphs over Art—the cool and grateful pergol 1
and the quaint 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, like Leonato’s, and the
**Pleached bower,
Where honeysuckles, ripen’d by 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,
f
—e pl
GATE, INWOOD.
deserves to be noted. A beautiful modern example may be
cited at Great Tangley Manor, Surrey, and there is a sweet-
scented 10se 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 natural character, and invention may
be exercised 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 te 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
qd dHL
; VY goal
1qd9y ‘VIVAYHLVYM Gd
LSA ICE
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VY
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ac
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—e
silt UT WUT ge
XXXVI. GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.
THE UPPER LAK FROM THE EAST, MARKS HALL.
THE LNIRANCE TERRACES, LOCHINCH.
INTRODUCTION. KAKXTU
am@tishman sped his biassed bowls in the
en in many books, and interest in the
revive with the new growth in the love
ere are fine examples of bowling yreens
ations at scme yreat houses in England,
than upon the marvellously beaut ful
bn in Somerset. Norton Conyers anJ
ford, are other houses distinguished by
Farming bowling greens.
a green lawn must needs be associated
generous proportions, full of herbaceous
forms its margin. Here the tall larkspurs,
iums in all their shales of blue, phloxcs,
beauty that will surely fructify practically
ny.
w to some other distin-tive features cf the
Bch nevertheless are interesting, attractive,
those less dignified. Such are stately
: tive of famous men, or like that which
BCorinthian pier, with a goddess in lea
rnment. Such are the stately avenues
a style of Le Nétre, exemplified in’ the
rip.e 1Z avenues at Hampton Court, and the great
avenue through Bushey Park. Here we find the long canal,
still and beautiful, reflecting in its slvery surface the mighty
trees that rise on either hand. One of the magnificent
canals at Hampton Court is illustrated here, and is as fine
A LILY-LINED
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
opportunities offered to those who can work in the sta ely
manner of the grand style of gardeaing. Magnificence is also
in the splendid ‘‘ Emperor’s Walk’’ at Grimston Park. It is
found in the fine pond with its flanking yews at Sedowick
Park, known as the ‘‘ White Sea’’ and the ‘ Fortifications.’’
Could we wish anything fi er than the noble’ Dragon
Fountain at Brockenhurst Park, begemmed with _ lilies,
well margined
with masonry,
advurned with
urns, flinked
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 tie
fine and simpte
G.itacters> ~de-
p.cted at High-
nam and_ else-
where. It may
even be brought
into modest
gardens,toinvest
them with some
character of
dignity. And yet
dignity is not
perhaps what
most people
seek in gardens
—a remark
which brings us
back to a reilec-
tion already
made, that the
garden, like. the
house, is the ex-
eression of him
who possesses it
Abundant are
the iilustrations
in these pages if
the many forms
and features
which may make
gardens — attrac-
PERGOLA, tive.
The avenue,
which may be described as the leading feature of a stat ly
garden, conducts us out from the house’ to the neishbdourin «
country, and thus we are led-to speak of tiie lindscape
character of gar’ens. It was an old fancy that the fermal
features of the parterres neizhbouring the house mizht
give place, as one withdrew, to more of natural character,
until at length nothing of the artificial remained. That is an
idea which may commend itself to many. There is much to
be said for it, and an examination of the pic ures included in
this volume will disclose how success-ully the plan has been
appli-d. 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 ®eyond.
How sweet 2nJj beautiful a landscape garden may be made
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the lake in the hollow at Pain’s
suspect the presence of the hand
we see in the illustr
Hill. Here it is difficul
of Art, which, as Wordsworth said in another connection, has,
indeed, worked in the very spirit of Nature. It is delightful to
walk in the \ ds and by the streams at Aldenham House.
Let it not be forgotten that the well-managed wood, with its
ied trees, its rhodcdendrons, azaleas, and perlaps its lilies,
ously-hued fungi in the autumn, may bea
nasterpiece. We may look over a fine landscape
den -at Prior Park, Bath, or wander among pleasant ways
in the gardens and woods at Wollaton, Nottingham, or seek
the solace of rock gardens by woodland paths like that
illustrated at Hartwell House. There are landscape features
at Guy’s Cliff, as we wander by the flower-bordered Avon,
andin many ancther place. Chatsworth is an illustration of how
stately g:andeur may iie in the midst of a superb landscape,
and compose a garden picture wholly satisfying to the eye.
] m
1@ 1
AND NUIF.
historically until it assumed the particular forms in which it
exists to-day. We have seen what were the torm and !eatures
of gardens in the old times, ani what views have been
entertained as to the character they should 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 the conception 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,
11 course of time, we saw how the new 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 WALK AT HARTWELL HOUSE.
It may be observed that fine trees and water, with a
eraceful contour of the land, are the main features to be
sought in the open ground. With these some objects must 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
ind Prior Park. There is a famous classic bridge of three
| inning the Derwent at Chatsworth, which Caius
Gabriel Cibber (the father of Colley Cibber) adorned with
nd we illustrate here an excellent example of a fine
istraded bridge, picturesquely placed in relation to a
waterfall, at Kedieston. A not less admirable and beauti‘ul
ole exists at Amesbury Abbey.
is Introduction has now surveyed, in a b-cad sense, the
whole world of garceaing. 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 opportuxities offered in the marvelious 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.io1 co1-
bined with crder in p!ai. Nothing that the garden designer and
the carden lover can give should be rejected, whe her it be in
architectural adornment, in the orderly arrangement of trees a d
bushes, or in the wealth of flowers which modern times have so
marvellously multiplied. The relationship of the garden to the
house is the one essential to be borne in mind, and he who
would make a beautiful and a sweet 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,
HOUSE.
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INTRODUCTION.
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xliv. GARDENS OLD
The pictures
in this volun
harmony
contrast, isfound
in them. Itmay
be seen archi-
tecturally in the
water gate at
Holland House,
in stately garden
fashion in the
long walk be-
neath the cedar
and between
the hedges
at Stoke Park,
Slough, and ‘in
the fine fountain
and dainty
arrangements at
Hewell Grange,
AND NEW.
education in
the gardening
art. There is
endless satis-
faction 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
Redditch, ~ and THE DUTCH GARDEN, PAIN’S— HILL. of themseives.
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
They have
seemed to be in some world of enchantment where ‘ever
new vistas and other opportunities opened to them. 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.
THE ROSERY,
PAIN’S HILL.
xii,
INTRODUCTION.
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DRUMMOND
CASTLE...
PERTHSHIRE,
—_.
OF
O 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 ranks 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
Mary came to the Scottish crown, she brought with her some-
thing of the spirit of another land. The refinements of the
Renaissance and some of the lighter 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 plainly some kinship with
at
<5 pails
Riche Ra
sou h of the gardens, and measures 14ft. gin. at
a ht o° 1ft. above the ground, Very picturesque aso 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 the 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
to the south of the garden, and has a girth of 2oft. at rift.
LENGTHENING SHADOWS ON THE GARDEN WALK.
AND NEW.
from the ground, and of iG/t. at 5ft. The extreme height is
71ft., and the spread of branches 105ft. It would be tedious,
however, to describe all the grand trees at Drummcnd Castle.
A beautiful purple beech, planted by Queen Victoria on her visit
in 1842, attracts much attention, and has a girth of about sfc.
Some lime trees standing adjacent are also of conspicuous size
and beauty, and the Spanish chestnuts and si!ver firs are very
fine. Three noble specimens of the latter are along the side o/
the walk from the garden, the largest of them having a gi.th
of 23ft. gin. at ft. from the ground, and of 17.t gin. at sft.
There are beautiful specimens of araucaria ani of Wellingtonia
gigantea, some of the latter having a girth of 12ft. The dee>
rich soil is conducive to the perfection of erowth in forest
trees. The plantations are almost as interesting as the
‘*policies,’? and are distinguished by great numbers of
splendid Scotch firs,
some of them
being roble in@ividua:
specimens. The total
extent under wood is
3.955 acres, including
the 511 acres of the
park, and firs, larches,
and other coniferous
trees flourish wonde--
fully. Most interesting
is the wooded height
of Turlum, which cor-
mands the magnificent
view which has been
described. Atthe 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, much, h wever,
having been done at an
earlier time by the
third and fourth Earls
of Perth. The work
went on between 1785
and 1800 with great
vigour, and then it
was that Turlum was
planted, and the great
pond made. The
value and the beauty
of the cstate have been greatly increased through the care and
attention devoted to it, and the art of the land-cape g rdener,
combined with ihe natural advantages of the situation, has
contributed to make it an ideal country home.
The total area is upwards of 10,000 acres of arable and
62,000 acres of hill and plantation. The estat’ inclujes the
parish of Muthill, large portions of Comrie and Callander, and
portions of Crieff and Monzieviard. Within its bounds are
some of he fin st portions of Perthshire, 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 spentia drainage, and the
present possessor has continued the same enlightened policy.
GRIMSTON PARK,
YORASHIRE, .
THE SEAT
OF
MRS. THOMAS FIELDEN.
N a very interesting pait of
Yorkshire, within a mile and
a-half of the ancient town
of Tadcaster, where the Romin station of Calcaria commanded
the chief and lowest passage of the Wharfe, and where the
second, fifth, and eighth ‘‘iters’’ crossed the river on their
way to York, and within a short distance also of f mous Towton
Field, stands 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. The country thereabout is very
interesting, for you breathe history when you live there,
although it is not in itself strikingly picttresque. 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 Wharfe which bounds Grimston Park on the
north-east is ever an attraction, while the neighbourhood is
both pleasantly varied and well wooded, with 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 Decimus Burton, the well-known
architect. The stone was obtained from the Tadcaster beds,
this being a district famous for its stone. Indeed, from the
neighbouring quarries near Hazelvood 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 Calcaria.
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.
classic style, |
and the raised
verandah was
Spé laily
irra to
: n Aes
Ve n IL
1-
look h
garden. The
presence ol
marble vases
and urns, and
of gleaming
statuary,
contributes to
the effect.
Decimus
Burton, Lord
Howden’s
architect, as
is well known,
carried out
the improve-
ments: at
Hyde Park in
1825, and
designed the
facade iat
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 removed,
which is said to have provoked from a French officer the
exclamation, ‘‘ Nous sommes 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 architecture. The gardens were laid out by Mr. W.
A. Nesfield, and were ornamented with marble statuary and
vases to adorn the long walks and the terraces. It has long
been a custom for the gods and goddesses of antiquity to
display their manly strength 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 Casars, upon
tall pedestals, with sombre yews, flank the way to a temple,
wherein. a large bust of the great Napoleon, the modern
Cesar, stands. The arrangement may be compared with that
at Brokenhurst Park in Hampshire, which is also, but in a
THE ENTRANCE
10 GARDENS OLD
pe
THE FLORAL 1ERRACE, and
AND NEW.
pope eet
different
manner,
adorned with
the busts of
the Cesars.
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
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 soa 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 prominent Yorkshireman, an enthusiastic antiquary,
vice president of the Archeological 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. Lady
i
i
GATES.
ll
GRIMSTON PARK,
“RAVOALVIS
VJISSV1IO GUNVY SHIVM NACHVD
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12 GARDENS OLD
Londesborough's great collection of rings has also been
described in a privately printed volume edited by Mr. Crofton
Croker.
Lord Londesborough died in 1860, 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,
the 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
AND NEW.
where is a large conservatory of stone, there is an
attractive garden rich in floral 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 skilfully 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 clinging 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 GAkKDEN_ GAIES.
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 tooft. 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
s by several choice modern statues. A long walk extends
to. the house, and the garden is terminated by a
istrade 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 skill, 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 oa 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.’’
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HERE are grand characteristics in the immediate
surroundings of this beautiful Hampshire house in
the stately form of the long hedges of ilex and yew,
the sequestered alleys between those walls of green,
the truly imperial aspect of the great court, dignified
by its busts of the Czsars, the noble descent to the long
THE
SASL DNS Th ASAT
WESTERN ENTRANCE TO THE DRAGON’ FOUNTAIN.
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all these possessing an indi-
viduality quite ther own. 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 villige of
Brokenhurst was almo-tin the
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 that,
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 sid2 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 2r1ft.,
while the enormous hollow
yew measures 17ft. They are
the immediate neighbours of
Brokenhurst Park, which, for
our descriptive purpose, they
bring into relation with 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
water bexemmed with lilies
BROKENHURST. 1!
Cr
THE GOLDEN GATES.
THE BOWLING GREEN WALK,
16 GARDENS OLD
features of the outlook. He described the prospect as complete
both in the forecround and the distance. ‘‘ The former is an
elevated park scene, consisting of a great variety of ground,
well planted, an! 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 t ea foreground is presented an extensive forest
view. It consists of a wide range of flat pasturag->, garnished
with tufted clumps, and wooded promontories sho-ting into it,
contrasted with immense woods, which occupy all the rising
srounds above it and circle the horizon. The contrasts between
the open and woody parts of the distance, 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 remembered that such is in the foreground
of the garden we illustrate—a garden so sweet, quaint, and
beautiful that the artist loves to depict it. The Brokenhurst
garden, indeed, furnished one of the most fascinating scenes
in the delightful garden pictures of Mr.G. S. Elgood, R.1.
AND NEW.
sixteenth Earl of Erroll, and was the father of the late Mr John
Morant, who died a few years ago, having been Hizh Sheriff
of Hampshire in 1869. The present possessor is the latter
gentleman’s son.
We may well imagine with what delight these 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 Broken-
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 the
great gardens of the southern land. The long pathways
between ilex and cypress, the gloom of the solemn green made
radiant in the sunsliine, 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
The Morants of Brokeshurst Park, in whose hands this
garden has taken shape and grown, are old dwelers in the
region of the New Forest. Veracious Burke tells us that they
claim Gescent from the Moraunts of Morau .t’s Court, Kent,
who are said to have sprung from the ancient Ncrman house
of Morant of Chateau Morant. 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.b. for
Hindon 1761, Lymington 1776-78, and Yarmouth 1780-84,
who died in 1791. His son succeeded him at Brokenhurst,
and took, like himself, a great interest in the condition
f 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
f 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 the county, a J.P. and D.L.,
and High Sheriff in 1820. He married a daughter of the
GARDEN.
have their English counterparts in this truly imperial garden.
There is a richness and beauty of detail and effect that is
perhaps unr.valled in the land except 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 by some antique bust or fizure. Think of the delight of
entering that august ple tsaunce through the golden gate. Mark
the rare loveliness of the green court, with tho-e admirable
statues flanki 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 flanled with
lofty arcades of yew and crested with g’odes, pyramids, or
crowns, in any garden of Italy. No marble enframes the water
at Brokenhurst, but there is something truly English in the
work in brick and stone. The moulding of the margin is
exceilent indeed, and the fountain playing like an inconstant
‘BROKENHURST,
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THE BOWLING GREEN AND MEDLAR.
THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE COURT.
19
‘BROKENHURST.
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20 GARDENS OLD
sprite, the amorini on their pedestals, and the flowering
standard trees in their quaint pots along the way, with the
bushes of yew trimmed to shape by the deft hand of the
topiary gardener, are a right introduction to the double flight
of steps 1 At every corner and break there is a vase
or urn ric carved, each of these something 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 charm in the shadows
The double asce t at the end of the canal is worthy to
compare with that beautiful flight at Cli.ton Hail, Nottingham,
A SIDE WALK.
which has been noted as a marvel of garden architecture, and
leads to that upper ccurt where the busts of Julius and
Augustus look upon ‘‘ regions Caesar never knew,” fair as
» the gardens of ancient Rome. Here again is a beautiful
lecting the enchanting scene, with other amorini by
the fountain, and vases filled with flowers at.the margin.
‘Then, each in his arch, stands the bust of a Cesar 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
AND NEW,
cunning hand of the craftsm1n has shaped these hedges to the
garden-maker’s need, and many as are the splendid hedges in
England, there are few quite so characteristic as those at
3rokenhurst. Two great uses may be marked in a dark
hedge of yew or ilex: it gives that character of enclosure that
is necessary, as most people think, in every good garden, and
it affords shelter from the biting wind, thus nurturing the
flowers, to whose radiance it is a foil and background.
‘lhe pictures are a better description of the Brokenhurst
garden than any words can be. They disclose a pleasaunce
such as few can create for themselves. Not evervone can
emulate the hand that formed such a
masterpiece. Not everyone can pro-
vide sculpture in vases and figures so
rich and good. Never have we seen
statuary be.ter disposed. There is
a completeness anu harmonious
chiracter in the garden which could
not be 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
originin Italy. The true cistern-heads
belong, many of them, to the best
period of the Renai-sance, like the
famous cne by fansovino 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 we!l employed. Mag-
nificent specimens used to be in the
famous Ludovisi garcen in Rome,
which was the very garden of
Sallust; but these have been 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
Brolkenhurst.
What is the presiding character
to be discovered in this Hampshire
garden? Itis an air of equal dignity
and repose. Design rules the whole,
and the directing hand has done all
things well. Where 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
hedzes 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
ivy-covered wall. The glossy ilex is
less sombre than the yew, but where
the two are found together the 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 unfating green. Note,
for example, how attractive is Cecil's Walk, with the verdant
archway at the end. Again, how sequestered is the path by
the bowling green, with its yews and its grass border, bringing
us through 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 of 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,
21
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NOTHER great Scottish garden is that of the Earl of
Crawford, impressive and grand in its noble terraces
and stairways, magnificent in its hedged enclosures
and its box gardens, glorious in the splendour of its
floral charms, and from every point of vicw a typical
garden of the North. Nothing, 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
triumphs, without anywhere tending towards extravagance
or grotesque conceit. Weare 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), whcre he describes the
character of the gardens of his time. As was said in the
account of Drummond, they were usually divided into walks
and plots, with a ‘‘ bordure’’ round cach plot—a box border,
we suppose—and at the corners hollies or other bushes in
pyramidal form, or appreaching 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 with grass. ‘* The bordures boxed
and planted with a variety of fine flowers, orderly intermixt,
weeded, mow’d, rolled, ind kept all clean and handsome.’’
He was speaking of just such a garden as we now
see at Balcarres, though doubtless one wanting its
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stately mignificence. There is always something interesting
about the gardens of Scotland, and it is pleasant to make
acquaintance with those who formed them. ‘The noblemen
who made 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.on, and an account of their hi tory and of
their house and its surroundings will not lack either human
interest or that which we seek in this quest for beautiful gardens
old and new.
The stately seat of the Earl of Crawford is in Fife,
situated upon the southern slope of that county, some three
miles from the sea, dignified by old woods, p.ssessing in its
Craig an object, as one writer hassad, ‘‘ 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 Forth, the Lothians 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 and all that
country. They have possessed more than twenty great
baronies and lordships, and many lands in Forfar, Perth,
Kincardine, Aberdeen, Inverness, Banff, Lanark, lumfries,
Kirkcudbright, and Wigton. As Sir Bernard Burke says,
their earldom formed a petty principality, an imperium in
THE SOUTH FRONT,
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 ipon by pages of noble birth, trained up under his
eye as aspirants for the honours of chivalry. Thrice did the
| it family match immediately with the Royal
members became distinguished patrons of art and
ture; they 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, Lamberton, and
Luffness, of which the last ultimately succeeded to th2 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 long line through
FYRXAMIDS
stormy days, until David Lord Lindsay tecame Earl of
Crawford in 1398, his direct descendant, he present twenty-
sixth Earl, being the premier of his rank in the Scotti-h
peerage. In Lord Crawiord’s book, ‘‘Lives of the Lindsays,”’
he speaks of the first bearer of the title as ‘‘a bright examp‘e
of kn ghtly worth.’” This first Earl fou_ht @-ou/rance 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
id—not yet an Earl—fastening his dagger in the arms
hurled him to the ground, whereupon, as we
from his ‘summer Castell,’’ cried out:
iy, cousin, good Lindyssay,
th that thon should do this day.”
Day
Scottish knight, choosing the way of clemency,
from the ground and presented him to the Queen,
‘“‘as a gift, wishing, like a true knight, that mercy should
from woman.’’ Davidsand Alexanders still succeeded,
raised nis €
CF
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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 exceeded
his compeers in prodigality, recklessness, and crime. Attaching
himselt to a band of ruffians, he seized his father’s fortress of
Dunbog, practised the life of a bandit, oppressed the people,
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 of
the crime of parricide, and, though his life was spared, he
YEW.
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
““ Wicked Master,’’ he brought him up as_ his own child,
nourishing indeed an adder in his bosom. His own son, Sir
David, succeeded to the Barony of Edzell, while his second soa,
John, Lord Menmuir, was the ancestor of the Earls of Balcarres.
Through 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
BALCARRES.
Ne)
or
RRACE.
a
THE LOWER
ON
26 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
reduced his family to the brink of ruin. Ludovic, the last
childless holder of the title in this line, contrived to obtain a
of the. title, by which was interpolated between
and the family of Edzell the whole line of the
ays of the Byres, being the seventeenth to the twenty-
secorid Earls, of whom the last cied in 1808, after which the
reverted to those to whom it seemed rightly to belong.
It is now time to go back to the sons of the ninth Earl,
whose apparent rights in 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,
co a wat (hem.
Edzell, from its situation—low and at the foot of the hills—
could exhibit nothing picturesque or grand, apart from its own
architectural character and decorations, Lord M-nmuir, in
fixing his residence at Balcarres, bequeathed to his descendants
the enjoyment of pure and fresh air, of proximity to the sea,
and a prospect embracing rock and meadow, island and lake,
river and ocean, well-nigh boundless, 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
a.reeable reflection to them that, though part of the original
edifice, as built in the Scoto-Flemish Gothic of the sixteenth
century, has been destroyed in the course of more recent
improvements, the greater part still remains incorporated into
THE PLANNED GARDEN OF BOX.
while John was an astute lawyer and statesman of varied
talents, a linguist, and a practical man of business, but a
scholar and poet also. The two brothers had, indeed, much in
common, and frequently corresponded. Both of them were
great builders and planters, and while the castle of Edzell
developed under David’s hands, that of Balcarres had its
origin in the taste of John. ‘‘ Ye desire me,’’ wrote David’s
half-brother, Lord Ogilvie, to him, ‘tto bestow some few lines
on you concerning my planting—truly, albeit I be the elder, |
will gif you place as maist skilfultherein. Your thousand young
birks (birch trees) shall be right welcome.’’ ‘‘Remember,”’
wrote Lord Menmuir, ‘‘to send me my firs and hollins,’’
forwarding at the same time a present of elm seed. Gardening
and planting were the favourite pursuit of both brothers,
and in a letter from Lord Menmuir at Edinburgh to David, he
thanks him for his ‘‘ letter with ‘La Maison Rustique’ and
* Columella,’ whilk will serve for my idleness in Balcarres and
not for this town.’’ The taste for country occupations had
descended from Earl David, and became hereditary in the
family both at Edzell and Balcarres. There exists a
i instrument of David’s attested in his viridiarium
or garden at the former place. - It is recorded that there his
work included the garden wall, presenting the fesse chequée
of Lindsay and the stars of Glenesk, 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.
|.ord 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 remarked that Menmuir was the forensic title
of the distinguished lawyer, and that it was his son, David of
Balcarres, who became first Earl of Balcarres. The estate at
the time included Balcatres, Balneil, Pitcorthie, and other
Jands, and Lord Menmuir, in 1592, obtained a charter
uniting these in a free barony. He died three vears after
building the old house, and the property remained in the
direct line of heirship of the family until 1789, when, mainly
owing to the chivalrous adherence to the Stuarts earlier in the
century, Alexander, sixth Earl of Balcarres, sold the estate
to his younger brother, the Hon. Robert Lindsay cf Leuchars,
who had made a great fortune in the West Indies. Meanwhile,
misfortune had overtaken the family of David Lindsay of
Edzell, and Burke cites the case of his descendant, another
David, unquestionably head of the great house of Lindsay, as
an illustration in his ‘* Vicissitudes of Families.’? Ruined and
broken-hearted, the last Lindsay of Edzell fled unobserved and
unattended, and, losing the wreck of his fortune, 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
27
‘BALCARRES,
‘SAaUAVO VE
LV
NAdUVO
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28 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 Fifeshire, who made large additions to Balcarres House,
incorporating the old part with the new erection, and bringing
ie mansion to the state almost in which we defict it. His son,
Sir Coutts Lindsay, Bart., also made considerable additions
and impr.vem nts, and then, as is very interesting to recall,
sold it again in 1886 to the Earl of Crawford and Balzarres, 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.
‘The magnificent terraced gardens had been formed before
this tme. They were laid out by Sir Coutts Lindsay, and
are considered second only in Scotland to those of Drummond
Castle. Their character is truly magnificent, and they make,
with double and single descents, a noble approach to the quaint
and beautiful box garden and the splendid circle and enclosing
rectangle which are illustrated. The pictures show better than
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words can describe how truly noble the gardens at Balcarres
are. They rank among the greatest of Scottish gardens, and
their favoured situation upon the southern slope is propitious
for allthings that grow. The box garden, an admirabie example
of pattern-work, the finely cut and dense yew hedges, the
conical yew trees, and the magnificent woods, are the great
features of the place. The advantage of such.a manner cf
gardening is that atevery time of the year, evenin the months
of winter, the eye can rest upon green foliage; but the
sheltered situation gives.many advantages to the gardener,
ds are full of flowers. Tub gardening is resorted to
vy, and effects are attained not to be surpassed,
F winter come the tender trees can
the frosts of
A wealth of flowers, and the: charm of the
| the chief attractions of the
immediate surroundings of Balcarres. Natural beauty must be
sought, as we have Suggested, in the 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
nal garden, are
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 fact, associations of many kinds, but we shall be content to
mention that here was written that pathetic ballad ‘ Auld
Ro>in 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 pastoral, worth far more than all the dialogues of Corydon
and Phyllis from the days of Theocritus downward :
“ My father urged me sair,
My mither didna speak,
But she looked 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 Balcarres is always in the minds of those who visit
ava dae
SUNDIAL.
the stately abode, and it lends a further 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 thcit
northern homes, and could anything be better than the grand
examples at Drummond, Balcarres, and Glamis Castles? A
dial of Scott:sh type, lately set up by the Hon. Francis Bowes
Lyon at Ridley Hall, Northumberland, has an inscription that
deserves, in conclusion, to be recorded here:
‘Amydst ye floures
I tell ye houres.
“ Time wanes away
As floures decay.
‘Beyond ye tombe
Fresh flourets bloome.
**So man shall ryse
Above ye skyes.”
[
GWYDYR..
; . CASTLE.
DENBIGHSHIRE,
LG
HE picturesque castle of Gwydyr, which was an
ancient seat of the Wynnes, stands in a truly
romantic part of North Wales, in the valley of the
Conway, and adjacent to the pleasantly -situated
town of Llanrwst. The visitor who 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 the
valley. The river Conway is navigable as far as Trefriw, that
prettily-seated place, which is famous amor g artists, and whose
neighbourhood has often been depicted in the spring exhibitions.
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 Geirionydi like Moses among the
bulrushes, and here again the famous Llywarch Hén did battle
with his foes. In the fastnesses of the district of Snowdon
lingered the poetic fire which nerved the chicftains for their
great struggle with the Saxon, and in this romantic region of
wood and wild Celtic fancy fashioned mysterious shapes of
]
EARL CARRINGTON.
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 was erected by Sir John Wynne in the
middle of the sixteenth century upon the site of a far more
ancient stronghold. The occupancy of the Wynnes_ has
left its traces in many places hereabout. The Gwydyr
Chapel in the south transept of | 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 reign at securing the means of
THE
NORTH-EAST FRONT.
30 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
THE EAST GARDEN.
striking off the Saxon yoke. The chapel also contains, hung
upen the wall, the curious spurs. which are said to have
belonged to the notorious David ap Jenkin, the Robin Hood
of the district, the site of whose cave of refuge, known as
Ogof Shenkin, is pointed out on the top of the Falcon 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 Gwydyr we are invited to go back to the
days of Llywarch Hén, whose great battle, fought here about
the year 610, is said to have conferred upon the place the name
of ‘‘ Gwaed-dir,’’ or ‘‘ The Bloody Land.’”? The seventeenth
century work of Sir John Wynne’s house is very quaint and
THE. TERRACE STEPS.
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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 kitcnen erected by Lord
Willoughby de Eresby, about 1816. Within, the house
1 curiosities, such as carved woodwork of the days
of | beth and James, Spanish leather hangings, a screen
said to have been worked by Mary Queen cf Scots, and
the coronation chair of George Il. It would be no easy
task to find more beautiful carving and panelling than is to
be found at Gwydyr. This is not the only house which
Sir John Wynne built, for the site of another is pointed out
on the rock above, of which all has been demolished save
The Wynnes of Gwydyr, who were of the
the chapel.
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
an excellent feature, and are neighboured by rich herbaceous
borders. The floral glories of Gwydyr are conspicucus 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 double row of clipped yews in the old
‘*Dutch’’ garden under the hill is undeniable, although its
formality may not attract every beholder. From the terrace
THE GARDEN
Wynnstay family, held this place untl the latter part of
the seventeenth century, when Mary, the heiress of Sir
Richard Wynne, married the Marquess of Lindsey, and
Gwydyr came to the family of Ancaster and to the
Carrinetons.
There is an old bowling green belonging to the place,
on an eminence opposite the: entrance and within a tew
hundred yards of the Episcopal Chapel furmerly attached to
the summer residence of the Gwydyr fan ily, but this relic
of days that are gone does not now receive the attention
it once did. Its situation—in the middle of a cuppice—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 fine stretch of
turf wiil again witness the skilful contests it knew so well
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
DOORWAY.
there are lovely views of the vale of the Conway, and the
visitor who has completed his survey of the immediate
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 far 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 the rocky hill are seen to be the foil and contrast to the
swecter 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 make his own.
{ 35 |
FROME, :
THE, SEAT -OF
YING some two miles north of the ancient town of F:ome,
in Somerset-hire, in the midst of a fair and fruitful
region of England, lies the parish of Orchardleigh,
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 nearly the whole area of the parish, and is
a pleasant, picturesque, and well-wooded expanse, with a
spacious lake and ponds. Here, in ancient times, spread the
forest of Selwood, and the sylvan character still invests the land.
The river 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 the famous
Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, but returned to the Crewn,
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 Ill. The
Champneys remained in fossession of Orchardleigh for about
300 years. Memorials of several of them are im the church, and
a stone marks the site of the old mansion in which they dwelt.
The present mansion, a stately edifice in the E\izabethan
ORCHARDLEIGH PARK,
THE REV. W. A. DUCKWORTH.
style, was erected, in a more elevated situation, by the late
William Duckworth, Esq. This gentleman, who was the so.
of George Duckworth, Esq., of Musbury and Over Darwen,
Lancashire, bought the estate in 1855, and showed excellent
taste in the character of his house and grounds. Not many
places in England have such a territorial situation. Few are
the parks that are practically parishes, and not many the
parishes whose inhabitants make so small a show at the polls.
There are some advantages and pleasures in such a state of
things. The possessor of Orchardleigh is in a position of
paramount authority and respect in his parish, being the sole
landowner, and thus truly the squire of the place, which boasts
but of a single farmer—at the Long House Farm—nimed 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 Wiltshire 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 the
advantage that on every side there were slopes, and that thus
beautiful terraces might be formed. The declivities were
LOOKING
ACROSS THE’ TERRACE.
36 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
THE GARDEN FROM THE_ TERRACE.
37
IGH.
ORCHARDLE
“SGOOM ANV JOVYNAL LSVa HL
co
Le 8)
gentle, and the
character should be
of broad terracing,
wit \\ 1
¢
ntt eature,
d here Mr. Duck-
worth displayed
excellent. judgment
and discriminaticn.
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 THE WEST
ris
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 excellent 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
at
Witeor g
TERRACE,
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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
delightful to find some pergola, as if from sunny Italy, giving
shelter by the way, and affording support to many growing
things. A wealth of floral 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 deciduous trees have shed their leaves, an
abundance of evergreens is there to make the winter verdant.
The beauties of the park have been suggested. Here
A VISTA.
clothes the 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
is enter into the picture. The house is so advantageously
iated that-it commands a full view of all the country around.
How beautiful is the treatment will be seen in one of our
o
>
pictures, where the outlook from the terrace, or balcony, in
f use, is seen, with its well-gravelled paths, and
-xpanses of turf terminated by dividing walls, with aloes
and floral triumphs.in chvice vases, beyond which the eye rests
with satisfaction upon a range of the parl and a beautiful belt
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. The 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. Duckworth it was
restored under the care of Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., in 1879.
E.82.°)
MUNSTEAD
. . WOOD,
GODALMING
‘NWA NY, i.
IHN
)\
PM
UY)
MONG the garden pictures in
this book none should be
more welcome than those of
Munstead Wood, together
with some account of it and
its environment, not only at the time
of those high midsummer pomps which Matthew 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 w.th its architecture, but depending for its charm
upon an abundant use of the glories of the flower world. And,
to begin with, we would suggest that this modestly beauti‘ul
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 Jekyll has written in and about the
house and garden and wood she loves so well, have certainly
something of the same spirit that gives such unfailing charm
to Gilbert White’s inimitable letters. They are books marked
THE GAR
THE RESIDENCE
Or
by intimate know'edge of Nature, and
by close appreciation of the beauty of
Nature, ani of the goodness of the
ways of the old world.
No observant maa or
doubt that the last years
last century witnessed a wonderful revival, if not a new
birth, of love for the garden world, or that the gospel of ‘he
garden, ‘‘the purest of humai pleasures,’’ has now a fast
hold upon the hearts of us all, to our manifest edva tage, and
that the teachers of that cult of horticultu e are, on the whole,
Some there be, of course, who put on
woman can
of the
a goodly fellowship.
the airs of teacher without warrant, and do but rhapsodise ;
but simultaneously with them are to te found 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‘nson, who began, many years ago, a mission
in the 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.
EN DOOR.
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
THE 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 be 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 Jekyll, indeed, has not attempted to ‘‘ build stately,”’
for stateliness would 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 kind, 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 stocd for scores of years,
although, as a matter of fact, it has stood tut a very few
years; and then, turning to his right, he is in the porch, if
porch it te. No cottage could have an approach more humble
THE GARDEN
COURT.
MUNSTEAD WOOD.
MUNSTEAD WOOD: A VIST:
42 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
. fe ‘
Y V
Peden XKeaits.e,
THE LAVENDER WALK.
or less ostentatious. Grand hydrangeas in simple tubs flank
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 beautifully plain and
massive. 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 marks, 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
massive simplicity of the staircase, the light and space of the
STEPS
TO THE TANK.
MUNSTEAD
gallery, the interest of the thousand and one things thereabout.
It is pleasant to ubserve the adze marks on the posts and
b ams, and the manner in which the craftsman, where curving
timbers were required, has been careful to select those in
which the natural crook of the timber would serve his need.
And then, in the gallery first, and in the rooms later, ~he
visitor begins to realise that every window has its oaken
mullions set flush with the outer wall, and tha each is placed,
not, as it were, accidentally, but with 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
Michaelmas daisies of every hue—lavender, purple, and
white—beautifully grouped, and at the end the pergola, with
tea roses and
many kinds of
clematis = ram-
pant upon it.
That pergola,
indeed, is pre-
cisely what a
pergola should
be, wth ~its
massive pillars
of masonry, its
long trunks of
trees, with the
bark o , to sup-
port the mass of
creepers, its cool
shade at the end.
From the win-
dow of the hall,
the view is
absolutely
Reswrul, 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 specal
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—l had made one false
start a year or two before—I agreed with the architect how
and where the house should stand, and more or less how the
hy
y
, \
iY
rAd
Judoon Bykharne
THE BEAUTY
OF THE’ BIRCHES.
WOOD. 45
rooms should lie together. And I said that I wanted a small
house with plenty of room in it, and that I disliked small,
narrow passages, and would have nothing screwy or ill-lighted,
So he drew a plan, and we soon came to an understanding,
first about the main block, and then upon the details. Every
portion of it was carefully talked over, and | feel bound to
confess that, in most cases out of the few in which I put
pressure on him to waive his judgment in favour of my wishes,
I should have done better to leave matters alone.’’? ‘he
combination, in fact, was in many respects ideal, and that all
the more so because Miss Jelsyll, 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 tefore the
house—in part,
at any rate—and
that was an
unmixed advan-
tage. The site,
too, was of great
natural beauty.
Be -Was-2 One a
sandy _ hillside,
with an admix-
ture of peat in
the surface soil,
which had once
been a _ wood;
bat; ofthe
original trees
few survived,
save the Scotch
fir which has
been mentioned,
and which has
been spared
because its
leading shoot
had met some
accident 4ft. or
sft. above the
ereund, 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 some
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 her 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 teen 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, 10ft. high
4 GARDENS OLD
and more, the embodiment of stately purity and the pride of
Munstead. Near the old cottage are rampant and luxurious
roses of the 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.
In 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 wildness.
In dealing with the garden proper, it is only possible to
make clear the principles on which Miss Jekyll acts, and they
are more conspicuously visible in the aster walk and in the
herbaceous border than elsewhere. 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
AND NEW.
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 with thoughtful regard to colour effects,
she is an ardent, but not a s'avish, supporter, with a wise
foresight which saves her from monotony 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, Miss
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 your 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.
=
—
HE name and fame of Haddon Hall have: lifted that
historic 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 ?
HADDON
DERBYSHIRE, . .
THE SEAT OF THE
DUKE OF RU
TLAND, H.G.
a
Ass sham
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.
rv GARDENS OLD
describe the arrangement of the -house itself, premising that
here we learn as much of the manner of life of the medizval
and Tudor gentlemen as can be learned in any other place in
England. The visitor passes into the lower courtyard by the
ite tower at its north-western angle, and is delighted with
autiful structures which form the 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 cr western side is the ‘‘ Chaplain’s Room,’’ and,
opposite to the entrance, the Domestic Chapel, of which the
south aisle probab:y belongs to a time before the Vernons came
to Hadion. “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 Hail,
and very picturesque isthe projecting porch, through which
we gain access to the lobby separating the hall on the right
from the: kitchen and cffices on the left. The Minstrels’
Gallery is over. the entrance passage, while the dais 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
AND NEW.
are themselves most impressive and picturesque features,
with extreme quaintness, beauty, and attractiveness of
architecture. The 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 uppermost 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 the lofty Eagle, or Peveril, Tower, which is on
the higher level of the eastern side, and commands not only
the two courtyards, but the upper and lower garders 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 was one
William Peveril, a reputed kinsman of the Conqueror’s, the
last of whose family possessing Haddon fled abroad on suspiciun
of having poisoned Ranulph, Earl of Chester. It is conjectured
that some of the foundations of the mansion may go back eyen
to the Peverils’ time. It was towards the end of the twelfth
century that the place passed to the Veraons by the marriage
of Richard de Vernon with Avicia, a daughter of William
THE DESCENT FROM
is the private dining-room, and the beautiful drawing-
room is above, and from the windows 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
ist fireplace and ancient culinary appliances, while the
ittery, 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,
ch, 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
| projecting on the east upon the terrace, has glorious bays
hich command superb views of the garden, from which they
THE GREAT TERRACE.
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
‘SOVUNAL AHL NO daAVHS ONV LHOIT
G
i
~
x
>
ie)
a
HA
48 GARDENS OLD
ranges of buildings round the courts being then 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
the Parliament o. Leicester in 1426,:as well as] reasurer of
Calais and Captain of Rouen, the builder of the chancel of
the chapel. His successor, Sir William Vernon, married an
heiré ss, 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, I pray you fail not now,
AND NEW.
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 ANCIENT
?
as ever I 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
singular 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 Ill. 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
rt
presently in high favour with Henry VII., who made him a
AVENUE.
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
HADDON HALL.
we
an Bes
Ki tsk
49
GARDEN.
THE
GALLERY FROM
LONG
THE
50 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
sister. John Manners had horses near, and Dorothy stole
down the steps from the Ante-room and along the terrace to
where he was waiting. The sound of their horses’ hoofs was
drowned in the noise of the revelry, and after galloping all
t they reached Aylston, in Leicestershire, where trey w-re
n the morrow. Of these things does the visitor think
when he lingers on Dorothy 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 on,
rich in his many friends in the Midlands, and possessing a
Hodson &Kaarns
HALEDON COTfAGE.
brother who appears to have been his afer ego. Their
correspondence throws a good deal of light upon the society
of the time, and they appear to have been in the confidence
f the Earl of Shrewsbury in relation to his quarrel with his
wife, the celebrated ‘‘ Bess.of Hardwick,’’ who was such a
2reat builder of Derbyshire houses. The Earl wrote to John
Manners in 1586 that he would have been down before but for
his ‘* 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 Haddon: ‘‘Her Majesiy 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 his death in 1611 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,
with the Royal arms of
Englani, 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 Rutland,
an lived alternately at Belvoir
and Haddon, and espoused
the cause of Parliament. He
shared 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 John,
the third Duke, occas onally
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 examples of
garden architecture and
construction in this country.
A singular charm pervades
the upper terrace; ang,
though we may reflect that the
actual features we see cannot
be associated with Dorothy
Vernon, we are well content
with the gloriouscharacter they
possess. This secluded garden
on the south side of Haddon 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 thyuse who have like
opportunities. Like Haddon Hall itself, it is preserved by the
present Duke of Rutland 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.
THE SEAT OF THE
—— a
HE splendid and characteristic gardens of Hoar Cross
in Staffordshire demand particular attention, because
they are a modern creation, and have 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 style.
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 co-heiress 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
OAR CROSS.
BURTON-ON-TRENT,
HON. MRS. MEYNEL
ESS : EG Pardo
et Yip ee <4 %
a SS ee), .
still, in the open battiements thereof, according to the pious
custom of the time. may be read the words, ‘‘ All Glory and
Praise be given to God, the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost,
on High; Peace upon Earth; Goodwill toward Men ; Honour
and true Allegiance to our Gracious King; Loving Affections
among his Subjects ; Health and Plenty within this House.”’
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 1871, 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 AVENUF.
NEW.
GARDENS OLD AND
a
aw
ENCLOSURE.
A GARDEN
STRAIGHT YEW WALK.
THE
53
‘NECYVD YAMOTS GNV ASNOH JHL
GARDENS
OLD
AND NEW.
THE GARDEN 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 1638
contained 47,150 trees, besides hollies and underwood
The Meynells claim descent from the great Norman baron
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 III., 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 Hugo came the Meynells of Hoar Cross. That
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 Newsam. The late Mr. Hugo Francis
Meynell Ingram was well known for his public spirit and great
position among the landed gentry of England, 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 pleasing fancy has directed
the arrangement, and has invested the several parts of the
grounds with singular attractions | On one side of the house
broad lawns extend for some distance, shadowed by fine trees.
On another hand are steep descents leading to well-hedged,
enclosed spaces, radiant with a varied wealth of flowers, and
delightful throughout the year. Then, again, there is a formal,
planned garden, based unon the principle of the square, with a
fountain for the centre-piece, and well-kept beds and geometrical
paths filling the space.. There is enough here, indeed, to
charm the most fastidious in every line of gardening. Perhaps
nothing, however, is so attractive as the grand hedges of yew,
which are kept in superb order, and in denseness of growth
could scarcely be excelled In some places they are cut as
with embattlements ; in others they are pierced as with
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 former times, though it may be
remarked that in this varied pleasaunce the broad expanses
are consonant with the modern spirit also. The pleached walk
of lime is one of the finest examples in Enzland 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
such a garden as Hoar 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 advantag>.
Old Dr. Plot, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum and professor
of chemistry in the Univer-ity of Oxford, who-e ‘ Naiural
HOAR CROSS.
or
or
A WALL OF STONE AND YEW.
56 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
History of Staffordshire’* was published in 1686, has much
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 take 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 arte fopiaria. 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 seat 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 about
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-hoies, or than the noble and finely-cut approach to
the church ? 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 those 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, more
than at many places, a certain catholicity of taste has
enabled the charms of various styles and different lands to
THE PLEACHED WALK.
syds., but within not exceeding r1oft., and ‘‘ cut on the top
with a loop and crest, like the battlement of a tower, adorne
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 Lawley’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 r11yds. 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 r1oft. 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
by her.
HOAR > CROSS. 57
THE LAWNS. :
THE WESTERN AVENUE.
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
‘GOOMAOVd LV ASNOH-YSWWNS FHL
PACKWOOD
. . HOUSE,
BIRMINGHAM,
THE SEAT .
OF é Z 5 ‘
MRS. ARTON.
N our quest for beautiful gardens, and for the charming
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 rightly 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
England.
“Then did I see a pleasant paradize
Full of sweet flowers and daintiest delights,
Such as cn earth man could not devise ;
With pleasures choice to feed his cheerful sprights.”
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-known and persuasive
Ps ——
SW ouet nm é LEBRAN ~
beck te - os
eee eT bean”
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
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 Dugdale, the veracious
historian of Warwickshire, has little to say, though he records
the nscriptions on their monuments in the ancient village
church of St. Giles. One of these is sacred to the pious
memory of John Fetherstone, who died in 1670, at the age of
terraces
THE GATEWAY STEPS.
60 GARDENS OLD
76, and whose probity, goodness, and ingenious character are
extolled; and another records the virtues of his son Thomas
' , who died at the age of 81, in 1714. This Thomas
was a good son, a fond husband,-an excellent father, and a
elegant in various studies and sacred exercises, whose
north aisle of the church to be the resting-
imself and his posterity. It is of good brick, but is
ll in keeping with the rest of the structure, which is
THE MULTITUDE WALK.
said to have been in part erected in expiation by Nicholias
Brome of Baddesley Clinton, who, in a fit of violence, had
in the parish priest there, because, as an old gossip hath it,
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
AND ONLI.
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 1660, 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, which may
perhaps be ascribed to
John Fetherstone, who
died ten years later,
though 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
Elizabeth’s reign. Itwas
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
like that Sir Henry Wotton
described, ‘‘ into which the
first 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 which are
raised terraces, with square
summer-houses at the
corners, an arrangement
analogous to that at neigh-
bouring Kenilworth, as
described by Laneham,
who wrote an account of
the pageants there, 1575.
Could anything exceed
the chai: 1m picturesque beauty of form and colour,
of this* old brickwork? Wherever you turn you find
ancient. walls vested with ivy, clinging to them 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,
61
PACKWOOD HOUSE.
“GOOMAOVd LV AOVUNEL
AWYOMAOIUA FHL
cS
bo
which 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 wrought-iron gate between tall brick
piers of remarkably picturesque and beautiful character.
The gateway is the entrance to another garden or orchard,
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 exemplified in magnificent yew.
GARDENS OLD
AND NEW.
on the Mount overlooking the evangelists, apostles, and the
multitude below; at least, this account of it was given
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
There is no sculpture of sacred figures as human, but 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 mcving garden creation. Now-the mount was
a constant feature in the medizv.l-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 Thomas have to say
about it in their book, ‘‘ The Formal Garden in England,’’
where they speak cf old topiary triumphs. ‘‘ The ~most
remarkable instance still exists at Packwood, in. Warwick-
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, 2oft.
high, for the four evangelists, and six more on either side for
the tweive 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
hives, two and two between the piers. A similar arrangement
exists at Riddlesden in Yorkshire, though in this case the cells
built in the thickness of the garden walls were 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.
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T what period men first built on that rocky eminence
“where Powis Castle stands no man now can say.
In this battle ground of a hundred fights between
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 wall.
The deep ravine on the |
south side—where now the |
lovely garden delights us,
and where, as one writer
Says, Flora and Ceres
alternately contend — pre-
sented five successive ascend-
‘ing rocky 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 the 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.
- Surveying, then, the
magnificent. prospect that is
spread out before us from the
topmost terrace, we think of
the 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 rio,
when Cadwgan ap Bleddynap
Cynvyn, weary of the per-
secutions of his kinsmen,
began to erect a castle—not
the first, we may be sure—
on the hill, but was slain by
his nephew Madog ere he
had roofed his hall. But
from the time of Brochwal
Ysgythrog, Prince of Powys,
who 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 i 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
Hansa & Yaaris
AND NEW,
THE SECOND TERRACE.
Crown by a marriage with Hawyse, the last representative of
the 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 1222.
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
Fez
has a:peculiar _ a
effect, and
THE END OF THE UPPER TERRACE
there is much work of the same class within, all dating
from the early occupation of the Herberts, to whom 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 Duke of
Powis, after the Revolution of 1688, but these ttles were
never recognised in England. The Royal Commissioners had
decided that
he famous
1 stronghold
should share
the fate of
many another
castle after
the Civil
Wars, but
upon the
owners giving
pledges that
it should
never be em-
ployed to the
prejudice of
the Parlia-
ment or Com-
monwealth,
the order was
revoked, and
only the out-
works were
demolished
and a_ few
breaches
made in the
walls, Nearly
67
CASTLE.
POWIS
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‘AOVUNAL GYIHL FHI—HTLSVD SIMOd
68 GARDENS OLD AND NEW,
THE . DESCENT.
69
POWIS CASTLE.
‘MIA =LSVS-HLNOS SHI—ATLSVD SIMOd
70 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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
vertical 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 lead
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 a-.tually 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 TERRACE.
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. ‘he contrasts of varied
level, of garden masonry and statuary, of abundant colour
1
and of cool green grass, are simply admirable on the terraced
steep at Powis Castle. Particularly effective and picturesque
are the leaden figures 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 maznificent’ and most richly wooded. There are
splendid oaks of huge size, especially a sturdy giant on the
right of the approach, which, like many a brother, throws
down a vast expanse of shade. Here are trunks silvered with
the lichens of centuries, shadowy woodland depths, opea
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 broken 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 Powysland comes back with charming
remembrances of Powis Castle. He has looked out from the
sundial terrace over a truly glorious prospect, and then has
passed down the long flights of steps leading him to that
beautiful gate 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.
THE RESIDENCE
OF
i
SS a a
HE county of Northampton is famed, as one writer
has said, for its ‘‘ spires and squires,’’ and has 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 famuus, but Castle Ashby and Rockingham are almost
as notable. At Milton they show. the tree under which Wolsey
sat; there is Drayton, the home of the De Veres, the
Mordaunts, the Germaines, and the Stopfords; Apethorpe,
where King 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 I.,
——
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 Saxons 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, where 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
with his two sons, was the
AN OLD
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74 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
village of Eydon, which lies amid the trees and is a
remarkably 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, second 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. Such 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.
yf
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Peat
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 described as interesting, and
formed in the French style. By this is meant that views 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 illustration 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 vari-ty 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 fark will bear
iteration. ‘You see to your walls, and turf, and shrubberies ;
e
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Sa PETITES, PN RON TE
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eae
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 extraordinary 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 house at the present
day owes very much to those who have gone before.
The fir trees are particularly numerous, and lend their
srey and sober charm to the delightful walk we depict,
and offer a marked contrast to the trees which more closely
1eighbour the house. It will be noticed that the garden is
upon several levels, and that here, again, an excellent use
as been made of a fine opportunity. The low walls
which divide 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
orchard of the one, or corn or pasture land of tne 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-maker-—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 certainly in every part of th2 achievement there is a
beauty that will not elude those who have our pictures
before them, while supreme satisfaction awaits those who
are privilezed to visit the place. Therefore, Eydon 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-edzed, in a circular space of gravel, enframed by a square
of turf. To many it might seem more attractive if green turf
EYDON HALL.
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MIDDAY BY THE SUNDIAL.
i6 GARDENS OLD
jidsan & Hearn s
AND NEIPV.
THE FLOWER WALK AT 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. Fora 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 Lamb remarked, is a differeat
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 that
reveal his presence and passage. There is a_ picturesque
old dial in the garden at Belton Hali, 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 induced 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 imagination than
is revealed in dials of this class. We may see everywhere,
indeed, that 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.
There is, as an example, an exceedingly fine motern 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 anj the world—and above it the
pelican ‘‘ in her piety,’’ while the shaft of the pillar is spiraily
entwined with appropriate mottoes, and ivy clinzs 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 the
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 known 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 plan, and about it are disposed very brilliant
flower-beds, 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 beautiful 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 Eydon 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.
1 lyeareedagh
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17
MELFORD HALL,
SUFFOLK,
THE SEAT OF
REV. SIR W. HYDE PARKER,
OST counties in the less
t 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
formany centuries for thenumber and character of the fine 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, where a tributary of the
river Stour meets the river near Long Melford. It is close to
the Essex border, well wooded and watered, and full of the
kind of scenery that Constable, who was born at no great
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, Kentwell
Hall (which is described and illustrated in this volume), Melford
Place, and the subject of the present article, Melford 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: Martins, Darcys, Cloptons, Cordells, and
THE GATE-HOUSE.
78 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
generations of Parkers of Melford Hall, who gave their lives
for the country by land and sea. To this family 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-General 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 Copenhagen 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 1211. 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 William
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
honte hisself, and he
favoured not that his monkes
shoulde; but he lyked meche
to sytte in a stylle place in ye
Melford wooddes, and to see
ye Abbey dozges honte ye
stagges.’’? The Abbots of St.
Ejmund’swere mighty princes,
and well able to keep up the
state suitable to the highest
order of the Peers Spiritual.
At the Dissolution the
revenue of the Abbey was
equal to £250,000 of our
money. The last Abbot, who
was forced by King Henry
VIII. to surrender this splendid
trust, was a Melford man, John
de Melford. He did not long
survive the spoliation, dying
afew months later; fortunate,
perhaps, not to be executed
for high treason, as were
the unhappy and_ equally
innocent Abbots of Colchester,
Reading, and Glastonbury.
After the demolition of the
monastery Melford Hall and
Manor were granted by the
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 High
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
Church 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 height 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
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80 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
storeys. The east front, which is the entrance front of the
mansion, retains the old windows and fittings almost 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 house
was pulled down. The cellars and foundations were used by
Sir William Cordell, and the ancient wooden porch, which dates
from the year 1515, was also retained. This is an extra-
ordinary and most interesting piece of work, purely medizval
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 finial and openwork front. The sides are boarded
in high enough to make a back to the benches on either side,
a
=
Brae
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 uprights.
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.
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 water-loving
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
Tours me NE
THE ‘‘ 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 natural beauty, ana so closely neighboured by
woodland and by individual trees of beautiful character, that
it will content those who love the simple expression of the
87
SEDGWICK.
‘aAOVUNAL AHL WOuwd
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88 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
** THE
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
A GARDEN SEAT,
SEA.’’
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, alluded 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
the radiant flower-bed, the
dense hedges of yew and the
waving beauties of unclipped
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 ina 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 fancies of their own.
HAT beautiful home of
ae old Englishmen which
we -depict lies in a
chosen part of the 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 the more picturesque charms of ancient timber-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 £283, one of its sessions was held at Acton Burnell,
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 Marmaduke Rawdon of York in the seventeenth century.
That old writer speaks thus of the fountain: ‘‘ Thir is in this
PITCHFORD HALL,
SHREWSBURY,
THE SEAT OF
COLONEL C. J. COTES.
well four little hooles, about halfe
a yard diep, out of which comes
little lumps of pitch, but that
which is att the tope of the well is softish, and swimes
upon the water like tarr, but being skimd together itt
incorporates, and is knead together like soft wax and becomes
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
THE ENTRANCE DRIVE,
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GARDENS OLD AND
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THE TIMBER FRONTAGE AND QUADRANGLE LAWN.
92 GARDENS OLD AND. NEW.
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
oaken 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
fashions 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 our 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. Whata 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 specimens, 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,
[ 98 ]
OF
—
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 8ooft. 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
PARKA, HE SEAT...
LAMORGANSHIRE, MISS TALBOT.
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 the whole church there
GARDEN. ARCHITECTURE.
94 GARDENS OLD
perished in the sandy deluge, and Margam Abbey, secure upon
the hill, continued to survey the curious scene.
It was Robert Earl of Gloucester, Fitz-Hamon’s son-in-
law, 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 oves_ nostras
plusquam mille, cum duabus domibus, in una septimana.’’
Sadder thing’ were to follow. ‘*‘ Occiderunt Wallenses
AND NEW.
Mer-Honour, which flew 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 jong 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 the 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 its many gables and its
walled gardens, and also of the surrounding country as it was
200 years ago. This house was 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
FACADE OF. ORANGERY.
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 £181 7s. 4d. The site was granted to Sir Rice
Mansel of Oxwich Castle, in whose family it continued until
about 1750, nd it passed through the female line, and the
late Mr. C. R. Talbot, M.P., who-died in 1890, father of
Miss Talbot, now or Margam Park, was the descendani 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 Gamages 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 1596 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 groinmg of the cloisters, the fine features of
columns and mouldings, entitle the remains to be ranked
among the most worthy of attention by the architect in South
Wales. The roofless Abbey mill still stands by the water, and
MARGAM PARK.
“sOVUNAL AYHAONVYO FHL
96 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
is a most picturesque feature of the grounds in its framing of
glorious greenery. ;
The gardens at Margam have much that entitles them
The garden architecture, in the first place, is
to atte! n.
xtremely good and varied. The old classic summer-house,
vith its Corinthian columns and arched niches,» each
Vi its statue, is an extremely 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 by one of his 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 perhaps the most interesting feature of the gardens,
and is celebrated for its fine orange trees, many of which are
2oft. high. They are said to have been sent from Portugal by
a Dutch merchant as a present for Queen Mary, consort of
William IIl., 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
the year.
The Taibach Copper Works 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
THE PRINCELY WALK.
driven on the sands neighbouring Margam, the owner of
which, by virtue 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 8o0ft., 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.
‘he 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 £20,000, was erected at her charge. It
is in the Early English style, and is an ad.nirable 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
it be added that the mansion is richly stored with works of art,
antique statues, ancient furniture, and possesses some fine
pictures by famous masters.
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A/a
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N 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,
THE
THE RESIDENCE
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 betw2en it and
CLOISTERS.
GARDENS OLD AND NEW,
DIPPING WELL IN
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 by planting shrubs somewhat in harmony with
the wilder growths, in bold clumps with grassy ways between.
THE KITCHEN GARDEN.
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
TM oN A =5i4
LOGGIA TERRACE.
99
ORCHARDS,
“AOVUNEL
HINOS- SOL
9
v
SdHLS
100 GARDENS OLD AND NEW,
é .
oe
; &
2
ARCHWAY LEADING %7O
evident that the beautiful stretch 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
shruts and trees as first suggest woodland, crabs and
amelanchier, with plantings of double-flowered 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 two
should never be mixed; among others are some of berberis
and shrubby spirza. 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 origina]
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 much 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 leve! 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
THE KITCHEN GARDEN.
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 iheir 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 many 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, elymus, 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.
Manifestly Orchards is an ideal country 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.
7
HIRK CASTLE is one of those notable strongholds
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 was waged. The English King marched his
men to the river Ceireoc, which is in the park of Chirk Castle,
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.
CHIRK
DENBIGHSHIRE,
THE SEAT OF
MR. R. M
o>
Aine
CASTLE,
YD
DELTON.
Ee aE a
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 III. ana
Edward |. 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 to 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 VIII.,and Chirk Castle and Holt Castle were granted to
THE
FLOWER LAWN.
102 GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.
ete X Hegens
THE IRON GATES TO THE PARK.
the King’s natural son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond ani
Somerset. Later on the estate was in the possession of Robert
Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Lord St. John of Bletsoe, whose
son so!d the castle in 1595 to Sir Thomas Myddelton, 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, 1614. 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
burie]. The knight 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 I.
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’ TERRACE,
103
ASTLE,
C
CHIRK
“ATLSVO) SYIHO LY SYAMOTA YAWWNS ONV SHuNSVUEWa
NdadqaD
104 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
Parliamentary cause had cooled somewhat, and his castle was
garrisoned for the Parliament in 1651 until he gave security to
the extent of £20,000 for his good behaviour. He declared
for Charles Il., but in 1651 was besieged in his castle hy
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 £45,000, and when Lambert came all his
personal estates were swept away, the damage done to the
building alone being estimated at £30,000. He died, however,
in his castle in 1656, 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
“T entered first, at Chirke, right ore a brooke,
Where staying still, on countrey well to looke,
A castle fayre appeered to sight of eye,
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 newe,
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 flanking round towers, is imposing in character, and the
courtyard within is extremely fine.
SERGE
THE SEQUESTERED 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 name 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 16ft. to 18ft. 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 their
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-iike hedge, cut like a bastion in the
sunny garden. Observe, again, the long hedge upon the 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
tor 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.
“HAREWOOD
_ . HOUSE,
YORKS,
HE splendid house of the Earl
of Harewood, standing in an
elevated situation in the ro-
mantic valley of the Wharfe,
has but one rival of its classic
kind in Yorkshire, that county so well
stored 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 very
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, LOOKING
NORTH.
Bele SEL a
OF Pie
haves
1
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 two
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 ilkley 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 the chapel
has some very interesting
features. The. fortress was
dismantled probably during the
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 :
“Vou did commit me;
For which I do commit into
your hand
The unstain’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
After the Gascoignes came
the Wentworths, and the great
Lord Strafford occasionally
made this his home in early life,
*gainst me.”
106 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
delighting
much, as may
be seen by his
letters, in the
beauty and
h s in the
neighbour-
hood in 1639,
when war
with the Scots
had broken
out. Hewrote
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 pies
their cloaths THE
as they never
vad 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 Gawthorpe Hall was 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 foundaticn-stone inthe 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 cf
those houses
which are so
thoroughly
Engish and
aristocratic
that ‘‘one is
inclined to
overlook their
defects of
style in con-
sequence of
their respect-
ability and
the associ-
SPHINX. ations — they
callup.”’? 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 garcen are,
indeed, very striking, and remarka-ly good in their details.
The statuary is nowhere obtrusive, but holds the right place
THE CIRCULAR FOUNTAIN.
HAREWOOD.
107
FACADE.
EAST
HAREWOOD HOUSE—THE
108 GARDENS OLD
to give interest to 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
sned 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
AND NEW.
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.
In 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
150 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 spiraeas, flag irises, myosotis, etc.
Then, as befits so great a place, there is, in one of the
THE DOUBLE
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
iway from the western side of the mansion, being there
bordered by beech woods and fringed by flowering cherries,
ind it neighbours the kitchen gardens and glass-houses, and
broadens into a considerable sheet. There is a delightful
TERRACE,
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 tomb, 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
‘HLNOS ONINOOT ‘AVMUIVLIS SAISGNOG GNV SOVUNAL LSuld AHL
109
HAREWOOD.
110
enenaensnensgegs geneasacnages
3
isbn Kearns ©
NTMI i
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
THE OUILOOK FROM
THE UPPER TERRACE,
THE TERRACE STAIRWAY.
11]
HAREWOOD.
‘NAqQUVD
SOV E SAHNI
NIVINONOd . SHL
ea 5 bo spi
112 GARDENS OLD
AND NEW.
THE SECOND
by their magnificence. Both in the house and its surroundings
we find all those features which we associate with the great
classic seats of the land. From tie windows fine views are
commanded of Wharfedale and of Otley Chevin, from the
highest point of whicl; there is a surprising prospect, including
York Minster at a distance of thirty miles, while to the south
the smoke of Leeds and the manufacturing district clouds the
sky, and away to the north and north-east a vast extent of
ema eee
THE BROAD TERRACE GARDEN.
TERRACE.
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 novle and 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 8oft. 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 house, 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 of York.
An ideal day may
well be spent at Harewood,
in surveying the splendours
of its art treasures, the
beauties of its gardens,
and its park of 1,800 well-
wooded and picturesque acres.
But to conjure up in print or
manuscript the attraction of
such 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.
LDENHAM is a quaint house in a beautiful garden
dignified by the presence of a stately avenue of elms,
some two hundred years old, leading to the front
entrance, a leafy regiment breaking 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 Il., and the west front of the same period.
The house is a mixture 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 II. is
seen in the bow of the drawing-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 asin repose. Immediately
against the house the quiet terrace may be gay with colour
from an array of begonias, fuchsias, and summer bedding plants,
THE KILCHEN
OF
Lorp ALDENHAM.
making it refreshing to walk 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. Ihe planting is quite
modern; in truth, the gardens have been transformed by
Lord Aldenham until they may be regarded as new, and
during the past twenty years, with his gardener-son, the
Hon. Vicary Gibbs, M.P., he has carried on extensive and
judicious planting.
Thomas Sutton, who owned the estate in 1590, would
scarcely recognise in the present extensive and well-planted
park, garden, and woodland the Aldenhim of his far-off day-
The estate passed in 1614, with thit gentleman’s daughter and
heir, to her husband, Henry Coghill, in whose family it remained
until 1734, and their arms still remain over the hali door. Then
it passed to Robert Hucks, who had married the daughter and
heir of another Henry Coghill, and remained in the Hucks
family until 1814, whea the elder branch became extinct 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 marriage of Antony Gibbs (grandfather of the first
Lord Aldenham) with Dorothea Hucks.
It is difficult to know where to begin in a survey of the
gardens and woodland at Aldenham, which comprise upwards
|
Sen atermances
GARDEN.
114 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
9
aa
f,
i yi,
THE WILDERNESS.
of 200 acres, maintained in high cultivation even in those
places usually permitted to run wild and unkempt. There are
three picturesque lodges, and we may make a start at the
Aldenham lodge. Turning to the right, a charming 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 capped 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.
This leads to the well-planted park and new ornamental lake.
This lakeand bold rockwork 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 bridge the lake, with its
two islands, is presented to
view. This modelling, and
practically forming a new
feature entirely, has been ac-
complished since 1898. It has
been the result of the work of
the able head gardener, aided
by Mr. Vicary Gibbs, who, like
so many of our Jandowners of
the present day, takes a pzac-
tical interest in the garden and
woodland. There are breadths
of bulrushes rustiing in the
autumn winds, golden elder,
snowberry, thick with creamy
fruit during winter, American
blackberries, and the soft silver
grey of that beautiful willow,
Salix 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), ani a ‘‘ Fiddler ’’ and
a Songstress (the work of that excellent sculptor, Mr. F. W.
THE YEW GARDEN.
eALDENHAM HOUSE. 115
THE WATERFALLS.
116 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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
winds of winter whistle through
the trees, or the rich tints of
autumn colour the boughs, this
wilderness of shrubs presents
bright features. Here an enor-
mous group of the sumach
Rhus typhina spreads out its
characteristic foliage, touched
A USTONE OR EATS with brilliant colours in Sep-
tember days, there the air is
Pomeroy), which stand above the steps at the end of the fragrant with the breath of sweet briar, and the heavy
terrace, being good examples of the revived art of lead racemes of Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora (the biz panicled
“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 pleasant retreat 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 every-
where, and there is a border of sub-
tropical plants, remarkable for effec-
tiveness. Not far away is a quiet
scene—an orchard garden of apples
planted in the grass, where the THE SEAT BENEATH: THE OAK.
‘daffodils dapple the turf with flowers.
In many gardens this form of gardening, imitating the sweet hydrangea) weigh down the shoots. The Japanese rose,
ways of Nature herself, is being carried out with success. cut-leaved bramble, double bramble, Cornus sibirica (the
Siberian dog-wosd), Rubus
odoratus, Japanese windflower,
symphoricarpus, ribes, and
spirzea are a few of the shrubs
massed in this beld 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 tree
planting does not disturd
the quiet grassy paths flecked
with sunlight, and retreats
from the glare of ‘‘ bedders ”’
and the heat of summer and
autumn,
By following one of the
pleasant grass walks, and
A GARDEN SEAT. leaving the house and kitchen
wes
117
Je
ALDENHAM HOUSI
‘"NS0CYVD CdySOTONA FHL WOU
INOW LSVA FHL
garden, with its fine ornamental
west side is reached, and here many changes have taken
place during the past few
beautiful effects from the
choice collection of trees and
shrubs, and streams mean-
dering into the moats of the
cld house, pulled down in the
tims of Henry VIIl., where
now is the water garden.
Tue 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. Extensive 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.
Aldenham is not a garden of
one season only ; itis delightful
to visit at all times—during
the spring, when the flowering
trees -are tLurdened with
biossom and the = marsh
marigolds dot the streamsides
with colour; through the
summer months; ard in the
autumn, to learn the value of
the changing leafin beautifying
the 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
years.
doorway, the north-
GARDENS OLD AND_ NEW.
"ME St EET
A BRIDGE IN THE GARDEN.
On every hand are
THE KNEELING’ SLAVE.
of a garden mellowed by time.
leaved trees are in abundance.
graceful beauty, and casts a grateful shade upon the lawn in
Weeping and variegated
A weeping tree is generally of
the hot sunmer days, but
there must be no crowding
together. Every tree should
display its characteristic charm
—the willows by the water-
sije, the holly upon the lawn,
and the thorns in the park.
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.
Those who have bare
lakesides 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 beinz unex-
celled in the Brivish Isles, It
is a splendid specimen of its
kind, the branches sweeping
the grass and forming a
fountain of leafy shoots, an
arbour of grateful green
in the warm days of
summer. A _ varied garden,
indeed, of natural beauty,
with just enough of formality
near the house is tiat at
Aldenham.
Fie 9 as
COMPTON
WYNYATES.
WARWICASHIRE,
THE SEAT. OF ‘THE
MARQUESS OF NORTHAMPTON.
Wy
ITHIN four or five miles
\/\ ot 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
hollow, stands one of the most beautiful Tudor houses in
England. Warwickshire 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 wish 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
Tact sentilllle ie
THE ANCIENT
possesses such places, and Compton Wynyates is doubly
fortunate in that it is prized and treasured by its noble owner
and maintained in as high a state as ever it knew of yore.
The 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 gat2-house tower. The spyhole is there,
through which he looked out to learn who the stranger might
be, and the twisted stairway by which he ascended to take a
larger survey. The oaken 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 57{t. across. Over the arch
of the entrance, as may be seen in our picture, are the arms
GATEWAY.
120 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
of Henry VIII., with the griffin and greyhound for supporters,
and the royal crown above, and in the spandril of the arch on
the 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 beautiful, with its
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 time. The walls are vested with ivy, roses, clematis, and
the fiery thorn, and there are old fuchsia trees along the
FOUNTAIN, SUNDIAL, AND TOWER.
pathways. 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,
srected 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
3attle of the Spurs, where he was knighted for his bravery.
In the great hall of his house he welcomed Henry VIII., 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 son 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 ceilinz put up by the 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 at
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.
The 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 I. 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 I. 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,
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The old timber was cut down on the estates to the value of
450,000, but Nature, ever kindly, has !ong 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
1 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
tha
dining-room have been alluded to. There is the bed-chamber
of Henry VIII., 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-
are extremely interesting.
”
room, known as the ‘‘ Barracks,
GARDENS OLD
AND NEW.
intere-ts 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 fligits 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.
IHE PERGOLA.
Elizabeth, James 1., and Charles |., 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 Earl 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
nouse.
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. In 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 masses 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
nothing 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 yews 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
123
COMPTON? WYNYATES.
“SALVANAM
NOLdWOOD JV N3GYvYD LVOW HL
24 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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 varied outline of the structure and in its quaint
features, set in the sweetness of its gardens and grounds.
THE SUNDIAL.
It owes much of its glory to the present Marquess of
Northampton.
The pathway by the dovecote, which has been alluded to,
leads to the church. The 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 the 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, Henry, 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. Memorial banners
and hatchments are also in
the church, which form a
F long and practically complete
wm 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 beauty look-
ing for the -charms°seree
superb English landscape, or
of one who finds his joy in
the ravishing sweetness of a
lovely garden, we recognise
that the place deserves
to rank very high among
the glorious old houses of
England.
‘*Compton Pike’’ stands
above it on the hill, placed
there in 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.
COMPTON WYNYATES.
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AMESBURY
ABBEY,
AMESBURY, WILTS,
THE SEAT
OF
ROM the garden po'nt of view Amesbury is ch/efly
interestins for the richress o° its foliage and the
superb character of its garden architecture. The
place itself is abundantly interesting also, and it is
in possible to sav how far its legendary antiquity
might be carried back into the dim prehistoric ages. There
are those who say that the name signifies ‘‘ The Land of
Ambrosius,”’ the Brits-Roma1 General who came, invited
over by Vortigern, to a sist in expelling from Britain 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 the ‘‘ Holy House at Almesbury,’’ and
received the parting 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 somewhat 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 former grandeur. The
foundaticns of nuns’ cells have been discovered, however,
in many places by digging. The site of the monastery is
unknown. Could it have crowned the 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 the monasteries of Ambresbury
and Banwell to Asser, Bishop of Sherborne, in recognition
of his services. Queen E! rida founded the Benedictine Priory
at Ambresbury in 980, 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
Normandy. — A priest and twenty-four nuis came thence to
Ambresbury, and the convent increased in glory and riches.
King John conferred upon it important privileges, an Eleanor,
sole daughter «f Geoffry Earl of Bretagne, at her own request,
was buried there. Mary, sixt: daughter of Edward 1., in
company with thirteen ladies of’ noble birth, took the veil
there in 1285, and two years afterwards -leanor, Queen of
Henry Ill., and mother of Edward:I., also took the veil at
Ambresbury, ani died there June 21st, 1291, during the
absence of her son in Scotland. On his réturn, he summoned
all his clergy and barons to Ambrestury, where he solemnly
completed the ent-mbment of his mother, on the day of the
Nativity of the Virgin Mary, in the conventual church
founded by her, and where her obsequies were reverently
celebrated. Isabella of Lancaster, fourth 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 the King’s emissaries. They
wrote: ‘‘ Albeit we have used as many ways as our poor wits
could attain, yet in the eid 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 | will gladly go, though
**KENT HOUSE’’—THE
EAST GATE,
128 GARDENS OLD
1 beg my bread, and as for pension I care for none.’” Death
soon afterwards released her from the humiliation of surrender.
Joan Darell, the last prioress, was more pliant, and surren-
ito Henry VIIl., December 4th, 1540.
According to Tanner, the Abbey Lands were given to the
Earl of Hertford, afterwards the Prote-tor.Somerset, and after
his execution were probably gr inted to his son, Edward Earl of
Hertford, by Elizabeth This Lord Hertford lived at Amesbury,
and h's tomb is in S uisbury Cathedral. His second wife was
Francis, daughter of Lord Howard of Blindon. She Aad
previously been engaged to Sir George Rodney of Rodney-
Stoke, but jilted him for Lord Heriford. Sir George Rodney
was heart-broken. He followed Lady Hertford to Amesbury,
and sat up all one night writing verses to her wth 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 :
‘Re stronge in faythe, Prayes-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 the
Queensberrys) leaving it by
will to his nephew, Charles
Duke of Queensbery, 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 Kitty, beautiful and young,
And wild as colt untai’d,
Bespoke the Fair from whence she
sprung
With little rage inflaim’d.
‘“‘Tnflain’d with rage at sad restraint
Which wise mamuna ordained,
And sorely 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-house is a grassy bank—
sloping to the river flowing
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. The old
house, inhabited _ by the
Queensberrys, was built by
John Webb (architect, born 1611), from designs by his uncie,
Inigo Jones, in the Palladian style beloved by him, and an
engraving and plans of it may be fcund in “Vitrivius
Britannicus,’’ pag> 7, Vol. III. The beautiful entrance gate
piers, now standing at Amesbury, are’ by Webb. The
magnificent bridge, one of the finest earden 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.
[he 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
f ** Old Q.”’ He died unmarried in 1810, the estates passing
to Archibald, Lord Douglas of Douglas, whose executors sold
A SUNDIAL.
AND NEW.
them to Sir Edmund Antrobus in 1824. Amesbury House
remained uninhabited during a period of sixty years (for ‘‘ O'd
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 occupied it for a while.
Sir Edmund Antrobus’s grandfather, upon inheriting
Amesbury from his uncle, wished to restore and enlarge the
house, but on examination, finding it to be eaten through with
dry rot, decided to pull the old place down and build 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. Borrow’s
Lavengro stopped to gaze over the parapet of Amesbury town
Bridge at the river below; thus: ‘‘ Presently I passed by a
church which rose indistinctly on my rizht hand; anon there
was. the rustling of foliage and the rushing of waters. 1
reached -a bridge.’?. Tiick beeches and Lombardy poplars
flourish in the district, and a fine beech avenue _ ieads
through the wood 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 2 little copse
by the high road, passing
through which one catches
afirst distant glimpse of
Stonehenge.
One of the ~~ finest
deciduous cypresses in
England overshadows _ the
Chinese Temple Summer-
house, a miniature building
of exquisite proportions, with
delicate columns and_ balus-
trading, built across an arm
of the river. To the east of
the park is a_ splendid 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 nearest the village
is called Kent House, and
bears the date 1607. The
other by the river has the
inscription—carved in stone
over the doorway—‘ Dianr
her Hovs, 1600.’’ Mr. Blom-
field, in his charming
“Renaissance Architecture in
England,”’ cites this garden-
house as a good example of
the fancifully designed buildings which delighted the architects
of 1600. These houses are built of stone and squared flints,
and are of the finest workmanship, and similar to the
flin‘-work found in Suffolk churches of the fifteenth
century. To Kent House the Duchess of Queensberry
added a remarkable cctazon room, with a dary b_low, with
brick fan vaulting.
The present dwelling-house of Amesbury Abbey (rebuilt
by Hopper, 18:4) is an impressive building, and closely follows
Webb’s plan. It is of C: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 competed 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 some carved panelling remain of Webb’s
designing.
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GARDE {ND NEW.
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CHASTLETON
[2 HOUSE. -
OXFORDSHIRE.
——
HE house here illustrated is interesting in many ways.
To look at it one would say that its grey walls must
have witnessed a good deal of history, and have
beheld the daily 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 form and character, richly plenished
within with such characteristic examples of the wood carver’s
art as generally distinguished ho.ises «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 importince on the spot. The
Veiee Stakes
Conqueror granted Cestreton, as the place was then called, to
a Saxon 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 took name from the place, but the
Cestr-tons did not continue !ong, 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 tne 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
Minister of Richard III., and Speaker of the House of Commons
in 1484, who was taken at the battle of Bosworth and put
to death. Henry VII. 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 GARDEN,
132
Ca iS of those who had suffered very severely
und penal laws in the time of James. Driven to
speration, after a licentious youth, he turned with fervid
11 to the faith he had foresworn, and in sinister conditions
conceived that monstrous plot which it is difficult to imagine
10W h ind could have harboured—the plan of
blowing up the Parliament..House, and of involving in common
lest ict yn the King, Lords, and Commons who had framed
and executed the al laws. It does not appear that this
wild conspiracy took shape within the walls of Chastleton—
oen
pen
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 he
designed the purchase-money for the 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 money was expended in furthering the sinister scheme
against the King, Lords, and Commons.
The existing house was built by the new possessor, a
substantial woollen merchant of Witney, of whom it is related
GARDENS OLD
AND NEW.
we may see. The builder hai two sos, Arthur and Henry.
The latter was a gentleman learned in the law, whose bedroom
is stili 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 varying fortunes
of the war, but, after that monarch’s execution, lived quietly
at Chastleton until 1651. Then oace more he took arms in the
cause of Charles’s son, and appears to have been with him on
the fatal field of Worcester.
Legends or histories record his home-coming. Mistress
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 into 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 pursuit
of the fugitives—but the weary man, altogether spent, had
no strength to fly.
=
THE ELEPHANT
that he came from the old line of Jones of Grismont, county
Glamorgan, whose pedigree stretches back to legendary Brute,
and through the mists of ages even to King Priam, in those
times when Zeus from the Heights of Olympus directed the
armies of Greeks and Trojans upon the plains of lium. The
judicious may perhaps refrain from investigating this heroic
genealogy, but will discover in the latter chain that the family
inter-married with Tudor, Herbert, and many other noble
houses, and gave many a son who fought 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
1 Eleanor Pope, maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth,
hose father was Henry Pope, the Queen’s jeweller, and her
Sir Thomas Pope of Wroxton. It is believed, upon the
tradition, that Mr. Jones was his own architect, and,
he designed well and built substantially. The
1603, and appears to have been finished
[ tate at the time was not so larg2 as now, and the
mansion stood at one end cf it, adjacent to the church, as
AND
YOUNG.
HER
chamber, which is still shown, while his wife admitted the
sour-visaged pursuers. They weuld 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-p'ace, 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
deluded Puritans on the muzzy-headed u.orn when, with aching
pates, they rose from the night’s carouse to find the quarry flown.
He sought refuge therefore in a secret
CHASTLETONY HOUS
*
aes Seceee, we 8
THE PORCH.
134 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
The Bible which Charles presented to Bishop Juxon on
the scaffold remains in the house, as well as many other relics
of the time, ircluding a finely-executed miniature of the King
on copper, so contrived that transparencies may be placed
over it, upon. which are various pictures representing the
different phases of the Monarch’s chequered career. More-
over, two oaks on the estate were p'anted to commemorate
the Restoration, but the storm; have laid them low. In 1694
Walter Jones of Chastleton married Anne, daugiiter of Richard
Whitmore of S!aughter, and their son Henry, an ardent
Jicobite, ended by wasting his substance; but Henry’s son
John, who never 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 a1 eccentric
gentleman, for Miss Whitmore Jones, who has wri ten a brief
account of her house, says that, when the workmen had left
off, he used to go with his knife and try to pick out the mortar
from between the stones, and if he succeeded, the work was
bezun 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 any 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, who had
added the name
of Jones. t0
his own, and
had married a
daughter of
Colonel Clutton
of Pensax Court,
removed to
Chastleton
Hcuse, which
again became a
centre of life
in the country.
Mr. Whitmore
Jones, who was
universally
popular, — lived
the true life of
a country
gentleman,
maintaining and
improving — his
estate, and ever
looking after the
we fare of -his
tenants and
neighbours
Miss Whit-
more Jones, in her -ntes 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 stock, he thought the
Season’s cultivation-of the land wculd 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. Jones 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’ the proposal.’? Mr. Whitmore
Jones lived until 1853, and all his four sons hav.ng died,
the estate devolved upon his. eldest daughter, the present
possessor.
THE
The general aspect «f the ol! house has been alluded to,
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 in the midule, and
DOVECOTE.
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 ancient 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 paneiled 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 which
the secret room is reached, the State Rcom, the Library, and,
abo.e all, the very remarkable Long Gallery, with its impres-
sive panelling and its waggon-headed ornamental ceiling —all
very remarkable apartments. Indeed, Chastieton 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
aforecourt
entered through
a characteris ic
gateway with
pinnacles, the
approach
flanked by
flower-beds, and
the enclosure
formed by a
laurel hedge.
The _ princ pal
and. character-
istic feature is
the pleasaunce
of clipped box
at the side of
thehouse. Here,
enclosed withia
a circular hedge
of yew, are
many curious
bu S:€-S= 20s
box, standing
lik'€=-S‘ommice
fantastic ring of
servitors about
the central sundial. They are of odd and nam less
shapes, toads or elves, perhaps—certain of them resembling
somewhat an elephant w.th her young; some of them
formed in rings and globes, but all of them curious and
interesting. Such a garden would not be formed in these
days. A.tiquity is written upon it, though the precise
date of the curious girdenage is unknown to us. Evidently it
belongs to an earlier time, when delizht was taken in such
quaint conceits. There is no lack of floral adornment, but the
box garden is the great feature. There are amp'e lawns and
borders, and everywhere the tre s are particularly fine. The
turf walks and formal flower-beds add to the attraction of the
place, and in another part of the grounds are the tennis lawns,
formed on what was originally the bowlins green. There is a
memorial of the Jacobite times in the three Scotch firs which
stand at the end of the garden by the churchyard. 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 leading spirit in a
Jacobite club in Gloucester. The attractive features of the
gardens will not escape those 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.
ER Os
A SEAT OF THE
MARQUESS OF SALISBURY, K.G.
HE old market town
of Cranborne in
Dorsetshire, which
lies about ten miles north from Wimborne, and known to readers
0° fiction as the ‘‘ Chasetown”’ of ‘‘ Tess of the 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 now more particularly dstinzuished in the possession of the
marvellously beautiful manor house which 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, this old Dorsetshire dwelling-place The house
stands a little to the west of the church, and belongs to the
Marquess 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 embellished by Robert Cecil, the great Lord
Treasurer in the time of James I., who was created in 1604
Viscount Cranborne from this Dorsetshire possession, and,
in the following year, Earl of Salisbury.
The Jacobean porches on tie 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 thit 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 winjows, embatilements, and pinnacles
A GRASS WALK.
136 GARDENS OLD
they bring an element of classic charm, which seems all in
harmony, though its architectural character is not the same.
The north porch has a singular fascination in its Italian grace
i red ajornments of heraldry and strap-
iches, and pilasters, and, indeed, combined
go and the stairway, makes a picture of true
domestic beauty, the garden foreground adding the final charm.
The delicacy of the constructional work is surpassed in few
places, and Cranborne,Manor House deserves to stand as an
architectural triumph of the time.+ Over the sou‘h porch,
upon which old horse-shoes hang for luck, may be seen’ the
scales of Justice, and Mercy, a female figure, these 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 held there. At the east end they stil
point cut the dungeon where the offenders on such occasions
were oftea c:nfined. Thus does the place take us back to
the old days of forest law and baronial jurisdiction.
In a house with such goodly external features, it is
pleasant to find corresponding attractions within, and at
; lo 1 ~) m
und style, ifS scul
work, its arches
with the terracin
AND NEW.
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, the place from which extensive
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 surroundings, the te race at Cranborne
Manor. The garden below is full of colour and sweetness, and
tail 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 alley, where, in friendly contest, men
might pass the evenings of summer. ‘‘To have occasion to
A. PACKGROUND
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 the business of the
Spanish marriage. Charles I. 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
second battle of Newbury. was to darken the Royal fortunes.
Cranborne Manor House has still ‘‘ King James’s Room,’’ with
an anci bedstead and. tapestry, and Queen Elizabeth’s
sits treasures. Out of the mullioned windows
| along the garden alleys, and over the fair courts
ld hioned flowers grew, men whose names are
and fair ladies remembered still for their
[he picturesque grouping of the buildings, marking the
OR YEW
exercise within your orchard,’’ he says, ‘‘ it shall be a pleasure
to have a bowling alley.’’ True, being ‘‘more manly and
more healthfuli’’—or so he thought it—he would have preferred
‘‘a payre of buttes, 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 thcse two densely vested structures set diagonal-wise,
has an individual charm of its own. It deserves to be noted
as a suzgestion among houses of the class. We do not kaow
anything quite like it. Perhaps, if the ivy did not clothe 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 follow
the traditional style of his choice, may venture from the
beaten track to create some beauty or interest to his mind;
and it is not to be denied that this entrance to Cranborne
CRANBO'RNE (MANOR.
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GARDENS OLD AND NEIV.
THE OLD GARDEN’ WALL.
THE GREAT ELM AVENUE.
14
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146 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
still in their prime, but others giving evidence of their
antiquity in their worn and riven crests. Then we reach
those splendid wrought-iron gates, with the lofty metal
piers, admirable examples, set in a semi-circle of masonry,
so reach the forecourt and the porch, noticing first the
exceedingly quaint summer-houses on either side of the gate,
which seem to have been added in the time of Queen Anne.
Mere Hall is one of the most important houses of the class in
Worcestershire, ani 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
medizval 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
domestic offices in the old time, and on the left the drawing-
room, with the library behind.
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) it. There may well be, as at ‘Mere Hall, fine
hammered iron gates as an approach, and there may be
enclosed gardens with yew hedges and quaint garden-
houses, as at this 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-HOUSE,
changed the main plan, while extending the structure beiind
the dining-room, where now are the kitchens and offices. — 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. The
date 1335 is roughly carved on an upper- beam between two
bedroom .windows, and it has. been stggested that this
may: be a mistake for 1535. The date, however, is plain,
and it is known that the house was built by -1Thomas
Bearcroft of the time, and the edifice has an early simplicity.
Our pictures will show how a more modern hand—
: it have been that of Mr. Habershon ?—has substituted
es of ‘‘carpenter’s gothic’’ for the o.d 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-oaly on the chimney-sta ks are climbers suffere]
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 plants. :
Such things 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 fish-pond 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 mere 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 truy beautiful
surroundings.
[ 147
PARHAM
SUSSEA, (2.20% :
THE SEAT OF 3 ;
E OF
LORD ZOUCKHi
—
USSEX is one of those English counties which 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 42lla and
Cissa ‘* beset Anderida, and slew all that were therein, nor
was there afterwards one Briton left,’’ the warlike chieftains
Y»
BY
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)
2
ar
|
THE GATE
]
PARH,
HARYNGW
Se
WHE
ZAZA
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 afew 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
AND THE VISTA,
148 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
pre-eminently one of these. It is, indeed, one of the most
important and stately old magpsions in Western Sussex—a
ha o architectural creatitd, with noble gardens and a
| park, lying at the foot of the Downs, ani having
shind 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 Parham Manor, but one Tovi, a
freeman, was settled there. The place was numbered among
the broad possessions of Earl Roger, and in the centuries that
followed passed through the families of St. John 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 the tradition, but it is worthy of remark
that the date 1583 and the Queen’s arms occur on the wall
at the upper end of the hall. 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 beautiful 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 tie 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 TIME 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 effe.ted in 1540, at
the price of £1,225 6s. 5d., and a yearly rental of £6 12s. 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
emboJied in th2 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
tone, “and its south and west fronts are excellent work of
yan date. The trace of the modern hand is still upon
re, but where should we wish to see better work of
in that glorious hall window of many lights, cresteJ
the quaint gables and picturesque chimneys above? - In
n Elizabeth is said to have visited Sir
r’s house, and to have dined in the newly-
way to Cowdray. There seems to be
in very perfect preservation. The north and east sides
of the house belong to the reign of Henry VIII, and some
parts to a still earlier date. The kitchen is remarkable as
being identical in plan with that of Christ Church, Oxford,
and is a cube of 25ft., with two great fireplaces beneath
Gothic arches, r4ft 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 buironet,
made some changes in the mansion, about 1710, rather pre-
judicial to its character, and the port co on the 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 in the shape of ‘‘ castellated stables
ph wna FANS nearer :
% + BEE came coe ARES Sith SA GEG SR A i SE I Be
aie TT STS » f ov “Same
; 4 *
PARK,
=
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=
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x
150 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
of rough stone work.’? In Neale’s ‘‘ Views of Seats,”
published in 1828, tre gables are not shown, the projecting
bays having then been given segmental tops and plain sash
windows. Happily, since that time the hose 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 place, 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 1485, but his attainder was reversed,
THE HOUSE AND CHURCH.
and the barony of Zouche, to which that of St. Maur had been
added, 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, MP. 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 richly 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 Palzeologi against the Turks in
1452. The collection also includes three complete suits of
armour of 11Co, 1250, and 1350, and complete suits of Gothic
armour, with pointed toes, prior to 1452, as well as many
helmets and several cross-hilted swords. Lord Curzon
described his collection in the Archeological Journal, XXIl.,
1865. Most of the precious manuscripts from the library have
been removed to the British Museum. In the hands of the
rteenth baron, the great house at Parham was well cared
ur illustrations will show that the place is maintained
tate and order.
ve 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 adazoe
wood, called the North
Park, where the pines and
spruce firs are glorious.
Knox speaks with enthusiasm
of the most _ interesting
hercenry 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 repa'ring 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 and 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
until 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
1351. 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.
ALS:
ia
PATRRHAM PARK,
J51
GARDEN PATHWAY AT PARHAM.
A
" MAPPERTON
- .. HOUSE
BEAMINSTER,
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(
NANNY
60)
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ANY fine houses and beautiful
gardens are in the Wessex
county of Dorset. The land
is rich and fruitful—if not
pre-eminently in cornland,
yet in the abundant pastures which
maintain those splendid herds that make Dorsetshire one of the
chief dairying counties in England. In traversing it from 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 cover 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 whose glades the grunting porkers fed on the
THE RESIDENCE
OF
yy
=
mast of beech and oak. Can we not
hear them sti!l when we pass through
that village significantly named of old
Latinity Tcller Porcorum? By that way
we may goina wayfaring from the direc-
tion of Dorchester by the valley of the
Frome to the village of Mapperton, which lies between Toller
‘‘of the Pigs ’’ and Beaminster. As the crow flies, 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. Bridport 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 the Emminster of the
novel, the ‘‘ hill-surrounded little town, with the Tudor church
tower of red stone, and the clump of trees near the vicarage,”
where the father of Angel Clare was incumbent. Through the
district of Mapperton, then, we may fol:ow Tess in some of her
weary journeys.
Jt is now time to turn to the mansion we depict, and we
shall not err if we extol its true old English domestic
THE OLD GARDEN AND GRASS_ TERRACE,
MAPPERTOXNE HOUSE,
THE FORECOURT.
MAPPERTON HOUSE FROM
154 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
picturesqueness. There are
greater pl s of more stately
their adorn-
than ti
this Dorsetshire house which
mracuv
lo.ks out into the grassy fore-
court. The place is said to
have been erected in the time
of Henry VII., and there 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 perhaps of that time, and
later than the 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 windows, and to a much later date belong 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 ughter of
Richard Broderipp, married in 1783 Mr. John Compton of*the
Manor House, Minstead, who was the grandfather of the late
THE AVENUE AND STABLES.
Mr. Fenry 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 chimneys, the finely moulded mullions and transoms,
the admirable 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.
VII. WING.
MAPPERTON HOUSE. 155
drawing-room is an admirable example of plaster-work, with
pendants and fleurs-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
exceptions, 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 walis 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
is the line that runs from Bridport to Maiden Newton, on the
Great Western Railway from Yeovil to Dorchester and
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
leave a place which we are very. glad to include in this
series of illustrations of the famous houses and gardens of
England.
OLD AND NEW.
c
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GARDEN
oO
“LSHM-HLNOS SHL WOUs
DINV IWAUG
LY SOVYNsL ODNOT, SHL
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DRUMLANRIG
- © CASTEE,
DUMFRIESSHIRE,
Sh
Aes,
ANY are the honours and high the titles that
‘ belong to the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.
Of seats, too, his Grace has many, to wit: the
famious house of L’alkeith, near Edinburgh; Drum-
lanrig Castle and Langholm Lodge, Dumfriesshire ;
Eildon Hall, near St. Boswell’s; and Bowhill, near Selkirk;
and a Northamptonshire house as well. Truly, a goodly
heritage and a rich, well worthy of a great peer of the realm.
It is with the beautiful Dumfriesshire domain of Drumlanriz
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 mighty 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 II. 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 SEAT
OES EE: irs
DUKE OF BUCCLEUC
oi
the other side of the river. The first Baron of Drumlanrig was
Sir William Douglas, living at the close of the same century,
from whom was descended William, first Viscount Drumlanrig,
and afterwards Earl of Queensberry.
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-pinnacled,
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
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
I ‘in.’’? But the Duke built well, and all around
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, ‘f Sir Robert
Grierson of Lag gifted to Queensberry eleven score of tall
stately oaks out of Craignee Wood for joists to the 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 isthe interior, and in its many
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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
known 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. 8in.
in girth, and among several silver firs one 133ft. 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 description of them has been preserved.
It is in a manuscript history of Durisdeer (in which parish
Drumlanrig lies) by the Rev. Peter Rae (1700-40), quoted
by Dr. Ramage: ‘‘The gardens of Drumlanrig 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
ree; my lady Duchess’s garden, the house, and the
and the flower. garden make’ other three, that is
he castle is in the centre. Only as to the last
three, the westernmost is always more than a story above
he rest. As to those called irregular gardens, because the
course of the Parkburn would not allow them to be square,
they are tty and well suited to one another. They
1 \ “
, the other Barbadoes ; there goes
close to the old cascade, measures nearly r11ft. 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 siope of the ground gave the
advantage which the garden architect 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 chcracteristically. Ivy climbs
up the terrace wall, from which there is a glorious outlook.
The High White Garden, with its gleaming pathways, is a
purely formal parterre in the grand style, and has a semi-
circular garden at its termination below the wood. The
American garden is analogous, and a like character is found
elsewhere. The 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.
‘DRUMLAXRIG CASTLE.
GARDEN.
THE HIGH WHITE
160 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
Flat, 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 roué—‘*‘ 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 Duke of
Queensberry’s wicked old head :
“Degenerate Douglas; oh, the unworthy 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 heed;
For sheltered places, bosoms, nooks, and bogs,
And the pure mountains, and the gentle Tweed,
And the silent pastures, yet remain.”
A
nd
An
the destruction.
“‘ Old Q.’’ died before his work was done, but he had cut
down the wood on one side of the Yeochan; 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 1810, 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 runs 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 met 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 cak is at the foot of the hill close to the
castle. There are magnificent beeches also, and grand
sycamores and limes, which were spared the work of the
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 known.
In every way a grand, characteristic, and beautiful
domain is that of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at
Drumlanrig.
WICKHAM
. « COURT, or
_ Ei 0 eee
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, like that
THE TERRACE STAIRWAY.
a 9 WEG | eS Sa eat
—; Po se a “. 5
in which Sir Henry Lennard’s house stands, while 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 communicaticn with 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 Richborough, 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
historic walls 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 Bathurst to 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 foot of an old oak
tree, Pitt and Wilberforce dis-
cussed and settled the Slavery
Abolition Bill in 1788, and there
Wilberforce resolved to give 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 Apostieship 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.
AND NEW.
OLD
GARDENS
162
‘SSHDGHH MSA JASNIG NSaMLEG WIVM SSVaoO
WICKHAM COURT. 163
FREE-GROWING BORDERS.
BELLS AND
SANTERBURY
Pal
~S
(7s :
a See
164 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
The ancestors of Sir Henry Lennard are of old standing in
this part of Kent. In the time of Edward IL, the manor of
Wickham was the property of the Huntingfields, of whom Sir
Walter, for his advantage, procured the grant of a weekly
mark long since disused, in 1318. The manor
urket Tor ae
passed the hrough several families, and at length came
to the hands 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,
o Knole and Chevening, who was Custos Brevium in the
reign of Elizabeth, purchased the manor from Sir William
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 extinct in 1727, in the
person of Sir Samuel Lennard of Wickham Court, M.P.,
and the estate then passed through female heirs. 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
windows 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 works 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 flank 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 azaleas are a feature and in the enclosed
THE EAST
baronetage was created, however, in 1880, 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-C B., a veteran of the Peninsula, father of Sir John
Farnaby Lennard, first baronet of the new creation. The
vife of this gentleman was the only daughter of Henry
historian, who lived in the same neighbourhood,
> portrait hangs at Wickham Court with many. other
tures, including one of Sir Walter Raleigh and
lhe present baronet, who is lord of the
ham, and of Baston and Keston, derives
Henry Arthur Hallam Farnaby Lennard from the
ich have been recited above.
His house is a truly excellent example of the middle period
f English do nestic architecture, and the quaintness of its ivy-
FRONTAGE.
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, remaias
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 exceilent features of an old country
mansion, dignified by its antiquity, and valued and adorned in
existing tmes. H
Ie ind
S mark
) r favour,
Judge of Assize
in his own
county. He is
celebrated by
Thomas Newton
in ois- Er
comia’’ for his
religion, virtue,
piety, modesty,
and truth. The
knight. married
an heiress in the
rerson .of the
daughter of Sir
John Swallow. of
Bocking, and had
seven sons and
six daughters. The name of Baron Gent deserves to be
remembered in East Anglia 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 pro‘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 GREEN. The
AND NEW.
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
picturesqueness
that is quite their
own, 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,
whole
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 _ POPFIES.
MOYNS PARK.
b
i
'
;
i
k
:
4
{
201
SOUTH WALK.
THE
202 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
QUAINTLY-CUT SHRUBS.
The son of the builder of Moyns Park was Henry Gent,
High Sheriff of the County in 1632. He died in 1639, his
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 marr.ed. The estate of Moyns Park had, however, been
excepted from the female descent, and passed to George, the
second son of Henry Gent, mentioned above, upon whom the
estate had been settled by his father. 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 throuch various hands to those of
THE FISH-FOND.
the late Major-General Cecil Robert St. John Ives, who at one
time commanded the Royal Horse Guards (Blue), and died
in 1896, having married the daughter of Lord Talbot de
Malahide.
The gardens of Moyns Park do not demand extended
notice. Their character is simple and beautiful. There are
ample spaces of lawn, excellent 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 sus borders full of
lupines, proud poppies and pzonies, and phloxes, and having
gay colonies of other flowers that fill them with radiance.
From the pergola under the old gables
on the south~side the rose garden
may be en ered, and is ful: of colour
and fragrance. Th2 ornamental trees
ale numerous and of fine character,
and there are evergreens which have
a we.come effect in the winter-time.
The value of trees and bushes re-
taining their leaves when many have
failen is everywhere recognised, and
there 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 amd very
pleasant surroundings.
“
Wy whey ey
Cy eM
aA i'n) '
yee ane (ag
pay ue
vytp une
a
EATON HALL,
CHESTER,
THE SEAT OF THE
DURE OF WESTMINSTER.
\ K J HEN the Duke of West- a hundred years the stables of their descendants have
minster came into his sheltered many a winner on the turf, and the association of
own, he succeeded to the Grosvenors with the sports and occupations of outdoor
a goodly heritage indeed. His ancestors were mighty men life in the field is appropriate to those in whose veins flows
in ancient days, strong in counsel as in war, and perhaps the blood of the great Hugh Lupus. The late Duke did an
above all things else great huntsmen, and official Nimrods excellent thing when he commissioned Mr. G. F. Watts, R.A.,
in their time; bearing now a name of famous meaning, to adorn the grounds of Eaton Hall with the fine equestrian
to which they have added many honours. For more than 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
grouping or outline of the
Structure. The piace has had
a somewhat singular architec-
tural history. In the
eighteenth century there
stood upon the site an old
brick house of plain character,
which had been built by Sir
Thomas Grosvenor about the
reign of William Ill. It con-
sisted of a central block, with
fy
recquanees Lae ne owt We: PES two advancing wings, and in
" ens yY vy W_ Vienne” Toman en\"ea) ~. > Y _ S
aTTY TTI it) ! enue ee = front of the house was a
PRES ee yy apemeeees § forecourt, enclosed by railiigs
of iron, and with a fountain in
the midst for its adornment.
Such a structure might content
the age in which it was built,
but when the romantic spirit
passed through the land, and
men learned to look with
admiration. upon the art of
their medizval forefathers, it
followed almost _ necessarily
that a new mansion should
replace the old... In the
year 1803, therefore, Earl
Grvsvenor undertook the work
of rebuilding the house upon
the early foundations. A
ce;tain Mr. Porden was his
architect, and it is declared
that this gentleman’s object
was -‘f to adapt the rich
variety of our ancient ecclesi-
Sau ie A =: ; astical architecture to modern
Tian Bifearns Se z 2 er Mies § domestic convenience.’? The
methods employed were
. ~ $4
mee rs
Yar Wk;
K
>
THE GaTES OF THE KIICHEN GARDEN.
204
undoubtedly singular. Details were drawn from York Minster
and from many other ecclesiastical edifices in the land. Rich
tracery filled the 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 und ubtedly under a difficulty in his
effort to breathe newlife into the dead bones of the great mediaeval
His efforts were high'y appreciated, nevertheless, and
some were moved to rapture by the wonders they saw at
Eaton Hall. The structure had been built at a cost of about
£1,000,000, but the late Duke was naturally not contented
with all that had been done. In his day Gothic architecture
the
.
style.
was better understood than in the early years of the century,
and he therefore employed that eminent architect, Mr. Water-
house of Manchester, to revise, if the term may be used, the
work of Mr. Porden, and to bring it into conformity with the
It was this way that Eaton
truer spirit of medizval art.
GARDENS OLD AND
NEW.
and at once realise the spaciousness of its character. Here-
about the land is mostly level, but where the hand of culture
has worked, 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 mor2
valuable than tiat of the supreme importance of foliage boldly
used to impart the great masses which give dignity and repose
on the one hand, and the brighter aspects of sylvan chara:ter
on the other. Washington Irving was used to remark that it
was the character of an English gentleman to love his woods
and trees. To ‘‘build like -Bathurst’’ and to “plant lise
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, thea, by the Grosvenor Lodge, we pause a
THE SOUTH
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 illustraticns—
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
tide of Syntax accosted him in this wise:
‘‘Tn this fain’d town I office bear;
Nay, I’m of some importance here—
, perhaps a mayor;
d it, sir, a pride
rough ev'ry part to be your guide.”
proach Eaton Hall will generally do so by
from Chester They could, indeed, do
us to reach the great domain by the Grosvenor
Lodge. hey are uught to the threshold of a noble place,
OR
ITALIAN GARDEN.
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 the
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 throughsut the
structure. The masonry work, like the statuary in the garden,
and the wood-carving 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
205
EATON HALL.
‘TIVH NOLVA LY NIVINNOSA
NODVUd AHL
2,
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 excellent 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 andhis royal mistress Anne.’’ Lancelot Brown—
the famous or notorious ‘‘ Capability ’’’—wrought the change.
He declined to accede to the wish of George Il. 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 Stanhope, that he was an esquire
206 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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 godjiesses 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. ‘he enclosing yew
hedges are as good as can anywhere be found, and within the
chosen space the sculptor has exercised his skill. Here is the
Dragon Fountains with appropriateness in the fizure, for those
uw ote
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 pay to Brown that-tribute fitliest paid,
In strains the beauty 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
great facade. There is here a superb outlook from the
id then by broad descents we go down to the
It is a feast of colour in rich and rare
variety, and the contrasts afforded by the spaces of green turf,
and by th e of 3
dark hue of yews and Portugal laurels, are exceed-
giorious pa rter
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 cf 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.
207
EATON HALL.
“LNOUA LSVa
AHL
NO SFOVeNAL
AND NEW.
OLD
GARDENS
208
“AHEEV ATILLVEMAN
“‘N30YVD Nasalsva gAL
SUreay 9 bosprly
NEWBATTLE
| ABBEY,
MIDLOTHIAN, .
OF
| SEES _—_
HE 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 Newbattle, or New-
bottle, founded in the year 1140 or 1141, according
variously to charters and chronicles, by King David I.,
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 Cis‘ercians 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
Newbattle, 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, giv:ng place to a long range of meadows or level
*‘haughs.”’ Behind, to the 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
ee ee oe IR Bs La
THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN
= & 3 —
{ 209 |}
—_—_—= = cai ene
SESE WES oy
Beyond the stream
the boundary of the park on that side.
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 Newbattle
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 hollow 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 Abkey in Scotland—the historic house of
Melrose—and from Melrose went out the brethren who
established themselves at Newbattle. Thus a perfect chain
brings us from Citeaux to the banks of the South Esk. The
THE
SOUTH
TERRACE,
210 GARDENS OLD
AND NEW.
THE TERRACE
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
times, the foundations have been largely excavated.
The situation in the Midlothian vale is very beautiful
and the climate propitious to the things that grow. In th:
Statistical Account of Scotland it is remarked that the air by
the river is exceedingly mili, while at the Roman camp—on
the neighbouring hill—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,’’ ~who
was commen-
dator of the
Abbey, and
who con-
t Pn wend
throughout
his life to
take a promi-
nent part in
ihe civil ard
ecclesiastical
affairs of
Scotland. A
fine head of
him, by Sir
Antonio More,
I55z, hangs
N ittl
H
Y\
\ ¢
{ t-
1 lands
THE , Surpass any others. They rise from octagonal bases,
resting upon flights of steps, and with grotesque creatures
supp¢ he upper parts, upon which are the several
pinnacle crowns the whole. The effect is
ut the dials are singularly beautiful and
1d are very richly worked
snomons, while <
‘
early part of the eighteenth century, is truly noble in its
broad and simple character. Two great gate-posts, wi.h
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 1s
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 Marquess of Lothian holds a deservedly high place. It is
not stately like some, 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
WOODSIDE, . |
RICKMANSWORTH,
N interesting garden is that at Woodside, Chenies, near
Rickmansworth, in Hertfordshire, lying just beyond
the village, near the foot of a somewhat steep hill
there, because it is so beautiful and quaint and yet
quite modern. An intense love for natural 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 very quaint in the wooden paveme: t
age od
: SSA S28
aur :
HER GRACE’S
THE RESIDENCE .
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 enciosed 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 singularly beautiful, and lend richness to this
part of the grounds. Then, on the other side of the Pond Court
is the rock garden, where irises and other water-loving plants
finda 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.
GARDEN.
paar
beauti
which we
described may
be surveyed.
Water pervades
the place, for
from the Pond
Court anj the
rock varden 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 the
walks laid out
by the stream.
Here great firs,
sycamores,
and elms. over- THE
shadow . the
way, as well as many. ornamental: trees, while nodding
daffodils light up 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, and 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 every direction, and particularly from the neigh-
bourhood of the Pond Court, are extremely delightful. Truly;
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
GARDENS OLD AND NEW,
at the foot, and
the whole of the
area was graced
by beautiful
trees. There
was nothing ex-
ceptional in
these conditions,
They may be
found almost
anywhere 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
SUNDIAL. 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 where, 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 tnus 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.
WOODSIDE.
PTC Vee :
nl a Se a SEE
THE TERRACE.
W,
NE
OLD AND
: NS
{RDI
G.
116
9
;
i
E
it
mm
“HITINTONAVE LY SDVYYNEL YAMOT SHL
BARNCLUITH,
HAMILTON,
HE romantic hiliside 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-mantled 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
luxuriance
characterises
this district
which is not
found every-
where in
Scotland, and
Nature has
dealt kindly
with. the
region. It is
true that the
higher hills
are often
waste, and
given up to
the swelling
moorland, but
along the
river courses
the sylvan
scenery is of
thes nyo.’ t
enchanting
beauty. It is
the country
cescribed by
Ecott in‘ Old
Mortality,’”’
and he speaks
of the grand
woodland
character of
the landscape
along the
Clyde valley,
where the
forest breaks
into level
ground and
gentle slopes
near theriver,
forming cul-
tivated fields,
interspersed
wih hedge
Oo
So
QUEEN
MARY’S
THE SEAT
OF
LORD RUTHVEN.
a
=
AAss*yaen
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
9?
more distant banks.
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 ani 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
FOUNTAINS.
approaching
from Glas-
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, in
16:7.9,.-the
famous battle
between. the
Royalist
troops under
Monmouth
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
Lee ak d
Mortality.”
Hamilton, a
cheerful and
prosperous
town, was
once distin-
guished as a
Royal resi-
dence, and
afterwards
was the chief
NEW,
OLD AND
IS
Ss
eS
‘a
Ss
xX
x
S
219
BA'RNCLUITH.
‘HLINIONUVGA LV SOVYUNAL ddddA FHL
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 20oft. or 30o0ft., 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 Cadzow Castle, celebrated in Sir Walter Scott’s
ballad, seated 01 a rock which ascends perpendicularly to a
height of 200ft. 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 Chatelhérault,
from the dukedom of that name which 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 with 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
o'd gardens in the Dutch taste at Barncluith, and one authority
says that they 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, om 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 they are scarcely finished, some of the balustrades
on the edge of the terraces being wanting.
Terrace-making is an art that has exercised the ‘gerne
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 walls, be careful to feund 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 may 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, witl 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 sid2 of the walks,
pianted 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. and 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.
The bed. of the Avon is some soft. below the level of ihe
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 quaint old garden-house, with a twisted double stairway
leading to its upper storey, while at the other end-is a charming
circular basin, from 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,
greatly to the beauties and attractions of the s
Be
and its lovely enduring green and beautiful flowers add mucl
to the charm of the place. At the end of the terrace near
fountain are two rustic arches under the upper wall, and
rustic stairway leads up to the higher levels. The retai
wall of the second terrace walk is covered with ivy
climbing plants, and crested with characteristic vases. Ab
upon the level which it bounds, is a gravel walk, with a bo
of flowers, giving access at one end to a second garden-hou
Roses border the way, and there is a stone bank supporting
next higher level, overgrown with wallflowers, ferns
Still mounting the steep, therefore, we reach the third terr
which is a beautiful grass walk, bordered by a long flower-
and commanding a charming outlook over the sylvan —
The retaining wall of the fourth level is agai1 clustered
climbing plants, and there are several yew trees along
upper border. Very quaintly are these cut, and they
a curious attraction, in contrast with the gay flo
which neighbour them. A baiustraded wall, with v
behind the terrace, and there are many pleasant pla
explore, the f recourt of the house being on that side. ~
The pictures will show how very delightful is the |
this terracing upon the declivity above the Avon. Then
is exceedingly good, and there is a happy union of
formality with something of rustic charm. There were o
tunities which do not fall to every garden-maker’s han
not every designer would have used them so well
illustrations will complete the description of this
hillside garden. It is a place full of suggestion for those
houses may lie adjacent to woodland gor_es, wh
opportunities that are not always realised, and si
need not always be left in native wildness. The for
Barncluith is rock, and much excavating must
required, but the soil is deep enough to give rootage
splendid trees, while the sunny slop2 is conducive
growth of flowers. The place is as beautifu
summer, for the green yews are there, and tt other
sound of the Avon is heard. It is a fine riv
trout, perch, lampreys, and silver eel.
Allusion has been made to the splendid.
this region. Hamilton Wood, on the Avon a
Burn, is a great woodland tract, which, wit
ancient Caledonian Forest. The storms
blown over some of the oaks, which thriv
36ft. in girth. Larch wn Scotch fir are nume
river banks are crowned with luxuriant foliage
considerable size. Here may be seen the 0.
Scotland of the old white Caledonian wild cat
cluith Burn joins the Avon about half a mile fre
Hamilton, after flowing down through the w
over five or six declivities in brawling pictures
It thundering shoots, and shakes the c
At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad
Then whitening by degrees as prone it
And from the loud resounding rocks 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
Falls of Clyde, and they may be applied, with
to the lesser falls on the Barncluith Burn.
of the val2 of the Avon, with the gorges of i
burns, is markedly beautiful, and has all the «
is found in Scottish river courses, with a richness
not invest-them all. The gardens of Barncluith u
as we have seen, a marked and attractive charac
the succession of terraces has probably in its kind no
Scotiand. There is picturesqueness in their character, |
from varied treatment, too rare in formal gardens, which
serve to show that formal gardening is no bar to the introdu
of a sweet naturalness, but rather that it lends itself to.
character. It is a lesson for the garden-maker which
pictures in this volume will not fail stroagly to enforce.
arma WaP |
2 =»,
" z ao — —
;
. wy
mS AGECROFT
‘ee ’
a ‘
Ay \'9
Rw HALL
fy") A ° ° e 9
my
SN
AS LANCASHIRE
aw
aS
Se bgrthur Rackhomn sey Ae ES at
GECROFT HALL is one of those strongly indi-
vidualised mansions of ancient date in which the
county palatine of Lancaster is singularly rich
Whiut that district of England may lack in the genial
climate that vests the brick dwelling-places of
Southern 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 like 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 the fact that the country
thereabout is much given over to the busy whirl of modern
things. Yet advantages may be won even where discouragement
hee ° -i\
. Mr. ROBERT DAUNTESEY. ff.
dt
eae
wet
c
eet Pipe ota
“ aes
eee eee!
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 Irwell flows
near by; in truth, somewhat iower down, a Stygian stream,
bearing in waters no longer pellucid the waste products of
many manufactures. Nevertheless, the course of the river in
this part of the valley has considerable elements of beauty,
and the winding stream, with overhanging woods, is not
without attractions.
Agecroft Ha} 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 neighbourhcod of rivers.
It was convenient to have water near, and very often the
stream possessed sume advantages in the matter of defence.
It is interesting to ob erve that near these ancient oaken
structures we rarely find much in the way of formal gardening,
and, save for a bridge or a garden seat, the arch tect seems
222 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
t
SLIT}
t
racterises
the surround-
and ther
the pen in 4>
iption of 1H 2 SS.
the great: charm Y PF its
of the lawns,
flower-beds, and
a bed hiada
il
UL a
hedges. These
are all-sufficient
in their relaticn-
ship to such
houses, andnone
can deny that
the pictures pre-
sented of house
and garden are
singularly 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 the 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,
AM UM
‘il
Medial
Ait wn lll haa
THE: EAST
Soran Crumpsall Old
Hall, Haugh
Hall, Barton Oid
Hall, Urmston
Old Hall, Kersal
‘Cell—a_ very
pretty example —
of timber archi-
tecture, quite
near to Agecroft
i —and many
nT others. The old
Ht Ne halls, mansions, —
Mi IRE and manor
: houses of Lanca-
shire are am
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 memory ; and
comparatively few are those preserved. Inthe northern part of
the ccunty the dwellings are more castle-like, but the typical
Lancashire house is of timber, 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
UT eee
FRONT.
FROM THE STABLE-YARD.
223
“AGECROFT. HALL.
ENTRANCE.
ANCIENT
>)
TH
224 GARDENS OLD AND NEI
parts the scot is divided by fluted pilasters. A prodigious
amount of oak has been employed in building a quadrangular
Agecroft. It would almost suggest to us that a
‘ wed beneath the woodman’s axe
ere that structure was raised, and the operation must have
building of a great ship, for here, too,
ed tim vas jointed and pegged to withstand the
of oaks must. have bo
somewhat resembled the
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 1ooft.
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 very noteworthy. Owing to the effect of
THE EAST FRONT
weather the south face of the building has called for partial
renewal, and not much of the 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 the family apartments on the le‘t
hand, with the chapel, now converted to the dining-room.
Mr. H. Taylor, in his ‘*‘ Old Halls in Lancashire and Cheshire,’’
‘s 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, these 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 introcuced, but it is satisfactory to find the place so
greatly valued and so well preserved.
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
fine 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
anumber 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 ~
le
IN QUADRANGLE.
Rev. Richard Buck, and there have been other occupants, but
Mr. Robert Dauntesey is in possession, and the house is 0
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 1s
long past, but we may hope that the ever-growing bustle
of modern things may yet for centuries spare the ancient
beauties of Agecroft Hall.
_
PEGGED
cAGECROFT HALL.
AND JOINTED ENGLISH OAK.
225
OLD AND NEW.
ARDENS
G
fully fantastic character of the lofty structure which supports —
the cupola roof in the midst. At a little distance from
each wing, and lying in the diagonal direction from each
corner of the house, stood most picturesque garden-houses or
band yece too: 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 the
a most attractive appearance.
The site of the house upon an
eminence in a wooded country doub
less suggested the distribution of the
grounds, which are admirably illus
trated in a bird’s-eve view by Dr
Nash. The private garden seems —
to have been on the north-west, and
to have been divided by paths crossin e: “4
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 anavenue. —
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 on
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-twood, and was reputed to be one of the finest
Anglo-Saxon scholars of his time. He represented his county
in Parliament from 1685 to 1687. Dean Hickes was his
intimate friend, and appears to have
written some of his learned works at
Westwood. His ‘‘ Grammatica An 4
Saxonica’’ is dedicated to Sir John ~
Pakington, and the beauties of West:
wood and its gardens and park at the —
time are set forth.
The student baronet was succeedell
by 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-
Coverley. 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, but
WESTWOOD PAKK, 231
THE
Sir John Pakington was twice married. Two of his sons pre-
deceased him, but his third son, Sir Herbert Perrot Pakington,
succeeded at Westwood Park as fifth baronet, and, like many
of his ancestors, represented his county in Parliament. Sir
Herbert’s two sons—Sir John and Sir Herbert—followed him ‘in
succession, and the baronetcy became extinct on the death of Sir
John, the eighth baronet, in 1830. The eldest daughter of the
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, had taken the
\\,
‘4
wuKat ‘
|
etre
44.4)
PORCH.
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, twice 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.
GARDE! OLD AND. NEW.
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LEIGHTON
HALL,
WELSHPOOL,
HE judicious guide who instructs the visitor as to how
best 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 Powis
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. Naylor 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 -lhas 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 wooded 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
FROM
— eS: an =
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, ir.
Montgomeryshire, about two miles from Welshpool, and the
Hall lies in the valley, nearly at the foot of the Long Mountain,
which forms a range running north-east between this point ana
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 distinzuish 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 beauties 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
£3
THE SOUTH-EAST.
234 GARDENS
ts
\ eloping i
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.
Architec-
turally, Leighton
Hall is imposing
and stately.° It is well and substantially built of stone, in a
tasteful adaptation of the mediaeval style of the fourteenth
century, with tall gables and mullioned windows, and covers 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 anda gallery for the
outlook. There is much to survey in this romantic val2, 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
gaan
THE EAST TERRACE
THE SOUTH-EAST
FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
OLD AND * NEW.
other - 2am
treasures. With-
out are the
artistically at
tractive gardens,
which: are
mainly our sub-
ject. Sucka
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 wé
should desire.
The opportuni-
ties were many,
and they have
been well used.
An — undulating
Space at the toot
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,
TERRACE.
LEIGHTON
HALL.
EN.
THE LIBRARY GARD
236 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
Hudson KKearaz
THE: LION
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 andl
flowering bushes. Here isa 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 staiuary 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 has the advantage that its
hardness and quality make it the fitting vehicle for fine artistic
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-
ling is most
excellent work
of the sculptor’s
1and. ] yy
I esort,
c | i t for
S eriection oO
pleasant converse. T|
} hat are Eaves enes
wall that encloses it
has an excellent coping,
and the tow buttresses
are of the same period
ay the house. !hearea
is grass, with flower-
beds framed in the turf,
the garden being divided
into spaces by gravel
paths, and where the
eround rises a low
errace has. been
formed, with a grass
slope and a flizht of
steps ascending, beyond
whichis a vista through
a green archway to the
garden beyond.
Flanking the stairway
and the path are do-
lightful little amorini of
individual merit, all in
bronze, like the rich
flower vases which are
in the area, and upon
their st ne pedestals
these line the top of the
grass slope that has
been alluded to. The
walls of this library plea-
saunce are themselves
gardens, and have a
esture of loveliness in
the flowering climbers
thar -elothée them-~
Here roses flourish abundantly, and the fine sylvan background
completes a truly beautiful garden picture.
Though there is at Leighton a most charming dwelling-
house, with attractive pleasure grounds, and a considerable
estate, the character of the whole is simple, and there is little
to delay the
pen Wake
we. observe is
a happy union
of various styles
of gardenaze—
thie b road
and effective
character. cf the
principal garden,
with its foun-
tain and admir-
abie statuary,
the- excellent
and original
teTraces at
GARDENS OLD AND
ICARUS.
he
most certainly
NEW.
the whole, and the
radiant space of the
retired library garden
within its walls,
Various periods and
features of gardening
are thus represented,
andan admirable
setting is provided for
the architectural
splendour of the
mansion. Reserve is
another distinguishing
character of the
gardens. There is
no lack of richness,
as the visitor realises
when he traverses
these enchanting
places. It was no
small thing, for
example, to bring
together so many
excellent works 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 the
house belongs, _ but
the result is undeni-
ably pleasing and
attractive. There is
a partial breaking and
intermingling of styles
w ich adds a_ fresh-
ness to the older
forms. Here, perhaps,
a lesson may be
suggested. Let not
the garden planner set
up too rigid a method
in his. work, else will
things which, wth a
broader view, he might have welcomed to his satisfaction.
=
SOUTH END OF _ THE
Hall,
EAST
though
GARDEN.
some purists
Charming indeed is the sculpture in the garden at Leighton
have been. willing to
exciude it on the ground of its being the outcome of the
classic and
naturalistic
school. There
are many beauti-
ful. gardens in
this part= of
Wales, and those
of Leighton Hal
deserve to be
accorded a high
place among
them. They are
radiant, beauti-
ful, varied, and
architecturally
interesting,
therefore both
admirable — and
attractive. The
tall spire of the
modern Early
English church,
erected by Mrs.
Naylor, adds to
the attractions of
the landscape.
ST. FAGAN’S
CASTLE,
CARD. . *
HE picturesque Welsh villaze of
St. Fagin’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 church there
is dedicated. Tradition alleges that the good man arrived in
Britain about the year 180, and that he founded a church in the
Ely valley, of which the existing structure is the successor.
The village of St. Fagan’s, with its many quaint, old-fashioned
thatch-roofed cottages, its Tudor gabled mansion, and _ its
interesting church, almost hidden among spreading trees, is
one of the most charming and pleasing in that part of the
Principality. Its principal attraction lies in Lord Windsor’s
beautiful seat, the castle of St. Fagan, 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
THE SEAT
dese ttf
OF . : - ‘ ri .
LORD WINDSOR.
1
the thirteenth century, indicating the
existence of a strongly fortified dwelling-
place, 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. Fagan’s
reconstruction later on, and Rice Merrick refers
un 7erwent
to it, in 1578, as one of the castles near the ‘‘ frontiers of the
9’?
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 yalley 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
Scots into
England was to
be a signal for
a simultaneous
rising in every
quarter of the
kingdom, but the
zeal of theWelsh-
men did not
brook delay, and
a force of 8,000
men quickly
gathered. Chep-
stow was Sur-
prised, Carnar-
von besieged,
and Colonel
Fleming
defeated, but
success-.led
on the Welsh to their ruin. Laughern was hastening
towards Pembroke on May 8th, when, at St. Fagan’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 slaughter and the loss of many prisoners.
Of St. Fagan’s parish alone sixty-five inhabitants were slain,
and it was impossible to reap the next harvest for want of men.
MARBLE VASES
A SUNNY CORNER.
AND NEW.
The Parliamen-
tary tide flowed
on to Pem-
broke, where
a siege ensued,
which detained
Cromwell’s
forces for six
weeks before the
places ii
rendered.
In the seven-
teenth century
St. Fagatas
Cis le, or manor
house, passed
into the hands
of the family of
Lewis. of the
Van, and by the
marriage of Miss
Lewis with the
third Earl of Ply-
mouth, who died
in 1732, it came
to a family new
to the district. The-Earls of Plymouth did not reside much at
St. Fugan’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
Bironess Windsor gave it as a residence to her son, the Hon.
Robert Windsor-Clive, after his murriage with Lady Mary
Bridgeman. This gentleman largely restored the old house,
and furnished it with excellent taste, col.ecting the old cak
and fine tapestry and china which it now co..tains. A great
ON THE TERRACE,
“ONINNOW ATYVEA—-YIMOL-HOLVM SHL
941
ST. FAGAN’S.
bo
THE BAITLEMENT
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 husband, 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
St. Fagan’s may be 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, leajls to an archway
through the ancient castle wall, behind which rise the lofty
gables of the
Tudor structure.
The grey walls bs
of the ancient
place gave rare
attraction to the
scene, and = °d
dovecote raised
upon a pillar is
a features .0f
interest in the
garden. The
archway through
which we. reach
the forecourt is
rich'y clothed
with - ivy and
floweril plants
‘hin and with-
, and in the
of thearea
1s upon two
9s a superb
d very re-
irkable leaden
a JUNIPERS
IN
AUTUMN
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
WALK.
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 1629, and the
tank bears the Royal arms. Grouped about it are features of
exceptional interest—on one side the rugzed walls of the
medizeval castle, on the which reflect
crests
From this exalted
AND NEW.
TH& HIGHER POND.
a magnificent growth of trees, partly enclosing them on the
further side, over whose topmost branches, from our lofty
position on the hill, we look out to the lovely landscape-beyond,
rich in the sylvan 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, flanked on either sidé
THE
LOWEK
POND.
Site
by rows of junipers. The arrangement is superb, and may
serve as an example for many who would form their gardens
on the slope.
In such a garden, where formality has not been sought,
it is natural to find that the architectural features are few.
Yet, at the various descents, the work is extremely good
and very characteristic, and the 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 displayed in cul.ivating 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 skill
and care.
The garden melts, as it were, into the surroundings on
PAGAN?’ S 247
The village of St. Fagan’s may be desctibed 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 charm, and St. Fagan’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, woods, 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
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 the 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 winds 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 tie rushing streamlet and waterfalls, and the
perfect sylvan beauty, conjures up in the mind the idea of
some southern land.
THE TERRACE.
fate of a kingdom and a commonwealth, but we may say
with Byron:
“Those days are gone, but beauty still is here;
States fall, Arts fail, but Nature doth not 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, Fagan’s.
The r.ver Ely flowing ‘through the valley enhances the
charm 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 withthe hum of men. Up on the
hill at St. Fagan’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.
‘
W
N.
OLD AND
ARDENS
G
SALOOAALE DY BY
WYSadLS LNOUL FHL
We SN)
(Ay
HE famous house of Littlecote—the ancient home of
the Darells and the Pophams—stands within the
Wiltshire border, but at a distance of some three or
four miles from Hungerford in Berkshire. Leland
describes its grounds as ‘‘a right faire and large
parke hangynge upon the clyffe of a highe hille welle woddyd
over Kenet,’’ and the description is true to-day, for the Kennet
still flows through the park, and the woods still are green.
The situation is low, aid the land by the house level, but
higher to the south, so that as the visitor nears it, approaching
by the old avenue, he sees the red brck walls and the gables,
of which there are som=2 forty, and the chimney-stacks rising
above the hedges and garden adornments. Truly a house
of marvellous charm is this, in a grouping of old-world
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 Pophams and taken the name, do not in any
way break the antique spell.
What kind of garden should we desire to adorn sucha
house ? We might have chosen a low terrace, perhaps, for our
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outiook, but, in any case, we should have demanded simplicity.
Now, simplicity is the dominant characteristic of the place.
There 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 forma
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
larkspurs flourish, 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 !awns, and abowling green
covered with perfect turf, and a quaint ‘‘ Dutch garden ’’?—
though why that fair retreat should not be English no man can
say. Flower-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, with a certain wildness in its
aspect that is charming and beautiful. On one side rises a
THE SOUTHERN COURT.
THE DOORWAY.
GREEN.
iR
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LITTLECOTE.
251
THE NORTH-WEST CORNER OF THE GARDEN.
252 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
crowl Wi
W dd, and form
] l fii e@ cone
tr with the
lux iant and
meadows
xtending along
the banks of
the Kennet.
Radiance, sweet-
ness, and natural
attraction are
everywhere to
be found.
Littlecote
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 Dareli,”’. The story gces
that one dark and stormy night a hasty messenger arrived
on horseback at the cottage of a Berkshire midwife, demandin,
her serv.ces for a lady. Plenteous was the reward, but he
strange condition was that the woman should be blindfolded,
and be carried 0a 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,
was conducted to an upper room. She performed her duties
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
Then the
midwife, again
blindfolded, was
mounted on the
pillion, and,
hurriedly riding
in the breaking
cay 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 prece
out of the lady’s
bed-curtain,.
Thus ultimately
was the horrid
deed brought home to its cruel author, and palpable was
the proof of his guilt. Yet Darell escaped the penalty
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 (I 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. The story, it must be confessed, seems improtable,
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 when 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
LAWN.
“4
THE WESTERN COURT.
LITTLECOTE.
Hudson A Kear
A FLOWER
BORDER BY THE
THE ORANGERY,
TROUT
STREAM.
954
Faden (Kearns:
THE-::ASCENT . TO
horseman, and they say, dashing in frenzied career across the
park, his steed fell in the head‘ong course, an1 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
to know that. it is the chamber with the open: window in our
picture of the north front and bow ing green. With the
Pophams. the house: long remained,«and happily: it is still, in
their possession. -The..judge’s only) son was Sir Francis
Popham, a
soldier and _ poli-
tician. of litigious
temperament,
who diedin 1644.
His son John had
died before him,
and buried
with great pomp
at Littlecote in
1638... Alex-
ander, the second
Was
succeeded
at Littlecote,
aiter siding
son,
THE
THE
SOUTHERN FORECOURT.
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
BOWLING GREEN.
Sir Francis was Sir Edward Popham, a distinguished admiral
and general, who was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1651.
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 Orange, after his con-
ference with the Commissioners of James at Hungerford,
December 8th, 1638, retired to Littlecote, where a great
assemblag? 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 1S
Mr... Frames
William Ley-
eldest son of the
late Mr. Francis
ham, Dcbw de
died in 1880. Mr.
Leyborne - Pop-
ham married, in
1890, Maud
Isabel, daughter
of. the late Mr.
Henry Howard,
Castle, _ Cum-
berland, For
some yeats
Littlecote- has
been let, and-Mr.
Leopold Hirsch
is the present
tenant.
burne - Popham,
Leyborne - Pop--
of Littlecote, who
of. Greystoke
[ 255 ]
SMITHILLS
HALL,
LANCASHIRE.
CC (CC
NT)
wf) Mu
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<> —————
ITHIN some three miles of the busy Lancash-re
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 perhaps unnecessary 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 manufacturinz town, it is maintained
in something even greater than its pristine charm. Such
additions as have been maie to fit it for a modern habitation
are in admirable taste, and the stone enlargements are in
exc-llent harmony with the whole structure.
Beautiful gardens and a good park are.the setting of
COL. RICHARD H. AINSWORTH.
— ——_—— 2 = _—— 2
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 tying below... The. garden’ masontry«is -everywhere
excellent, as may be noticed in the: illustration of’ the ascents
to the mount. That mountsis a feature in. the gard2n,and
it has been conjectured that.it. was the mound or basé of: a
fortified, towerj.which- it. is believed anciently stood upon the
THE DOMESTIC
CHAPEL
AND GOSPEL HALL,
56 GARDENS’ OLD AND NEW.
errr ee eo a
THE GARDEN IN THE COURTYARD,
THE ASCENT TO TITHE MOUNT.
SMITHILLS HALL. 257
spot. The trees
about Smithills
Hall are fine
and wide-
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.
Generally
speaking it may
be said that the
garden is good,
simple, and
appropriate. In
this, of course,
there is a
lesson Ie 1s;
that much may
be achieved
without — either
great labour or great expense ;
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.
Smithiiis stands on the edge of a steep cliff, at the bottom of
which flows a tributary of the river Tonge, while on the
other sides, in former times, there was the protection of
a moat.
The glen which results from the steep declivity adds
picturesqueness to the place, and a rocky bridge and overflow
have an 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 lake, and runs
into a ravine of rock towards Bolton and the busy places
which lie at the foot of the hill. The arrangement of the
and in this matter Smithills
THE GOSPEL HALL,
¢ house shall pre-
sently be des-
cribed, but, while
we are speaking
of its situation,
it imey sbe
interesting to
say that the old
gate-house
seems to have
been at the
south-west
corner of the
quadrangle,
as is marked
by an avenue
of limes which
leads that way.
The quadrangle
is not enclosed,
as. In -Some
houses of the
class *=< butt). is.
open on the
south side, and
the more modern erections have been added in an extension
westward.
In very ancient times the 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 IIl., and were a branch of the Radcliffes 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 Smithills, 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
that a somewhat remarkable episode occurred there! Those
were bitter times, whe1 the hand of one man was often set
EAST SIDE.
THE GARDEN FRONT
OF SMITHILLS
HALL,
bo
On
(oo
= ES AVA
7
WAALS
ThIL
THE HALL AND
upon the throat of another, and when the wrongs of one reign
brought their retribution in that which followed. It is recorded
that in 1555 a young curate, named George Marsh, was appre-
hended and brought before Justice Barton at Smithills, on the
charge of holding heretical opinions obnoxious to the govern-
ment of Queen Mary. At the examination Marsn’s frien 1s,
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 the 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 was 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 1721. It afterwards passed to the Byroms of Manchester,
and was sold for £21,000 to: Mr. Richard Ainsworth of Heélli-
well, who died in 1833. It thus reached good hands, and,
through the care of that gentleman and his present successor
in the estate, has been brought to a new state of perfection.
Mr. Henry Taylor, who has written 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'terations
and rebuildings in medieval and subsequent times. . The
inravelling the confusion is. increased by the
rge number of rooms and the great size of the
the architectural point of view, the main interest
house. Fr
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
GARDENS OLD
AND NEW.
11S) T&RRACES.
have said, is open on the south side, is about 6oft. 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 ali 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
clothing the walls. Unfortunately, it has suffered damage
in past times by fire, and so is not so generally interesting.
On the western side of the quadrangle are apartments with
massive oak timber roofs, built originally without the corridor,
which is now seen. This was adJéd 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
carving, with the ancient linen pattern, the rebus of the bar 4
and ton, the oak leaves and acorn, and quaint legends, most
of 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
terracing upon the gentle slepe, 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 sucha house. Long
may Smithills Hall remain as the exemplar of good things
coming down from ancient times, and well preserved in
modern days.
22 amin
[ 259 ]
ROOMBRIDGE PLACE, near Tunbridge Wells,
separated from the neighbouring county of Sussex
by a stream of the Medway, 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 England.
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 Uncie,’’ 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
THE -SEAT
OF THE
MISSES SAINT.
Clintons, and Sir John 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 the same is the case with some others, including the
famous David Gamme, or squint-eyed David, who was
knighted 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
tloov, for he it was, as we most ¢ libly hold, who took the
Dul f Orleans i hocking massacre of the
f is wel vn, and Ithot the circumstances are
| yOscu it is on record that Waller laid hands_on the
D r his welfare, was discovered alive under a heap
} t has, indeed, been asserted that Sir John
( nw il was the actual captor, but the statement can scarcely
be correct, for, though Cornwall afterwards 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,
who held him captive at Groombridge. It would appear that
the seizure of this important prisoner was profitable to the
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
}
‘ei
4
nd)
THE CONSTANT
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,
whese son, Sir Walter Waller, buried at Speldhurst, was the
t] Gecrge Waller and of Sir Thomas, who, though his
eeded him at Groombridge. The latter was
| ) istle in the time of James I. He
Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset,
| 1d, but that nobleman’s grandson
Pack q., Clerk of the Privy Seal
to ¢ ult G nbridge Chapel.
lt ssor we encounter another interesting
in. | , who was it Twickenham, and had studied
th at ( nd Oxford, grew to high favour at Court,
the pat » of Burghley, of two successive Earls
Bucki am, and he travelled with Thomas
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
Lord Dorset in France in 1610, afterwards going as envoy to
Denmark. He gained the favour of many great people, and
had profitable offices 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 Berkshire at the coronation, and he had
possessions elsewhere. Charles doubtless felt that he could
depend upon Mr. Packer, but when loans were asked in
1639-40, it is on :ecord that the squire of Groombridge refused,
and forthwith allied himself with the Parliament. ~Unkind
p2rsons 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 property, save Groombridge, was sequestrated,
RUNNING STREAM.
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 attribute the gardens. They underwent many changes
later on, it is true, but perhaps in the general disposition of them,
within and without the moat, and on the slope, where those
enchanting terraces are, the arrangements remain the same.
Mr. Philp 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 the 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 Evelyn.
Perhaps the peacocks of Groombridge, which are famous now,
GSROOMBRIDGE PLACE.
261
GROOMBRIDGE_ PLACE.
GARDENS
OLD
AND NEW.
THE WEST BRIDGE,
268
G'ROOMBRIDGE PLACE.
“MANHOOD = LSHM-HLYON
HHL
GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
filled then the
sylvan vall
wit t I
rau y, al
SD :
~ if
terrace walls as
In nese days.
Certainly the
place became
beautiful, = with
attractions to Mr.
Packer’s mind.
It has been
stated that when
Evelyn returned
from italy
enraptured with
the classic taste,
he persuaded his
friend to rebuild
the house at
Groombridge in
thiat.-Sit-y-he:
It does not
seem, however, to possess very much of the Italian character,
though the portico and loggia are lonic, for the roofs and
windows are very 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 sermon at Mr. Packer’s chapel there, and in his
diary 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. ‘‘1 went to Groombridge to see my old
friend Mr. Packer ; the house was built within a moat, in a
woody valley. The old house has been the place of confine-
moss
THE NGRTH
ment of the Duke
of Orleans,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
nad been on
the south of the
woed, on a grace-
ful ascent. At
some small dis-
tance is a large
chapel, not long
since built by
Mr. Packer’s
father, ona
vow he made
GARDEN. to do it on
the 1 eters
of King Charles I. out of Spain, 1625, and dedicated to
St. Charles, but what saint there was then of that name
I am to seek, for, being.a Protestant, | 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.
t 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
hree bridges on the north, east, and west. Mr. Packer was
buried in Groombridge Chapel, and was succeeded in posses-
sion by his son John, and then by his 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,
265
G°ROOMBRIDGE PLACE.
AVMALVD
HLYON 4dHL
slice Y bosprlf
GARDENS OLD AND’ NEW.
THE NORTH-EAST WALK.
il
jini!
THE GATEWAY AND THE PEACOCKS.
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268 GARDENS OLD AND
hee
Hadar ear -
THE STABLES,
Chancery, where it remained until it was purchased by Mr.
William Camfield towards the end of the eighteenth century.
It passed through the hands of other 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 brickwork
contrasts delightfully with the green things that grow there.
On the placid surface of the moat many are the charming
objects reflected, and the antique walls and lofty roofs, thus
doubled, form a picture not to be forgotten when seen with
the gardens and woods behind in the full prime of the leafy
month of June. The old brickwork, the ancient buttresses of
the walls, the gate-posts with their ornamental 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 year, with charms that the town-
dweller wuuld scarcely suspect. Thus in the winter frosts
the old brickwork assumes a deeper hue, contrasted with the
leli lver tracery of the boughs and the snow-laden
is magnificent in character-and-vartety,-and
bears its fruit now. Nothing could surpass
ficent lour and form of the sylvan groups.
I t] ime, and ascending the slope, the terraces are
f ll may be surveyed. There are pleasant
J urs and green slopes, where stone edgings mark
NEW.
SOUTH-EAST CORNER.
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
powerfully 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 summer 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 the 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 paeonies, 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 thicket, 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.
{ 269 j
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SHRUBLAND PARK,
IPSWICH,
THE SEAT OF
BARON DE SAUMAREZ.
EW great places in the east cf for four generations following the first owner of the name, and
England have so inadequate was sold, after the death of the Rev. Nicholas Bacon in 1795,
a record of their past as to Mr. William Middleton of Crowfield, who was created a
Lord de Saumarez’s mansion and famous gardens at Shrubland. Baronet in 1804, and assumed, by sign-manual in 1822, the
Some remains of the original house still exist at a little name of Fowle, in addition to and before that of Middletcn.
distance from the present Hall. The date, 1637, and the Sir William was a native of South Carolina, end a grandson of
initials, N.B., show that it was probab‘y built in the later a former Governor of that colony. . The estate, after the
days of its tenure by the Bacons. Itappears that the place from death of his son, Sir William Fowle Middleton, passed to his
the days of Edward III. passed through a great number of nephew, Admiral Sir George Broke-Middleton, and after his
hands, and did not remain long in the possession of any family death to his niece, the present Lady de Saumarez, daughter of
until Helen Lytton, granddaughter of Sir Robert Lytton of the late Captain Charles Acton Broke. Sir Philip Broke, who
Knebworth, brought it to Edward Bacon, third son of Sir commanded the Shannon in the famous action against the
Nicholas, the Lord Keeper. It remained in the Bacon family Chesapeake, married a daughter of Sir William Fowle
THE UPPER TEMPLE.
the name of Middleton from
his mother’s family: The hero of the Shannon was thus
lady who now owns Shrubland, and is
His fourth son took
1 to the descendant of another of the most famous of
» Naval The site of Shrubland is the. finest of
al se in Suffollk, except those on the Orwell River. The
valley of the river Gipping, a small deep navigable stream,
vh 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.
0 GARDENS OLD
AND NEW.
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
grand 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 steep. 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
magnificent green drive bordered with arbor-vite and yew.
Green drives are als» cut and kept mown through the
parks and woods as additions to the garden views — Sir
William Middleton has long joined the majority; but his
memory is still kept green, especially among the people
on the estate. He held Shrubland during the years when
A WALK. BY -7H
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 bélong probably to the era of
the old Hall, the former to that of the present house, which
was rebuilt for Sir William Fowle Middleton by Sir Charles
Barry-in 1830. « Sir Gharles the elaborate
and immensely costly: garden architecture and ‘‘lay out,’’
assisted largely by Lady Anne~‘Middleton (a-sister of Earl
also designed
Brownlow) in. improv.ng: the. -great”. additions — not the
first instance. in which a Jady has exercised an important
influence in the highest developments of garden design.
[he ‘*Brownlow Terrace’’ still recalls the memory of her
The ancient chestnuts, which probably formed the
old house, were spared where possible. Thirteen
among. the largest and oldest in England.
yf the finest tree is, at the present time,
at the base. At 3ft. from the ground it
d it is 88ft. Gin. high. What was
tree, but now broken by storms,
47ft. ind on the ground line, and 3o0ft. at 3ft. ‘from the
GREAT STAIRWAY.
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 whore 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
men employed.
The ‘‘lay-out’? of the gardens may be gathered
largely from the illustrations. The ground lent itself to
terracing, and terraced it was, with the utmost splendour of
material, design, and decoration. Two tiers, the first decorated
with a Palladian archway, adjoin the south front.
this is the first terrace garden. This is probably as fine
as anything of its kind in England. 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
Below ~
SHRUBLAND PARK. 271
did not desert
purely Italian
models, the
eitfect ata
distance is
slightly Sara-
cenic. From the
grand stairway,
looking south, is
as fine a pros-
pect of formal
garden arrange-
ment as can be
seen elsewhere
in England. The
whole coup d’ cil
is complete.
Successive
Stairways and
balustraded
platforms
drop down
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
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‘thousands
of cubic yards
of earth re-
moved, and
the extent of
walling and
terracing,
account in part
for the staff
of masons and
brickmakers
kept on the
estate, doing
almost. entirely
ornamental, or
at-any tate
non - remunera-
tive, 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
TEMPLE.
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274 GARDENS OLD AND NEW.
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 the balustrades with roses and letting
climbing plants drape the terrace walis. 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
£2,000 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, yardens
hanging 1ooft. above
other gardens, and along
the great transverse walk
is a whole series of
gardens each ina different
style. You take your
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’ail can be surveyed at leisure.
THE FERN GATES.
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THE UPPER TERRACES AT SHRUBLAND PARK.
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INCE the time when
William the Conqueror
laid the foundation of
Windsor Castle each English Sovereign in succession has
added to it an expression of his or her individuality, and that
of the longest lived of them 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
annals. 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, just 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 have 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 Fro.more. Set there
in stillness, amid sombre green trees, it suggests Goethe’s
THE
ROSE GARDEN,
NEW,
GARDENS OLD AND
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279
FROGMORE AND WINDSOR.
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280 GARDENS OLD
]
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 much*of her time was spent, and close to it two
very fine old evergreen oaks, holm or holly oaks, as they
ire 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, diplomati ts, and the others who have business
with Royalty. Queen Victoria ever delighted 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
its kind in*’Europe; another is a towerinz deciduous cypress ;
and the third a Californian Thuja gigantea, planted by the
Princess Hohenlohe in 1857. Cf 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 thé Duchy of Saxe-
LEAD VASES, AND
Meiningen, called Luther’s Beech, under which Dr. Martin
Luther was arrested and conducted from thence to Wartburg
in 1521. The little offshoot was trought to England from
Meiningen by King William™ IV; in 182s, and planted by
Queen ‘Adelaide near the ‘house at Bushey Park. Her
Majesty bequeathed it in her last will to His Royal Hichness
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»attrictive it looked, with’ its
surrounding borders of. simple spring. flowers — primroses,
wa'lflowers, forget-me-nots, and the like.
In the late Queen’s favourite and private garden’ the
thes a very old-world air. It is surrounded with
h s, Which themselves testify to the clipping
eral generations—how many or how long
ficult to say. Then you come first to tiny
ts laid out in the formal, simple style of the early
CGeor 1 SOF) An. eat period. Each has its tiny box
ral effect is one of being carried back for
i years. Here Queen Victoria followed her
fir t instincts, and would allow no modernisation
AND NEW.
to be attempted. Plot ard 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 Wars 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, plinted with shrubs, and there are
many art treasures within. A very fine and pleasing building,
IHE CASTLE TERRACE.
it was, as will be remembered, given by the late Queen as 4 ng
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 ani 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 Ill. Other avenues are here, like Queen Anne’s
Ride, and there is the famous Rhododendron Waik, where
one may stroll for a mile among the radiant flowers.
FROGMORE AND WINDSOR. 281
|
A MARBLE URN ON THE TERRACE AT WINDSOR.
NEW.
GARDENS OLD AND
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[
283 }
HADSOR, . .
DROITWICH,
THE RESIDENCE. .
OF.
LADY HINDLIP.
HE pleasant county of Worcester is famous for its many
fine houses, great churches, 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 the 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 WEST WALK.
Yad GARDENS OLD
THE CIRCULAR BOX-HEDGED GARDEN.
the terrace by the steps to the lower lawn, with the feeling
that the architectural character is fading into the landscape
and the woodland as we go.
The garden architect has wrought excellent things 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 contrast with the cool stonework and the
various greens of lawns and trees.
AND NEW.
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
particularly 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-kept 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
its green surroundings. There
is an attractive circular garden,
full of beautiful things, and enciosed 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.
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