290 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



how the formal character of the old 



garden at Wollnton has given place 



to the open features of Ihe present 



landscape surroundings. The taste 



for the enclosure of gardens was still 



partly manifest. In this early design 



the upper terraces were cut up into 



squares of turf. In the centre of 



each square stood a statue, and at 



the corners oranges in tubs. At the 



east was that indispensable adjunct of 



the good garden of the Elizabethan 



time, a bowling green, connected 



with the park by a succession of 



terraces. A contemplative game like 



bowls was probably more enjoyable 



played on a green commanding a fine 



view over the country than if pursued 



in a space enclosed by the high 



hedges which were generally planted 



round the greens, perhaps to screen 



the players from the wind. In this 



the layer-out cf the old gardens 



showed originality. There is every 



reason to believe that in other matters 



of garden design or architecture 



Wollaton Hall gave a lead to 



current ideas. South of the bowling 



green stood a building with a glazed roof, in which the 



oranges were evidently wintered, the tubs being moved 



there in the autumn. In "Breton's Garden Management" 



it is said that Wollaton was the first place in which a glass 



structure was used for the protection of plants. The date 



mentioned is 1695, the same as that of the picture, which 



may have been painted to show the completion of these 



new and successful efforts at gardening on the princely scale. 



Next to Chatsworth it is said to have been the finest garden 



THE GARLlbN AT WOLLATON IN 1695. 



in the country, though who were the designers then, and 

 whether Kent or Brown or any of the famous garden designers 

 lent their aid later, does not appear. The lower terrace was 

 at first devoted to growing fruit, herbs, and vegetables, but 

 after the present kitchen garden was built this terrace was 

 converted into a wilderness garden, and planted with shrubs 

 and rare trees. The cedars, the copper beeches, and the 

 ilexes are among the splendours of Wollaton ; the ilex 

 standing at the west end of the upper terrace is said to 



1H I: FLOWER GARDEN. 



'Country Life. 



