194 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Febnm7 20, 1872. 



whole is lawn encompassed with belts of Laurels, Aueubas, 

 Laurustinus, with tall Elms near the boundary ; and beyond, 

 the kept grounds merge into the extensive park. On the prin- 

 cipal front, which faces the west, are trained fine plants of the 

 Narrow-leavedMyrtle, Magnolias, Jasmine, and Garrya elliptica, 

 the last covering a space 13 or 16 feet in height, and 12 feet 

 wide. This shrub, of which a figure and notice are given in 

 another column, was covered with its pale yellow male flowers 

 in catkins as much as 9 inches long. So numerous, ui fact, 

 were they that the dark-green foliage was all but completely 

 hidden by them. No one who saw such a plant could fail to re- 

 cognise its suitability for covering a wall, and desire to see it 

 more extensively employed for that purpose, being ornamental 

 by its foliage and much more so by its flowers, especially when 

 these are produced by a wall-trained plant on which, as at 

 Battle, they appear to attain twice the length they do on 

 shrubbery plants. Stauntonia latifolia, a greenhouse plant 



from China, trained against the same front of the house, had 

 attained a height of about 20 feet, but had not fruited, though 

 another plant had done so where the aspect was south. 



What is supposed to have been the Guest House is a detached 

 building covering an area 195 feet long and upwards of 40 feet 

 wide, but all that remains of it are two octagonal tm'rets at the 

 west end, and the niches of the windows at the sides, now 

 used as seats, those on the south commanding a view of the 

 battle field, Telham Hill in the distance, and on a clear daj' 

 of miles of country besides. The space once occupied by the 

 rooms devoted to the use of the guests and their attendants 

 is now laid out in three neatly-kept gi'ass plots surrounded 

 by gravel walks. Considering that the rehgious establishments 

 in early times served also as houses of entertamment for 

 travellers, more esj^ecially those of the higher ranks, it is 

 not surprising that so large a building should be devoted to 

 their accommodation ; and from the fact that beneath the 



Buttle Abliey— Cloibters, 



whole is a range of ceUai'S which even a great London wine- 

 merchant might envy, it may be inferred both that the visitors 

 were many and the cheer good. Of the dormitory, which runs 

 north and south, and is 154 feet long by 35 wide, part of the 

 walls are stUl standing, and beneath it are vaulted chambers, 

 supposed to have been the living-rooms of the monks when not 

 engaged on their rehgious or gustatory duties, for the per- 

 formance of which last an ample refectory was provided. 

 However, it is not for us to dwell upon these details, which 

 belong more to the province of the antiquarian than of the 

 horticulturist, but in a notice of such a place as Battle Abbey 

 the remains of the past are so intimately connected with the 

 present — in fact, serve as landmarks to it — that it is next to 

 an impossibUity to dissociate the one from the other. Never- 

 theless, we cannot but remark that those old masons had done 

 their work well, not only in beautifully arched cryjjts, but in 

 buttress facings, where theu' chisel marks remain fresh and 

 clear at the present day, though the iuterverung work was of a 

 rougher nature. 



We have now reached the east side of the Abbey, where there 

 is a garden laid out in smaU beds hedged-in by Box neatly kept 

 to 6 inches high by 9 inches wide at top, with raised beds in 

 the centre. The accompanj-iug is a view of this side of the 

 Abbey* with its cloisters, including also a portion of the garden 



* The two views which we give were obli^^ugly funushed to l 

 Photogiaplier, oJ 13, Wellington Place, Hastings. 



i by Mr. Mai 



refei'red to. Li summer it is filled with bedding plants, and 

 the broad Box edgings to the beds give it a unique appearance. 

 We noticed here some remarkably fine Laurustinuses 18 feet 

 high. The Laurustinus appears to luxuriate at Battle, flowering 

 freely, and attaining a large size. The next garden is a square 

 with an ancient Yew hedge 15 or 16 feet high, forming a dark, 

 sombre wail on one side ; Laurels and Sweet Bay nearly 

 20 feet in height are the other two sides. The ground within 

 is laid out as a rosery, there being in addition a number of 

 Camellias planted out, and two beds of Lilium speciosum 

 (laucifoUiun of gardens) rubrum and album, which have been 

 there for ten years ; all the protection given is a covering of 

 ashes over the bulbs in winter. At the back of the Yew hedge 

 referred to is a row of Y'ew trees equally ancient, and the 

 branches of the two form a Gothic arch over a walk running 

 the whole length of the back of the walk, and in some cases the 

 branches are naturally inarched. This walk has a quaint, 

 rustic character, as well as being venerable by its age. The 

 Monks' Walk, pai-aUel with the boundary wall, is also interest- 

 ing, and from the raised walk on the wall one can see miles of 

 the surrounding country. Just pausing to notice another Y'ew- 

 bordered walk, the trees not so old as by that previously 

 noticed, we come to the site of the High Altar erected on the 

 spot where Harold fell, and near which are several magnificent 

 old Cedars of Lebanon, and a fine Deodar about 40 feet high. 

 Her Grace has herself tastefully planted Ferns and herba- 



