JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ .Iimc -iO, 1872. 



for Loiigtowu, and at that time tlie tenants of its lands were 

 one Fulcher and St. Edmunds Abbey. In the reign of Henry II. 

 it pivssed into the possession uf the Trussell family, and re- 

 mained with them until the reign of Henry VII., and then by 

 marriage went to the Veres, Earls of Oxford, from whom the 

 manor and advowsou at the commencemect of the reign of 

 Elizabeth were purchased by the Eev. Eobert Isham and his 

 brother .John, and the latter eventually became its sole pos- 

 sessor. It has continued the property and residence of his 

 descendants ever since, and a baronetcy was confen-ed on one 

 in the reign of Charles I. 



The Ishams were Northamptonshire gentry in the earliest 

 period of our authentic history. They derived their patronymic 

 from ft town in that county, and Roger de Isham in the time 

 of the Normans is recorded among the first benefactors of St. 

 Andrews Priory, in Northampton. We mentioned on a former 

 occasion George London, then gardener to Dr. Comptou, Bishop 

 of London, aceompanying that prelate when he commanded 

 the guard which protected Princess Anne in the time of J.amesII. 



That command was offered to Sir Justinian Isham, who 

 modestly declined it, but consented to be cornet of the guard, 

 and he earned its standai'd on wliich was the motto yulumiix 

 tfiir.i Aiiiiliir miitdii. 



The mansion is situated on one of those hold undulations 

 with which that part of Northamptonshire abounds, and is on 

 the margin of a park full of picturesipre landscape and rich in 

 patriarchal timber. Some of the Oaks and Walnuts are of 

 gigantic size, and their age may be reckoned not by yeai's hut 

 by centuries. On the side of the park skirting the Northamp- 

 ton Road, Sir Charles has mdiUged his love of trees by planting 

 it most profusely with scarlet and double pink Thorns, and 

 other flowering trees and shrubs, to the great adornment of liis 

 estate and the delectation of the wayfarer, who cannot but be 

 charmed with the beauties that thus cheer him on his weary 

 way. No part of the original residence of the Isliams now re- 

 mains. The present house is a tine specimen of the Palladian 

 style, introduced by Inigo .Tones, and is built with stone dug 

 in the neighbourhood, wliich in appearance is so fresh, and in 



Xlie riuwcr Giudeu at Lamport Iltil!. 



condition so perfect, that one rciiuires to be assured that the 

 mansion was erected in the reign of Charles II. from designs 

 fm'uished by .lohn Webb, the son-in-law of Inigo Jones. A 

 considerable addition was made about the beginning of the 

 last century in harmony with Webb's design. 



It is not our intention to enter into a full description of 

 Lamport. In vol. xxiii. of our old series om- correspondent, 

 Ml-. Fish, furnished abundant particulars descriptive of the, 

 in some instances, unique way in which gardening is practised 

 there ; and the notes we now supply are more in the way of 

 sequel than of minute detail. 



Oui' first illustration (firj 1.) is a representation of the flower 

 garden at the hack of the house leading to the lawn, the rockei-y , 

 the conservatory, and the kitchen gardens. At the period of our' 

 visit the season was not sufficiently advanced for the flower- 

 beds being clad in their gay adornment, but the photograph 

 from which our engraving is taken conveys some idea of what 

 effect is produced later in the summer. 



Leading from the flower garden by a narrow entrance is the 

 rockwork, a small piece of which is shown in the right-hand 

 corner of the engraving. This rockwork is the great feature of 

 the gardening at Lamport, and is a striking evidence of Sir 

 Charles Isham's fine taste and wonderful patience. The whole 

 is his own handiwork, and has occupied a period of two and 



twenty yeai'S to bring it to its present high perfection. Asjit 

 would" be impossible from mere description to give any ade- 

 quate idea of this remarkable production, we have obtained 

 an excellent representation of it taken from a photograph ( see 

 )/(/. 2) ; and our readers will agree with us that it far exceeds any 

 idea they could have formed of it by the mere term rockwork, 

 taken, as that term is usually employed, to denote a heap of 

 stones thrown together with no definite object in view but to 

 make their interspaces receptacles for alpme and other plants. 

 We cannot do better than repeat what Mr. Fish wrote on this 

 subject : — 



I had frequently heard, through friends, of the riches of this 

 rockery in plants, etc., and my unagination had revelled in a 

 scene of romantic ^s-ildness, where the narrow overhanging 

 defile, or chasniy dingle, had afforded an opportunity for the 

 artist's skill in evoking ideas of the times when the old giants 

 pOed hill upon mountain, or just pitched from their large fists 

 huge masses of stone from some far-off elevation, to enable us 

 to note and compare the wondrous prowess of the past with 

 the comparative weakness of the present. Such are some of 

 the positions for a good artificial rockeiy. Judge, then, my 

 surprise on obtauiing the first view of the rockei-y from_ the 

 conservatory, and in such nearness to an elegant mansion ! 

 Of all positions this, at first sight, seemed to be the strangest. 



