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GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



late additions approach so near 

 to the edges of the hill that 

 there was almost no room to 

 develop any garden at all in 

 front of the mansion, unless at 

 great expense, which might 

 not have achieved any bette- 

 result than .the present 

 arrangement of garden and 

 park. At Powerscourt, Lord 

 Powerscourt's fine house in 

 the Wicklow Mountains, which 

 occupies a similar position, 

 the entire front of the steep 

 hill has been cut into a semi- 

 circle of graded terraces, ending 

 in a small circular lake, which 

 the lowest steps of the garden 

 half embrace. At Lypiatt the 

 steep part was left native and 

 wild, so that from the front ter- 

 race you may look down into the 

 tree tops and into the blossoms 

 of the hawthorn bushes below. 

 But lateral extension was possi- 

 ble without removing thousands 

 of tons of earth. Consequently, 

 at either end of the house are 

 terraces and gardens, quaint 

 enough, and very characteristic. 

 At one side are the garden 

 court, towers, and tourelles 

 here shown, an effective mix- 

 ture of house and garden archi- 

 tecture. The small tourelle of 

 one story at the angle of the 

 garden is an example of a favourite device in Tudor gardens. 

 They were set at the angles of garden walls. Some were 

 circular, of which examples may be seen from the South-Western 

 Railway at Old Basing. They are, indeed, the only remnants 

 left of the gardens of Old Basing House. Others were octa- 

 gonal, though both brick and stone were used in constructing 



Copyright. 



A CORNER TURRET. 



them ; the roofs were nearly 

 always of Durham slate or 

 Gloucester stone flakes. But 

 at Lypiatt the walls of yew 

 hedge and laurel take the place 

 of walls of brick or stone. 

 The yew hedge connecting the 

 tourelle and the turrets has a 

 better effect than any line of 

 masonry could give. On the 

 opposite wing the line of gardens 

 is prolonged parallel with the 

 crest of the hill by the great 

 terrace. Above it the land runs 

 back on a terre-plein level with 

 the top, and is planted with 

 ancient cedars, oaks, and 

 beeches. The design is really 

 more of an escarp than a 

 terrace. The idea of fortifi- 

 cation given by the tourelles in 

 the garden court is carried out 

 here also. The base of the 

 terrace is marked by a scarp 

 wall and tourelles flanking the 

 line of the lower path. On 

 the west side of the house 

 is a flower garden sheltered 

 by a yew hedge loft, high, a 

 necessary and perfect protection 

 from rough winds on this high 

 summit of the Cotswolds. The 

 same yew hedge shelters a 

 pretty lawn, set with raised 

 flower-beds, on the south side. 

 The Monk's Walk, overhung 

 vith evergreen oak, is one of the sights of Lypiatt, and is always, 

 though probably incorrectly, associated with its ecclesiastical 

 owners. Modern gardening, with its uninterrupted sequence 

 of colour, is particularly well suited to the precincts of Lypiatt, 

 where the formal garden finds no natural starting point, save 

 in the command given for the terracing. 



' Country Lijt." 



THE ROSE GARDEN. 



"Country T.ife." 



