Gardens for Small Country Houses. 



CHAPTER XV. METHODS OF PAVING. 



Rectangular Jointing Random Jointing Local Methods Pitched Paving Paving 



of Shingle of Brick and Tile. 



IN some portions of the garden, and especially near the house, some kind of paving 

 is sure to be wanted. Where a suitable local stone exists, it is, of course, the best 

 thing that can be used, although the style of the house may be a determining 

 influence in the choice of the material. Thus, a house of eighteenth century character 

 or a garden of formal design seems to demand a pavement of squared flags of York 

 or Portland stone (Fig. 243), while a house of the cottage class may be content with 

 random-jointed stone, or even with a few rough-edged flat slabs laid like stepping- 

 stones through grass and flowers, to give a dry footway to a modest entrance (Fig. 242). 

 Stones of the Yorkshire class, and also those related to slate, present smooth surfaces 

 by natural cleavage, and are 

 the most suitable for using 

 as rectangular flags- -there is 

 something distasteful about 

 laying them with " random " 

 joints. It is sometimes done, 

 but always has a displeasing 

 appearance, whereas such 

 treatment is unobjectionable 

 in the rougher-surfaced sand- 

 stones. 



Some of the most inter- 

 esting methods of paving are 

 those that are peculiar to a 

 district that grow directly 

 out of the employment of 

 some local product that has 

 stimulated inventive use 

 from past ages. There are 

 a few square miles in West 

 Surrey where the hard sand- 

 stone called Bargate stone is 

 quarried. A quite different 

 kind of stone, largely com- 

 posed of iron, also occurs 

 in small pieces close to the 

 ground-level. Many of these, 

 weather- washed for ages, are 

 of a form that presents one 

 or two sides or ends with a 

 flat surface. A typical stone 

 would be three to four inches 





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to 



-1 



FIG. 240. A SUMMER-HOUSE PAVING OF IRONSTONE AND 

 BARGATE STONE. 



