BOOK I. 



GARDENS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



1073 



r\eax Henham; Lord Rous. An elegant modern 

 mansion, and an extensive park and pleasure-grounds, kept in 

 excellent order. 



Helminffham flail, near Helmingham; Earl Dysart. A 

 house built in the time of Henry VIII., surrounded by a moat, 

 which, as well as the basin in the park, is frequented by great 

 numbers of wild fowl. The park comprehends 400 acres, and 

 contains some of the finest old oaks in this part of the king- 

 dom. The church is close to the park, and near it a pic- 

 turesque cottage, inhabited by a person, whose business it is 

 to take care of the vaults and splendid monuments of the 

 Tolemache family, who possessed the estate in the reign of 

 Edward I. 



Heveringhttm Hall, near Huntingfield ; Lord Huntingfield. 

 One of the finest seats in the county ; the house a modern 

 erection from the designs of Sir Robert Taylor, and finished 

 by Wyatt ; the front 200 feet long, and adorned with 

 Corinthian columns. It is situated on an eminence in an ex- 

 tensive park, which abounds in fine plantations, and is diver- 

 sified by a noble piece of water near the house. The whole of 

 this extensive property has l>een improved by plantations, which, 

 in a few years, will give a new character to this part of the 



C Ickmj'rth Park, -near Bury; Earl Bristol. An unfinished 

 mansion, on a grand scale, from a design sent from Italy ; the 



park eleven ; 



i grant! s 



il'r> ill i'.i 



rcumference, i 



naming 1800 acre-,. 



Livermen, near Fakenham; N. L. Acton. An elegant 

 seat of white brick ; the grounds flat, liut adorned with a fine 

 piece of water, and well wooded. 



Krdxrnve Hall, near Bottesdale ; Admiral Wilson. A 

 spacious mansion of Woolpit brick, with Ionic columns; the 

 park charmingly wooded, and adorned with a fine piece of 

 water in front of the house. 



Rendlesham House, near Rendlesham; Lord Rendlesham. 

 A princely residence : the mansion of great extent, modern, 

 but in the Klizabethean style. The park and pleasure-grounds 

 extensive, and highly kept. The former abounds in old wood, 

 though rather deficient in undulations of surface. 



Rushbrook Hall, near Pakenham; R. Rushbrook, Esq. A 

 noble spacious mansion with wings, forming three sides of a 

 square; the park very extensive and well wooded, both with 

 timber-trees, and undergrowths, fur/.e, hollies, &c. for game. 



Siidlxirne Hall, near Orford; Marquis of Hertford. A 

 sporting residence of the marquis ; the hall a plain quadran- 

 gular building, covered with composition ; the park abounding 

 in copse and other covers for game, with cultivated patches 

 sown with corn and buck-wheat tor the same purpose. 



WoolvertmiHo.il, near Woolverton; C. Burners, Esq. A 

 house of the cream-colored brick of Wooli>it, with an Ionic 

 portico, placed on the banks of the Orwell ; the stables de- 

 tached and rendered ornamental. The park is neatly laid out, 

 and contains a handsome monumental obelisk of freestone. 



745 



7553. NORFOLK. A surface of 1,240,000 acres ; every where flat, fenny towards Lincolnshire; sandy 

 in most places ; and the rest a strong clay. It contains some good residences. At Norwich florists' 

 flowers were first introduced into England by the refugee manufacturers from Flanders, about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century. The principal nurseryman in the county is Mackay, of Norwich. The 

 London seedsmen receive mustard-seed from Wisbeach, and some turnip and clover-seed from other 

 quarters. 



7554. Villas and demesne- 

 residences. 



Blic/clitig Hall, near Aylsham ; 

 Right Hon. W. A . Harbord. An 

 interesting ancient mansion, sur- 

 rounded with a moat, completed 

 in 1628 : the gardens, at that 

 time, containing an elegant wil- 

 derness and lake.' The park con- 

 sists of 1000 acres, abounds in 

 old trees, and the lake extends, 

 in a crescent shape, for a mile, 

 and its greatest breadth is 400 

 yards. 



Felhrigg, near Cromer ; 



Windham, Esq. A house partly 

 of the time of Henry VIII. but 

 subsequently enlarged; the park ^Oie 

 abounding in old woods, and =3i 

 greatly improved by the late pos- 

 sessor, whose taste in such matters 

 is evinced in his letter to Repton. 



Gillitigham Hall, near Yar- 

 mouth ; Lord Beresford. A neat 

 venerable Gothic house (Ji^.715.), 

 :es, a hand- 



ivied 



with some fine old trees 

 some piece of water, and 

 ruins of an old church. 



X Guntun Hall, near Gromer; Lord Suffield. The park 

 remarkable for its very extensive plantations. 



, near Cromer; R. L. Doughty, Esq. An ex 

 all b 



cellent modern house, situated 



but very pleasant 



park, well wooded, and laid out with great taste. 



HUlington Park,-nest Sechey; Sir M. B. Folkes. A resi- 

 dence lately much improved, and the gardens, hot- walls, and 

 hot-houses, rendered very complete. 



Kimberley Hall, near Downham ; Lord Woodhonse. A 

 convenient house, in an extensive and beautiful park, richly 

 ornamented with wood and water. 



X Rainkam, near Wells; Marquis Townshend. A irom- 

 fortahle house, built in 1630, by Inigo Jones; the grounds 

 extensive, naturally suited for improvement, but not much 



Waltingham Haute, near Watsingham ; H. L. Warner, Esq. 



746 



A commodious house, and grounds which have been under 

 a course of improvement for several years, and are now 

 highly beautiful. A rivulet is swelled to a lake, and a judicious 

 u;>e made of the ruins of a priory which formerly existed 

 here. 



Wottcrton Hall, near Aylsham; Ldy Waldegrave. An 

 elegant modern mansion, built by Kipley the architect, under 

 the direction of Horace Walpole, in 1730. The park is large 

 and well ornamented with wood and water. 



7555. The following are, first-rate residences : 

 X HMItam Hall,- near Wells ; T. W. Coke, Esq. One of 

 the best mansions in England, in point of comfort and ar- 

 rangement. The park extensive, flat, and sandy ; but varied 

 by trees and farming processes continually going on, and con- 

 taining a piece of water for which Repton contrived a boat 

 (fig. 746.) so constructed, that by means of 

 a cylinder and rope (H), and machinery 

 enclosed in a box (C), and connected with 

 the rope (!))> the boat may be moved from 

 one side of the water to the other, according 

 as the handle (E) is turned to the right 

 or left. 



X HmgMon Hall,- -near Wells; Earl 

 Cholmondeley. A noble freestone struc- 

 ture, with two fronts, wings with cupo- 



._, Jie best - ' 



proportions and 



The park is extensive, but dull and flat : 



it contains some fine old beech-trees. 



7556 OXFORDSHIRE. A surface of 450,000 acres, considerably varied by ridges, approaching, in 

 some places, to the character of hills ; the climate cold, and the soil in most parts thin, on a stony sub-soil. 

 It contains the magnificent residence of Blenheim ; some others of great extent, and a botanic garden at 

 Oxford. There are no commercial gardens in the county worth mentioning. 



7557. Public gardens. 



Public Promenades and College Gardens. The promenades of 

 Magdalen College are umbrageous and varied, considering that 

 they are merely walks round meadows on raised mounds, 

 bordered by hedges and hedge-row trees. The public avenues 

 are magnificent, and as well adapted for display as the others 

 are for retired exercise or conversation. There are private 

 gardens to most of the colleges ; their form is generally square 

 or oblong, surrounded by a broad walk and intersected by 

 others; that of Christchurch is famous for its fig-trees, planted 

 in 1648; that of Trinity for its verdant sculptures; and that 

 of St. John's College, for being laid out by Brown, in the 

 modern style, in 1773. 



The Botanic Garden of Orford was founded by Henry Earl 

 of Danby, in 1632; it contains five acres, a green-house and 

 stove, and a gardeners' house. The first curatQr was Bobart 



3 



from Brunswick, in whose time, and in that of his son, who 

 succeeded him in 1679, it was inore worthy of notice than it 

 has been since. Its present curator is William Baxter, A. L. S. 

 and F. H. S. 



7558. Villas and demesne-residences. 



Bndffmoor, near Henley; J. Grote, Esq. Forty acres of 

 pleasure-ground and a house ; in the former a summer-house, 

 from which fine views are obtained through vistas formed by 

 shrubs, the holly and other dark greens being placed m the 



^',-near Henley; S. Gardiner, Esq. A flat 



place, rendered interesting by every thing that art could effect 



y Grove CWte;sre, near Stokenchurch ; R. Davis, Esq. Truly 

 an elegant cottage-dwelling; neat, commodious, simple, and 

 harmonised with the rural scenery around. 



