Book I. 



GARDENS OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 



1071 



7543. HERTFORDSHIRE. A surface of 302,080 acres, the north part forming part of a chalky ridge 

 which extendi) across the kingdom in this direction, the rest agreeably varied. The soil is generally loamy 

 or clayey, on a chalky sub-soil : there are many private gardens in the county of almost all descriptions ; 

 a number of small nurseries and market-gardens, and some florists' market-gardens. The gardens at 

 Moor Park and Cashiobury were formerly the most celebrated in the county. 



7544. The villas are less numerous than the de- 

 mesne-residences. 



Beechwood Park, — near Market Street ; Sir J. Sebright. A 

 handsome mansion in a delightful well-wooded park, abound- 

 ing in stately beech-trees, 'i here is a farm of 700 acres, cul- 

 tivated in the first style by the proprietor, who is distin- 

 guished both as a grower of corn, and a breeder of domestic 

 animals. 



Brecktt Hall,— near Welwyn ; Lord Melbourne. A hand- 

 some dwelling, from the designs of Paine ; the park and 

 grounds beautiful, and much enriched by the river Lea, 

 which is here formed into a handsome sheet of water. 

 The park farm is scientifically cultivated, chiefly by the 

 direction of Lady Melbourne. 



Brickenden Bury, — near Hertford ; M organ, Esq. 



The park is large, and well furnished with wood and water. 



Broxbourn Bury, — near Broxboum ; J. Bosanquet, Esq. 

 The house is spacious, and with the park has lately been 

 much improved. 



Cockenhutch, — near Royston ; Lady Wills. A singular, 

 but not unhandsome mansion, in a pleasant park. 



Colney House, — near London Colney; G. Anderson, Esq. 

 A handsome and regular mansion, with wings ; the offices 

 connected by an underground passage, and completely en- 

 veloped in evergreens. The park contains some fine oak and 

 elm trees; the pleasure-grounds are extensive; the kitchen- 

 garden well stocked with the best sorts of fruit-trees; and 

 there is a large green-house full of choice plants. 



Gabions, — near North Minis; J. Hunter, Esq. In Henry 

 VIl.'s time the seat of Sir John More, father to the illus- 

 trious Sir Thomas More. The gardens were then, and in 

 the succeeding reign, celebrated for their splendor in the 

 ancient taste. 



X Gorlmmbury House, — near St. Albans; Earl Verulam. 

 A Corinthian house of brick stuccoed, by Sir Robert Taylor ; 

 and a park of GOO acres, well stocked with fine timber, par- 

 ticularly beech. 



The Grove, — near Watford; Earl of Clarendon. An 

 irregular brick structure in a park three miles in circum- 

 ference, through which the river Gade flows in a divided 

 stream. There is a farm of GOO acres assiduously cultivated 

 by his lordship, who pays the greatest attention to every 

 branch of farming. 



Hamels, — near Sacombe ; G. Mellish, Esq. The grounds 

 laid out with much taste. 



Hemsted Bury, — near Hemel Hempsted ; Hilton, Esq. 



A neat house and pleasant grounds in a mixed style be- 

 tween the geometric and the modem manner. 



X Panshanger, — near Hertford; Eail Cowper. A fine 

 situation, the house lately improved, and the grounds plea- 

 sant. The park contains a remarkably large oak. 



Theobald's Park, — near Cheshunt ; Sir G. B. Prescot. A 

 residence of 300 acres, with a handsome mansion erected 

 on what was formerly a palace and park of James L, who, 

 having got possession of the park, by exchange, from the 

 Earl of Salisbury, enlarged and surrounded it with a wall 



7546. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. A surface of 318,400 acres, hilly, and abounding in some places in 

 natural beech-woods, the soil rich, and on chalk. It does not abound in gardens or residences, but con- 

 tains one long celebrated — Stow. The seedsmen procure many of their tree-seeds from the natural 

 woods of the county ; as beech-mast, from Amersham and High Wycombe, and also hornbeam, holly, 

 haws, and juniper. Some of the nurserymen procure their stocks for standard roses from the same woods, 

 and from copse-woods at their periodical fellings, or when they are to be rooted out. 



small place of no great note, but here introduced, because 



ten miles in circumference. When Cromwell's survey was 

 taken in 1650, it contained Si508 acres, diversified with 

 avenues and other masses of trees. The gardens were large, 

 and ornamented with labyrinths, canals, and fountains. 

 The great garden contained several acres, and there was 

 besides a pheasant, privy, and laundry garden. In the 

 former were nine knots, artificially and exquisitely made, 

 one of them in imitation of the king's-arms. 



Tring Park, — near Tring ; Sir I). Smith. The house is 

 large and convenient, and the park consists of between 30U 

 and 400 acres, beautifully varied both with undulations of 

 surface and fine trees. 



Watton Woodhall, — near Watton ; S. Smith, Esq. A spa- 

 cious and elegant mansion, occupying one of the finest situ- 

 ations hi the county, built by Sir Thomas Rumbold, and the 

 kitchen-garden formed by Malcolm. The park is large, 

 diversified by hill and dale, and watered by several small 

 streams, which flow into the river Beane, in its course 

 through the grounds ; it contains fine oaks, many of which 

 are of great magnitude. The kitchen-garden is excellent and 

 well managed. 



Wormleybury, — near Wormley ; Sir A- Hume. A good 

 house and pleasant grounds, but chiefly remarkable for its 

 horticultural productions, Sir Abraham having introduced 

 various new plants from China and India. 



7545. The following may be considered as first- 

 rate residences. 



X Cashiobury, — near Watford ; Earl of Essex. A spacious 

 Elizabethean mansion ; and a park between three and four 

 miles in circumference, abounding in rich scenery and noble 

 timber, originally planted by Le Notre. The pleasure-grounds 

 are extensive, and contain a beautiful flower-garden in the 

 Chinese style. The kitchen-garden is well cultivated, and 

 also the home farm. The Earl of Essex, in Evelyn's time, 

 was a great encourager of gardening, as is the present earl. 



X Hatfield House, — near Hatfield; Marquis Salisbury. A 

 magnificent Elizabethean mansion, in a finely diversified 

 park watered by the river Lea, and containing some of the 

 finest oak, ash, elm, and other trees in the county. There 

 were originally two parks, one for red and the other for fal- 

 low deer ; and in one of them was a vineyard which was in ex- 

 istence at the time Charles I. was a prisoner at Hatfield. 

 In 1795, a piece of ground of 17 acres in extent, was set apart 

 for agricultural experiments, which are conducted with great 

 science and assiduity by the marchioness. 



X Moor-Park House, — near Rickmansworfh ; Wil- 

 liams, Esq. A magnificent Corinthian mansion, by Giacomo 

 Leoni, and the grounds laid out under the direction of the 

 celebrated Lucy Countess of Bedford, and afterwards mo- 

 dernised by Brown, when the estate was in the possession of 

 Lord Anson. The park is finely diversified with oak, ash, elm, 

 and lime trees, so old as to be much decayed at their tops. This 

 celebrated seat has been praised by Bacon and Sir W. Temple : 

 and one of its possessors B. H. Styles, Esq. was unfairly satir- 

 ised by Pope, for removing a hill from the north front at an 

 expense of 5000J. 



7547. Villas and demesne-residences. 



Bulstrode, — near Beaconsfield ; the Duke of Somerset. 

 The house is in no respect remarkable ; the park contains 

 5000 acres, abounding in old oak and beeches. The gardens 

 were formerly kept in good order, and also the farm. 



(halfont House, — near Chalfont St. Giles; in 1800, 

 Thomas Hibbert, Esq. The grounds were laid out by the 

 former possessor with much taste and judgment ; and are 

 finely ornamented with wood, and adorned with a pleasant 

 piece of water. The gardens, in Mr. Hibbert's time, were 

 richly stocked with tender exotics, especially heaths, and 

 other Cape plants. 



Cliefden, — near Woburn (Bedf.) ; a seat founded by George 

 Villiers, second duke of Buckingham, in the reign of 

 Charles II. Burnt down in 1795.' The grounds are finely 

 varied bv woods, which descend on the side of a steep hill 

 to the Thames, and are celebrated by Pope in his Monti 

 Essays. 



Farvley Court, — near Fingest ; Strickland Freeman, Esq. 

 The mansion is handsome and spacious, with four fronts : 

 it was built hi 1684, from a design of Sir Christopher Wren. 

 The grounds round the house are rather flat ; but the distant 

 scenery is hilly, well wooded, and the windings of the Thames 

 are seen along a beautiful vale. 



X Hall Barn, —near Beaconsfield; Edmund Waller, Esq. 

 descendant of the poet, by whom the grounds were laid out 

 in the ancient style, verging into a sort of wildness at the 

 extremities of the walks. 1 he ground near the banqueting- 

 house has been moved and remodelled by the poet at very 

 considerable cost, and the place, on the whole, must have 

 deserved the encomiums that were made on it when in its 

 perfection, and in high keeping ; at present it is rather 

 neglected. 



Hedsor Lodge, — near Woburn ; Lord Frederick Boston. 

 The house is modern and elegant ; the grounds are distin- 

 guished for their high sloping hills, deep valleys, and the 

 wild luxuriance of the woods, which, combiningwith the bold 

 swells or abrupt depressions of the surface, produce some very 

 beautiful and picturesque scenery- The view from the brow of 

 the hill, with the village church : the winding Thames, and 

 the distant hills clothed with beech-wcod, is very fine. 

 (1800.) 



Laiimers, — near Chesharn ; Lord George Cavendish. A 



referred to by G. Mason as having been laid out by Brown. 



Shurdeloes, — near Amersham ; T. D. T. Drake, Esq. The 

 house is a respectable modern edifice, from a design by 

 M. Adams, it is situated on the brow of a hill, overlooking 

 a broad sheet of water, planned by Bridgeman. The park 

 is much varied in surface, and richly clothed with beech- 

 woods. 



Stoke Park, — near Stoke Pogies ; John Penn, Esq. The 

 house was built in 1789, from the designs of James Wyatt, 

 Esq. ; and the grounds laid out by H. Kepton, are beautiful, 

 though of limited extent. 



Woburn Farm, — near Woburn ; Earl Wharton (1770). 

 This place was laid out as aferme orne'e, and was celebrated in 

 the time of Wheatley, who gives a full description of it. It is 

 now entirely obliterated, and the grounds let as a common 

 farm . 



X Wycombe Abbey, — near Wycombe ; Lord Carrington. 

 The house situated in a bottom, has lately been much im- 

 proved In the Gothic style by Wyatt. The grounds 

 contain a curious artificial cascade, executed by J. Lane, a 

 stonemason, who executed the cascade at Bowood, in Wilt- 

 shire, and is celebrated for his talent in this way. The park 

 contains !i00 acress, well wooded and watered, and bounded 

 on the south by high hills. 



Wycombe Park, — near Wycombe ; Sir J. D. King, Bart. 

 The house is small, by W. Ware, in the Grecian style and ele- 

 gant. The grounds form part of a vale, bordered by a stream, 

 and are deservedly much admired for their wood and water. 

 They were laid out by Brown, and received some improve- 

 ments from H. Repton. 



7548. The following are first-rate residences : — 

 X Ashridge Park, — near Hempsted ; Earl of Bridgewater. 

 The ancient abbey, lately pulled down, and a magnificent 

 Gothic mansion, erected from the designs of J. Wyatt in 1815. 

 The park is five miles in circumference, pleasingly varied with 

 hill and dale, and furnished with some very fine oak and beech 

 trees. The gardens are extensive ; the culinary department is 

 under the care of T. Torbron from Kew, an excellent gar- 

 dener ; and the flower-garden contains several acres, full of va- 

 riety, and laid out from the designs of H. Repton, Esq. in 1814. 

 The farm is managed by a Northumbrian bailiff. 

 X Stow, — near Buckingham; Marquis of Buckingham. 



