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JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ November 14, 187a. 



With a becoming liberality some of the finest gardens in the 

 kingdom are at times thrown open to the operatives of these 

 great manufacturing towns, and to their credit, be it said, that 

 but rarely do they misbehave when so trusted. The gardens 

 of Enville, Chatsworth, and Alton Towers — places of almost 

 national importance — have had their crowds of factory hands 

 on various occasions, and to the honour of the owners of these 

 places, as well as others, it does not appear that there is any 

 abatement of the privilege accorded, although in all cases it 

 adds considerably to the cost of maintaining the gardens. 

 But apart from excursions to such places (and they are neither 

 few nor unimportant) , there are other places to which the wealthy 

 manufacturers and others send their families during a part of 

 the year. Buxton and Matlock inland, have each their patrons, 

 while the best sites on the western coast of Lancashire have 

 become fashionable watering places in an incredibly short I 

 time, or have emerged from the condition of unimportant ' 



villages to that of towns seeking for representation in Parlia- 

 ment. Southport, Lytham, Blackpool, and Fleetwood have 

 risen into importance by the rapid increase of the wealth 

 of inland towns, whose population flock thither if only for a 

 few hours' recreation, or it may be some weeks of residence, 

 but by far the greater number are of the first-named class. 

 However, it is not my purpose to dilate on such topics, but 

 rather to endeavour to describe what has been done by the 

 spirited proprietor of an estate adjoining one of these fashion- 

 able watering places — Lytham — and to show that much that 

 he has done might also be done elsewhere. 



The rising town of Lytham occupies the northern shores of 

 the estuary of the Bibble, and is reached by rail from Preston, 

 and a continuation of the same line goes on to Blackpool, a 

 town of still greater importance; while opposite to Lytham, 

 across the estuary, is Southport, which, however, is several 

 miles distant, and only accessible by water when the tide is in ; 



Lytham Hall Entrance Gate. 



for the waters of the Eibble, unlike those of the Mersey, are 

 shallow at other times, and the tide recedes a very consider- 

 able way, leaving a sandy beach available for all descriptions 

 of games, &c. The water is exceedingly rough at times when 

 a regular south-wester sets in, but a large space has been em- 

 banked, and an asphalted promenade has been formed along 

 the top of the embankment for the use of the public, while the 

 face of the embankment is cased with stone also cemented 

 together, and damages, which are not at all uncommon, re- 

 paired as they occur. The ground thus protected is several 

 acres in extent, nearly all sand, on which only certain grasses 

 live, but do not form a good sward ; still it serves all the pur- 

 poses of a recreation ground when the sands are not available 

 owing to the tide. Beyond, handsome residences are rising, in 

 addition to others that are already built, and shrubs suitable 

 for such a place were planted in abundance. Added to these 

 attractions soon will be a park for which Col. CUf ton has given 

 the land. 



Such is Lytham which adjoins the Park of Colonel Clifton, 

 whose residence, Lytham Hall, is but a short distance from it ; 

 in fact, one of the entrances to the park is from the back of 

 the village, where a fine lodge has been recently built, and a 

 new carriage-road made leading to the mansion. My visit, 

 however, led me another way, and my astonishment was great 



to find myself so quickly almost shut-in by healthy vigorous 

 trees, for the mansion and its surroundings seem embedded in 

 plantations of from thirty to fifty years' growth, which I was 

 surprised to find in such a healthy condition within a mile of 

 salt water, and that, too, on a coast so remarkable for its 

 storms ; yet there they were. My astonishment was increased 

 when I was told by Mr. Shepherd, the gardener, that the level 

 plain on which the mansion stood, including the garden and 

 park, is absolutely 2 or 3 feet below high-water mark — that is, 

 the point to which the highest tides rose. Some of your readers 

 will doubtless expect to hear that the whole is a marshy 

 swamp, but it is just the reverse, for vegetation was absolutely 

 suffering from the dry weather, the soil being nearly all sand. 

 Although the tides rose as high as indicated, they were banked 

 out of the park and surrounding country, there being sluice 

 gates to let off the inland water at low tides. The result has 

 been that an extensive tract of valuable land has been re- 

 claimed, and a large breadth around the mansion has been 

 judiciously planted on the exposed sides, while other plant- 

 ations had been elsewhere formed. Although my visit was too 

 short to allow of my noticing their appearance on the windward, 

 or, rather, extreme seaward side, I could see that a kind of 

 Willow formed the forlorn hope in that direction, but in the 

 interior of the plantations all kinds of trees were growing, includ 



