SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



HAMPTON 



the supervision of one Adrian May, 40 but John 

 Rose, a protege of the Earl of Essex, who studied 

 at Versailles under Le N6tre, was the most famous 

 of the gardeners of Charles II ; 41 he planted some of 

 the dwarf yew trees which were afterwards cele- 

 brated as among the finest in England, and it was 

 probably under his auspices that the great sweeping 

 semicircle of lime trees was planted before the east 

 front, though Switzer declares that Charles himself 

 made the design," and it has been suggested that 

 he meant it to be in the shape of a crown. It is 

 now considerably altered, and the lime trees in 

 front of the palace only form the segment of a 

 circle, not a complete semicircle. Charles's design 

 was technically described as a ' patte d'oie ' or 

 goose-foot, from the three great double avenues 

 which radiate from opposite the centre of the east 

 front of the palace, and are linked together by the 

 semicircular avenue. 43 The ' Long Water ' between 

 the centre avenues extends nearly three-quarters of 

 a mile (3,500 yds.) across the Home Park towards 

 the river. It is 150 ft. wide, and is fed by the 

 Longford River. It is so essentially part of the 

 design of the garden that it is necessary to mention 

 it here, though it is actually in the park, 44 but at 

 that time it apparently almost reached the front of 

 the palace, 45 and the ' rich and noble fountain,' men- 

 tioned by Evelyn, 46 with sirens, statues, &c., cast 

 in copper by Fanelli, must have been in another 

 part of the garden. It was afterwards removed by 

 William III. 47 Possibly it was in the South Garden, 

 as Evelyn at the same time described what is now 

 known as ' Queen Mary's Bower,' and said that it 

 was 'for the perplexed twining of the trees, very 

 observable.' 48 He also spoke of ' a parterre, which 

 they called Paradise, in which is a pretty banquet- 

 ing-house set over a cave or cellar,' and suggested 

 that ' all these gardens might be exceedingly im- 

 proved, as being too narrow for such a palace,' 49 a 

 criticism which might very well apply to that part 

 of the grounds. 



In 1 669 the gardens were described by Cosmo 

 III, Duke of Tuscany, as 'divided into very large, 

 level and well-kept walks, which, separating the 

 ground into different compartments, form artificial 

 pastures of grass, being themselves formed by 

 espalier trees, partly such as bear fruit, and partly 

 ornamental ones, but all adding to the beauty of 

 the appearance. This beauty is further augmented 

 by fountains made of slate after the Italian style, 50 

 and distributed in different parts of the garden, 

 whose jets d'eaux throw up the water in various 

 playful and fanciful ways. There are also in the 

 gardens some snug places of retirement in certain 

 towers . . .' 5I The yew trees before mentioned 

 were clipped into conical shapes and stood in 



geometrically-shaped beds. 51 Flowers are not 

 mentioned among the ornaments of the garden of 

 Charles II. 



William and Mary devised the plan of a ' great 

 fountain garden ' M in the semicircular space in- 

 closed by the lime trees. George London, a pupil 

 of Rose, was appointed royal gardener, with a 

 salary of 200 a year, and was also made ' page of 

 the backstairs ' to Queen Mary, 54 but the chief 

 alterations were apparently carried out after her 

 death in 1699-1700. There is an item in the 

 Treasury Papers for 1699 for ' 1, 060 ft. superficiall 

 of circular Derbyshire marble in the coaping of the 

 Great Fountain ' ; 55 there are also innumerable 

 items for levelling ' the great fountain garden,' for 

 laying turf and gravel, for planting borders with 

 ' fine shaped evergreens,' and for ' planting all 

 borders with box.' 56 A strange item is for the 

 removal of ' 403 large Lyme trees ye dimensions 

 of their girt from 4 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft.,' which cost 

 over ,200. Defoe says that they had been planted 

 over thirty years, and that they bore their trans- 

 plantation very well." This shifting of the trees 

 was necessitated by the extension of the gardens 

 towards the river on the south, when the old 

 water-gate and the building that stood there were 

 removed because they blocked the view from the 

 palace windows. To balance this the g.irden was 

 also extended to the north, and the trees, instead 

 of surrounding completely the ' Great Semicircular 

 Parterre,' turn off on each side in a straight line 

 50 yards from the front of the palace. Two low 

 return walls were built parallel with the line of the 

 palace for about 2 1 o ft. on each side, to complete 

 the inclosure of the gardens and face the straight- 

 ened-out avenues. The ' Bird's-eye view of 

 Hampton Court as finished by William III," 

 from Kip's Nouveau Theatre de la Grande Bre- 

 tagnej* shows that his design is practically un- 

 altered now, though the growth of trees and 

 superficial re-arrangements of grass and flower 

 beds have given it a slightly different aspect. The 

 small canal opposite the northern wall which 

 divides the East Garden from the Wilderness had 

 been made in the time of Charles II, to bring 

 water from the Longford River to the Great 

 Canal, and a corresponding small canal was con- 

 structed in 1669 on the south side. The stately 

 ' broad walk ' in front of the eastern facade of 

 the palace, which extends from the Flower Pot 

 Gate on the Kingston Road to the water gallery 

 by the river, is 2,264 ft. in length (nearly half a 

 mile) and 39 ft. in width. The levelling and 

 making of this, and turfing the grass walks on 

 each side of it, cost ^6oo. 59 The flower-beds 

 which appear in the prints of this period are filled 



40 Cal. S.P. Dom. Chat. II, 1661-2, 

 p. 175. 



n Walpole, Observations on Modern 

 Gardening j Law, op. cit. ii, 205 ; Blom- 

 field, The Formal Carder, in Engl. 59. 



42 Ithnographia Rustica, i, 75. 



48 The space inclosed was gj acres ; 

 Law, op. cit. iii, 20. 



44 Law, op. cit. ii, 218. 



45 See Dancker's picture ; ibid. 217. 



46 Diary, June, 1662. 



4 " The Great Fountain Garden ' 

 was laid out by William and Mary in 

 the semicircular piece of ground inclosed 

 by the lime trees. 



48 Evelyn called them hornbeam. 

 They are really wych elm. 



"Ibid. June 1662. 



M It is said that there were twelve 

 smaller fountains. 



" Magalotti, Travels of Cosmo III in 

 Engl. 208. 



383 



62 Amherst, Hist, of Gardening in 

 Engl. 205. 



53 Defoe, Tour through Gt. Britain 

 (ed. 1738),!, 246. 



64 Switzer, Ichnografhia Ruttica, i, 79. 



65 Cal. Treat. Bkt. Ixvii, no. 2. 

 u Ibid. 



" Defoe, loc. cit. 



58 Reproduced in Law, op. cit. ill, 

 109. 



59 Cal. Treat. Bkt. livii, no t. 



