Book 1. 



GARDENS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



1083 



Earl't Stoke. — Connected with this spot Ls a rustic village by 

 desi/'n. 1 1 consists of several cottages iilaced on the sides of the 

 road, eacli detached from the others, and every one accom- 

 panied by its garden-creepers, trees, honey-suckles, &c. 



Lake House, — near Ambresbury ; Rev. Edw. Duke. A 

 respectable, and truly picturesque edifice, with bay windows, 

 gables, yew-hedges, terraces, &c. in the genuine style of the 

 last age. 



Lidcliard Park, — near Wooton Basset ; Lord Bolingbroke. 

 Extensive grounds abounding in fine old trees, and containing 

 a fine pond of water. 



Lotifrford Castle, — near Salisbury ; Earl of Radnor. A 

 house remarkable for its ground-plan, which was intended to 

 resemble the catholic monogram of the Trinity, erected about 

 1591, from the designs of John Thorpe. An entirely new 

 structure, in the castellated style, is in contemplation. The 

 peurk is rich in woods and picturesque views, and is watered by 

 the Avon. 



Litttecot Park, — near Ram&hury; E. L. Popham, Esq. Four 

 miles in circumference, well wooded, and containing a hill, 

 and the river Kennet passing through the pleasure-grounds. 



Melchett Park, — near Uownton ; J. Osborne, Esq. 'I'he 

 grounds remarkable for a beautiful Hindu temple, erected by 

 the late owner as a tribute to the merits of Warren Hastings, 

 Esq. ^ 



Pyt House, near Wardour ; J. Bennet, Esq. A modern 

 Grecian edifice, with an elegant chapel attached, and pleasure 

 grounds extensive, and laid out with considerable taste. 



Roche Great Court, — near Salisbury; F. T. Egerton, Esq. 

 An Italian house, by C. H. Falkham, Esq., and 2000 acres of 

 ground, laid out as park, garden, and farm scenery. 



Rorvd Ashton, — near Trowbridge; R. (j. JLong, Esq. A 

 mansion lately improved, and a i)ark of considerable extent, 

 abounding in woods. 



X Tottenliam Park, — near Marlborough ; Earl of Aylesbury. 

 This seat, including Savemake Forest, is sixteen miles in cir- 

 cumference; the whole intersected by numerous walks and 

 avenues, eight of which diverge from a common centre. The 

 house is a square brick building with wings ; opposite to it is a 

 lofty colunm, erected by a late earl as a testimony of gratitude 

 to jts former possessor. 



Wilcot House, — near Uphaven; Admiral Montague. A 

 modem mansion, adorned with a finely wooded park, bounded 

 by a branch of the Avon. 



Wilhury House, — near Amesbury ; Sir C. W. Malet. A 

 comfortable stone house, with a park recently planted, and 

 likely to be soon eminently deserving notice. 



7597. First-rate residences. 



X jBowoorf, — near Calne; Marquis of Lansdown. An ex- 

 tensive mansion, chiefly by Adams, on an eminence, in a park 

 and pleasure-grounds, extensive, greatly diversified in natural 

 features, and richly adorned with plantations. Within the 

 boundary of the park are contained numerous valleys, each of 

 which is characterised by its own peculiar form, feature, and 

 scenery, and one is covered by a broad and irregular lake, 

 the waste waters of which flow over a much-admired artificial 

 cascade. 



X Corsfidd House, — near Corsham ; P. C. Methuen, Esq. 

 An Elizabethean house, altered and enlarged by Brown, 

 and subsequently, in a very superior style, by Nash. The 

 grounds, laid out by H. Repton, are extensive, but little va- 

 ried. A hot-house and conservatory have been erected by 

 Stewart. 



C/mWtoiPar/c, — nearMalmsbury; Earl of Suffolk. A noble 

 pile, by Inigo Jones, but unfurnished : the park extensive, but 

 at present cultivated as a farm. 



X Fonthill Abbey, — near Hindon ; late W- Beckford, Esq. A 

 magnificent and unique mansion, in imitation of a Gothic 

 abbey, in style, situation, and surrounding scenery very pe- 

 culiar, and considered the most remarkable seat in the west of 

 England. The natural cind scenic features of this place are 

 bold, grand, and highly diversified. Nearly the whole of an 

 eminence, which gradually ascends from the ojien country on 

 tlie north, and from a fine enclosed country to the south, 



From the apex of a hill, amidst a grove of ancient pines, rlKes 

 the lofty tower, turrets, pediments, and pinnacles of a mansion, 

 which assumes externally the character of an ancient monastic 

 edifice. It consists of a central tower about 270 feet in height, 

 a lofty entrance-hall, a vestibule, a wing, or transept, extend- 

 ing from the tower to the east, and two other wings, branching 

 off from the centre to the north and south. The exterior ele- 

 vations of each of these jjortions is dissimilar to the others, and 

 each is appropriated to the different accommodations and pur- 

 poses of an elegant and commodious mansion. State-rooms, 

 gallery, libraries, eating-rooms, parlours, drawing-rooms, &c. 

 are fitted up in a truly splendid style; and adorned with the 

 choicest works in literature and the line arts. The architect 

 of the whole was James Wyatt, Esq., and many of the most 

 eminent artists of the country v/ere employed in finisliing tjie 

 interior. 



The abbey is approached by a broad avenue of turf, up- 

 wards of a mile in length, on the summit of a ridge, the sides 

 of which are thickly wooded. A public road formerly inter- 

 sected the park, but that road is now in great part arched 

 over, and lighted by openings at intervals- There are numerous 

 green drives (the sub-soil being chalk, these are always dry,) 

 and gravel-walks, which conduct through the grounds, and 

 especially the woods, the under-growths of which, in many 

 places, are formed of the most choice sorts of roses and A me- 

 rican plants, purchased and placed in their appropriate soils at 

 great expense, and afterwards left to run wild. There are 

 whole acres of azaleas, rhododendrons, magnolias, &c. which 

 have a most delightful effect. Herbaceous plants are equally 



Erofusely scattered ; and there are a few seats and buildings, 

 ut these are chiefly confined to the lower grounds, where there 

 are several large pieces of water, cascades, grottoes, &c. near 

 to the site of the former Grecian mansion. This we were 

 fortunate enough to see before its removal in 1806 . The kitchen, 

 garden is good, and no expense spared to render it productive 

 in exotic as well as hardy esculents and fruits. 



X io»gZea<, — near Warminster; Marquisof Bath. A mag- 

 nificent mansion, and the proudest architectural ornament of 

 this part of Wiltshire, built in thelatter part of the 16th century 

 from the designs of an Italian architect. The grounds were 

 laid out in Charles II.'s time by London and Wise, and sub- 

 sequently remodelled by Brown, whose plans were foUowed by 

 the late marquis to his death in 1796, and have been continued 

 by the present proprietor. A broad and luxuriant valley con- 

 tains the house and a large sheet of water : the park stretches up 

 the sides of the surrounding hills, covered by the finest old 

 timber, and fifteen miles in circumference ; the approach from 

 the south is a straight avenue nearly a mile ; trie others are 

 different, and that from the Warminster road displays nearly 

 the whole of the domain. 



Stoke Park, — near T)e\i-Le&- J. Smith, Esq. A house and 

 offices, with a front of 356 feet, on the summit of an eminence, 

 surrounded by a well wooded and watered park, in which the 

 pleasure-ground occupies a narrow winding valley, containing 

 a rivulet, the waters of which form several cascades. On the 

 whole, few spots in England present such a combination of 

 lawn, hill, vale, waters, and diversified plantations. 



X Stourhead, — near Mere; Sir R- C. Hoare. The mansion 

 from the designs of Colin Campbell, author of the Vitruvius Bri- 

 tannicus : the grounds long noted for their sylvan beauties and 



tonning long extenaea terraces, ana aeep narrow valleys with 

 rivulets. The sides and summits of some of these eminences 

 are thickly, and others partially, clothed with wood. One of 

 the valleys is covered with water by means of a dam, and various 

 cascades are formed on the brooks: throughout the whole place, 

 temples, obelisks, bridges, covered seats, and other buildings 

 are introduced. 



Wardtnir Castle, — near Salisbury; Earl Arundel. A large 

 magnificent mansion, by Paine in 1776, the gvcuiids are much 

 diversified in surface and by planting, and thoy contain the 

 ivied ruins of the old castle. 



X Wilton, — near Wilton ; Earl Pembroke. An extensive 

 pile, of rather incongruous architecture, bv Hans Holbein, 

 bolomon de Cans, Inigo J ones or his successor \ V'ebb, and James 

 Wyatt, Esq. The park contains some ornamental buildings, 

 old trees, and pieces of water. 



covered with woods, some of which are of ancient growth, but 

 the greater part planted by the father of the late possessor 



7598. DORSETSHIRE. A surface of 775,000 acres, divided into two parts by a range of chalk hills, 

 which run east and west : the climate dry and healthy, and the soil rich. Near this county is the Isle of 

 Jersey, which, with Guernsey, supply roots of the amaryllis sarniensis to the seedsmen, and some 

 grapes to the fruiterers. Parsneps are grown to a great size, and there is a general taste for flowers, and 

 neatness in the gardens, to which their mild winteis are particularly favorable. In these islands many of 

 our green-house plants thrive in the open air ; as several of the amarallidea-, verbena triphyila, camellia^ 

 celtis, nerium, corea, melaleuca, pittosporum, and even canna indica, which is a weed in some gardens. 

 It is suggested by Dr. M'CuUoch {Appendix to Quai/le's Agr. View of the Nortnan Islands), that Guernsey 

 would form an excellent coast station in acclimating the plants of hot countries. The arum maculatum is 

 so abundant in the Isle of Portland, that the common people gather its roots, prepare them as sago, and 

 send the produce to London, where it is sold as Portland sago. 



cent piles in the county ; the grounds beautifully varied and 

 richly wooded, were in part laid out by H. Repton. A village 

 was transplanted from the vicinity of the house, and erected in 

 a regular style in a distant situation. 



More Critchell, — Near Winbome; Charles Stewart, Esq. 

 This is a romantic seat, with an excellent mansion, command- 

 mg extensive views. 



Waterbourne Harrington, — near Dorchester ; Edward Wil- 

 liams, Esq. The hous^ is a large quadrangular building, and 

 the grounds contain some fine oaks, and chestnuts of the gi-owth 

 of two centuries and upwards. 



Sherborne Castle, — near Milton; Earl of Digby. Tla 

 mansion is a singular structure, in the form of a Roman M ; 

 the centre part was built by Sir W. Raleigh, and is dated 1514. 

 In the park is a grove, said to have been planted by Sir 

 Walter. The grounds were much improved from the designs 

 Earl of Dorchester. of Brown. 

 The house, by Sir W. Chambers, is one of the most magnit 



7599. SOMERSETSHIRE. A surface of 991,360 acres, hilly and stony towards the N.E , with ferns, 

 marshes, and moors, towards the centre; the remainder high and hilly. There was a carious market- 

 gardener at Bath, about 20 years ago, v/ho proposed ripening grapes under hand-glasses ; and in Switzer's 

 lime, there was a seat there abounding in curious water- works. Salter is the principal florist and nursery- 

 man, and has published a tract on florists' flowers. There are also good nurseries at Taunton, Froome, 

 and Bridgewater. 



Bryanslone House, — E. B. Portman, Esq- ; near Poole. A 

 splendid modem mansion, and extensive and beautifully varied 

 grounds. The gardens in a high state of cultivation and keep- 

 ing, and the whole one of the first residences in the county. 



Bncome, — near Kimeridge ; William Morton Pitt, Esq. The 

 situation is extremely fine, and the grounds are dis]iosed with 

 much taste. On this estate, in 175,7, was found a mushroom 

 that weighed eight pounds, was fifteen inches long, ten round, 

 eight deep, and the section almost in the form of the figure 8. 



Kingston Hall, — near Poole ; Henry Bankes, Esq. The 

 house was erected in 1663, and is large and substantial. 

 The kitchen-garden is well attended, and the park-scenery 

 good. 



LidlwoHh Castle, — near LuUworth; T. Wild, Esq- The 

 house? is a noble pile ; the park occupies a circuit of nearly four 



