The Garden History Blog

Arundel Castle and the Collector Earl’s Garden

Posted on 02/02/2019 by The Garden History Blog

DM June 2018

I’ve been meaning to write about the gardens of Arundel Castle since I visited last summer with friends from the Birkbeck Garden History Group and discovered the new[ish] Collector Earl’s Garden with [amongst other things] Oberon’s Palace, a floating crown, and an amazing stumpery. I added it to the long list of possible future posts but something else always got in the way. However, my memory was jogged sharply when I discovered an account of the castle’s grounds – rather less than flattering – by John Claudius Loudon in 1829.

The main question now is whether to start with the good or the bad review…

https://medium.com/@gmarlowe/shot-the-2016-arundel-castle-tulip-festival-d07ccc98b104

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 17thc, arundel, Gardeners Magazine, inigo jones, John Claudius Loudon, mannerism, Norfolk, Stumperies, subtropical, sussex, tulips | Leave a comment

Austin & Seeley

Posted on 26/01/2019 by The Garden History Blog

Flora, thought to be c.1870

Many months ago I posted several pieces tracing the story of Eleanor Coade and her artificial stone, which ornamented elite buildings and gardens in the later 18thc. A later post looked at the work of Mark Blanchard and John Blashfield two of her successor companies, and today is a look at yet another: Felix Austin, who was much admired by John Claudius Loudon.

As is so often the case very little is accurately known about Austin or his story, but what is clear is that after an independent start he went into partnership with John Seeley and their company, Austin & Seeley, became one of the leaders in the field of architectural and garden ornaments by the mid-19th century supplying every one from the middle classes to Queen Victoria herself.

from Select Specimens of Austin and Seeley’s Works in Artificial Stone, June 1841

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged artificial stone, charles barry, Coade, fountain, francis chantrey, Gardeners Magazine, Great exhibition, John Blashfield, John Claudius Loudon, Mark Blanchard, Papworth, statues, swiss garden, sydney smirke, urns, vases, william nesfield | Leave a comment

Gardens through the letterbox…

Posted on 19/01/2019 by The Garden History Blog

Fort Belvedere “The Country Residence of His Majesty King Edward VIII”

A brightly coloured old postcard on a market stall caught my eye the other day , and it turned out to be one of a series of “Famous Old Gardens” produced sometime in the very early 20thc by the firm of Raphael Tuck.

detail from a card of Drummond Castle

The Italian Garden at Bowood

This series of cards are all in a very distinctive style, so I decided to track down Mr Tuck and more of his garden postcards to see if they’d make some light reading for the Saturday morning breakfast table, and indeed they do!

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Blackpool, Bowood, competition, Compton Place, Easton Lodge, Fort Belvedere, Gunnersbury, Hinchingbrooke, Mentmore, Postcard, Raphael Tuck, Warwick Castle, Wynard | 2 Comments

Anglesey Abbey

Posted on 12/01/2019 by The Garden History Blog

Anglesey Abbey Gardens with a Lady in White on a Grass Path holding a Parasol, by Edward Seago, 1949. National Trust

Just under a century ago two wealthy Anglo-American brothers, fanatical about horse racing bought a stud farm near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. They also wanted to enjoy the life of the huntin’ shootin’ and fishin’ set in the English countryside, and so looked for a suitable country house within relatively easy travel of Newmarket racecourse. In 1926 they ended up buying Anglesey Abbey a few miles north east of Cambridge for use during the summer months. They also agreed that whoever married first should sell his share in the estate to the other.

Huttleston Broughton, Lord Fairhaven, on the south lawn, by Alexander Christie, 1952.

The brothers, Huttleston and Henry Broughton began an immediate and very sympathetic restoration of the house, and later extending it further. By 1966 when Huttleston died Anglesey Abbey also had a garden that was inspirational. Graham Thomas, then the Garden Adviser to the National Trust which had just been bequeathed the estate wrote: “In these islands I have not seen any garden which resembles this huge layout. Its conception owes much to the gentle magnificence of the English landscape school of the 18thc but with its numerous formal vistas, often terminated or enhanced by valuable and ancient statuary, vases, urns and the like, it strikes an earlier note. At the same time the more intimate gardens around the house are modern in treatment [Gardeners Chronicle 23rd August 1967]. John Sales, Thomas’s successor at the Trust says it is the only post-modern garden he knows.”

The South Front, DM 2013

Read on to find out why…

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Anglesey Abbey, Arthur Hellyer, avenues, Copped Hall, dahlias, graham stuart thomas, herbaceous border, hyacinths, John Cheere, John Sales, Lanning Roper, lawns, Lord Fairhaven, National Trust, Roses, scheemakers, sculpture, snowdrops, Stowe, temple, winter garden | Leave a comment

2018 on the blog

Posted on 31/12/2018 by The Garden History Blog

Did you realise we’re walking through a Repton landscape?

This is a bonus post to celebrate the fact that it’s now 5 years to the day that I started this blog, to let you know how its been doing in 2018, and to give you the chance to test your memory with the annual quiz.

Readership has continued to rise: about 73,000 hits in 2018 compared with 46,000 hits last year, 37,000 in 2016, 25,000 in 2015 and about 7000 in 2014.

How did the National Trust get away with building a toboggan runs through that Grade 2* listed Gothic garden lodge?

There are now 377 signed up subscribers, and this is the 256th post which means I’ve probably written about half a million words of wisdom. [And with apologies for the terrible captions today].