GATES AND FENCES FOR GARDEN AND PARK. 



such as, for instance, screening a public road, giving protection from winds, dividing 

 two estates or portions of the estate or gardens, or for training fruit trees against, and 

 then that character of fence should be adopted which best fulfils the requirements 

 of the case and the prevailing architectural conditions. 



FFG. 51. 



FIG. 52. 



As may be seen from many of the plans illustrating this work, the grounds to 

 a mansion may often be almost entirely fenced in by the terrace and fruit walls. When 

 the house stands in its own park, this is the most economical arrangement, as the balus- 

 trade necessary to grace the terrace serves, the double purpose of ornament and use. 

 Where the lawn extends beyond the terraces, however, some form of enclosing fence 

 becomes necessary, and while it need not by any means be a solid wall, it should be 

 substantial enough in appearance to give the impression of adequate protection against 

 the inroads of cattle and suggest seclusion from the outer world. A more or less open 

 arrangement, through which the grass of the Park can be seen and which will not cut 

 off the view, will usually be preferable, and where the fence is straight and the ground 

 fairly level, will not be difficult to obtain. A series of pillars in local stone or brick 

 placed at regular intervals with the spaces between filled in with wrought-iron or open 

 wood panels, such as those shewn in Nos. 51, 52 and 53, or, in more important cases, 

 a dwarf wall with well-designed wrought-iron railings above, as in No. 50 would prove 

 suitable. Here again local conditions should suggest original treatments. Thus in No. 49, 

 the arrangement of slates and wires was suggested by the contrivances erected on 

 the tops of walls in the Lake District, to prevent the hardy mountain sheep from 

 escaping. In other places peeled larch might be used in connection with stone. Both 

 forms produce quite a rustic fence only suitable for use at some distance from the 

 residence, unless it were small or designed on very simple lines, while, if 

 wrought wood panels were used, as in No. 54 the effect would be more 

 finished. 



Where the ground is undulating and the fence follows the contours in 

 sweeping lines, a strong and simple pattern of continuous bar railing is 



often suitable, but what is known as 

 unclimbable fencing, especially the pattern 

 adopted by various railway companies, 

 should not be used unless a shrubbery is 

 planted in front of it or a hedge trimmed 

 square and a few inches higher than the 

 railing, when it forms a neat and service- 

 able arrangement, though perhaps a trifle 

 hackneyed. Next to barbed wire or broken 



glass, however, nothing is more out of harmony with garden scenery than the spiked heads 

 of unclimbable fencing unscreened by such a hedge as that just described. Strained wire 

 too, as usually used, is quite unsuitable, though a nice fence may be made on the lines 

 of the fruit espalier shown in No. 307 with oak posts and top rail. This form of fence, 

 if arranged in straight lengths, is simple and effective, and there is much scope for 



*r~ 



FIG. 53- 



Fencing 

 exhibiting 

 local 



character- 

 istics. 



Unclimb- 

 able 

 fencing. 



Strained 



wire 



fencing. 



57 



