Book I. 



GARDENS OF CUMBERLAND. 



1081 



large Elizabethean mansion, in a conspicuous situation ; 

 the park, the remains of an ancient forest, but rather de- 

 nuded. 



Duckenfield Lodge, — near Ashton; lately F. D. Astley, 

 Esq., author of Hints to Planters. An irregular pile, on 

 a steep hill, with a broad terrace, and grounds particularly 

 grand and romantic. 



Haddnw Hall, — near Little Milton; T. Weddel, Esq. A 

 most romantic and picturesque situation. 



Haigh Hall, — near Wigan ; Earl of Balcarras. A vener- 

 able mansion, and grounds, remarkable for a summer-house 

 built of Cannel coal. 



Heaton Lodge, — near Manchester; Earl "Wilton. A 

 handsome stone edifice, by the late Samuel Wyatt, Esq. on 

 a commanding situation, in the midst of a tine park, five 

 miles in circumference, and enclosed with a stone wall. 

 The entrance-lodges in Doric, and mansion in the Ionic style. 



Lrfbrd Hall, — near Warrington; Mrs. Hornby. The 

 garden here was formerly rich in botany ; and a catalogue 

 of the plants was published by the gardener, Neale, in 1779. 



Torvnley Hall, — near Burnley; J. Townley, Esq. A 

 large venerable structure, forming three sides of a quadran- 

 gle ; the park, enclosed in Henry v II.'s time, contains some 

 very old oaks, which, with the contiguous mountains and 

 distant country, present various combinations of grand and 

 picturesque scenery. 



Croston Rectory, — near Ormskirk. About twenty years 

 ago the garden here was remarkable for its melons, which 

 ■were trained on a hot- wall, and bv using the seed of succes- 

 sive generations, the plants were found to be in some degree 

 acclimated. The plants were rooted under bell-glasses on 

 a moderate hot-bed at the base of the wall, and trained 

 up it like the love-apple. 



Woodfold. H. Sudell, Esq. near Blackburn. A hand- 

 some house and an extensive park, well stocked with deer. 

 A kitchen-garden, prolific in forced and exotic productions, 

 and a flower-garden under a separate gardener. 



Conniston Priory, — near Ambleside; Braddyl, Esq. 



Chiefly remarkable for its abundant horticultural products, 

 hardy, forced, and exot.c. 



7589. First-rate residences. 

 Ashton Hall , — near Lancaster; Duke of Hamilton. An 



old baronial castle, in a park abounding with noble woods 

 and fine marine views. 



Knowlesby Park, — near Prescot ; Earl of Derby. An an- 

 cient mansion and very extensive park, greatly improved by 

 the present owner. The kitchen-gardens are extensive and 

 well managed ; and near them is one of the largest aviaries in 

 England. The gardener here excels in growing cucumbers, 

 which he produces at table every day in the year, from a small 



7590. CHESHIRE. A surface of 676,000 acres ; generally level, with a moist climate, and deep rich 

 soil. There are a number of market-gardens in this county, for the supply of Liverpool and the ship- 

 ping ; Altringham is famous for the carrot, which bears its name. There are good nurseries at Nant- 

 wich and Knutsford ; and neat cottage and fine flower-gardens in several places. 



hot-house or pit, with a vault underneath, the first which 

 ■was heated by steam in England. 



Alderley Park, — nearAlderley ; Stanley, Esq. Chiefly re- 

 markable for its beech-grove, the trees of which are among the 

 largest in the kingdom. 



Bramnell Hall,*— near Stockport ; W. Davenport, Esq. The 

 mansion is in the Gothic style, and very ancient. The site is 

 elevated, and the prospects are pleasing, over a winding brook 

 in a wooded bottom. 



Belesworth Castle, — near Bam Hill; Sir O. Mosely. The 

 house is spacious, and in the Gothic style ; and the grounds, 

 though possessing little natural beauty, have been judiciously 

 laid out. 



Bromborough House, — near Bromborough; James Man- 

 waring, Esq. The mansion is a handsome building, of the red 

 stone of the country, and the grounds are pleasant and judi- 

 ciously laid out. 



X Booth's Hall, — near Knutsford ; P. Legh, Esq. The 

 mansion is plain, the park extensive, and varied by some fine 

 pieces of water. 



Carden, — near Farm; John Leech, Esq. The mansion is 

 a venerable building, and the park and grounds are spacious 

 and beautiful. 



X Durluim Massey, — near Altringham ; Earl Stamford. 

 The mansion is a spacious brick quadrangle; and the park 

 which surrounds it is extensive, and full of fine timber. Some 

 of the oaks are of extraordinary magnitude; and in their tops 

 is a heronry, where many herons associate, and build in so- 

 ciety like rooks. The pleasure grounds are extensive, and well 

 arranged. 



Hyde Hall, — near Hyde-Chapel ; George Hyde Clark, Esq. 

 The house ancient, and the grounds picturesque and elegant. 



Lyme Hall, — near Stockport ; John Legh, Esq. The house 

 is a quadrangle, in the style prevalent in James II.'s reign. The 

 park is not well wooded, but remarkable for its trees. At pre- 

 sent both house and grounds are undergoing great alterations. 



Poynton, — near Stockport ; Sir George Warren. The man- 

 sion is an elegant Ionic building ; the park extensive, and the 

 pleasure-grounds beautifully disposed. 



Peel Hall, — near Halton ; the property of the Earl of Ply- 

 mouth. It is one of the most magnificent old mansions in the 

 county, though now only occupied as a farmhouse. 



7591. The following are first-rate residences : — 



Cholmondcly Hall, — near Malpas ; Earl Cholmondeley. A 

 spacious mansion has lately been erected ; and the grounds laid 

 out by Webb. 



Cretue Hall, — near Wyburnbury ; John Crewe, Esq. The 

 mansion is a fine structure, by Inigo Jones ; and the grounds 

 are judiciously laid out. 



X Eaton Hall, — near Eaton ; Earl Grosvenor (gros and ve- 

 neitr, Fr. or grand huntsman ; an ancestor of this family 

 having been in this capacity to the king). The house was 

 originally built by Sir John Vanburgh, but has lately been 

 remodelled, in the Gothic style, by Hardwick. The park is 

 extensive, and, with the gardens, has been much improved 

 from the designs of Repton. 



X Tatton Park,— near Knutsford; W. Egerton, Esq. The 

 house is from an elegant design of Wyatt ; the park con- 

 tains 2500 acres, including a mere, or lake, of some extent ; the 

 kitchen-garden is large, and contains a spacious well con- 

 structed pinery, and shady border for mosses. 



7592. WESTMORELAND. A surface of 462,080 acres ; much varied by lofty mountains, naked hills, 

 and moors, that call aloud for planting and draining. 



Colgarth, — near Ambleside; 



The residence of 



the late Bishop of Llandaff ; chiefly deserving notice for its ex- 

 tensive and judiciously managed plantations. 



Curmen's Island,— in Wynandermere lake, near Ambleside ; 

 J. C. Curwen, Esq. A Roman villa, with a dome, in the centre 

 of a small island, well wooded, and the walks and gardens ar- 

 ranged from the designs of the late T. White, Esq. the land- 

 scape-gardener of the north. 



X Lon'ther Castle, — near Lowther ; Lord Lonsdale. A first- 

 rate residence, the mansion castellated by Smirke, of rose- 

 tinted white stone, with an outer and inner court, and a ter- 

 race as a basement 500 feet long and 100 feet wide : the whole 

 building rather low for the style of architecture, but in other re- 

 spects excellent. The parks and pleasure-grounds are of great 

 extent, and command a variety of prospects and scenery, not 

 surpassed perhaps in any other part of the British dominions. 

 There is a terrace of closely mown turf: the grasses of the 



finest mountain kind. It is nearly a mile in length, and runs 

 along the brink of a limestone cliff, which overlooks a great 

 part of the park, irregularly scattered with forest trees of im- 

 mense growth, and well stocked with deer. It was this park 

 that Lord Macartney compared to the garden of the Emperor 

 of China at Gehol. 



* Rayrige Hall, — near Kendal ; Rev. T. Fleming. On the 

 banks of Wynandermere ; and said to resemble Ferney, the ce- 

 lebrated seat of Voltaire, near Geneva. 



Rydal Hall (Rye-dale), — near Kendal ; Sir F. Le Fleming. A 

 romantic seat on a mountain side, clothed with natural oak- 

 woods, and celebrated for its waterfall. 



Warton, — near Carlisle ; J.Jackson, Esq. The gardens re 

 semble those of Kensington ; and are said to have been laid out 

 by Mollet, James II.'s gardener, for the Scaiffe family, suc- 

 cessors from Edward II.'s time till within the eighteenth cen- 

 tury. 



7593. CUMBERLAND. A surface of 970,000 acres, entirely mountainous, and abounding in lakes, 

 the most numerous and celebrated of any county in the empire : as in the other north-western counties, 

 the climate is severe, and winter long and dreary. 



Corby Castle, — near Carlisle ; Henry Howard, Esq. The 

 mansion has lately been improved from the designs of 

 Nicholson ; it is boldly situated on the banks of the Eden, 

 which are well wooded bv nature, and singularly grand and 

 picturesque. The grandfather of the present owner began 



to lead walks through these grounds in 1706, and is said to 

 have been one of the first persons who broke through the tram- 

 mels of the ancient style of laying out grounds. The late Mr. 

 Meikle, who was a good deal employed to lay out grounds in 

 the north of England, was originally gardener here. 



