Gardens for Small Country Houses. 



227 





^^M 



CHAPTER XX.— SUNDIALS AND SEATS. 



The Placing of Sundials — Various Simple Types — The Game of " Clocks " — Stone 

 Seats and Their Setting — Wooden Chairs and Tables. 



SUNDIALS, like other ornaments, depend more for their decorative success on 

 their right placing than on their intrinsic merit as garden sculpture. A 

 common fault is the lack of a suitable base. In Mr. W. Robinson's garden at 

 Gravetye Manor there is a sundial of twisted baluster pattern designed by Sir Ernest 

 George. It is set on a moulded square base, which rises from an octagonal platform 

 (Fig. 336) . Simple and slender as it is, it has an air of dignity by reason of being 

 properly set. By way of contrast there is illustrated in Fig. 337 a sundial of pleasant 

 and sturdy design, which looks lonely and neglected on a lawn, and bears no relation 

 to the rest of the garden. It 



needs a stepped base of some ? -~ -^...^ .. ^ — I 



sort to detach it from its ' - ' >. I 



surroundings. No little of the 

 value of a sundial is the 

 opportunity it affords to em- 

 phasise the central point at 

 the junction of converging 

 paths, as at Ditton Place, 

 Balcombe (Fig. 338). The octa- 

 gonal base makes a pleasant 

 break between the round of 

 the baluster and the shallow 

 circular step which lifts it 

 above the paving. It was 

 designed by Mr. Horatio Porter. 

 The more imposing the sun- 

 dial itself, the more need is 

 there for a dignified base. Of 

 the many examples of the 

 lead Blackamoor that English 

 gardens can show, none is 

 better supported than the ex- 

 ample illustrated in Fig. 339. 

 The four steps are adequate 

 for the importance of this 

 very interesting figure, which 

 was sold freely in the begin- 

 ning of the eighteenth century 

 by Jan Van Nost. Anyone 

 who is interested in the history 

 of this famous garden orna- 

 ment may be referred for a full 





FIG. 336. — SIMPLE SUNDIAL ON ADEQUATE BASE 



