THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



MAY, 1838. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Some Account of the Gardens of Herefordshire. By J. B, W. 



I LATELY had an opportunity of seeing the garden of Tho- 

 mas An(h-evv Knight, Esq., at Downton Castle in Herefordshire, 

 with several other gardens of note in that county and in Shrop- 

 shire, and the followitrg account of those places is drawn up from 

 the notes I made at the time of my visit, September 25. 1837. 



Downton Castle is situated on the northern bank of the river 

 Teame, about six miles west of Ludlow. It stands on an ele- 

 vated brow, a few hundred yards from the banks of the river, 

 which, for a distance of several miles hereabouts, traverses a 

 country of great natural beauty. Looking down the river, the 

 scenery is eminently picturesque, and harmonises well with the 

 castellated style of the mansion. Except a narrow lawn, planted 

 with a ^ew shrubs, there are no ornamental grounds attached 

 to the castle, Mr. Knight being of opinion that such decorative 

 accompaniments would be out of character with its simple gran- 

 deur : even a few small flower-beds, in front of a curvilinear- 

 roofed green-house, which stands against some of the offices in a 

 nook of the lawn, are shut out from the lawn by a screen of ever- 

 greens. At one end of the lawn there is another glass structure, 

 in which grapes ai-e grown for a late supply : it is divided into 

 two houses, both of them being planted with one of the Chas- 

 selas varieties of grape, the fruit of which, although plentiful, 

 was by no means fine. The grape has not hitherto engaged 

 much of Mr. Knight's attention, which has been principally di- 

 rected to fruits of greater general utility ; having, however, 

 brought many of his experiments to a successful issue, he may, 

 perhaps, in future, devote a portion of his leisure to the cultivation 

 of the grape, in which case, those houses might easily be made 

 capable of producing fruit of the finest quality. 



The kitchen-garden is the principal seat of Mr. Knight's 

 horticultural experiments. It stands a few hundred yards north- 

 ward of the house, on the side of a bank which falls gently to 

 the south. Its area is not large, and it is, besides, greatly en- 



VoL. XIV. — No. 98. p 



