Juno 28, 1877. 1 



JOUaNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAGE GARDENER. 



485 



in 1735 made a K.B. His son the second Viscount dyiDE with- 

 ODt is&ue in 1802, the estates passed to bis cousin William 

 Hanbury of Kelmareb, Northamptonshire, who was created 

 Baron Bateman in 1837, and was succeeded in 1845 by his 

 eldest son the present peer. 



The mansion, erected by the first peer, has lately undergone 

 such alterations and improvements as to have been almost re- 

 built, and the application of the most correct taste in modern 

 landscape gardening has done justice to the noble timber. 

 Two splendid Chestnuts (Spanish) , one 15 feet in girth, another 

 15 feet 2 inches ; a gigantic but decapitated Cedar, one of the 

 finest in England ; two very luxuriant and exquisite Occidental 

 Planes, and one or two very fine Beeches stand within the 

 lawn and near the flower garden ; while round and about in 

 calculated proximity are still finer Spanish Chestnuts, Cedars, 

 English and Evergreen Oaks, bespeaking a venerable but hale 



old age, and standing out amidst lesser coniferous and deciduous 

 sojourners in a park of remarkable beauty. In that part of 

 it nearest to the mansion and drive is a memorial of the old 

 church of Shobdon, a rare sample of three connected Norman 

 arches which have so much beauty and grace about them that 

 they have been frequently associated with the Norman work of 

 Kilpeck. 



It seems that in the middle of last century the old church, 

 which was close to the Court, was pulled down to make way 

 for a domestic chapel, so to speak. The modern church serves 

 its parochial as well as its domestic purposes undeniably, but 

 it does not prevent one from regretting that fate of its pre- 

 decessor. Part of the three old arches (which with the excep- 

 tion of the lower part of the church tower with its very inter- 

 esting windows) are its sole souvenir set up in the home park. 

 The visitors ascended an extensive and well-timbered slope, 



affording at each stage the loveliest views of the valleys of 

 Lugg and Arrow, of the lands towards Ludlow beneath the 

 Glee, of the Malverus, the Black Mountains, the Brecon Beacon, 

 and tho Abergavenny Hills. They reached at last a very high 

 point which led to the woods and coverts of Shobdon Hill, at 

 the top of which (1000 feet in height) an entirely different 

 view towards liadnorphiro and Shropshire was gained, and the 

 Longwyndo, the! Carafluc, the High Yynals, Bridgewood Com- 

 mon, Croffambury, and other interesting points were cited. 

 In the immediate foreground from this hill, on the opposite 

 bank of the river Lugg is the camp of Uecrfold Forest, 

 913 feet above sea level, so interesting from being the place in 

 ■which the eloquent Swinderby and some other Wyclifiites hid 

 themselves to escape the persecution which set in against them 

 after the death of John of Gaunt. 



It was impossible to pass by some Cedars of Lebanon of 

 truly remarkable size; one trunk broken short oB by some 

 dire calamity at about 25 feet high, but with a yet perfect bole, 

 gave a fnir measurement of no less than IB feet 2 inches in 

 girth at 5 feet from the ground. Eat even this tree was sur- 

 passed by one in muoh more perfect condition on the lower 

 ground, for this absolutely girthed 21 feet 10 inches at 5 feet 

 from the ground, though lower down it was somewhat less. 

 These trees are certainly the finest Cedars in the country, and 

 there is some reason to believe that they were planted about 



the year 1688, when tho Cedar tree seems to have been first 

 introduced into Herefordshire. 



As to Shobdon church, it stands near the mansion on the 

 site of the former edifice, which was built by Oliver de Merly- 

 lord, steward to Hugh de Mortimer, about the year 1140. He 

 likowisB founded near it a small priory lor canonf , which was 

 afterwards removed to Eye, and theneu finally to Wigmore. 



Shobdon Court is the seat of tho Bight Hon. Lord Bateman 

 (Lord-Lieutenant and Custoa Rotnlorum of the county). It is 

 a brick mansion in the style of Louis XIV., and has a beautiful 

 entrance-hall. The Park is three or four miles in extent. 



G. B. Lewis in his "Ancient Church of Shobdon" (1852), 

 in which every carved stone remp.iuin':' is shown by lithographs, 

 says, " The style of its architecture and tho peculiarities of 

 its sculpture differ from tho general character of that which is 

 known to bo Norman. There is much more refinement in the 

 design generally and more truth in the sculptured forms of 

 the different living beings than is seen in the churches of tho 

 Norman period, and there is a high artistic feeling in tho com- 

 petition of tho whole, as well as in all the loadmg features, 

 which would induce us to conclude that it has more of the 

 Byzantine character than is generally observed in the remains 



of this period The style of the' arches Uaves no 



room for doubt that they are part of the church built in the 

 reign of King Stephen by Oliver do Merlylord." 



