August 8, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
IIL 
form, and about 50 feet in diameter. The windows are fine 
specimens of pure Gothic. The carved pillars which once 
supported the roof still stand comparatively little injured, but 
“the roof itself has fallen in. A number of crosses and mural 
tablets, which are supposed to have originally recorded the 
names and qualities of deceased abbots or other dignitaries, 
now rest against the wall. The carvings and inscriptions on 
them are almost completely obliterated. Much labour has 
been judiciously expended in restoring portions of the old walls 
and preserving them from further decay ; and well deserving 
are they of such care, for it is rare that ruins are to be found 
amid surroundings that lend to them such grace and charms. 
The parish church, which stands in close contiguity to the old 
abbey, originally formed a part of its nave. It is a good 
specimen of old Norman architecture. The west front and 
massive pillars are twelfth-century work, built of stone brought 
from a quarry near St. Donat’s, upon which age and weather 
seem to have little effect. In the church stand some very 
handsome tombs with recumbent figures, in memory of the. 
Mansel family. It was rescued from decay by the present 
Mr. Talbot’s father, and is now regularly used for public 
worship. It appeals strongly to one’s sense of the beautiful to 
stand at a little distance and view the ruins of the abbey with 
the Orange house and church in the front, relieved against a 
pyramidal-shaped hill of about 600 or 700 feet in height, 
clothed to the very summit with the sober-tinted foliage of the. 
thickly clustered Oak trees. 
Turning to the right a view of a different but not less ex- 
quisite kind of beauty meets the eye. At the further end of a 
vista amongst the lovely trees is seen the noble and graceful 
end of the mansion, with its lofty tower standing in sharp 
relief against the sky. The approach to it is up an inclined 
plane, broken here and there by flights of steps extending the 
whole width of the roadway, some 30 feet. We have rarely 
Fig. 17,_MARGAM PARK. 
seen a more charming architectural object than the view of 
the house as seen from this point. Ascending the approach 
we find that the house is of grand as well as of elegant pro- 
portions. Its site has been skilfully chosen on a plateau be- 
tween the hills above and the lower grounds where the gardens 
and orangery are situated. It would be difficult to conceive 
a more beautiful situation, sheltered as it is by the well-wooded 
hills which lie behind it from the northerly and easterly winds ; 
while to the south and west are far-reaching views, embracing 
a picturesque stretch of Glamorganshire in the foreground, 
with the wide expanse of the Bristol Channel behind, and the 
hills of Somerset and Devon in the distance closing-in the 
prospect. 
A small but tastefully laid-out geometrical flower garden 
occupies a portion of the plateau on which the house stands. 
It is bedded-out in the usual way with Geraniums, Calceolarias, 
Verbenas, Coleuses, dwarf Candytufts, Mesembryanthemum 
cordifolium variegatum, Violas of different colours, and other 
plants all neatly arranged in the different beds, which for in- 
dividual and general effect it would be difficult to surpass. 
The building was, as we have stated, designed by Mr. Talbot 
the present proprictor, and erected under his superintendence 
about forty years ago. We do not pretend to furnish an archi- 
tectural description of it, but the engraving which accompanies 
this notice will convey better than words a conception of its: 
elegant proportions. We should estimate the height of the 
tower at about 100 feet. The view from the summit of it on 
the hill, or sheltered side, reminds us of that from Drummond 
Castle in Perthshire; but the far-reaching panorama on the. 
lower side supplies a variety and interest that are wanting in 
that celebrated highland castle. It would be an intrusion on 
privacy to seek to carry the reader through the interior of 
this fine mansion. Suffice it to say that the Gothic entrance. 
hall and staircase we have not seen excelled in domestic archi- 
tecture, while the treasures of art which the rooms contain, 
and the style in which they are furnished and ornamented, 
bespeak limitless wealth expended under the guidance of 
refined artistic taste. 
It may not be inappropriate to finish our present sketch by 
stating that Mr. Talbot, the proprietor, is the father of the 
House of Commons, having represented Glamorganshire for the 
long period of forty-nine years. He has been several times 
opposed, but never defeated. He was in parliament when the 
present premier was struggling into fame as a novelist and. 
long before he had entered the arena of politics, and also 
before the present Queen was crowned. He has been twice 
offered a peerage, but declined it. He received much sympathy 
two years ago on the occasion of the death of his only son at 
