300 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUBB AND OOTTAGH GABDENEE. 



[ October 1, 1874. 



the fruit appears to be finer, thus showing that certain soils , 

 supply food of a different kind to what others do. An absence 

 of calcareous matter and a corresponding preponderance of 

 iron cause much of the difference, and iron works existed in 

 the neighbourhood and were worked to great advantage long | 

 before the present seats of the important iron trade in the , 

 northern counties were ever thought of. Lamberhurst, a village I 

 a few miles to the east of Tnnbridge Wells, supplied the iron 

 from which the railing that until very recently surrounded 

 St. Paul's Cathedral was made ; but the furnaces have long 

 ceased to be worked, and the neighbourhood is as exempt from ; 

 the smoke of iron foundries as it was in the days of .Julius j 

 CfBsar. But the loss of the iron trade is amply compensated by 

 the improved cultivation of the land, and the greatly enhanced 

 value of property resulting from the health-giving character of 



the district having attracted many of the rich London mer- 

 chants and others in search of a pleasant country home. Hence 

 mauy small villages have acquired a certain degree of import- 

 ance, and notable amongst such is that of Hawkhurst, which 

 has made such rapid progress that not long ago I heard it 

 mooted amongst some of its inhabitants whether it could not 

 support a local paper. 



Saacox Heath is about ten miles east of Tanbridge Wells, 

 and two miles west of Hawkhurst. I am not exactly certain 

 whether the mansion stands in the county of Kent or in 

 Sussex, but believe it is in the latter county, although the 

 grounds extend in both. The property would appear some 

 time in the early part of the present century to have been in 

 the possession of a gentleman who had a good appreciation of 

 what was likely to improve the aspect of the grounds, for he 



Fig. 87.— Seacox Heath. 



planted most of the choice trees and shrubs that were to be 

 had at the time, notably some good Evergreen Oaks and 

 several Pines, as well as deciduous shrubs and trees, which, 

 having now attained a large size, give importance to a place 

 that by its architecture at once strikes the beholder as quite 

 new. A large mansion, successively the residence of the 

 Wardroper and Palliser families, stood near here. It is said 

 to have been built by the " Goudhurst smugglers," a gang 

 infesting the neighbourhood until they were extinguished by 

 their leaders being executed in 1748. The wealth of some of 

 the members of the gang, and their daring exploits, would be 

 incredible were they not revealed by evidence preserved in our 

 judicial records. 



The present mansion and its terraces are the creation of 

 the last seven years, the property having been purchased by 

 its present owner shortly before that time ; and the existing 

 mansion and its appurtenances not being adequate to the re- 

 quirements of the family, Mr. Goschen determined to build 

 another. A suitable site having been found but a short way 

 from the old one, a large and handsome structure of a pretty 

 light-coloured freestone has been erected. Externally it pre- 

 sents suitable architectural and sculptural embellishments, the 

 character of the stone aiding the latter considerably by the 

 fineness of its grain, which is capable of being cut with great 

 sharpness ; while internally there are a noble hall and staircase, 



with suites of rooms fitted with air the modern ^requisites 

 which wealth and skill can command. 



The situation is well chosen. The highway, a broad and 

 well-kept one, leading from London to the once-important 

 town of Eye, passes through the estate, and a suitable lodge 

 is being erected at the entrance to the carriage road, the 

 latter curving round and partly through a cutting, rendered 

 necessary by the high ground in a south-westerly direction, for 

 some distance, when the mansion is approached on the north 

 side, a spacious area being set apart for the carriage front, 

 which is fenced-in by a suitable balustraded wall, with ample 

 space for a carriage road, gravelled with the small coloured 

 pebbles found on certain parts of the seashore. The car- 

 riage road, I may observe, in its course to the house passes 

 through a portion of the park as well as the grounds to which 

 the term "dressed" may be applied, and groups of shrubs 

 have been planted at suitable places along its line. The 

 mansion, I believe, does not stand exactly with the cardinal 

 points, but sufficiently so to justify my saying that the carriage 

 entrance is on the north side, while on the opposite side an 

 ample space is enclosed as a terraced flower garden, the 

 natural fall of the ground in that direction rendering more 

 than one terrace npcessary. On the lower one, which is 

 reached by wide flights of steps, a sot of flower-beds, upwards 

 of fifty iu number, and occupying a sort of semioiicular plot 



