152 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Febraary 15, 1873. 



exoneration of moileru-arcliitcct dilatorinesR, w.as not completed 

 until ISSO, and at a cost of £32,000, a vast sum in those days 

 when Wheat, if the harvest was abundant, Kold for eighty -pence 

 ))er qu.arter. It was tenanted by t'iRterciau or White monks ; and 

 although it is not compatible with the subjects of this Journal 

 to detail all their evil doings, yet a brief extract from the abbey's 

 charter may serve to justify the extinction of this abbey. The 

 abbot not only shared with the widow the money of a deceased 

 tenant of tlie abbey lands, but among other oppressive exac- 

 tions he claimed as heriots the deceased tenants' pigs, capons, 

 horses, bees, and many other chattels. He also claimed the 

 right of purchasing from them at any time a hen or duck for 

 2rf., and during Lent a duckling tor IJd. Piers I'lowman with 

 wise prescience saw that such injustice must be abolished, and 



foretold that tlio abbeys should receive " the knoeke of a 

 kynge." This "knoeke" came from Hem-y VIII., and in the 

 thirtieth year of his reign Vale Roj'al Abbey was sunendered, 

 and three years Rubse(iuently was granted to Thomas Hol- 

 croft, one of the king's esquires. He pulled down the eutue 

 abbey and erected a mansion on the site, of which an engraving 

 as it appeared iu KilS is in Ormerod's " History of Cheshire," 

 and others of it in 1775 and 1819. Wings were added by Mr. 

 Cholmondley iu 1790, and various subsequent alterations have 

 rendered it the mansion represented in our engraving. The 

 cellars of the abbey remain under tlie mansion, and a subter- 

 ranean passage, said to extend four miles, but now ruinous, 

 and only traversable less than a fourth that distance. Such 

 traditions, and legends like those of Nixon the Cheshire pro- 



phet's foreteUings relative to the Cholmoudleys, usually attach 

 to monastic localities. 



The estate passed to Dame Mary Cholmondley, widow of 

 Sir Hugh, in IGIG ; and in the following year, on his return 

 from Scotland, James I. stayed four nights at Vale Royal with 

 " the bold Ladie of Cheshire," and hunted her stags with his 

 own hounds. Lady Cholmondley's fourth son was the ancestor 

 of the present Lord Delamere, whose father was raised to the 

 peerage by that title at the coronation of George IV. 



This fine estate is about four miles from the salt-manufac- 

 turing town of North wich, near the centre of the county of 

 Cheshh-e, and but a short distance from the eastern edge of 

 Delamere forest, a part of which extends so as to join Vale 

 Royal New Park. 



i'he drive from Northwich is exceedingly pretty after leaving 

 the highway, being for a considerable distance by the side of 

 the river Weever, a navigable stream, which traverses a valley 

 of the richest grass land. It has a winding course, first ap- 

 proaching one side of the valley and tlien tlie other, whilst iu 

 some places it seems to be hemmed-in. The carriage road 

 skirts a wood which clothes the banks of one side of the valley, 

 a wood of considerable beauty, both from the presence of 

 overhanging trees and of masses of Rhododendrons on each 

 side of tlie drive. The mansion, of which an engraving is 

 annexed, is partly hidden from the approach by some noble 

 trees, and it is not until we come quite close that tlie beauties 

 of its architecture and position become apparent. At lirst sight 



it seems to be of small height, but this impression is no doubt 

 due to the great expanse of ground over which it extends. It 

 is buUt of tlie red sandstone of the district, and with its at- 

 taclied grounds occupies a somewhat elevated position. 



The principal carriage entrance is to the north, and the 

 garden and dressed grounds are to the south, east, and partly 

 to the west, on which side the oflices join the main building. 

 To the south is a beautiful flower garden, including a series of 

 beds forming a pleasing geometrical design, or rather two such, 

 for a broad central walk divided the garden iu two. The beds 

 were filled to overflowing with the choice bedding plants of 

 the day, and bounded on the west end by a fine ribbon border. 

 This large flower garden is not the only one, for beyond a 

 broad piece of ornamental water are more dressed ground and 

 flower-beds, but more irregular, and intermixed with shrubs, 

 specimen Conifers, and the like, with still more shrubs further 

 in the south. Here is the kitchen garden effectively concealed 

 by the shrubs, the mixed flower-beds by the edge of the water 

 giving an ornamental appearance to the front. Entering the 

 kitchen garden by a concealed path we soon reached the vinen", 

 wliere were excellent Grapes and Peaches. The other contents 

 of the forcmg houses were equally good, as were the crops of 

 vegetables of all kinds outside, to which the fine, deep, mellow 

 soil is evidently well suited. 



A\Tiere the dressed grounds approach the wood is a deep 

 dell, the peqiriidicular descent into which cannot be lees than 

 from 80 to lOil feet, or more. This natural ravine contained 

 some fine old ?aks, and the ground is thickly covered in most 



