Book 1. 



GARDENS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



1083 



EarTt Stoke. Connected with this spot is a rustic village by 

 design. 1 1 consists of several cottages placed on the sides of the 

 road, each detached from the others, and every one accom- 

 panied bv its garden-creepers, trees, honey -suckles, &c. 



Lake 'Home, near Ambresbury ; Rev. Edw. Duke. A 

 respectable, and truly picturesque edifice, with bay windows, 

 gables, yew-hedges, terraces, &c. in the genuine style of the 

 last age. 



Liddiard Park, near Wooton Basset; Lord Bolingbroke. 

 Extensive grounds abounding in fine old trees, and containing 

 a fine pond of water. 



Longford Castle, near Salisbury ; Earl of Radnor. A 

 house' remarkable for its ground-plan, which was intended to 

 resemble the catholic monogram of the Trinity, erected about 

 1591, from the designs of John Thorpe. An entirely new 

 structure, in the castellated style, is in contemplation. The 

 park is rich in woods and picturesque views, and is watered by 

 the Avon. 



Littlecot Park, near Ramsbury ; E. L. Popham, Esq. Four 

 miles in circumference, well wooded, and containing a hill, 

 and the river Kennet passing through the pleasure-grounds. 



Melchett Park, near Downton ; J. Osborne, Esq. The 

 grounds remarkable for a beautiful Hindu temple, erected by 

 the late owner as a tribute to the merits of Warren Hastings, 



Pyt Home, near Wardour ; J. Bennet, Esq. A modem 

 Grecian edifice, with an elegant chapel attached, and pleasure 

 grounds extensive, and laid out with considerable taste. 



Roche Great Court, near Salisbury; F. T. Egerton, Esq. 

 An Italian house, by C. H. Falkham, Esq-, and 2000 acres of 

 ground, laid out as park, garden, and farm scenery. 



Rorvd Ashton, near Trowbridge; R. G. Long, Esq. A 

 mansion lately improved, and a park of considerable extent, 

 abounding in woods. 



X Tottenham Park, near Marlborough ; Earl of Ay lesbury . 

 This seat, including Savemake Forest, is sixteen miles in cir- 

 cumference; the whole intersected by numerous walks and 

 avenues, eight of which diverge from a common centre. The 

 house is a square brick building with wings ; opposite to it is a 

 lofty column, erected by a late earl as a testimony of gratitude 

 to its former possessor. 



Wilcot House, near Uphaven ; Admiral Montague. A 

 modern mansion, adorned with a finely wooded park, bounded 

 by a branch of the Avon. 



Wilbury House, near Amesbury ; Sir C. W. Malet. A 

 comfortable stone house, with a park recently planted, and 

 likely to be soon eminently deserving notice. 



7597. First-rate residences. 



X Bon-ood, near Calne; Marquis of Lansdown. An ex- 

 tensive mansion, chiefly by Adams, on an eminence, in a park 

 and pleasure-grounds, extensive, greatly diversified in natural 

 features, and richly adorned with plantations. Within the 

 boundary of the park are contained numerous valleys, each of 

 which is characterised by its own peculiar form, feature, and 

 scenery, and one is covered by a broad and irregular lake, 

 the waste waters of which flow "over a much-admired artificial 

 cascade. 



X Corsfield House, near Corsham ; P. C. Mefhuen, Esq. 

 An Eliz'abethean house, altered and enlarged by Brown, 

 and subsequently, in a very superior style, by Xash. The 

 grounds, laid out by H. Repton, are extensive, but little va- 

 ried. A hot -house* and conservatory have been erected by 

 Stewart. 



Charlton Park, near Malmsbury; Earl of Suffolk. A noble 

 pile, by Inigo Jones, but unfurnished : the park extensive, but 

 at present cultivated as a farm. 



X Fonthill Abbey, near Hindon ; late W. Beckford, Esq. A 

 magnificent and unique mansion, in imitation of a Gothic 

 abbey, in style, situation, and surrounding scenery very pe- 

 culiar, and considered the most remarkable seat in the west of 

 England. The natural and scenic features of this place are 

 bold, grand, and highly diversified. Nearly the whole of an 

 eminence, which gradually ascends from the open country on 

 the north, and from a fine enclosed country to the south, is 

 covered with woods, some of which are of ancient growth, but 

 the greater part planted by the father of the late possessor 



From the apex of a hill, amidst a grove of ancient pines, rises 

 the lofty tower, turrets, pediments, and pinnacles of a mansion, 

 which assumes externally the character of an ancient monastic 

 edifice. It consists of a central tower about 270 feet in height, 

 a loftv entrance-hall, a vestibule, a wing, or transept, extend- 

 ing from the tower to the east, and two other wings, branching 

 off from the centre to the north and south. The exterior ele- 

 vations of each of these portions is dissimilar to the others, and 

 each is appropriated to the different accommodations and pur- 

 poses of an elegant and commodious mansion. State-rooms, 

 gallery, libraries, eating-rooms, parlours, drawing-rooms, dec. 

 are fitted up in a truly splendid style ; and adomed with the 

 choicest works in literature and the fine arts. The arcliitect 

 of the whole was James Wyatt, Esq., and many of the most 

 eminent artists of the country were employed in finishing the 

 interior. 



The abbey is approached by a broad avenue of turf, up- 

 wards of a mile in length, on the summit of a ridge, the sides 

 of which are thicklv wooded. A pubUc road formerly inter- 

 sected the park, but that road is now in great part arched 

 over, and lighted by openings at intervals. There are numerous 

 green drives (the sub-soil being chalk, these are always dry,) 

 and gravel-walks, which conduct through the grounds, and 

 especially the woods, the under-growths of which, in many 

 places, are formed of the most choice sorts of roses and Ame- 

 rican plants, purchased and placed in their appropriate soils at 

 great expense, and afterwards left to run wild. There are 

 whole acres of azaleas, rhododendrons, magnolias, &c. which 

 have a most delightful effect. Herbaceous plants are equally 

 profusely scattered ; and there are a few seats and buildings, 

 but these are chiefly confined to the lower grounds, where there 

 are several large pieces of water, cascades, grottoes, &c. near 

 to the site of the former Grecian mansion. This we were 

 fortunate enough to see before its removal in 1 806 . The kitchen- 

 garden is good, and no expense spared to render it productive 

 in exotic as well as hardy esculents and fruits. 



X Longleat, near Warminster ; Marquis of Bath. A mag- 

 nificent mansion, and the proudest architectural ornament of 

 this part of Wiltshire, built in the latter part of the 16th century 

 from the designs of an Italian architect. The grounds were 

 laid out in Charles II. 's time by London and Wise, and sub- 

 sequently remodelled by Brown, whose plans were followed by 

 the late marquis to his death in 1 796, and have been continued 

 by the present proprietor. A broad and luxuriant valley con- 

 tains the house and a large sheet of water : the park stretches up 

 the sides of the surrounding hills, covered by the finest old 

 timber, and fifteen miles in circumference ; 



different, and that from the Warminster road displays nearly 

 the whole of the domain. 



Stoke Park, near Devizes; J. Smith, Esq. A house and 

 offices, with a front of 356 feet, on the summit of an eminence, 

 surrounded by a well wooded and watered park, in which the 

 pleasure-ground occupies a narrow winding valley, containing 

 a rivulet, the waters of which form several cascades. On the 

 whole, few spots in England present such a combination of 

 lawn, hill, vale, waters, and diversified plantations. 



X Stourhead, near Mere; Sir R. C. Hoare. The mansion 

 from the designs of Colin Campbell, author of the Vitnirius Bri- 

 tannicus : the grounds long noted for their sylvan beauties and 

 picturesque features. The scenery consists* of ridges of hills, 

 forming long extended terraces, and deep narrow valleys with 

 rivulets. The sides and summits of some of these eminences 

 are thickly, and others partially, clothed with wood. One of 

 the valleys is covered with water" by means of a dam, and various 

 cascades are formed on the brooks: throughout the whole place, 

 temples, obelisks, bridges, covered seats, and other buildings 

 are introduced. 



II 'a r dmt r Castle, near Salisburv ; Earl Arundel. A large 

 magnificent mansion, by Paine in 1776, the grounds are much 

 diversified in surface and by planting, and they contain the 

 ivied ruins of the old castle. 



X Wilton, near Wilton ; Earl Pembroke. An extensive 

 pile, of rather incongruous architecture, bv Hans Holbein, 

 Solomon de Caus, Inigo Jones or his successor Webb, and James 

 Wyatt, Esq. The park contains some ornamental buildings, 

 old trees, and pieces of water. 



7598. DORSETSHIRE. A surface of 775,000 acres, divided into two parts by a range of chalk lulls, 

 which run east and west : the climate dry and healthy, and the soil rich. Near this county is the Isle of 

 Jersey, which, with Guernsey, supply roots of the amaryllis sarniensis to the seedsmen, and some 

 grapes to the fruiterers. Parsneps are grown to a great size, and there is a general taste for flowers, and 

 neatness in the gardens, to which their mild winters are particularly favorable. In these islands manv of 

 our green-house plants thrive in the open air ; as several of the amarallidea?, verbena triphylla, camellia, 

 celtis, nerium, corea, melaleuca, pittosporum, and even canna indica, which is a weed in some gardens. 

 It is suggested by Dr. M'Culloch Appendix to daayle's Agr. Vieiv of the Norman Islands), that Guernsey 

 would form an excellent coast station in acclimating the plants of hot countries. The arum maculatum is 

 so abundant in the Isle of Portland, that the common people gather its roots, prepare them as sago, and 

 send the produce to London, where it is sold as Portland sago. 



Bryanstone House, E. B. Portman, Esq. ; near Poole. 



cent piles in the county ; the grounds beautifully varied and 

 richly wooded, were in part laid out by H. Repton. A village 

 was transplanted from the vicinity of the house, and erected in 

 a regular style in a distant situation. 



More Critchelt, Near Winbome ; Charles Stewart, Esq. 

 This is a romantic seat, with an excellent mansion, command- 



splendid modern mansion, and extensive and beautifully varied 

 grounds. The gardens in a high state of cultivation and keep- 

 ing, and the whole one of the first residences in the county. 



Raceme, near Kimeridge ; William Morton Pitt, Esq. The 

 situation is extremely fine, and the grounds are disposed with 

 much taste. On this" estate, in 1753, was found a mushroom 

 that weighed eight pounds, was fifteen inches lone, ten round, 

 eight deep, and the section almost in the form of the figure S. 



KiugsLm Hall, near Poole; Henry Bankes, Esq. The 

 house was erected in 1663, and is large and substantial. 

 The kitchen-garden is well attended, and the park-scenerv 

 good. 



Lullnvrih Castle, near Lullworth ; T. Wild, Esq. The 

 house is a noble pile ; the park occupies a circuit of nearly four 

 miles, and has lately been much improved. 



X Milton Abbey, near Milton Abbas; Earl of Dorchester. 

 The house, by Sir W. Chambers, is one of the most magniti- 



7599. SOMERSETSHIRE.-** A surface of 991,360 acres, hilly and stony towards the N.E, with ferns, 

 marshes, and moors, towards the centre ; the remainder high and hilly. There was a curious market- 

 gardener at Bath, about 20 years ago, who proposed ripening grapes underhand-glasses ; and in Switzer's 

 time, there was a seat there abounding in curious water-works. Salter is the principal florist and nurserv- 

 man, and has published a tract on florists* flowers. There are also good nurseries at Taunton, Froom'e, 

 and Bridgewater. 



Harrington, near Dorchester; Edward Wil- 

 liams, Esq. The house is a large quadrangular building, and 

 the grounds contain some fine oaks, and chestnuts of the growth 

 of two centuries and upwards. 



Sherborne Castle, near Milton ; Earl of Digby. The 

 mansion is a singular structure, in the form of a" Roman H ; 

 the centre part was built by Sir W. Raleigh, and is dated 1514. 

 In the park is a grove, said to have been planted bv Sir 

 Walter. The grounds were much improved from the designs 

 of Brown. 



