142 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



most laudable ex- 

 ample" at Godstone 

 in Surrey. Many old 

 columbaries, such as 

 the great square one 

 at South Stoke, near 

 Goring, on the 

 Thames, are, as the 

 authors of "The 

 Formal Garden" 

 say, so exceedingly 

 picturesque, that 

 there seems no reason 

 for excluding them 

 from the garden the 

 greater reason, we 

 might say, for giving 

 them a place. The 

 ordinary barrel dove- 

 cole or other like 

 construction upon a 

 high p:jst was often 

 erected in old gardens 

 and may be found in 

 many places now. In 

 a garden near South- 

 water a dovecote 

 such as this forms 

 the centre-piece of a 

 square walled garden, 

 with straight grass 

 paths leading up to a 

 circle in the centre, 

 and the effect is very 

 good. Badeslade's 

 view of Sundridge 

 PLice in Kent (1720), 

 sliows tlie dovecote 

 standing in the centre 

 of the fish-pond. The 

 water-floor was occu- 

 pied by the ducks ; 

 above this was a 

 room, with a balcony 

 all round, and steps 

 up from the water ; 



THE OLD FLOWER GARDEN. 



and the upper part 

 was pierced with holes 

 and perches for the 

 pigeons. Again a 

 large octagonal dove- 

 cote on a solid wooden 

 trestle is shown in 

 Logan's view of St. 

 John's, Oxford. 



Cleeve Prior has, 

 therefore, a special 

 claim to attention. 

 The village is exceed- 

 ingly picturesque also, 

 and there again is to 

 be seen a remarkable 

 dovecote, though one 

 in no way compara- 

 ble to the fine example 

 at the old Manor 

 House. But, after all, 

 the fine and individual 

 feature of the place is 

 the great double yew 

 hedge of the Prior's 

 Garden. Beyond this 

 we need scarcely go. 

 Our ancestors have 

 left many great illus- 

 trations of their lives 

 and ideals ; but per- 

 haps nowhere have 

 they given us examples 

 so notable of their 

 piety and quaint fancy 

 in practical combina- 

 tion, as in the few 

 illustrations we yet 

 possess of their suc- 

 cessful efforts to figure 

 sacred personages in 

 the green foliage of 

 tlie yew. The posses- 

 sion of such an example 

 is the distinction of 

 Cleeve Prior. 



Copyright. 



THH CART HOVELS. 



"Counlry Lift." 



