Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust
- Spring, 1999
7546. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.
A surface of 318,400 acres, hilly, and abounding in some places in natural beech-woods, the soil rich, and on chalk. It does not abound in gardens or residences, but contains one long celebrated-Stow. The seedsmen procure many of their tree seeds from the natural woods of the county; as beech-mast, from Amersham and High Wycombe, and also hornbeam, holly, haws, and juniper. Some of the nurserymen procure their stocks from standard roses from the same woods, and from copse-woods at their periodical fellings, or when they are to be rooted out.
7547. Villas and demesne-residences.
Bulstrode,- near Beaconsfield; the Duke of Somerset. The house is in no respect remarkable; the park contains 5000 acres, abounding in old oak and beeches. The gardens were formerly kept in good order, and also the farm.
Chalfont House,- near Chalfont St. Giles; in 1800, Thomas Hibbert, Esq. The grounds were laid out by the former possessor with much taste and judgment; and are finely ornamented with wood, and adorned with a pleasant piece of water. The gardens, in Mr. Hibbert's time, were richly stocked with tender exotics, especially heaths, and other Cape plants.
Cliefden,- near Woburn (Bedf.); a seat founded by George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Charles II. Burnt down in 1795. The grounds are finely varied by woods, which descend on the side of a steep hill to the Thames, and are celebrated by Pope in his Moral Essays.
Fawley Court,- near Fingest; Strickland Freeman Esq. The mansion is handsome and spacious with four fronts: it was built in l684, from a design of Sir Christopher Wren. The grounds round the house are rather flat; but the distant scenery is hilly, well wooded and the windings of the Thames are seen along a beautiful vale.
Hall Barn,- near Beaconsfield; Edmund Waller, Esq. descendant of the poet, by whom the grounds were laid out in the ancient style, verging into a sort of wildness at the extremities of the walks. The ground near the banqueting-house has been moved and remodelled by the poet at very considerable cost, and the place, on the whole, must have deserved the encomiums that were made on it when in its perfection, and in high keeping; at present it is rather neglected.
Hedsor Lodge,- near Woburn; Lord Frederick Boston. The house is modern and elegant; the grounds are distinguished for their high sloping hills, deep valleys, and the wild luxuriance of the woods, which, combining with the bold swells or abrupt depressions of the surface, produces some very beautiful and picturesque scenery. The view from the brow of the hill, with the village church: the winding Thames, and the distant hills clothed with beech-wood, is very fine (1800).
Latimers,- near Chesham; Lord George Cavendish. A small place of no great note, but here introduced, because referrcd to by G. Mason as having been laid out by Brown.
Shardeloes,- near Amersham; T. D. T. Drake, Esq. The house is a respectable modern edifice, from a design by M. Adams, it is situated on the brow of a hill, overlooking a broad sheet of water, planned by Bridgeman. The park is much varied in surface, and richly clothed with beechwoods.
Stoke Park,- near Stoke Pogies; John Penn, Esq. The house was built in 1789, from the designs of James Wyatt, Esq.; and the grounds laid out by H. Repton, are beautiful, though of limited extent.
Woburn Farm,- near Woburn; Earl Wharton (1770). This place was laid out as a ferme ornee, and was celebratcd in the time of Wheatley, who gives a full description of it. It is now entirely obliterated, and the grounds let as a common farm. Wycombe Abbey,- near Wycombe; Lord Carrington. The house situated in a bottom, has lately been much improved in the Gothic style by Wyall. The grounds contain a curious artificial cascade, executed by J. Lane, a stonemason who executed the cascade al Bowood, in Wiltshire, and is celebrated for his talentin this way. The park contains 200 acres, well wooded and watered, and bounded on the south by high hills.
Wycombe Park,- near Wycombe; Sir J. D. King, Bart. The house is small, by W. Ware, in the Grecian style and elegant. The grounds form part of a vale, bordered by a stream, and are deservedly much admired for their wood and water. They were laid out by Brown, and received some improvements from H. Repton.
7548. The following are first rate residences:
Ashridge Park,- near Hempsted; Earl of Bridgewater. The ancient abbey, lately pulled down, and a magnificent Gothic mansion, erected from the designs of J. Wyatt in 1815. The park is five miles in circumference, pleasingly varied with hill and dale, and furnished with some very fine oak and beech trees. The gardens are extensive; the culinary department is under the care of T. Torbron from Kew, an excellent gardener; and the flowergarden contains several acres, full of variety, and laid out from the designs of H. Replon, Esq. in 1814. The farm is managed by a Northumbrian bailiff.
Stow,- near Buckingham; Marquis of Buckingham. The chief ornament of the county, and celebrated for nearly a century for its gardens. When beheld at a distance, this place appears like a vast grove, interspersed with columns, obelisks, and towers, which apparently emerge from a luxuriant mass of foliage. The gardens, obtained their celebrity from the alterations effected by Lord Cobham, in the early part of the last century. The first artist employed was Bridgeman whose drawings are still in possession of the marquis. Stowe was the most eminent place in the ancient style, and set the fashion of employing numerous statues and architectural ornaments.
Kent was called in probably about 1755 or 1760; he abolished several
formalities; and among other improvements substituted the sunk fence for the
high wall. A stranger, in passing through the grounds, is astonished at the
number, the beauty, and the magnificence of the buildings; and the house, With
its extended front, elevated site, and extensive prospects is a truly grand
object. The gardens of every kind are kept in high order, especially the
flower-gardens, lawns, and shrubberies. The buildings and older objects are too
numerous to be even enumerated here; a copious account to them, accompanied by
plates, will be found in Seely's Description of Stow.
September 9, 1999