168 
The gardening World. 
November 14, 1885. 
“THE DUKERIES.” 
Theke is—said Mr. Bruce Findlay in a paper read 
at the last meeting of the Manchester Horticultural 
Improvement Society—no county in England which 
contains so many stately homes in so confined a space as 
does Nottingham. Take up a map of that fine shire and 
notice the number of ancestral houses grouped amid 
wooded undulations and spacious parks. There are the 
Dukeries, amid the sylvan seclusion of Sherwood Forest, 
right in the heart of Robin Hood’s country, and embracing 
the estates of the Duke of Newcastleat Clumber, theDuke 
of Portland at Welbeck, and that of Earl Manvers at 
Thoresby ; whilst adjoining are broad acres of swelling 
hill, devious valley, and belted woodland belonging to 
the Dukes of Norfolk, Rutland, and St. Albans. Near 
by is Newstead Abbey, where Lord Byron lived, and 
Anersley Hall, where he loved and lost Mary Chaworth. 
Taking Nottingham houses in alphabetical order, he 
mentioned such retreats as Babworth, Bestwood, Bram- 
cote, Bunny, Chilwell, Clifton (some of his hearers 
would remember Kirke White’s Clifton Grove), Colston 
Bassett, Flintham Grove, Kulliain, Kirklington, Nor¬ 
wood, Osberton, Oxton, Rampton, Rufford, Sherwood 
Lodge, Stapleford, Tliumpton, Watnalls, and Worksop 
Manor. Engaging as the majority of these places are, 
not only by reason of their architecture and associations 
but by virtue of their scenic surroundings amid old 
oak forests in which Saxon hid and Norman hunted, 
none of them are so interesting, so curious, so at¬ 
tractive, so astonishing, and so eccentric as "Welbeck. 
By its vast size, and its startling surprises, it is 
calculated very considerably to enlarge what the 
phrenologists call the bump of wonder. 
Welbeck Abbey. —Assume that the visitor 
approached Welbeck from Worksop ; the sun lies warm 
and bright on the grassy meads and wooded uplands 
of the Sherwood country. Suddenly, and without 
seeming warning, your horses leave the light, the visitor 
plunges into a resounding dim vault ; he might have 
been precipitated into the Catacombs. This subter¬ 
ranean carriage-way is but one of the many interminable 
tunnels with which the late Duke of Portland per¬ 
forated Welbeck and its approaches. He is reported 
to have spent between two and three millions sterling 
in making these vast underground walks, drives, and 
hall, some miles in extent. r l he kitchens too, are sub¬ 
terranean, and the dishes are conveyed to the guests in 
the Abbey above by a miniature railway and an 
hydraulic lift. The library, a magnificent building, 
as well as the noble picture gallery crowded with 
works of art, and the reading rooms are also below the 
ground line. The picture gallery is 236 ft. long and 
illuminated by 1,100 burners. This gave access to a 
further subterranean hall of splendid proportions and 
delightful appointments. It is meant for a ball-room. 
Like all other chambers it was excavated out of the solid 
clay at a fabulous expense of time and capital. 
Internally these cavernous buildings are perfectly 
cheerful and most lavishly decorated ; the word palatial 
conveys but a remote impression of their grandeur. 
Externally all one sees is a lawn diversified with shrubs, 
broken here and there by a disc of glass, which sends 
natural light below, and small iron structures that are 
the ventilators for the gas. The lodges also on the estate 
are treated also to the late Duke’s mole-like mania. 
The death of this eccentric nobleman cut short further 
designs suggestive of the ancient cave period. At the 
date of his death, December 1879, the beautiful 
surroundings of Welbeck Abbey were in the possession 
of an army of artificiers and navvies carrying out the 
capricious nobleman’s designs. Shedding and work¬ 
shops, forge-fires andmachinery in motion,had converted 
a fairy scene into a huge contractor’s yard. By his death 
two thousand men, who had worked there for years, were 
thrown out of employment. It was not likely that the 
young Duke, if he would preserve his reputation for 
sanity would prolong the proceedings of his predecessor. 
Oddities of the Duke of Portland. —William 
John Cavendish Scott Bentinck, fifth Duke of Portland, 
was certainly no ordinary nobleman. History might 
be searched in vain for another such patrician. He 
stood alone in the solitude of his own odd, isolating 
originality. His character was a study. Why did he 
build underground ? It was not for want of space 
above. The Bentincks own 160,000 acres. He built 
magnificent stables, but he never strode a horse ; he 
built a ball-room, which is almost without a rival, but 
he never danced ; he erected skating rinks, but never 
skated. He was called the “ Invisible Prince,” because 
of the air of mystery with which he clothed himself. 
A member of four leading London clubs, he never 
entered their portals. His shooting and hunting jiarties 
were unsurpassed, but he never saw his invited guests. 
He cultivated flowers and fruits whose fragrance and 
flavour never ministered to his enjoyment. He bred 
trout by the 40,000 a year, and yet he was not an 
angler ; a great farmer, but agriculture attracted him 
not. “Can’t you leave me alone?” was the life-long 
aspiration of the Hermit of Welbeck the Wonderful. 
He lived to his eightieth year. 
Thoresby and Clumber. —Speaking of Thoresby, 
the seat of Earl Manvers, Fir. Findlay said the garden 
there is one of the best kept ever visited by him, and 
reflected great credit upon the noble owner and his able 
gardener. The noble mansion may be considered as 
one of the most splendid modern additions to the long 
roll of baronial houses that dot the land so pleasantly, 
and with their parks and avenues give us some of the 
finest thoughts of England and its people in their 
national home-like character. Clumber, the seat of the 
Duke of Newcastle, which was built about 1770, and 
was destroyed by fire a few years ago, occupied a central 
position on the north side of the lake, and was said to 
embrace more magnificence and comfort than any other 
nobleman’s seat in England. Let them leave the build¬ 
ings and wander at will about the green glades. 
The Sherwood Oaks. —Tennyson’s Talking Oak is 
a modern shoot compared with some of the historic 
trees of the Dukeries. The age of the Greendale Oak, 
the Methuselah of its race, has been estimated at 
1,500 years. It is still alive, comfortably supported, 
as a patriarch should be, with crutches under his 
arms, Robin Hood’s Larder, like the Greendale Oak, 
has lost his heart, but in the veins of his great 
sinewy gnarled limbs the life-sap flows freely. This 
tree, sometimes called the Shambles Oak and some¬ 
times the Butcher’s Shambles, had its inside burnt 
wantonly out by a party of picnickers from Sheffield 
in the summer of 1878. The idyllic scenery could not 
have had much influence over such savage minds. The 
venerable tree is now held together by chains, a charred 
remnant of its former glory. Close by there are other 
patriarchal Oaks bearing specific names. After passing 
the Central Oak comes the Major Oak, in whose hollow 
trunk a dozen people may dine, and round the trunk 
twenty people may join hands. Though the inside of 
the tree has gone, its branches retain their pristine 
freshness. The Parliament Oak is another veteran of 
Sherwood Forest, so called because Edward the First 
held a parliament under the amplitude of its shadow 
600 years ago. The whole of this country of the 
Dukeries is picturesque. There are woodland wander¬ 
ings in these old-world glades of ancient Oaks and silvery 
Birches that will make one wish he were an Orlando to 
linger in such an Arden, even if he did not find his 
Rosalind. The spaces between the gnarled old Oaks 
has been filled up with delicate Birch trees. The con¬ 
trasts between the lady of the wood and the scathed, 
grey, sturdy, tottering old Oaks is poetically suggestive ; 
it is the contrast between the bent, tottering, seamed, 
and furrowed old man and the winsome maiden, soft 
and tender, smiling with fairness and beauty. It is 
the contrast between May and December, age and 
youth, life and death, hope anddespair. 
-- 
THE DEODARS, MEOPHAM. 
Picturesquely situated close to a main road stands 
The Deodars, Meopham, in grounds well studded with 
fine specimens of Cedrus Deodora, from which it derives 
its name. The mansion is approached by a beautiful 
drive, to the right of which, on the lawn, stands a fine 
specimen of the mammoth tree, Sequoia (Wellingtonia) 
gigantea, planted twenty years ago. It has reached 
the height of 60 ft., has a girth measurement of 5 ft., 
and being sheltered by a row of Chichester Elms, Ulmus 
glabra variegata, the situation suits it well. Previous 
to my visit great alterations had been in progress, a 
large space being thrown into the lawn, dotted here and 
there with ornamental trees and shrubs, including such 
handsome conifers as Picea nobilis, P. Nordmanniana, 
P. Pinsapo; also Cupressus Lawsoniana, C. Lawsoniana 
gracilis, Thuja aurea, T. Sieboldi, and many others. 
From the mansion to the stables is another drive, 
between raised banks thickly planted with gold and 
silver Hollies well set with berries. 
The Conservatory, which is 40 ft. long, 20 ft. wide, 
and 25 ft. high, is well stocked with plants, including 
some fine specimen Camellias, such as C. alba plena, 
fimbriata alba, Lady Hume’s Blush, and many others. 
Of Tree Ferns, there are grand specimens of Alsophila 
excelsa, Dicksonia antarctica, Blechnum corcovadense, 
and Lomaria gibba ; and of large Palms, Corypha aus¬ 
tralis, Areca lutescens, Latania borbonica, &e. Tacsonia 
Tan Yolxemi, Solanum jasminoides, Lapageria rosea 
climb along the roof, and are flowering freely. Am ong 
flowering plants I noted Lasiandra macrantlia, Polygala 
cordata, grand flowering specimens; also the old 
Libonia floribunda. Other Ferns noted were a grand 
specimen of Neotopteris Australasica, and Nephrolepis 
exaltata, Platycerium alcicorne, and many others. In 
a small span-roofed stove were some good Crotons, C. 
Disraeli, C. pictum, C. Yeitchi, C. majestieus, C. 
"Wiesmanni, a grander specimen seldom seen ; Dracaena 
Baptisti, D. Bausei, D. Fraseri, and many others ; 
Anthurium crystallinum, a grand pdant ; Dieffenbachia 
Bausei, Pandanus Yeitchii, and Alocasia metallica 
among the foliage plants ; and Stephanotis floribunda, 
Allamanda Hendersoni, climbing the roof; Euphorbias, 
Poinsettias, and the old Tabnermemontana coronaria, 
Hibiscus, Centropogon Lucyanus, among flowering 
plants. Suspended from the roof were Stanhopea 
grandiflora, and Ccelogyne cristata, the pseudobulbs 
looking plump and well grown. Of other Orchids, 
Dendrobium nobile, Oncidium flexuosum, and Leelia 
anceps, were showing blooms ; Zygopetalums and 
Cypripediums are also in variety. 
From the stove we entered the warm greenhouse, 
10 ft. by 12 ft., chiefly used for propagating Pelargoniums 
and other plants ; and in which Marechal Niel, and 
Gloire de Dijon, Roses are grown for early cutting ; 
Cyclamen, Cineraria, and Primulas are also grown. On 
one side are Tomatos trained to the roof, Dedham 
Favourite, Hackwood Park, Trophy, and a seedling of 
Mr. Phillips’ own—a free setter, and good in size and 
quality. Salvia rutilans and S. coccinea are flowering 
freely. 
The next house is a vinery, 60 ft. long, 20 ft. wide, 
and 20 ft. high. This is for early forcing, Black Ham- 
burghs being chiefly grown. The vines are planted on 
each side, and amongst them are a few late sorts, such 
as Gros Colmar, which is specially well done, having 
large berries and handsome bunches ; Lady Downe’s 
Seedling, covered with a dense bloom ; Alicantes, also 
well grown, and Duke of Buecleucli, which is worthy 
of sjiecial mention—it does so well with good manage¬ 
ment. 
Leaving this structure, we enter a Peach-house and 
vinery combined, 60 ft. long and 20 ft. wide, in which 
Grapes are grown on one side, Peaches on the other. 
No doubt, some of your readers will wonder how these 
can be grown well in the same house, but it is done. 
Mr. Phillips, whose skill and perseverance counts for a 
great deal, succeeded in gathering good crops of Early 
Beatrice and Hale’s Early (early varieties) in good con¬ 
dition, and Royal George, Violette Hative, and Crimson 
Galande, later sorts. The principal Grapes grown are 
Gros Colmar, Foster’s Seedling, Trebbiano, and Syrian, 
which produces the largest bunches, some of them 
weighing about 10 lbs. the bunch. This is the second 
year of trial, and the fruit gathered was extremely 
good. 
There is also a late Peach-house, 30 ft. by 20 ft., 
which has recently been built, and contains Royal 
George and Barrington Peaches, Elruge, Hardwicke, 
and Pine Apple Nectarines ; and the trees look 
promising for a future crop. On the border were a col¬ 
lection of early-flowering Chrysanthemums in pots, and 
one mass of bloom, such as Lyon, Mdme. C. Desgrange, 
Jardin des Plantes, Frederick Marronet, Precocite, and 
many others useful for decorating early. 
A considerable amount of space is allotted to the 
fruit garden. Pears do well here as pyramids, 
especially snch varieties as Beurre Superfin, Beurre 
Diel, Beurre d’Amanlis, Williams’s Bon Chretien, Louise 
Bonne of Jersey, Marie Louise, Josephine de Malines, 
and many others. Apples are chiefly grown as 
standards, Blenheim Orange, Stirling Castle, The Queen, 
Lord Suffleld, Ribston Pippin, Cox's Orange Pippin, and 
many other good varieties. Of Plums, Prince Engle- 
bert, Washington, Green Gage, Coe’s Golden Drop, and 
Victoria are the main varieties, and the trees are all 
looking healthy. The kitchen garden is about half an 
acre in extent, and along the borders were a few good 
standard Roses ; Cauliflowers, Veitch's Autumn Giant, 
and Aigburth Brussels Sprouts were excellent, and 
other crops also looked well. — T. H. H. 
