RICHMOND SCENERY AGAIN IN PERIL. 93 
RICHMOND SCENERY AGAIN IN PERIL. 
seems only a month or two ago that readers of Nature 
w j Notes had their attention directed to a scheme for- 
I mulated by the Dysart Trustees by which, under the 
specious plea of “ developing ” their estate, Richmond 
and its neighbourhood was to be deprived of the larger portion 
of Petersham Wood, and approximately three miles of the new 
embankment won from the bed of the river Thames by public 
money — a most invaluable endowment to river lovers. In place 
of the hawthorn glades, oak woods, and breezy river side, they 
were willing to bestow upon us square miles of jerry-built streets, 
and a macadamised river road. By good fortune the deed of 
Charles I., which made the Dysarts lords of the manor, also gave 
rights to the inhabitants of Petersham, and brought into play the 
powers of the Richmond Corporation, whose consent being with- 
held, the scheme fell through. Any renewal of these attempts 
upon public right will unquestionably be watched with the most 
jealous eyes by the local Selbornians and others interested in 
the preservation of the scenery of this admired district. What 
cannot be done by hook, may sometimes be done by crook, 
and a flank movement may turn the enemy’s position when a 
direct attack would fail. There has been an increment in the 
value of land from the builder’s and landlord’s points of view, 
which must not go unappropriated, though the whole charm of 
the district go with the operation ! So the landholders are 
eager to turn this value to account, and now once again the 
much vaunted scenery from the Terrace, and Thomson’s Walk 
in Richmond Park, are in peril, and this time by a much more 
insidious and powerful attack — by the exercise of private rights 
of building. Between Sudbrook Park, wrested from the builders 
in 1888 by the efforts of the Selborne Society, and Petersham 
Park, the happy playground of London children when they 
make holiday, are the grounds of Bute House, a domain of 
grassy tree-shaded vistas, a most important element in the view 
from Thomson’s Walk, marching as it does with the walls of 
the Park for a considerable distance. 
Only a few years ago this land and house came into the 
market and was acquired by a local resident of considerable social 
and public position, who was — notwithstanding his position as 
adviser to the Dysart Trustees — by his generous gifts to the town 
of Richmond, and assistance rendered in the acquisition of the 
lovely Terrace Gardens, credited with having the peculiar scenic 
possessions of Richmond in as high regard as any other resident. 
It is therefore with a shock of surprise that one learns from 
undeniable sources that the Bute estate is already marked out 
with lines of pegs for streets of brand-new villas, that the old 
house is to be taken down, the lawns destroyed and stately 
trees rooted up, and another wilderness of houses added to 
