i8 4 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



by an arch, surmounted by a simple design of the 

 strapwork school, leading up to the principal facade 

 of the house, which a double storeyed and pilastered 

 porch centres ; and in both cases the upper pilasters 

 have the bad English, habit of supporting nothing. 

 Their structural purpose has been forgotten in the 

 transit of the feature from Italy, and the English 

 country designer is satisfied to use them as an orna- 

 ment merely. Stibbington Hall stands in a pleasant 

 village situated in a parish upon the Great North 

 Road from London to York, and lying in the extreme 

 north-west of Huntingdonshire. It is some twenty- 

 one miles north of Huntingdon town, and in that 

 nodule which the county, as seen on the map, 

 projects into Northamptonshire, partly enclosed by a 

 great horse-shoe curve of the Nene flowing onward 

 from Oundle to Peterborough. Stibbington is an 

 ancient place which has witnessed the passage of 

 many great people from the earliest days to the present 

 time, and, within a mile of it, is Wansford Bridge, 

 which crosses the Nene on thirteen arches, one half 

 in Stibbington and the other half in Wansford 

 parish. Ot the Hall itself there is little to say. 

 Such history as it has is written on its face. It was 

 built in the year 1625 of that fine stone of pleasant 

 hue which makes the buildings in this part of England 

 so attractive, and the large square ashlar ot its 

 composition is well wrought and skilfully laid. 

 Unlike, in one respect, to the solid block of Keevil 

 essentially a Wiltshire pattern Stibbington spreads 

 itself into the E shape so much affected in its age. 

 The arrangement of the porch, of the gabled wings 

 with ample light-admitting bays, and of the intervening 

 dormers is most gracious, and presents a sky-line of 



finialed gables well balanced, yet various in size and 

 pattern. The character and design of the porch and 

 gateway arches, and of the gable surmounting the 

 one, and the achievement topping the other, are 

 closely related, and the one leads up to the other in 

 excellent taste. Over the entrance, with the date, is 

 an inscription giving glory to the Triune God, and 

 in the gable above is a shield bearing the arms of its 

 seventeenth century possessor. There is something 

 very delightful in the picture presented by the house, 

 with its triple approaches ; and the old garden wall, 

 about which green things cluster, has a picturesque- 

 ness of its own. 



This Huntingdonshire dwelling-place has been 

 fortunate, unlike many such houses, in preserving its 

 features unchanged. Within and without it is well 

 cared for, with veneration for its old character and 

 understanding of its antique features. It is, indeed, 

 in the hands of those who value and appreciate it, 

 and it stands in its pleasant surroundings, with its 

 woods and meadows, presenting a very attractive 

 example of the residences of our sires. The foliage 

 is extremely beautiful, and the neighbouring landscape 

 attractive. 



Captain Vipan is well known as a naturalist, and 

 his aquarium and natural history collections add a 

 very great deal to the interest of his residence. The 

 aquarium, indeed, contains, we believe, the finest 

 collection of fresh-water fish in Europe. W r e may 

 remark also that the gardens are well kept, as may 

 be seen by the presence of fine ornamental trees, 

 and of a particularly notable well-trimmed yew 

 hedge, tall and dense, as such a garden feature 

 should be. 



