Introduction. 



XXV. 



for a great number of years, Markyate Cell is an example of what can be done to 

 improve an old garden by judicious changes. The house, as its name reveals, contains 

 part of an old monastic building which served as cell to the Abbey of St. Albans. 

 To this considerable extensions in the Tudor manner were added in the second quarter 

 of the nineteenth century. Although the period was an unfortunate one for domestic 

 architecture, Markyate Cell is one of the shining exceptions. Its detail reveals its 

 date, but the general grouping is very picturesque, and demanded an appropriate 

 garden setting, which, until two years ago, it lacked. There were, however, some good 

 materials, notably a fine yew hedge, and some terra-cotta balustrading of simple but 



FIG. XII. — MARKYATE CELL : THE ACCESS TO THE ROSE GARDEN. 



very effective design. The house is approached from the south, and stands on a hill 

 which slopes downwards to the west and upwards to the east. The terrace on the west 

 side of the house was already enclosed by the old terra-cotta balustrading, but the 

 eastward slope had been planted without thought or conscious design, except for a 

 great stepped yew hedge, which destroyed the vista that was possible, and stood in 

 no definite relation to the house or anything else. When the owners of Markyate Cell, 

 Mr. and Mrs. MacLeod, called in Mr. Dillistone of Messrs. R. Wallace and Co. to advise 

 them in re-modelling the garden, one of the principal difficulties was the lack of 

 communication between its different parts. The governing feature of the changes 



