62 
of steps is slightly wider at the bottom than the top, and that the balls, instead of being quite circular, 
are flattened, two little variations worthy of notice. The terrace is raised some five feet above the garden 
level, and the balusters are 18 inches from centre to centre, and 2 feet 8 inches high, the piers being 
spaced 12 feet apart. 
WALL GATEWAYS. 
PLATE 121. 
S the point at which a garden is entered, the frame, as it were, which is to disclose 
a view within, any architectural design devoted to a gateway will not be lost. Take 
for example the gateway shown on Plate 103, leading up to the old-fashioned 
Manor House at Sydenham ; how inviting it looks, with its moss-grown piers and 
time-worn gates! Innumerable examples of old gateways are to be met with ; but 
those shown on Plate 121 are gateways set in walls as distinct from those having 
gatepiers and forming independent structures in themselves. 
The gateway from Penshurst Place is of Tudor date, and forms the entrance to the churchyard from 
the garden. It is flanked on either side by buttresses, and over the arch has the armorial bearings of 
the Sidneys. The example from the garden at Earlshall is of stone, and though having a somewhat 
.ancient appearance, is of quite modern date. Its quaint motto is particularly fitting in such a position, 
and the one over the porch at Montacute 1 is also very appropriate. 
The gateway leading to the forecourt of the interesting Elizabethan Manor House at Cold Ashton, 
near Bath, belonging to the early part of the seventeenth century, stands high from the road and has 
three semicircular steps, with a mounting block at the side. The iron gates have been removed and are 
replaced by wooden ones. The gateway is flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature, over which is 
the coat of arms of the Gunning family, consisting of a lion’s head, and paws holding a shield with 
three guns. The height from the top step to the top of the cornice is 12 feet 6 inches. 
The other example given forms the entrance to the Almshouses at Oundle in Northamptonshire. 
The three curious obelisks supported on little balls, a very favourite Italian device, lend a quaint 
aspect to the gateway. The opening is quite small, being only 2 feet 9 inches wide, and 6 feet 3 inches 
high. 
MAZE S. 
PLATE 122. 
A.ZES and labyrinths may be traced from very early days. In England they are 
mentioned in the thirteenth century, when we read how fair Rosamund met her 
fate, in the labyrinth which concealed her bower, at the hands of the jealous Queen 
Eleanor. In early days a maze consisted of low hedges of privet, box, or hyssop, 
and William Lawson, writing in 1618, says: “Mazes well framed, of a man’s 
height, may perhaps make your friend wander in gathering of berries till he cannot 
recover himself without your helpe.” 
One of the earliest designs for a maze is that given in the quaint little work of Thomas Hill, “The 
1 See description of Plates 1-5. 
