Some English Gardens

Part 1

SOME ENGLISH GARDENS

FROM THE PICTURE IN THE POSSESSION OF MR. GEORGE E. B. WREY]

SOME ENGLISH GARDENS

AFTER DRAWINGS BY GEORGE S. ELGOOD, R.I. WITH NOTES BY GERTRUDE JEKYLL

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1904

PREFACE

The publication of this collection of reproductions of water-colour drawings would have been impossible without the willing co-operation of the owners of the originals. Special acknowledgment is therefore due to them for their kindness and courtesy, both in consenting to such reproduction and in sparing the pictures from their walls. On pages xi. and xii. is given a full list of the pictures, together with the names of the owners to whom we are so greatly indebted.

We have also had the valuable assistance of Mr. Marcus B. Huish, of The Fine Art Society, who has taken the greatest interest in the work from its inception.

G. S. E.

G. J.

CONTENTS

Page

Brockenhurst 1 Hollyhocks at Blyborough 5 Great Tangley Manor 8 Bulwick Hall 11 Bramham 15 Melbourne 18 Berkeley Castle 23 Summer Flowers 26 The Yew Alley, Rockingham 33 Brympton 36 Balcaskie 39 Crathes Castle 42 Kellie Castle 47 Hardwick 52 Montacute 55 Ramscliffe 58 Levens 63 Campsey Ashe 67 Cleeve Prior 70 Condover 74 Speke Hall 76 Garden Roses 79 Penshurst 82 Brickwall 87 Stone Hall, Easton 90 The Deanery Garden, Rochester 93 Compton Wynyates 96 Palmerstown 99 St. Anne’s, Clontarf 101 Auchincruive 104 Yew Arbour: Lyde 107 Autumn Flowers 110 Mynthurst 115 Abbey Leix 118 Michaelmas Daisies 121 Arley 125 Lady Coventry’s Needlework 129

ILLUSTRATIONS

From Pictures in the possession of To face page

Phlox Mr. George E. B. Wrey Frontispiece The Terrace, Brockenhurst Mr. G. N. Stevens 2 Brockenhurst: The Garden Gate Miss Radcliffe 4 Blyborough: Hollyhocks Mr. C. E. Freeling 6 The Pergola, Great Tangley Mr. Wickham Flower 8 Bulwick: Autumn Lord Henry Grosvenor 11 Bulwick: The Gateway Lord Henry Grosvenor 12 The Pool, Bramham Sir James Whitehead, Bart 16 Melbourne Mr. W. V. R. Fane 18 Melbourne: Amorini Mr. J. W. Ford 20 The Lower Terrace, Berkeley Castle Mr. Albert Wright 24 Orange Lilies and Larkspur Mr. George C Bompas 26 White Lilies and Yellow Monkshood Mr. Herbert D. Turner 28 Purple Campanula Miss Beatrice Hall 30 The Yew Alley, Rockingham Miss Willmott 34 The Gateway, Brympton Mr. Edwin Clephan 36 The Apollo, Balcaskie Miss Bompas 40 The Yew Walk, Crathes Mr. Charles P. Rowley 42 Crathes Mr. George C. Bompas 44 Crathes: Phlox Mrs. Croft 46 Kellie Castle Mr. Arthur H. Longman 48 The Forecourt, Hardwick Mr. Aston Webb 52 Montacute: Sunflowers Mr. E. C. Austen Leigh 56 Ramscliffe: Orange Lilies and Monkshood Mr. C. E. Freeling 58 Ramscliffe: Larkspur Miss Kensit 60 Levens Major Longfield 63 Levens: Roses and Pinks Mrs. Archibald Parker 65 The Yew Hedge, Campsey Ashe Mr. H. W. Search 68 The Twelve Apostles, Cleeve Prior Sir Frederick Wigan 70 Cleeve Prior: Sunflowers Mr. James Crofts Powell 72 Condover: The Terrace Steps Miss Austen Leigh 74 Speke Hall Mr. George S. Elgood 76 “Viscountess Folkestone” Mr. R. Clarke Edwards 80 “Gloire de Dijon,” Penshurst Sir Reginald Hanson, Bart. 82 Penshurst: The Terrace Steps Mr. Frederick Greene 84 Brickwall, Northiam Mr. R. A. Oswald 88 Stone Hall, Easton: The Friendship Garden The Countess of Warwick 90 The Deanery Garden, Rochester Mr. G. A. Tonge 94 Compton Wynyates Mr. George S. Elgood 96 China Roses and Lavender, Palmerstown Mrs. Kennedy-Erskine 99 St. Anne’s, Clontarf Miss Mannering 102 Auchincruive Mr. R. A. Oswald 104 The Yew Arbour, Lyde Mr. George E. B. Wrey 107 Phlox and Daisy Lady Mount-Stephen 112 Mynthurst Miss Radcliffe 116 Abbey-Leix Sir James Whitehead, Bart. 118 Michaelmas Daisies, Munstead Wood Mr. T. Norton Longman 122 The Alcove, Arley Mrs. Campbell 125 The Rose Garden, Arley Mrs. Huth 126 Lady Coventry’s Needlework Mrs. Appleton 129

BROCKENHURST

The English gardens in which Mr. Elgood delights to paint are for the most part those that have come to us through the influence of the Italian Renaissance; those that in common speech we call gardens of formal design. The remote forefathers of these gardens of Italy, now so well known to travellers, were the old pleasure-grounds of Rome and the neighbouring districts, built and planted some sixteen hundred years ago.

Though many relics of domestic architecture remain to remind us that Britain was once a Roman colony, and though it is reasonable to suppose that the conquerors brought their ways of gardening with them as well as their ways of building, yet nothing remains in England of any Roman gardening of any importance, and we may well conclude that our gardens of formal design came to us from Italy, inspired by those of the Renaissance, though often modified by French influence.

Very little gardening, such as we now know it, was done in England earlier than the sixteenth century. Before that, the houses of the better class were places of defence; castles, closely encompassed with wall or moat; the little cultivation within their narrow bounds being only for food--none for the pleasure of garden beauty.

But when the country settled down into a peaceful state, and men could dwell in safety, the great houses that arose were no longer fortresses, but beautiful homes both within and without, inclosing large garden spaces, walled with brick or stone only for defence from wild animals, and divided or encompassed with living hedges of yew or holly or hornbeam, to break wild winds and to gather on their sunny sides the life-giving rays that flowers love.

So grew into life and shape some of the great gardens that still remain; in the best of them, the old Italian traditions modified by gradual and insensible evolution into what has become an English style. For it is significant to observe that in some cases, where a classical model has been too rigidly followed, or its principles too closely adhered to, that the result is a thing that remains exotic--that will not assimilate with the natural conditions of our climate and landscape. What is right and fitting in Italy is not necessarily right in England. The general principles may be imported, and may grow into something absolutely right, but they cannot be compelled or coerced into fitness, any more than we can take the myrtles and lentisks of the Mediterranean region and expect them to grow on our middle-England hill-sides. This is so much the case, with what one may call the temperament of a region and climate, that even within the small geographical area of our islands, the comparative suitability of the more distinctly Italian style may be clearly perceived, for on our southern coasts it is much more possible than in the much colder and bleaker midlands.

Thus we find that one of the best of the rather nearly Italian gardens is at Brockenhurst in the New Forest, not far from the warm waters of the Solent. The garden, in its present state, was laid out by the late Mr. John Morant, one of a long line of the same name owning this forest property. He had absorbed the spirit of the pure Italian gardens, and his fine taste knew how to bring it forth again, and place it with a sure hand on English soil.

It is none the less beautiful because it is a garden almost without flowers, so important and satisfying are its permanent forms of living green walls, with their own proper enrichment of ball and spire, bracket and buttress, and so fine is the design of the actual masonry and sculpture.

The large rectangular pool, known as the Canal, bordered with a bold kerb, has at its upper end a double stair-way; the retaining wall at the head of the basin is cunningly wrought into buttress and niche. Every niche has its appropriate sculpture and each buttress-pier its urn-like finial. On the upper level is a circular fountain bordered by the same kerb in lesser proportion, with stone vases on its circumference. The broad walk on both levels is bounded by close walls of living

FROM THE PICTURE IN THE POSSESSION OF MR. G. N. STEVENS]

greenery; on the upper level swinging round in a half circle, in which are cut arched niches. In each leafy niche is a bust of a Cæsar in marble on a tall term-shaped pedestal. Orange trees in tubs stand by the sides of the Canal. This is the most ornate portion of the garden, but its whole extent is designed with equal care. There is a wide bowling-green for quiet play; turf walks within walls of living green; everywhere that feeling of repose and ease of mind and satisfaction that comes of good balance and proportion. It shows the classical sentiment thoroughly assimilated, and a judicious interpretation of it brought forth in a form not only possible but eminently successful, as a garden of Italy translated into the soil of one of our Southern Counties.

Whether or not it is in itself the kind of gardening best suited for England may be open to doubt, but at least it is the work of a man who knew what he wanted and did it as well as it could possibly be done. Throughout it bears evidence of the work of a master. There is no doubt, no ambiguity as to what is intended. The strong will orders, the docile stone and vegetation obey. It is full-dress gardening, stately, princely, full of dignity; gardening that has the courtly sentiment. It seems to demand that the actual working of it should be kept out of sight. Whereas in a homely garden it is pleasant to see people at work, and their tools and implements ready to their hands, here there must be no visible intrusion of wheelbarrow or shirt-sleeved labour.

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