Book I. 



GARDENS OF SURREY. 



1065 



fine sheets of water, and numerous cedars, supposed to have 

 been planted by Kent, who laid out the grounds shortly after 

 1740. There are extensive forcing-houses and plant-stoves. 



Hendon Place, near Hendon ; J. Carbonel, Esq. A hand- 

 some stately mansion, and grounds rendered attractive by 

 various picturesque undulations, watered by the river Brent. 

 Among the trees are some fine cedars, and one of remarkably 

 large growth. 



Kempton Park, near Sudbury ; Mrs. Fish. Great improve, 

 ments were made here a few years ago by the late Mr. Fish, 

 both in building, excavating for pieces of water, and in plant- 

 ing. At his death, however, the hot-houses and other articles 

 were sold bv public auction, and what remains is neglected. 



Marble Hill, near Twickenham ; C. A. Fulk, Esq. The 

 grounds were laid out by Pope, at the time the house was the 

 property of the Countess* of Suffolk. They contain much vener- 

 able wood, and a dilapidated grotto. 



Marble Hill Cottage, near Twickenham; T. Brent, Esq. 

 An embellished dwelling ; fitted up with great delicacy of 



taste by the late Lady Diana Beauclerk, and standing on a spot 

 of peculiar beauty, close to the Thames. 



Rosslyn House, Hampstead; General Sir M. Disney. A 

 good house, commanding extensive views of London and 

 burrey, over the Regent's Park ; the extent of the grounds con- 

 siderable for the situation. 



South Lodge, near Enfield Chase; N. Gundry, Esq. 

 Celebrated as having been the residence of the great Earl 

 of Chatham, who expended a considerable sum in laying 

 out the grounds; which, according to G. Mason, he did 

 much in the manner recommended by U. Price. The place is 

 now much neglected. The Temple of Pan, which stands in 

 the pleasure-grounds, is described byWheatley, in Observations. 

 It was afterwards the residence of Mr. Sharp, (the friend of 

 Collinson,) in 1764, who had a good collection ; and whose gar- 

 dener, Watts, (who worked under Miller, and is now an old 



as well as non-resinous. 

 X Southgate Grove, , near Soathgate; W. Gray, Esq. A 

 beautiful Ionic building, by Nash, to which an elegant con- 

 servatory is attached. The lawn declines from the house, 

 and then rises in an opposite bank, finely clothed with oaks : 

 the walks were laid out by H. Kepton. On the whole, this is 

 one of the most romantic and beautiful villas in Middlesex : it 



maj kable as having been the residence of the late eminent 

 President of the Royal Society, and patron of all natural science. 

 There is an excellent kitchen-garden ; and pines and mush- 

 rooms grown to great perfection by J. Oldacre. 



X Strawberry Hill, near Twickenham; Countess ofWal- 

 degrave. The house, a composition of the late Lord Orford's in 

 the Gothic style, built from time to time, and great part being 

 wood covered with plaster, it is going fast to decay : the grounds 

 are of very limited extent, and much less interesting than has 

 generally been imagined ; without the Thames they would be 



Twickenham Villas. These are numerous; that of Ba- 

 roness Howe is in the garden of Pope, and not far from the 

 site of his house. Pope purchased his villa, and removed there 

 in the year 1715, and continued improving it till his death, 

 in 1744. It was then sold to Sir William Stanhope, who 

 added wings, and enlarged the gardens. It then passed to 

 Wellbore Ellis, Esq. afterwards Lord Mendip, who married his 

 daughter ; next to Viscount Clifden, who sold it to Sir John 

 Briscoe, Bart and after his death it was purchased by Baroness 

 Howe, in 1807, who levelled the villa to the ground, and built 

 a new house about 100 yards from its site. The weeping- 

 willow, planted by Pope, perished in 1801. 



The villa of Gebrge Pococke, Esq. was the residence of Secre- 

 tary Johnstone from 1720. Mackey, in 1724, says he had the 

 best collection of any gentleman in England; "that he had 

 slopes for his vines, from which he made some hogsheads of 

 wine a year, and that Dr. Bradley reckoned him among the 

 first gardeners in the kingdom. 



Twickenham Park v as once the property of Lord Chan- 

 cellor Bacon, who esteemed it " a fit residence for persons to 

 study in." About 1740, this seat was the property of M. 

 Vernon, a merchant of Aleppo, who brought the weeping- 

 willow from the Euphrates, and planted it here. Peter Col- 

 linson says he saw it growing there in 1743, and that from 

 that tree originated all the weeping-willows in Britain. 

 {Lambert, in Linn. Trans.) Lysons observes, that Twickenham 

 has so long been the favorite retreat of the scholar, the poet, and 

 the statesman, that almost every house has its tale to be told. 



Tyford H ouse, near Wilsden ; Willan, Esq. A com- 

 modious Gothic residence, the effect of which is much admi- 

 red, by Atkinson ; the attached lands agreeably ornamented 

 with wood ; a small portion dedicated exclusively to pleasure- 

 grounds, and the rest managed as a hav-farm. 



Whitton Place, near Hounslow ; "lately the residence of 

 Sir William Chambers, was built bv Archibald, Duke of 

 Argyle, celebrated in the earlv part 6f the last century for 

 the introduction of exotic trees. Manv of the plants and 

 trees were moved to Kew in 1762 ; but a number of the cedars 

 sown here in 1725 still remain, and constitute the finest 

 assemblage of that tree in the country. The house, after the 

 death of the duke, became, by purchase, the residence of Sir 

 William Chambers, the architect. The grounds were divided, 

 and an elegant villa built on a part of them bv the father of 

 the present proprietor, George Gosling, Esq. A lofty tower; 

 the old green-house, now formed into a dwellinghouse ; and 

 the fine pieces of water and venerable pines, firs, and cedars, 

 still remain. 



Wembly Manor House, near Kilburn ; J. Grav, Esq. A 

 neat house, most agreeably situated in a grass-farm, orna- 

 mented from the designs of'H. Repton. 



Wyke House, near Brentford ; E. Ellis, Esq. Remarkable 

 for its good and well- managed kitchen-garden. 



and mansion- 



7521. Villas with demesne-lands 

 residences are not very numerous. 



Bentley Priory, near Stanmore; Marquis of Abercom. 

 An irregular brick edifice, of no architectural pretensions, but 



rJ?i a ;!Iii RI !: EY - /" SUrfac ? of 519 > 04 ? acres > generally beautifully varied in surface: the soil in a great 

 part gravelly or sandy ; poor in many places ; but from the salubrity of the air this county is [particularly 



occupying an derated site, and commanding extensive 

 prospects. 



Boston House, near Brentford; Colonel Clitherow. The 

 grounds umbrageous and ornamental, and noted for large cedars. 



X Caemvood, Hampstead ; Earl of Mansfield. An elegant 

 building, by Adams and George Saunders, and some additions 

 by Atkinson ; with fifty acres of pleasure-grounds, beautifully 

 disposed, containing some fine old wood, and undergrowths 

 of rhododendrons, and other American plants; there is a fine 

 terrace-walk, flower-garden, and excellent kitchen-garden, 

 home-farm, and dairy. 



X Chisnnck House, near Chiswick ; Duke of Devonshire. 

 An elegant Corinthian edifice, by the Earl of Burlington and 

 Kent, with two wings by Wyatt. The gardens were origi- 

 nally laid out by Lord Burlington, in the Italian style, with a 

 redundancy of sculptural embellishments, but have since been 

 modernised. They now contain a large flower-garden, a range 

 of hot-houses 500'feet in length, and a group of aviaries for 

 hardy birds : there is also a large kitchen-garden. 



Stanmore House, near Stanmore ; G. H . Drummond, Esq. 

 The house and grounds originally by Holland ; the grounds, 

 since improved by Repton, contain some fine views. 



X Mm Hilt, near Brentford; Duke of Marlborough. The 

 grounds disposed with gTeat taste ; but, with the house, of 

 limited extent. 



Trent Place, near Enfield; J. Cumming, Esq. A spaci- 

 ous brick structure on a fine swell in the midst of a park of 

 500 acres, more varied by irregulariUes, and of a bolder cha- 

 racter than is usual in Middlesex. 



Wrotham Place, near South Mims; G. Byng, Esq. A 

 spacious architectural pile, by Ware, on a commanding emi- 

 nence : the park is rather deficient in wood. 



75522. The first-rate residences of this county are 

 chiefly in London, but there are a few in the 

 country. 



X Holland House, near Kensington; Lord Holland. A 

 magnificent Elizabethean mansion, with a demesne of 300 

 acres, of which 63 are in pleasure-ground, and remarkable for 

 a flower-garden, beautifully laid out and managed. Here the 

 ruins of a stable become a fine object ; for the stalls having 

 been arched with masonry, remain and resemble a ruined 

 aqueduct. In this garden the dahlia was first successfully 

 cultivated in England. 



X Mm House, near Brentford ; Duke of Northumberland. 

 Once the property of the Duke of Somerset^ whose physician, 

 Dr. Turner, author of The Herbal, mentions a botanic gar- 

 den formed here. The house, a magnificent quadrangular 

 structure of stone, improved by Adams, and more recently by 

 Hardwick. The grounds are flat ; but abound in fine trees, 

 and the pleasure-grounds with many venerable cedars, and 

 other exotics. They were laid out by Brown ; lately under 

 the care of Hoy, F.L.S., and now of Stroud, author of an In- 

 troduction to Botany. 



7523. Royal Gardens. Of these there are four, 

 Carlton Gardens, Hampton Court, Kensington, and 

 Pimlico. 



Carlton Palace Gardens -were originally laid out by Kent, for 

 Lord Carlton ; and afterwards by Brown and Holland, for the 

 present king when Prince of Wales. They are secluded, but 

 not much enriched with flowers and shrubs," or in high keeping. 

 Attached to the palace is a conservatory ; a copy of the skeleton 

 of Henry Vll.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey ; but though 

 handsome as a piece of architecture, it is of little use as a plant- 

 habitation, being in fact intended more as a lounge and re- 

 source for an extra room on great occasions. 



X Hampton Court, the most capacious, and perhaps the 

 most magnificent, of all the roval palaces : principally built by 

 Cardinal Wolsey ; but enlarged by Henrv VIII., and in part 

 rebuilt by William and Mary. It consisted originally of five, 

 but now only of three quadrangles, and several minor courts ; 

 the style impure Grecian. Its situation is upon the north bank 

 of the Thames : it is embraced bv forty-four acres laid out in 

 the Dutch taste in the time of Wil'liam'and Mary, by London 

 and A\ be. The ground belonging to it as park, is of consider- 

 able extent, and is distinguished bv the different divisions of 

 Bushy Old Park, New Park, Middle or Hare Warren, and 

 Hampton Court. The gardens contain a labvrinth, one of 

 the most perfect, as to preservation, in England : the privy 

 garden is ornamented with terrace-walks, and near it is a 

 grapery, seventy feet by fourteen, occupied by a Hamburgh vine 

 planted in 1769, which has been known to produce in one 

 year 22001bs. of grapes. Its roots are said to have found their 

 way to a drain leading from the offices to the river, from which 

 it is supposed to derive moisture and nourishment. There is 

 a kitchen-garden of twelve acres, with nine pits, and various 

 hot-houses heated by steam, and managed by Padlev, the roval 

 gardener. * 



X Kensington. The palace a large brick building, badly 

 placed, in relation to the surrounding gardens, being lower 

 than the greater part of their surface. The gardens are three 

 miles and a half in circumference, and contain grass and 

 gravel, open and shaded walks, with a circular basin and river. 

 The finest point of view is on entering from the Uxbridge 

 road. The kitchen-garden was formerly famous as exhibiting 

 the effects of the late W. Forsvth's mode of managing fruit- 

 trees; at present the forcing-department is remarkable for 

 its hot-houses, in which the pine is better cultivated than 

 in any of the royal gardens. The original extent of the 

 gardens was only thirty-six acres. Queen Anne added thirty 

 acres, which were laid out by her gardener, Wise. Queen 

 Caroline added nearly 300 acres from Hyde Park, which were 

 laid out by Bridgeman. Being royal gardens, several poems 

 have been published to celebrate them ; one by Tickell, in 

 his works ; another in 1722; and a third in the pastoral kalen- 

 darin 1763. 



Pimlico, or Buckingham-House Gardens were enlarged and 

 laid out soon after the middle of the last century, by Robinson 

 brother to Ramsay Robinson, the king's farmer. They oc- 

 cupy a triangular spot of a few acres, and have scarcely' any 

 other beauties to recommend them than those of seclusion 

 and verdure. 



