1074 



STATISTICS OF GARDENING. 



Part IV. 



X Middlelon Stoney, near Bicester; EarlJersey. An ex. 

 tensive unvaried residence; but greatly improved both as to 

 the house and grounds by the present possessor. 



Alongervdl, at Mongewell ; Bishop of Durham. The man- 

 ion unfavorably placed, but the attached grounds extensive, 

 and arranged with much taste. 



X Nnneham-Courienay, near Oxford; Earl Harcourt. A 

 Grecian house, in part by Brown ; the grounds laid out by this 

 artist, and the flower-garden, which has been much admired, 

 in part by him, and in part by Mason the poet. The park 

 contains 1500 acres, and a beautifully varied drive is conducted 

 through it. 



Sherboume Castle, near Wattlington ; Earl Macclesfield. 

 Surrounded by a broad and deep moat, and approached by 

 three drawbridges, the chief entrance guarded by a portcullis. 

 The park contains sixty acres, but is flat and uninteresting ; 

 the pleasure-grounds have been lately improved ; a flower- 

 garden laid out in a chaste taste ; an extensive conservatory of 

 stone and cast-iron erected : and also a pavilion for the recep- 

 tion of flowers in the more genial summer months. 



Thame Park, near Thame ; Miss Wykham. Two hundred 

 acres of very rich pasture-land, skirted with wood, but rather 

 flat, originally laid out by Brown, and the pleasure-grounds, 

 now improving, contain a good conservatory. 



X Wnrmsley, near Stoken Church; John Fane, Esq. The 

 house on a very elevated site, the grounds of little merit or 

 beauty, but the proprietor an excellent farmer and breeder. 



Wroxton, near Banbury ; Earl Guildford. A building in 

 the abbey style, of considerable antiquity ; and what renders 

 the place particularly interesting, the geometric style of garden- 

 ing is kept up in every improvement introduced in the pleasure- 

 grounds. 



7560. BERKSHIRE. A surface of 476,160 acres, finely varied by low hills and vales, the air healthy, 

 and the soil good, and well cultivated. It contains numerous villas and mansions. The neighborhood 

 of Reading is noted for the white-skinned, or Reading onion, the bulbs of which are grown in quantities 

 for the London market, and the seeds for the seedsmen. Cabbage-seeds are also grown in quantities 

 there, and asparagus grown both for the Bath and London markets : and there is a good nursery occupied 

 by Swallow. 



7559. The following are first-rate residences: 



X Blenheim, at Woodstock ; Duke of Marlborough. The 

 most -princely private residence in Britain, or in Europe, too 

 universally celebrated to require any eulogium. The palace 

 and bridge by Vanburgh ; the grounds by London and Wise, 

 and subsequently by Brown. The finest view is on entering 

 from the Woodstock gate ; but the scenery is everywhere grand 

 and magnificent. The pleasure-ground walks are extensive 

 and varied ; and there is a drive of eleven miles round the 

 park. Part of the latter is cultivated as a farm. The lake is 

 the largest piece of artificial water in England : the diameter 

 of the centre arch of the bridge is 101 feet. There is little of 

 culture either in the kitchen or flower-garden ; the latter 

 was an oval, with a basin of water in a centre; and radiating 

 walks, after the plan of that of Madame de Pompadour at 

 Versailles. Unhappily (as we think) it has lately been destroyed, 

 and an aviary erected on its site. 



X Ditchley, near Woodstock ; Lord Dillon. A good house, 

 by Gibbs ; the grounds very extensive, and intersected by an 

 avenue of five miles, in the centre of which the house is placed, 

 and at the opposite extremities are seen in a clear day, the 

 palace of Blenheim and Heythorpe House. The natural 

 copses on the estate are intersected by narrow alleys in 

 all directions, clipped on the sides to facilitate the shooting of 

 game. 



X Heythorpe, near Enstone; Earl of Shrewsbury. A 

 superb mansion in the Italian style, approached by a magnifi- 

 cent avenue, formed by square" platoons of elin-trees. The 

 grounds chiefly in the ancient taste, with curious artificial cas- 

 cades. There are also extensive hot-houses. 



7561. Villas and demesne-residences. 



Beaumont Lodge, near Windsor : Henry Griffiths, Esq. 

 The house is in the Gothic style by Mr. Elvvyn* rrchitect, of 

 Windsor: the park contains one hundred acres, sloping to the 

 Thames, and finely varied by wood. 



X Benham House, near Speen ; Earl Craven. The house 

 is in the Ionic style, with an elegant portico ; the grounds 

 agreeably varied and richly wooded, and contain a handsome 

 sheet of water, supplied by the river Kennet. 



Caversham, near Heading; C. Marsac, Esq., is in Oxford- 

 shire, though so near the capital of Berkshire. It is an old 

 place, celebrated in Observations on Modern Gardening, 

 for the beauty of the approach, which is between two hills, 

 with the scattered trees descending their steep sides, and ap- 

 proaching and retiring from the road in beautiful variation. 

 The house is plain, elegant, large, situated on an eminence, 

 and forming, a conspicuous object from the surrounding 

 country. The park is not extensive, but is much varied, so as 

 to appear more considerable than the amount of its contents 

 would indicate. The garden-scenery is agreeable ; but the 

 horticulture not remarkable. The whole was laid out by Lord 

 Cadogan, with the assistance of Brown. 



Chelsey Farm, near AVallingford ; in 1800 the property of 

 Lord Kensington, and formerly reputed to be the largest and 

 most compact farm in England. Kent 1000/. per annum. 

 Before the desolation of monasteries, it belonged to the Abbot 

 of Reading, who had a seat here. The great barn in which his 

 tithes were deposited is yet standing, and measures 101 yards 

 in length, and eighteen in breadth. The side walls are only 

 eight feet high, but the roof rises to a great height, and is 

 supported by seventeen stane pillars, each four yards in 

 circumference. 



Coleshill House, near Ccleshill; Viscount Folkstone. The 

 house is aperfect and unaltered specimen of the taste of Inigo 

 Jones, from whose design it was erected In 1650. The park is 

 not large, but is very agreeable. 



Donnington Grove, near Speen; William Brammel, Esq. 

 The house is a handsome modern building. The park well 

 wooded, and enriched by views to Donnington Castle. It con- 

 tains apiece of water judiciously managed. 



X Park Place, near Henley; Earl of Malmsbury, son of 

 the celebrated author of Hermes. Originally formed at great 

 expense bv Field Marshal Conway, and mentioned by the 

 Prince de Ligne, in his Coup d'a-il sur les plus beaux Jardins de 

 VEurope, as one of the finest seats in England. The present 

 proprietor purchased the estate from the widow of the marshal 

 In 1796, and greatly improved the mansion, with the assistance 

 of the architect, Holland. It is situated below the brow of 

 a lofty range of hills, which accompanies the winding of the 

 Thames for several miles. " The many interesting objects con- 

 centrated in this demesne, are calculated to excite even the 

 most latent energies of poetic description. The grounds com- 

 bine beauty, grandeur, and variety. The composition of the 

 home scenery is bold, and the distant prospects varied and ex- 

 tensive. The steep sides of the hills, with their chalky pre- 

 cipices, are overhung with grand masses of stately beech, in- 

 terspersed with evergreens, which extend to the margin of the 

 stream, and from various points of the landscape, appear like an 

 immense verdant amphitheatre. The projecting lawns corre- 

 spond with the sublimity of the contiguous scenery, and unite in 

 forming a diversity of rich and beautiful prospects." 



Selwood Park, near Sunning Hill; James Sibbald, Esq. 

 The house is a handsome modem building from the designs of 

 Robert Mitchell; the grounds consist of 300 acres, the 

 principal part of which is laid out as aferme ornee. A fine ride, 

 of about four miles in extent, embraces the principal part of 

 the scenery, which is richly diversified with stately trees and a 

 large piece of water. 



X White Knights, near Reading; Duke of Marlborough 

 (1820). The house is a plain building, situated in the centre 



of the grounds, rather low, and close to an irregular sheet of 

 water. This place is mentioned by Wheatley as one of the 

 earliest examples of a ferme orne'e. The present proprietor has 

 rendered it celebrated for its botanie riches, in which, if it does 

 not surpass, it may vie with any residence in the empire. 

 There is a large walled garden studded with hot-houses of 

 every kind, and another surrounded by a hedge and sunk fence, 

 laid out in the ancient style, and abounding with seats and 

 curious rustic huts. The whole has been lately described and 

 illustrated by highly finished plates, from the pen of Mrs. and 

 the pencil of Mr. Hoftland. (See Description of White Knights, 

 fol. 1.S19.) * ' 



X Woodti-y Lodge, near Reading; James Wheeble, Esq. 

 The mansion is a neat modern edifice, built by the present 

 proprietor's father, in the time of George II. The grounds 

 were tastefully laid out by Repton, who mentions this seat in 

 his work. The park having, in 1817, been greatly enlarged 

 by an extensive enclosure; the author of the present work was 

 employed to give designs, which have since been executing 

 under the eye of the proprietor, who has great taste and con- 

 siderable skill in rural improvements ; and is a well informed 

 truly amiable man. 



7562. Royal residences. 



Frogmore (Frog-moor), -near Windsor; the favorite re- 

 sidence of the Queen of George III. The house is not large, 

 but neat ; the grounds occupy a valley, thirteen acres of which 

 is laid out in pleasure-mound, highly enriched by flowers 

 and artificial objects. 1 he whole is diversified with a piece of 

 water, of irregular shape, and winding in different directions, 

 in one place approaching the house, and in another retiring 

 beneath the thick woods. " In this sweet, sequestered spot, 

 every thing is serene and pleasant. The devious path, the 

 umbrageous thicket, the dilapidated ruin, andsecluded temple, 

 all conspire to render it peculiarly interesting. Exclusive of the 

 variety of indigenous and exotic trees and shrubs, which are scat- 

 tered through the grounds, there are fine ornamental buildings 

 respectively denominated the Gothic Temple, the Ruin, the 

 Hermitage, the Temple of Solitude, the Chinese Cottage, and the 

 Barn. The Ruin was erected from a design by W. Wyatt ; 

 and being seated on the water's edge, partly embowered in 

 wood-, and diversified with fractures in the walls, and ivv, it 

 constitutes a truly picturesque ornament when seen from 

 various points of view. The Hermitage is a small, circular, 

 thatched building, situated in the south west corner of the 

 garden, and completely embowered with lofty trees. It was 

 constructed from a drawing of the Princess of Hesse Horaberg, 

 when Princess Elizabeth, whose taste and skill in drawing 

 are allowed to be considerable. The surrounding scenery is 

 justly contrived to assimilate with the character of the place, 

 the view of every distant object b*ing excluded by trees and 

 underwood. These improvements were superintended by 

 Major Price, brother to Uvedale Price, Esq. the celebrated 

 author of the Essays on the Picturesque." (lleauties of Eng. 

 and Walts (1801.), 1. 268.) 



Since the death of the queen, in 1818, the grounds have been 

 respectably kept up by the female part of the royal family who 

 reside there. 



Windsor Castle The principal residence of the British 

 sovereigns. It was originally a hunting seat of William the 

 Conqueror; improved by Henry I., and the park surrounded 

 with a wall; greatly improved by Edward III., under the 

 celebrated architect, William de Wyckham, who, in 1357, 

 superintended the works at a shilling per day, and ultimately 

 made a fortune by the king's employment. Queen Elizabeth 

 raised the terrace on the north side ; Charles II. repaired and 

 embellished the whole structure, and much was done by 

 George III., under the direction of W. Wyatt. The avenues 

 in the park were planted by Charles II., who aLso formed a 

 bowling-green; but this, with a flower-garden formed by Queen 

 Anne, were destroyed during the late and preceding reigns. 



7563. GLOUCESTERSHIRE A surface of 800,000 acres ; elevated, hilly in many parts, and the 

 climate cold ; low, fertile, and humid, however, on the banks of the rivers, as in the Vale of Gloucester. On 

 the borders of Monmouthshire are some woods of lime-tree, from the bark of which ropes are made for fishery 

 and agricultural purposes. There are a number of nurserymen in this county, of which the principal are 



