Book I. 



GARDENS OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 



1071 



7543. HERTFQRDSHIRE, A surface of 302,080 acres, the north part forming part of a clialky ridge 

 which extends across the kingdom in this direction, the rest agreeably varied. The soil is generally loamy 

 or clayey, on a chalky sub-soil : there are many private gardens in the county of almost all descriptions ; 

 a number of small nurseries and market-garcicn^, and some florists' market-gardens. The gardens at 

 Moot Park and Cashiobury were formerly the most celebrated in the county. 



7544. T?ie viUas are less numerous than the de- 

 mesne-residences. 

 CrtcArt'ood Pai-A-, — near Market Street; Sir J. Sebright. -A. 



fccded ] 



abound- 



handiome mansion in a deliiii'.tiiil well- 

 ing in stately beech-trees. The:? ;< a 

 tirated in the first style I; -, who is distin- 



guished both as a grower c : ,eder of domestic 



animals. 



BreckeiHalL — Vie2xV,'eb. urne. A hand- 



some dwelling, from the - , - . i . ; the park and 

 grounds beautiful, and mu.li eui^l-.nl by the river Lea, 

 ■which is here formed mto a har.dsome sheet of water. 

 The park firm is scientifically cultivated, cluefly by the 

 direction of Lady Melbourne. 



Bnckeiulen Buru, — near Hertford; Morgan, Esq. 



The park is latT^ej'and well furnished with woo<l and water. 



Brixxbourn Bury, — near Brosboui-n ; J. Eosanquel, Esq. 

 The house is spacious, ssxd with the park has lately been 

 much improved. 



Cocken/ialch, — near Royston ; Lady AVUls. A singular, 

 but not unhandsome mansion, in a pleasant park. 



CoJneu House, — near London ColLney ; G. Anderson, Esq. 

 A handsome and regular mansion, with wings ; the offices 

 connected by an uiider^omid passage, and 'com.pletely en- 

 veloped in evergreens. The park contains some fine oak and 

 elm trees; the pleasure-grounds are extensive; the kitchen- 

 garden well stocked with the best sorts of fruit-trees ; and 

 there is a large green-house full of choice plants. 



Gabions, — "near North Mims; J. Hunter, Esq. In Henry 

 A'll.'s time the seat of Sir John :\Iore, father to the illus- 

 triotis Sir Thomas More. The gardens were then, and in 

 the succeeding reign, celebrated for their splendor in the 

 ancient taste. 



X Gorhaiiibury House, — near St. Albans ; Earl Verulam. 

 A Corinthian house of brick stuccoed, by Sir Robert Taylor ; 

 and a park of 600 acres, well stocked with line timber, par- 

 ticularly beech. 



The Groi-e, — near 'Watford ; Earl of Clarendon. An 

 irregular brick structure in a park three miles in ctrcum- 

 fisrence, through which the river Gade flows in a divided 

 stream. There is a farm of COO acres assiduously cultivated 

 by his lordship, who pays the greatest- attention to every 

 branch of farming. 



Eamels, — near Sacombe ; G. JleUish, Esq. The groimds 

 laid out with much taste. 



Eemsted Bury, — near Kernel Hempsted ; Hilton, Esq. 



A neat house" and pleasant grounds in a mixed style be- 

 tween the geometric and the modem manner. 



X PanAan^er, — near Hertford; Earl Co^vper. A fine 

 situation, the "house lately improved, and the grounds plea- 

 sant. The park contains a remjirkablv large oak^ 



Tiuobald's Park, — neax Cheshmit Sir G. B. Prescot. A 

 residence of 300 acres, with a hajidsome majision erected 

 on what was formerly a palace and park of Jaines I., who, 

 having got possession of the park, by exchange, from the 

 Earl of -Salisbury, enlarged and surrounded it with a wall 



ten mUes in circumference. "When Crcmvell's survey was 

 taken in IGSO, it contained 250S acres, diversified with 

 aveni'.es ai.d other masses of trees. The gardens were large, 

 and ornamented with labyrinths, canals, and fountaiiis. 

 The great garden contained severtd acres, and there was 

 be-ides a pheasant, priv^-, and laundry garden. In the 

 former v>-ere nhie knots, artitici?Jiy and e:iquisitely made, 

 one of thetu in imitation of the kiiig's-arms. 



Tring pear Tring ; bir D. Smith. The house is 



iai-ge and convenient, ai:d the park consists of between 500 

 and 4i,'ti acres, beautifully varied both with vmdulalions of 

 surface .lud tine trees. 



irt/rfi-.-i V>\vc'hoi', — near 'W'atton ; S. Smitli, Esq. .4. spa- 

 cious and elegant raai-.sicn, occupying one of the finest situ- 

 ations in the couTity, built bv bir Tl-.omas Uurabold, and the 

 kitcb.en-garden formed by i\falcoIn-.. The park is large, 

 diversitied by liill and dale, and watered by several small 

 streams, which tlow mto the river Beane,' in its course 

 through the grounds ; it contains fine oaks, many of which 

 are of gi-eat magnitude. The kitchen-garden is excellent and 

 well managed. 



Ti'onnUhbttrii, — near "Worm ley ; Sir A- Hume. .A. good 

 house an3 pleasant grovmds, but chiefly remarkable for its 

 horticultural productions, Sir Abraham having introduced 

 various new plants from Chhia and India. 

 . 7545. The following maybe considered as first- 

 rate residences. 



X Cashiol'tirii, — near Watford ; Earl of Essex. A spacious 

 EUzabethean mansion ; and a park befsveen three and four 

 miles in circumference, abounding in rich scenery and noble 

 timber, originally planted by Le Notre. The pleasure-groimds 

 are extensive, and contain a beautiful flower-garden in the 

 Chinese style. The kilclien-garden is well cultivated, and 

 also the home farm. The Earl of Essex, in Evelyn's time, 

 was a great encourager of gardening, as is the present earl. 



X Hcctjidd House, — near Hatfield ; ::\Iarquis Salisbury. A 

 n:agnificent Elizabethean mansion, in a finely diversified 

 park watered by the river Lea, and containing some of the 

 finest oak, ash, elm, and other trees in the county. There 

 were originally two parks, one for red and the ctlier for fal- 

 low deer ; and in one of them was a vineyard which was in ex.. 

 istence at the time Charles I. was a prisor.er at Hatfield. 

 In 179.3, a piece of ground of 17 acres in extent, was set apart 

 for agricultural experiments, wliich are conducted with great 

 science and assiduity by the marchioness. 



X Mcor-Park Hvu'se, — near Rickmansworth; Wil- 

 liams, Eiq. A magniticent Corinthian mansion, by Giacomo 

 Leoni, and the grounds laid out under the direction of the 

 celebrated Lucy "Countess of Bedford, and afterwards mo- 

 demijed by Brown, when the estate was in the possession of 

 Lord Anson. The park is finely diversified with oak, ash, elm, 

 and hme trees, so old as to be much decayed at their tops. This 

 celebrated seat has been pra'.>ed by Bacon and Sir ^\^ Temple : 

 and o!ie of its possessors B. H. Styles, Esq. was unfairly satir- 

 ised by Pope, tor removing a hiil from the north front at an 

 expense of oOOO?. 



7546. BL'CKIXGH.\MSHIRE. A surface of 318,400 acres, hilly, and abounding in some places in 

 natural beech-woods, the soil rich, £-iid on chalk. It docs not abound in gardens or residences, but con- 

 tains one long celebrated — Stow. The seedsmen procure many of their tree-seeds from the natural 

 ■woods of tlie county ; as beech-mast, from Amersham and High Wycombe, and also hornbeam, holly, 

 haws, and juniper. Some of the nurserj-men procure their stocks for standard roses from the same woods, 

 and fiorn copse-woods at their periodical fellings, or when they are to be rooted out. 



small place of no great note, but here introduced, because 



7547. Villas and demesne-residences. 



Butsirode, — near Beaconsfield ; the Duke of Somerset. 

 The house is m no respect remarkable ; the park contains 

 5000 acres, abounding in old oak and beeches. The gardens 

 ■were formerlv kept in good order, and also the farm. 



Chaljbnt ffoir^f, — near Chalfout St. Giles; in ISOO, 

 Thomas Hibbert, Esq. The groimds were laid out by the 

 former possessor with much taste and judgment ; and are 

 finely ornamented with w ood, and adorned" with a pleasant 

 piece of water. The gardens, in Mr. Hibbert's time, were 

 richly stocked with tender exotics, especially heaths, and 

 other Cape plants. 



Cliefden, — near 'Wobum (Eedi.) ; a seat founded by George 

 Villiers, second duke of Buckingham, in the feian of 

 Charles II. Burnt down in 1795." The groimds are' finely 

 ■varied by w-oods, which descend on the side of a steep liill 

 to the Thames, and are celebrated by Pope in his Moral 



Fan-ley Court, — neax Fingest; Strickland Freeman, Esq. 

 The mansion is handsome and spacious, with four fronts : 

 it was built in 1684, from a design of Sir Christopher Wren. 

 The grounds round the house are rather flat ; but the distant 

 sceneJy is hilly, well wooded, and the windings of the Thames 

 are seen along a beautiful vale. 



X Hall Barn, —near Beaconsfield; Edmund Waller, Esq. 

 descendant of the poet, by whom the grounds were laid out 

 in the ancient style, verging into a sort of wUduess at the 

 extremities of the walks. The ground near the banqueting- 

 house has been moved and remodelled by the poet at very 

 considerable cost, and the place, on the whole, must have 

 deserved the encomiums that were made on it when in its 

 perfection, and in liigh keeping ; at present it is rather 

 neglected. 



Hedsor Lodge, — neai Wobum; Lord Frederick Boston. 

 The house is modem and elegant ; the grounds are distin- 

 guished for their high sloping hills, deep valleys, and the 

 ■wild luxuriance of the woods, wlrich, combining with the bold 

 swells or abmpt depressions of the surface, produce some very 

 beautiful and ^Jicture^que scenery. The view from the brow o"f 

 the hill, with the village churc'h: the winding Thames, and 

 the distant hills clothed with beech-wood, is very fine. 

 (ISOO) 



iot/wKr*,— near Chesham ; Lord George Cavendish. -A. 



referred to by G. Mason as having been laid out bv Brown. 



Shardeloes, — near .Imersham ; T. D. T. Drake, Esq. The 

 house is a respectable modem edifice, from a design bj 

 M. Adams, it is situated on the brow of a hill, overlooking 

 a broad slieet of water, planned by Bridgenian. The park 

 L5 much varied m surface, and richly clothed with beech- 

 woods. 



Stoke P<!rA-,— near Stoke Pogies ; John Penn, Esq. The 

 house was built in 1789, from the designs of James Wyatt, 

 Esq. ; and the grounds laid out by H. iiepton, are beautiful, 

 though of limited extent. 



n'oburn Ffirai, — near Wobivm ; Earl "Wharton (1770). 

 This place was laid out as afer»tc orne'e, and was celebrated in 

 the time of Wheatley, who gives a fiili description of it. It is 

 now entirely obliterated, and the groimds let as a common 

 farm. 



X ^I'vcombe Alb^y, — near M'ycom.be ; Lord Carrington. 

 The house situated in a bottom, has lately been much im- 

 proved In the Gothic style by 'Wyatt. The grounds 

 contain a curious artificial cascade, executed by J. Lane, a 

 stonemason, who executed the cascade at Bowood, in SVilt- 

 shire, and is celebrated for his talent in this way. The park 

 contains 'iOO acre>s, well wooded and watered, "and bounded 

 on the south by high hills. 



Wycombe'Park, — near Al'ycombe ; Sir J. D. King, Bart. 

 The house is small, bv W, ^\'are, in the Grecian stvle and ele- 

 gant. The grounds form part of a vale, bordered by a stream, 

 and are deservedly much admired for tlieir wood and water. 

 They were laid out by Brown, -and received some improve- 

 mentsfrom H. Repton. 



7548. The following are first-rate residences : — 



X Ashnd£:e Park, — near Hempsted; Earl of Eridgewater. 

 The ancient abbey, lately pulled do^wn, and a magnificent 

 Gothic mansion, erected from the designs of J. 'Wyatt ui 1815. 

 The park is five miles in circumference, pleasingly varied with 

 hill and dale, and furnished with some very fine oak and beech 

 trees. The gaidens are extensive ; the culinary deiiartment is 

 under the care of T. Torbron from Kew, an excellent gar- 

 dener ; and the flower-garden contains several acres, full of va- 

 riety, and laid out from the desisns of H. Repton, Esq. in 1814. 

 The farm is managed by a Northumbrian baihff". 



X Storv, — near Buckingham ; Marquis of Buckingham. 



