January 18,19?4. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
53 
THE FERNERY AT IMPNEY, DROITWICH. 
A DISUSED gravel pit, close to the mansion, and surrounded by lofty 
Horse Chestnut trees, formed a suitable site for a fernery, and in 1890 
this handsome building, which is 150 feet long and 60 feet wide, was 
completed. The fernery is approached by rugged steps, planted with 
hardy Ferns, Ivies, and other plants. The building is heated by a 
powerful boiler, which is 160 yards away, and the six 6-inch pipes are 
hidden by built-up rockwork, of course allowing spaces for the heat to 
escape into the house. The rocks, caves, steps, and bridges are formed 
with tufa stone, brought from Matlock Bath, about 200 tons being 
used. The water, which enters at the north end, forms a dripping cave^ 
and runs in a winding stream the full length of the house, and goldfish 
luxuriate here. 
The picturesque appearance and the absence of studied artificial 
lofty spaces, and they are telling objects in the fernery. One is filled 
with a mass of Platycerium alcicorne (the Stagshorn Fern), brought to 
this country by Lord Somers ; another with a monster plant of Asple- 
nium foeniculaceum. There are huge masses suspended of Adiantum 
cuneatum 5 feet in diameter, others of Woodwardias and other Ferns. 
One striking basket, suspended in a central position, filled with 
Asparagus plumosus, planted out early in the last year, is 8 feet 
through, and leading shoots have been trained up the chains, the pyra¬ 
midal mass being 10 feet high. 
The sides of the fernery are now well clothed, a very large number 
of Ferns having grown from the spores which have fallen from the 
suspended baskets on the walls, and syringing has been an assistance. 
With these are Ficus repens and other plants, and a large number of 
the fine-foliaged Begonias luxuriate here, adding much to the beauty of 
the place. At the base of the rockeries are carpets of Lycopods, Maiden¬ 
hair and other Ferns. Adiantum Williamsi is in fine character here, 
and a large p’ant of Monstera deliciosa planted out in the rockwork on 
Fig. 8.—the fernery AT IMPNEY. 
arrangement strikes one on entering the fernery. Much artistic taste 
has been displayed in working out the details, the water arrangements 
being in unison with the whole. When the erection of the building was 
decided upon, Mr. Corbett imported from New Zealand in 1887 fifty 
Tree Ferns of various sizes, all of which lived and formed handsome 
heads. A large group of Dicksonia antarctica form a conspicuous 
object, as also do the others in various parts of the fernery, some 
of them in elevated positions on the rockeries. It will easily be 
imagined that with so large a number of Tree Ferns alone, this 
fernery is bold in design and free from the crowding of rockwork so 
often met with. A Dicksonia squarrosa on a stout stem and in robust 
health claims notice, planted out on an elevated rockery, and a fine 
Dicksonia antarctica rears its majestic form. Another claimant for 
notice is a Todea africana in admirable health, and although on a 
trunk only about 2 feet high, is supposed to have existed for 200 years. 
Huge wirework and other baskets suspended from the roof are largely 
used here in places where the Tree Ferns are not occupying the more 
the margin of one of the pools has sent its roots down into the water, 
evidently enjoying its position. The building is lighted by electricity 
when needed, and there is a passage underground to the fernery from 
the mansion. The illustration (fig. 8) of the fernery has been repro¬ 
duced from a photograph taken by Messrs. Bedford, Lemere «k Co., 147, 
Strand, W.C. 
Impney well deserves more than a passing notice of its fernery, and 
it is generally known that fruit cultiva’ion is thoroughly well done here. 
On the occasion of my visit late in the summer there was abundant 
evidence of good crops. A large amount of glass is devoted to^ fruit 
culture, and plants receive their share of attention. Outdoor fruit cul¬ 
ture is also of a superior character, and very few gardens can show finer 
pyramidal as well as wall trees. Flower gardening likewise has a fair 
share of attention here, and long broad borders of Roses, the best kinds 
of herbaceous and other hardy plants, get ample attention. In front of 
the very beautiful mansion are b:oad terraces, with massive flights of 
stone steps leading from one terrace garden to the other. 
Impney has perhaps become so prominently known in connection 
