Shropshire FORTH COMING EVENTS Shropshire Parks & Gardens Trust for Members and their Guests Parks & Gardens COMMITTEE

President: AEH Heber-Percy LL Trust Talks are held at the Shirehall in Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury. With the exception of Chairman: Tony Herbert 18 November meeting, which starts at 7pm, all talks start at 7.30pm.Members free, Guests Secretary: Mary King NEWSLETTER and Visitors very welcome – tickets £5 64 Falcons Way Shrewsbury No. 21, Autumn 2010 Thursday 21 October, 7.30pm SY3 8ZG Leighton Hall, Welshpool: The 01743 271824 development of its remarkable landscape [email protected] and Model Farm Speaker: Stephen Hughes, Head of the Survey Treasurer: Dermot Rooney Letter from the Chairman Branch of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales Events Secretary: Kathy Herbert Since the last Newsletter a General Election 01743 236127 has gone and a new Coalition government has Thursday 18 November 7.00pm been formed. So how will this affect Britain’s Reception to meet Steffie Shields from the Membership Daphne Capps parks and gardens you may ask? Association of Gardens Trusts who will Secretary: 01743 354540 The early indications have been promising. provide an update on the work of the AGT ‘A Lapfull of Windfalls’, by Clare Leighton, for Four After only a month in power an and then speak on the subject of Newsletter Editor: Belinda Cousens Hedges, 1935. announcement came from Greg Clark, Capability Brown and his Gardens 01743 718237 communities minister, that councils in [email protected] England are to get greater powers to stop Thursday 21 January 7.30pm developers building homes on gardens – a Big Happenings at Winterbourne Garden Members: Peter Dunhill Contents practice which has become known as ‘garden Speaker: Alison Darby, the curator in charge Fiona Grant grabbing’. The minister highlighted the of the big changes to Winterbourne’s house Yvonne Holyoak dilemma of gardens in the planning system and garden at the University of Birmingham John Thompson Millichope and the Pembertons whereby, until now, they have been classified in the same group of brownfield sites as th Thursday 17 February 7.30pm Website: www.shropshiregardens.org.uk The 18 Century Formal Garden at derelict factories and disused railway sidings. Croome Park – the National Trust’s rescue Walcot Action may have been taken only just in time. and regeneration of its historic landscape a Charity Reg. No: 1089258 Recent government figures suggest the Speaker: Michael Smith, Property Manager Rectory Wood Heritage Project proportion of houses built on previous with a wealth of knowledge about both the The Trust is a member of the Association of residential land, such as gardens, increased history and recent developments at Croome Garden Trusts: www.garden-trusts.org.uk from 1 in 10 in 1997 to 1 in 4 in 2008. Part of Visit: Kenilworth the problem is that gardens are usually much Thursday 24 March 6.30pm Please note that the opinions expressed in this cheaper and more convenient to develop than Annual General Meeting followed by newsletter are those of the contributors, and Welsh Marches Pomona industrial wasteland. refreshments and at 7.30pm by talk do not necessarily represent the views of the Welcoming the new policy Dr Simon Shropshire Parks & Gardens Trust or the The Restoration of Castle Bromwich Hall Book Reviews Thornton Wood, director of science and Gardens Speaker: Jean Draycott, Guide Editor learning at the Royal Horticultural Society with many years knowledge of the restoration went beyond the realms of protection saying of the gardens Forthcoming Events that the RHS ‘would like planning measures to go further than protecting existing gardens, to guarantee high-quality green space and

16 1 gardening opportunities in all new building Millichope Park and the Pembertons least well known; numerous contemporary Close: Landscape Design and Land Art in developments’. All of which sounds engravings suggesting possible sources of Scotland, photography by Allan Pollock- remarkably like the visionary policies of the Millichope Park is set on rising ground in inspiration; and engravings and watercolours Morris, published by Northfield Editions Bournville Village Trust over a hundred years Corvedale, and the present form of its of many features that no longer exist, £34.99 ago! designed landscape (a grade II* registered including urns which formed the focus of a Meanwhile, back in Shropshire, a well parkland) has evolved over several centuries. particular area and the many seats that whilst Published to coincide with an exhibition of organised campaign by residents in one of This article will focus particularly on the key modest in scale often occupied key positions work by this American photographer, this is Shrewsbury’s most attractive Victorian design elements which were introduced by the indicating where significant views might be much more than a book of photographs. Sir suburbs, Belle Vue, have successfully Revd. Robert Norgrave Pemberton, its owner had. Many such images come from private Roy Strong’s foreword, whilst referring to the campaigned against plans to build a five- in the early C19, while he was still rector at sketchbooks and, in the case of Enville, from challenge of the terrain and shortness of the bedroomed house in the mature grounds of 40 Church Stretton (see article on Rectory Wood Wedgwood’s ‘Green Frog’ service of 1773 flowering season, celebrates precisely that Belle Vue Gardens. Shropshire Council’s in Winter 2009/10 newsletter). created for the Empress Catherine of Russia. seasonality but most of all the strong sense of refusal seems fully in line with new place found in the great variety of more than government thinking, declaring that ‘the The earliest recorded phase of landscape The writers have used diagrams to telling 30 gardens illustrated. A brief introductory proposal would introduce a cramped suburban improvement dates from the mid C18 when effect , one showing the social networks that essay accompanies each entry, written by the style of backland development into the the More family began to enhance the setting linked the three creators, another listing the owner or designer (also represented by a existing historic conservation area, which of their early half-timbered house, influenced various features of the three gardens. This photograph) and thus providing a personal would remove characteristic open space and by the ‘English Landscape’ movement. They succinctly illustrates both the common introduction and insights into the concepts of which would be out of character with its were open to new fashions introduced from features, such as grotto, hermitage, cascades the design and challenges presented by the surroundings’. London and Europe, as well as the work of and statuary, and points out the differences so landscape setting. Perhaps 2010 will be seen as having been a their influential fellow-gentry in the Marches, that Enville alone has chinoiserie, but no good one for gardens! such as the Knight family (of Downton, Croft literary associations. For each property maps “Close” in the title, we are told, is used in the and Hafod), Uvedale Price at Foxley, and of sightlines are provided, including views Scottish dialect to describe a landscape so Tony Herbert Robert More at Linley Hall. beyond the boundaries. inspirational that heaven seems closer to earth Chairman in that place. Each garden is illustrated by In these new naturalistic parklands their At the time of their creation, it was The several images and amongst them the owners, and their eminent designers, favoured Leasowes that was the most famous of these photographer will be found to have indicated ASSOCIATION OF GARDEN TRUSTS classical buildings as eyecatchers. The More gardens. Much visited and much written the surrounding landscape, be it a glimpse of family of Millichope built an early, about, not least by Shenstone himself, it has the wild seashore beyond or the green pasture As Members of the Shropshire Parks & distinguished example as a monument for continued to have a lasting fascination, and of lowland slopes. The selection stretches Gardens Trust we are all also members of the family members: the Temple, of rotunda the wealth of information and quotations from Caithness, where Xa Tollemache has Association of Garden Trusts, to whom we form. It is the focus of views from the house contained here will only reinforce that status. redesigned a walled garden, to a sandy shore contribute £1.50 through our annual and pleasure grounds, being dramatically However, the accounts of Hagley and Enville in Dumfriesshire and a brief glimpse of a membership fee. The AGT has just issued for sited on high ground above the lakes. Dating are no less revelatory and, in the case of the labyrinth by Jim Buchanan. consultation a draft proposal for a feasibility from 1770, it was an important and influential latter, much of the information is being study to explore the options and possibility of early architectural commission in Shropshire revealed for the first time so that this hitherto Along with imposing images of well-known closer working with three related for George Steuart (whose later work quoted but little known landscape is here gardens such as Ian Hamilton Finlay’s Little organizations: the Garden History Society; included Attingham and also St.Chad’s). A brought to our notice in welcome detail. Sparta and Charles Jencks’ Garden of Cosmic the web resource based in York, Parks & further classical monument included an Speculation, we are introduced to the work of Gardens UK; and the Garden Museum based obelisk in a Grove, while Major John More’s Michael Symes and Sandy Haynes have private owners such Catherine Erskine’s lush in Lambeth.. will of 1862 intriguingly left a memorial fund provided us with exciting insights into the Oudolf-inspired sweeps of colour at Cambo to improve ‘the rock garden opposite to the creation and intended interpretation of these and the sophisticated designs of Niall The speaker at our November meeting is park at Millichope..and to complete the three important landscapes, together with a Manning and Alastair Morton set against the Steffie Shields, who is Vice Chairman of the Chinese (and water) works.’ which would chapter on the ferme ornee, all accompanied dour Stirlingshire moorland beyond. Urban AGT and will be talking about the have been newly fashionable innovations at by a wealth of contemporary material. This gardens occupy a small space, but Jupiter organization and current issues before her talk that date. account only briefly hints at the range of Artland, the creation of Nicky and Robert on Capability Brown. This meeting on 18th information gathered here, which must make Wilson outside Edinburgh, deservedly grabs His sister Katharine inherited the Millichope November is therefore starting at 7 pm. this book essential reading for all those with space to illustrate works by Marc Quinn, estate, and in turn it passed to relatives in the an interest in the English landscape garden. Goldsworthy, Gormley and many others.

2 15 encountered a well-loved local apple called Book Reviews ‘Carnation’ around Glasbury-on-Wye, research had to start at the beginning. It was Enville, Hagley, The Leasowes – Three almost a decade later, when researching the Great Eighteenth Century Gardens, by library of the Hereford Cider Museum, that Michael Symes and Sandy Haynes, published Mike Porter recognised their Bridstow Wasp by Redcliffe Press Ltd of Bristol. £14.99 was actually the apple we had been calling ‘Carnation’. Many different associations linked these three Midland gardens at the time of their creation Not even the National Apple Collections at in the mid 18th century, so it is exceedingly Brogdale can hope to get every identification appropriate that they are treated together in right, as the history of the Sweeney Nonpareil this volume. They are situated within 10 illustrates. An apple sent to Brogdale as miles of each other, sharing similar geology Bringewood Pippin was fortuitously grafted and a topography offering gentle hills and and planted in 1984 in our orchard at long views rather than the dramatic. Aberhoye, where Mike was trying to build up Furthermore, they also share the unexpected a collection of local apple varieties. When it fact that no professional designer was produced fruit it was eventually recognised, involved in their creation, and their after several trips to the Lindley Library, as owner/creators were therefore open to a wide Sweeney Nonpareil, a very individual-looking variety of influences as they pursued their The Temple designed by George Steuart apple – green, covered with a latticework of development over many years. brown russet. This was known to Victorian Pemberton family. Not all lived regularly in apple buffs, but had fallen out of favour and the old house, having legal practices th All three gardens were well known and often knowledge in the ups and downs of the 20 visited as a group, so much so that by the elsewhere, but after inheriting this estate in Taxus baccata (Common Yew) century. Now it has a description and 1770’s there are guidebooks linking them, 1832, the Revd. Robert Norgrave Pemberton illustrations it should be easier to recognise. including Joseph Heely’s ‘Letters on the decided on ambitious new building works: the As he had earlier done at Rectory Wood, the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and The elegant new stone mansion in classical style, Rev. Norgrave continued to enthusiastically Selecting the 31 varieties for the Welsh Leasowes’, which is much quoted here. designed by Edward Haycock (architect and plant new woodlands, copses and newly Marches Pomona presented plenty of Indeed, the extensive use of quotations from influential County Surveyor), an innovative introduced specimen trees. Visiting the park problems and research will go on because we contemporary visitors is the great asset of this model farm complex, and new roads and after the Rev. Norgrave’s death, Abraham still have many un-named apples in our book, providing fascinating detail of the many bridges, some of which improved his Darby III of ‘Colebrook Dale’ commented on museum orchards, which may be local to our missing features but also drawing attention to commuting journey between Millichope Park not only ‘extensive flower and kitchen area. All 31 of the Pomona apples have been the literary and historical associations as well and his parish at Church Stretton. gardens: quite well worth seeing’ but also planted in our Paramor orchard. as the visual effects. In this way the reader ‘beautiful full grown timber and plenty of it Recent studies have revealed that he was becomes party to the original intentions of the about the house’. equally ambitious in re-designing the Chris Porter creator – much written about by Shenstone landscape of his estate. Through land Archivist, Marcher Apple Network himself in the case of The Leasowes, but not His parkland extensions offered new scope purchase, and also land exchanges after the so well recorded at Enville. Indeed, the 4th for the picturesque treatment of the little Munslow Enclosure Award, he extended and Welsh Marches Pomona is written by Mike Earl of Stamford at Enville is seen as having tributary valleys cutting through the park consolidated the parkland and continued to Porter and all 31 varieties illustrated by the narrower interests, concerning himself which eventually join the river Corve. As at beautify it by abundant and varied tree Margaret Gill with life-size views of ripe fruit with little beyond his family and extensive Rectory Wood, where he had created longer, planting – a long-standing Millichope and blossom at both pink bud and fully open estates (which included Dunham Massey in indirect drive approaches (in Repton style), he tradition. The parkland even then included stages, plus line drawings of leaves and Cheshire and Bradgate in Leicestershire), maximised the use of valleys for picturesque many stately trees dating from the C16. sections of fruit. Hardback, full colour. . whereas Sir George Lyttelton was an MP and carriageways. From his newly built North Notable survivors today include the Price: £25, plus £5 p&p. Copies can be a poet and had a wide circle of political and Lodge a drive curved downhill between ‘Millichope Oak’. With a girth of 615cm its ordered direct from the MAN website: literary associates in London. mature trees and new plantations before the www.marcherapple.net/books.htm. Or from age is estimated at 417 to 444 years (planted view opened to the Speller Brook, tumbling 1564-1591). Other venerable trees include the Membership Secretary, Brook House, The wealth of illustrations serve several down a series of small waterfalls or cascades. two oaks which are over 500 years old, and a Hopesay, Craven Arms, SY7 8HD. Cheques purposes, with photographs of significant yew with an estimated age of 609 years. made out to Marcher Apple Network. surviving features, those at Enville being the

14 3 This enlivening of interest in the park’s by Robert More’s membership of a society relationship with a Neotropical plant, Cordia Welsh Marches Pomona carriage drives and walks included new which imported shipments of North American nodosa. The plant provides housing for planting in another valley, now Baldwyn’s species and seed) was reinforced by the several ant species in return for protection The launch of the Welsh Marches Pomona Glen, and the further beautification of water diverse plantings of the Rev. Norgrave and from herbivory. The mutualistic relationship took place in May this year. Big Apple very features. The pools below the house were his successor, Orlando Childe-Pemberton. is fundamental to the ecology of each species, kindly allowed Marcher Apple Network to gradually extended (exact dates unknown) to the density of each species of ant, for use their annual Blossomtime celebration for The exuberance & diversity of their tree form a peaceful, reflective composition with example, determining the relative abundance this book event and we are most grateful for planting is illustrated in the large scale maps the Temple above. His approach to the house of C. nodosa through its luence on fruiting their support. took advantage of the water in the prospect, and text of a Millichope sale catalogue of and flowering. The project therefore stems 1886 which noted ‘The Parks are thoroughly both here and at the series of lower cascades, from the thesis that a metacommunity system Publishing this Pomona is quite an natural & extremely beautiful, no pains of between the Lower Pool and the River Corve. is the driving force behind the maintenance of achievement for our small organization. We expense having been spared to bring them to tropical tree diversity. This would, however, are fortunate in our area to have the artistic Map evidence indicates a construction date a pitch of excellence seldom surpassed the be impossible to test for the diversity of talent of Margaret Gill, a lady who has between 1833 and 1843 for the sequence of former owner has spent thousands of pounds tropical trees in the study area and the paucity worked carefully with Mike Porter in order to newly-formalised cascades (originally a on their development’. of information available on their biological paint not only beautiful pictures, but also winding stream) which are currently under interactions and competition. The project is accurate and authentic depictions of special restoration. A little stone ‘packhorse’ bridge therefore using the ant system as apple blossoms and fruit, which the text, after gave access to the enlarged rolling parkland, representative of tropical forest diversity, with many years of research, aims to describe. typically screened from the adjoining turnpike multiple species inhabiting the same niche, road by boundary planting. The walks now while allowing quantitative analysis due to MAN is conscious of following the historical showed off water in its different moods: the smaller number of species involved. tradition of this area of England and Wales. particularly the contrast between still, Fieldwork for this project will involve Several wonderful pomonas have been reflective sheets of water and the musical collecting ants and plant samples to perform published in the Welsh Marches. The most sounds of fast-flowing and falling water. spatial genetic structure and isolation by recent (1987) is Bulmer’s Pomona, in which distance analyses in the lab (at UEA).” enthusiasts find a splendid range of cider An illustration by Leighton, dating from apples known to have been successfully Applications for these awards are welcome at grown locally for many years. It provides an 1871, shows the picturesque composition of a any time, and details relating to eligibility pale, classical house set above the lake, its historic record and is particularly useful for and the types of project covered can be found identification. banks abundantly clothed with exotic conifers on the Trust’s website or from the Secretary of diverse form. Within these inner Pleasure Grounds the new introductions included Next year will mark the bicentenary of the publishing of Thomas Andrew Knight’s Monkey Puzzles, Redwoods, Caucasian Fir Greener Corners in London and many other Firs and evergreens. ‘Pomona Herefordiensis’. Two of the apple varieties in our new Pomona were raised by The 1886 map also shows the extensive Londoners who give cheer to passers-by with him. Previously, Bringewood Pippin and innovative planting can now enter a monthly Onibury Pippin had never been adequately The lower cascades and ‘packhorse bridge’ network of walking or carriage circuits for pleasure around the park, designed with competition aimed at boosting the city’s described and indeed had been overlooked This emotive approach to landscape design periodic viewpoints from which to admire biodiversity and highlighting the patches of since Victorian times. It is exciting that they accompanied the general Romantic movement both parkland and the distant views. The green in unlikely corners. have been rediscovered and propagated, for in literature and the arts (eg the term ‘glen’ fashion for rustic work was reflected in ‘the both are delicious little eating apples. reflecting the influence of Walter Scott’s Moustry’, a former thatched summerhouse The Conservation Foundation’s Green novels), and the restoration of pride in British high up the Foxley valley, which would have Corners Award scheme is looking for To have local apple varieties positively concepts and building forms after the long provided an outstanding prospect of the ‘beautiful, unexpected, inspirational, identified and described is extremely helpful, European wars. Although this led to the rise dominant summit of Brown Clee on the gorgeous, delicious and witty green corners’. especially as in the wider apple world they of the ‘Victorian gothick’, it did not stem the opposite side of Corvedale. Categories range from ‘no man’s lands’, such would probably be classed as ‘unkown’. Victorian passion for plant hunting and the as alleyways or slivers of land beside Bridstow Wasp is an example of a variety introduction of the latest exotic species to Through the twentieth century the Bury motorways, to roof balconies and sacred known to the legendary Victorian their landscapes. At Millichope the early family has continued the tradition of spaces for silent contemplation, plus the more Herefordshire pomologists who compiled The introduction of conifers (perhaps influenced introducing new layers of landscape design predictable squares and allotments. Herefordshire Pomona, but they left it out of their book. When over 100 years later, MAN

4 13 the garden and its features [which is available Gatehouse became tenanted as a farmhouse - in the excellent EH guidebook], but although and the area between the Gatehouse and the all the plants, which would have been stables was used as a farmyard. available in Elizabethan England, have been designed to peak each year in July, the month In 1937 the castle was purchased for the of the Queen’s visit - they still made a very nation by local motor industry magnate Sir attractive display in the September sunshine. John Siddeley [d. 1953], who was created the first Lord Kenilworth. Apart from the stables, where light refreshments are available, the only other While the historic romance between Elizabeth and Dudley is the dominant theme at the castle and garden - which had encouraged Victorian visitors to the ‘romantic ruin’, particularly after the publication of Walter Scott’s novel ‘Kenilworth’ in 1821 - the romance lives on with the castle licensed for civil weddings - and a notice posted on a wall referred to a forthcoming marriage later in the afternoon of our visit.

It was my first visit to the castle and there was much more to see and learn than I had expected – and which left me wanting to spend longer there. English Heritage have produced an excellent guide book - published within the past few months - and from which the historical information above is sourced.

Delaine Haynes Detail taken from map in the Millichope Estate Sale Catalogue of 1886 with the house Bursary Scheme in the centre and the Lower Cascades located south-east, below the Lower Pool

The Committee are pleased to be able to and new planting, but always combined with England. As a result of this research, A reproduction of the central fountain made, like report that they have recently been able to the care of significant ‘late mature’ trees, such restoration work has recently been completed the original, in white Carrara marble and as grant another bursary. The recipient is as ‘the Millichope Oak’. The many fine oaks, on the Lower Cascades and the packhorse described by Robert Langham.. The panels Miranda Jones, a former Shrewsbury girl who beech and lime over three hundred years old bridge. See below: around the base are carved with scenes from last year gave us a fascinating talk on her also form important habitats and represent a Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ project with Kew on the Turks and Caicos very precious resource. Most of all, they root Islands. this landscape into the past and make a huge intact building is Leicester’s Gatehouse – all contribution to the beauty and distinctive three floors of which are open to visitors. The Miranda is at present studying for a Phd at the landscape character of Millichope Park. castle itself was ‘slighted’, and the mere University of East Anglia and has been drained, after the Civil War - but the offered the opportunity to undertake a short Kunigunda Gough Gatehouse was modified into a residence by voluntary project as a Field Assistant in Peru. the Parliamentarian officer, Colonel This article derives from a recent report on Hawkesworth, in 1650. At the Restoration of “The project with which I am hoping to be the Millichope landscape commissioned by Charles II, Colonel Hawkesworth was evicted involved aims to investigate community and the Bury family and supported by Natural and over the following centuries, in the meta-population dynamics in an ant ownership of the Earls of Clarendon, the community living in a mutualistic symbiotic 5 12 The following article is the work of the North Shropshire’, published in 1996. There he lake, in which the canons of nearby closest companions, on one occasion, with the Lydbury Field Group, an offshoot of the South refers to the period 1660 to 1750 as the age of Kenilworth Priory were permitted to catch apparent connivance of the gardener, an Shropshire Historical & Archaeological ‘Formality’ when the fashion for large formal fish. In 1266 the castle subsequently official in the Earl’s household, Robert Society gardens became popular. withstood a full scale siege. The castle was Langham, ‘sneaked’ in while the Queen was later developed as a palace for John of Gaunt, out hunting. He left an extremely detailed Walcot: the Eighteenth Century The existence of the large formal garden at son of Edward III [although he seldom visited description of the garden features - the Formal Garden Walcot sixty years prior to Clive purchasing it]. Forty years later in 1414, in the great hall, terrace, the arbours, aviary and the giant the estate is seen in a plan of Walcot and its King Henry V received the insulting gift of obelisks. The accuracy of his account was The creation of a formal garden at Walcot by environs. This plan (below ) was found tennis balls from the French Dauphin - which borne out by archaeological evidence, which John Walcot between 1703 and 1707 is hanging at Walcot Hall and was created for ultimately led to the battle of Agincourt. included confirmation that an eight sided recorded in the estate accounts (Shropshire John Walcot. It shows the house and park fountain once stood at the centre of the Archives ref. 552/10/1358). The existence of with avenues of trees and is in full colour, but garden. these accounts was referred to by Paul unfortunately it is not dated. Stamper in ‘Historic Parks and Gardens of Today at the castle entrance, visitors are provided with individual audio guides, which together with information boards, allow visitors to progress at their own pace. The approach to the castle [from the car park], along the raised ‘dam wall’, was the one that the Queen herself would have taken on her visit. The audio guide and display boards explain that the land to either side of this raised causeway was once flooded. The Newly restored garden in foreground larger flooded area on the left was known as (English Heritage) the mere, at the far end of which King Henry V had built a Pleasance in the Marsh – a In 1563 Queen Elizabeth I granted the castle recreational manor house, with gardens to her favourite, Robert Dudley, who was surrounded by a double moat. Now only created Earl of Leicester the following year. earthworks remain, and an information sheet Although Dudley had harboured hopes of a states that a visit to these earthworks would marriage with the Queen, his comparatively take 30 minutes there and back. lowly status and, more importantly, the fact that he was already married went against Crossing the ‘dam wall’, which was later used these aspirations. [In 1560 one impediment to as a tiltyard, entry through the castle wall is his marital ambitions was removed when his by way of two D-shaped towers, which would wife met an untimely and somewhat originally have been set with a portcullis. suspicious end]. The Queen made several Once inside, the ruined buildings of the castle visits to Kenilworth, and in 1575 Dudley rise on the left, and a fairly short walk along entertained the Queen to 19 days of festivities the footpath leads to the Elizabethan Garden. - which included the presentation of the newly created garden. This is not the first view the Queen herself would have had. She would have stood at the th There is documentary evidence of a garden at top of the steps leading out of the 12 century the castle in 1374, and again in 1463, but the keep, the Great Tower, overlooking the 1575 garden drew inspiration from French Garden opposite the Aviary. It was a garden and Italian Renaissance models. The classical meant to impress a Queen, and now 400+ The undated recently discovered map of Walcot Park, showing the new garden in the centre aviary and obelisks are among the earliest years later and following the research and re- (Private Collection) recorded appearances of such continental creation carried out by English Heritage, features in an English garden. Although the impresses much humbler visitors. There is garden was closed to all but the Queen’s not space here to write a full description of

6 11 Rectory Wood Heritage Project the local community in carrying out research A comparison with a map in the Shropshire £4.13s.0d. There are also regular small into Rectory Wood and Church Stretton. Archives (Ref. M1875/2), which is dated payments for ‘riddling sand’, probably used Shropshire Council have recently published a 1730, suggests the undated Walcot map to be as the tempering for brick-making. By July final report on this project, in which the Trust The project has repaired and restored the the earlier, most likely from the time of the 1703 there were entries for ‘bricklayers was involved in promoting further research original Boundary Wall and Gates of Rectory construction of the garden, possibly around making walls’ and in October 1703 for ‘work into the landscape history. Wood and Field, as well as de-silting the Ice 1710. It shows the gardens laid out to the east in the nursery’. By November 1703 entries House Pool (also known as the yew-ringed of the house, with avenues radiating out to for ‘staking up trees’, ‘planting trees’, ‘paling This two year project was awarded £50,000 pool) and repairing its dam and retaining wall. north and west. In the bottom right hand the garden’ and ‘basket making’ appear as by the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore A new bridge has been constructed at the Ice corner, to the north-west, can be seen the well as a further ‘journey to London’, important historical features within Rectory House Pool to improve access on the most pools which provided the clay for the obviously for something to do with the new Wood, to carry out research into the popular circular walk at Rectory Wood and brickyard, and which were later combined garden.. landscape history of the area, and to involve Field. into Lord Clive’s large serpentine pool which is such a feature of Walcot today. to continue to inform visitors to the site of the important new discoveries about the Archives landscape history of Rectory Wood and Field The estate accounts recording the cost of the and of the probable involvement of Lancelot construction of the gardens are headed ‘Capability’ Brown. ‘Charges for making a New Garden at Walcot’ and contain weekly entries. The first A copy of the full report, which includes many entry was in February 1703 and the last entry photographs of work in progress and the March 1707. At the end of each accounting excavated remains of the two buildings (now year, in April, there is a summary of the filled in for protection), can be obtained from annual spend. Below is a brief summary. the writer, [email protected] or downloaded from the Council’s website: The first entry for 27th February 1703 lists One of the information panels placed in www.shropshire.gov.uk and enter ‘rectory ‘workman’s wages for staking out ground’ at Rectory Wood as part of this project wood heritage project’ in search box. 16s4d. An entry for 13th March 1703 states ‘Garden tools from London’ £1.6s.6d. The The remains of two important buildings first entry for ‘workman’s wages at labouring within Rectory Wood, the Ice House and th More Woods and digging’ was for 20 March 1703, when th Summer House, have been excavated and Detail from undated early 18 century map The Woodland Trust is working with payments to masons and bricklayers are also recorded by local volunteers. There is now a showing garden to east of Walcot Hall. The landowners to help them plant trees, and will recorded, for ‘pulling down old garden wall’. thriving Local History Group carrying out area of the garden is recorded as 8 acres assist anyone wanting to do the same through This might suggest there was an existing research into such subjects as The Ice Houses 2 rods 2 perches the MOREwoods programme. garden, which had to be demolished first. of Shropshire, The Impact of the Railways on The total weekly wage for labourers was www.woodlandtrust.org.uk In December 1703 there are entries for ‘taking Church Stretton and The History of Church between £2.16s.8d. and £8.6s.10d., and for up trees at Bitterley’, another property owned Stretton Workhouse. Volunteers have also bricklayers and masons between £1.16s.4d. by John Walcot, and ‘digging coping stone at been involved in creating a new Local History and £4.18s.3d. Resource Centre, opened in March 2010 as Visit to Kenilworth Castle Sibdon Carwood’, both in Shropshire. By January 1704 there was more ‘digging of part of the project celebration, by duplicating th Over the next few months there are regular On Saturday 18 September, members of coping stone’, ‘planting of trees’ but also materials held at Shropshire Archives. Some weekly payments to ‘workman for making Shropshire Parks and Gardens Trust travelled unspecified ‘things from London’ and of this information has also been digitised and ground of new garden’, to ‘workmen for by coach to Kenilworth Castle, primarily to payment to a carpenter for ‘making frames for is available though the ‘Discovering quarrying foundation stone’ and to bricklayers Shropshire’s History’ website. see the re-creation by English Heritage of the melons’ £0.14s.8d. Elizabethan Garden, which had been lost for and masons. There are also interesting entries for ‘smiths for making mattocks, ‘digging over 400 years. Throughout 1704 there are regular but smaller Several events and guided walks have been clay’ presumably for bricks, ‘making bricks’ payments to ‘workmen working at the organised to inform local people and visitors and faggots for firing or ‘burning’ bricks. The first castle had been established in the gardens’, bricklayers, masons and for of the important discoveries made as part of th There is an entry for May 1703 for ‘carriage 1120s, and in the early 13 century King John ‘quarrying stone at Longville’. Between May the Rectory Wood Heritage Project. On site of (..) from London’ for the large sum of interpretation and a leaflet have been created added an outer circuit of stone walls and a dam. The dam greatly enlarged an artificial

10 7 and August further ‘laying foundations of This makes a grand total of £1,589.2s.5d for Again in many places this has collapsed under made in oblique sunlight, which forms the walls’ and ‘walling’ took place. There is a the four years it took John Walcot to build the the weight of modern farm machinery. basis for the illustration below. record that the bricklayers laid 43 rods of new garden. wall. Five and a half yards to the rod makes The foundations for the walls were slabs of In conclusion, the evidence suggests that this this 233 yards of wall. In 1705 they laid 47 Archaeology quarried stone laid in trenches with the formal garden at Walcot belonging to John rods (257 yards). In December 1704 there is The purpose of the archaeological study was brickwork laid on top, hence the reference in Walcot was an expression of wealth and a payment for approximately 2,400 hooks at to find and record any remaining traces of the foundation stone’. Some of these slabs can status at a time when social etiquette £0.8s.0d and ‘rods for trees’. gardens, especially the boundary walls. The still be seen where the rear south-west determined the extent and symbols of aerial photograph of the park to the east of the boundary wall stood. The position of the conspicuous consumption. There is little There was considerable activity in the garden hall shows where the gardens were situated. present ha-ha is also marked, and shows why above ground to be seen today, since two in the early months of 1705 shown by the The present Walcot Hall can be seen at the all traces of the terraces at the top of the site hundred and fifty years have passed since it weekly wages for ‘workmen in garden’ of top of the picture. This is much larger than in have been destroyed. The access road was was destroyed. However, with the help of the £8.5s.4d for 28th April 1705. A fork John Walcot’s time, having been much constructed when Lord Clive had the gardens original maps and estate records, aerial purchased in June 1705 cost 6d. In August enlarged in the time of Lord Clive. This removed after he bought the estate in 1764. photography, scientific surveying techniques, 1705 there were wages for ‘digging gravel’ enlargement involved extending the width of This road has been raised above the original field walking guided by an archaeologist and and September 1705 ‘stopping nursery hedge’ the frontage of the house to the northwest, and ground level using large pieces of stone and careful evaluation, it is still possible to and ‘stopping the garden pales to keep out the the rear southwest, leaving the northeast rubble, possibly the remains of the walls and appreciate the original grandeur of the hares’. There is only one entry for ‘weeding’ corner in the same position as when the foundation stones removed from the garden. gardens. This must be considered as one of at 1s.4d in September 1705. gardens were constructed. These alterations the greatest lost formal gardens of Shropshire. are shown in plans at Shropshire Archives An examination of a photograph of the later In 1706 there were further weekly payments (ref. 552/9/1 and 552/9/2). map in the Shropshire Archives (ref. Mike Greene for workmen in the garden, bricklayers and MI875/3), which is dated to 1730, shows that Compiler and Editor workmen in the quarry. In June 1706 there is On the aerial photograph a number of brown a number of changes have been made. an entry for ‘joiners making palisades’, ‘mole parch marks are clearly visible. To make Unfortunately, access to the original is not This article has been taken from a full report catcher’ (1s.6d) and ‘2,450 Hornbeam’ at sense of these we overlaid a scale outline possible, which makes scaling difficult. It on the history of Lydbury, published in 2009 £12.5s.0d. By December 1706 there were drawing derived from the early undated map. appears that the outline shape is very much as as The Making of the Lydbury Landscape, entries for ‘brushing trees’ (pruning). Here we can see the four main cultivated in 1706. The major difference is the and includes accounts of other features on the beds, which appear to measure 10 rods by 14 arrangement of the cultivated areas, which Walcot estate. It can be ordered from Mike The final entry in the accounts is for March rods, based on the old map. A rod is the most have been divided into smaller beds and the Greene, price £12.00. 1707 for ‘carriage of trees from London by likely measurement to have been used in the central pathway widened, although the Email: [email protected] Elijah? Rogers’ for £14.16s.0d. The end page early eighteenth century. The two beds with fountain is in its original position. This is the gives the summary for year 1706. It shows diagonals appear from examination of the old last known arrangement of the garden before that 61,000 bricks had been made, 1,202 feet map to be planted with small trees, most it was destroyed. of rough coping and 933 feet of polished likely the fruit trees referred to in the accounts coping had been produced by the masons. with the diagonals as access. Earlier in the investigation, a decision was Making the pedestal for the fountain is made to have a geophysical survey of the site, recorded as £1.13s.1d, stone in the basin of The total area of the garden is approximately with the aim of locating evidence of paths or the fountain £10.15s.7d, 224 horse loads of 7.8 acres. The circle in the central allee is the walls. The north of the site below the lime used and 286 iron bars for the palisades fountain referred to in the accounts of 1706. disturbance from the creation of the ha-ha was wrought. Also marked on the aerial photograph is the surveyed. The survey consisted of electro- culvert, which runs from a series of pools and resistivity and magnetometry of a thirty by The total quantities of materials used for the springs at the top of the valley, underneath the sixty meter area. The electro-resistivity years 1703-1706 were enormous, with over garden and out into the pools to the southeast. survey proved disappointing with no 687,000 bricks being made and used and This was the water supply for the fountain recognizable anomalies. The magnetometry 2,076 horse loads of lime used. The total and its drainage. It starts as a brick lined did show anomalies, which appear to expenditures for each year were as follows: channel, of which much remains although it correspond with the 1730 plan. The 1703 £392.14s.6d has collapsed in many places. Nearer to the anomalies were not excavated as a part of this 1704 £568.15s.3d gardens this changes to a stone lined channel investigation to determine what they 1705 £359.2s. 2d with a stone flagged top covered with earth. represent. However, to obtain a general view Aerial view of park to east of Walcot Hall 1706 £268.11s.6d of the site an aerial photographic survey was with overlaid outline of formal garden

8 9 and August further ‘laying foundations of This makes a grand total of £1,589.2s.5d for Again in many places this has collapsed under made in oblique sunlight, which forms the walls’ and ‘walling’ took place. There is a the four years it took John Walcot to build the the weight of modern farm machinery. basis for the illustration below. record that the bricklayers laid 43 rods of new garden. wall. Five and a half yards to the rod makes The foundations for the walls were slabs of In conclusion, the evidence suggests that this this 233 yards of wall. In 1705 they laid 47 Archaeology quarried stone laid in trenches with the formal garden at Walcot belonging to John rods (257 yards). In December 1704 there is The purpose of the archaeological study was brickwork laid on top, hence the reference in Walcot was an expression of wealth and a payment for approximately 2,400 hooks at to find and record any remaining traces of the foundation stone’. Some of these slabs can status at a time when social etiquette £0.8s.0d and ‘rods for trees’. gardens, especially the boundary walls. The still be seen where the rear south-west determined the extent and symbols of aerial photograph of the park to the east of the boundary wall stood. The position of the conspicuous consumption. There is little There was considerable activity in the garden hall shows where the gardens were situated. present ha-ha is also marked, and shows why above ground to be seen today, since two in the early months of 1705 shown by the The present Walcot Hall can be seen at the all traces of the terraces at the top of the site hundred and fifty years have passed since it weekly wages for ‘workmen in garden’ of top of the picture. This is much larger than in have been destroyed. The access road was was destroyed. However, with the help of the £8.5s.4d for 28th April 1705. A fork John Walcot’s time, having been much constructed when Lord Clive had the gardens original maps and estate records, aerial purchased in June 1705 cost 6d. In August enlarged in the time of Lord Clive. This removed after he bought the estate in 1764. photography, scientific surveying techniques, 1705 there were wages for ‘digging gravel’ enlargement involved extending the width of This road has been raised above the original field walking guided by an archaeologist and and September 1705 ‘stopping nursery hedge’ the frontage of the house to the northwest, and ground level using large pieces of stone and careful evaluation, it is still possible to and ‘stopping the garden pales to keep out the the rear southwest, leaving the northeast rubble, possibly the remains of the walls and appreciate the original grandeur of the hares’. There is only one entry for ‘weeding’ corner in the same position as when the foundation stones removed from the garden. gardens. This must be considered as one of at 1s.4d in September 1705. gardens were constructed. These alterations the greatest lost formal gardens of Shropshire. are shown in plans at Shropshire Archives An examination of a photograph of the later In 1706 there were further weekly payments (ref. 552/9/1 and 552/9/2). map in the Shropshire Archives (ref. Mike Greene for workmen in the garden, bricklayers and MI875/3), which is dated to 1730, shows that Compiler and Editor workmen in the quarry. In June 1706 there is On the aerial photograph a number of brown a number of changes have been made. an entry for ‘joiners making palisades’, ‘mole parch marks are clearly visible. To make Unfortunately, access to the original is not This article has been taken from a full report catcher’ (1s.6d) and ‘2,450 Hornbeam’ at sense of these we overlaid a scale outline possible, which makes scaling difficult. It on the history of Lydbury, published in 2009 £12.5s.0d. By December 1706 there were drawing derived from the early undated map. appears that the outline shape is very much as as The Making of the Lydbury Landscape, entries for ‘brushing trees’ (pruning). Here we can see the four main cultivated in 1706. The major difference is the and includes accounts of other features on the beds, which appear to measure 10 rods by 14 arrangement of the cultivated areas, which Walcot estate. It can be ordered from Mike The final entry in the accounts is for March rods, based on the old map. A rod is the most have been divided into smaller beds and the Greene, price £12.00. 1707 for ‘carriage of trees from London by likely measurement to have been used in the central pathway widened, although the Email: [email protected] Elijah? Rogers’ for £14.16s.0d. The end page early eighteenth century. The two beds with fountain is in its original position. This is the gives the summary for year 1706. It shows diagonals appear from examination of the old last known arrangement of the garden before that 61,000 bricks had been made, 1,202 feet map to be planted with small trees, most it was destroyed. of rough coping and 933 feet of polished likely the fruit trees referred to in the accounts coping had been produced by the masons. with the diagonals as access. Earlier in the investigation, a decision was Making the pedestal for the fountain is made to have a geophysical survey of the site, recorded as £1.13s.1d, stone in the basin of The total area of the garden is approximately with the aim of locating evidence of paths or the fountain £10.15s.7d, 224 horse loads of 7.8 acres. The circle in the central allee is the walls. The north of the site below the lime used and 286 iron bars for the palisades fountain referred to in the accounts of 1706. disturbance from the creation of the ha-ha was wrought. Also marked on the aerial photograph is the surveyed. The survey consisted of electro- culvert, which runs from a series of pools and resistivity and magnetometry of a thirty by The total quantities of materials used for the springs at the top of the valley, underneath the sixty meter area. The electro-resistivity years 1703-1706 were enormous, with over garden and out into the pools to the southeast. survey proved disappointing with no 687,000 bricks being made and used and This was the water supply for the fountain recognizable anomalies. The magnetometry 2,076 horse loads of lime used. The total and its drainage. It starts as a brick lined did show anomalies, which appear to expenditures for each year were as follows: channel, of which much remains although it correspond with the 1730 plan. The 1703 £392.14s.6d has collapsed in many places. Nearer to the anomalies were not excavated as a part of this 1704 £568.15s.3d gardens this changes to a stone lined channel investigation to determine what they 1705 £359.2s. 2d with a stone flagged top covered with earth. represent. However, to obtain a general view Aerial view of park to east of Walcot Hall 1706 £268.11s.6d of the site an aerial photographic survey was with overlaid outline of formal garden

8 9 Rectory Wood Heritage Project the local community in carrying out research A comparison with a map in the Shropshire £4.13s.0d. There are also regular small into Rectory Wood and Church Stretton. Archives (Ref. M1875/2), which is dated payments for ‘riddling sand’, probably used Shropshire Council have recently published a 1730, suggests the undated Walcot map to be as the tempering for brick-making. By July final report on this project, in which the Trust The project has repaired and restored the the earlier, most likely from the time of the 1703 there were entries for ‘bricklayers was involved in promoting further research original Boundary Wall and Gates of Rectory construction of the garden, possibly around making walls’ and in October 1703 for ‘work into the landscape history. Wood and Field, as well as de-silting the Ice 1710. It shows the gardens laid out to the east in the nursery’. By November 1703 entries House Pool (also known as the yew-ringed of the house, with avenues radiating out to for ‘staking up trees’, ‘planting trees’, ‘paling This two year project was awarded £50,000 pool) and repairing its dam and retaining wall. north and west. In the bottom right hand the garden’ and ‘basket making’ appear as by the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore A new bridge has been constructed at the Ice corner, to the north-west, can be seen the well as a further ‘journey to London’, important historical features within Rectory House Pool to improve access on the most pools which provided the clay for the obviously for something to do with the new Wood, to carry out research into the popular circular walk at Rectory Wood and brickyard, and which were later combined garden.. landscape history of the area, and to involve Field. into Lord Clive’s large serpentine pool which is such a feature of Walcot today. to continue to inform visitors to the site of the important new discoveries about the Archives landscape history of Rectory Wood and Field The estate accounts recording the cost of the and of the probable involvement of Lancelot construction of the gardens are headed ‘Capability’ Brown. ‘Charges for making a New Garden at Walcot’ and contain weekly entries. The first A copy of the full report, which includes many entry was in February 1703 and the last entry photographs of work in progress and the March 1707. At the end of each accounting excavated remains of the two buildings (now year, in April, there is a summary of the filled in for protection), can be obtained from annual spend. Below is a brief summary. the writer, [email protected] or downloaded from the Council’s website: The first entry for 27th February 1703 lists One of the information panels placed in www.shropshire.gov.uk and enter ‘rectory ‘workman’s wages for staking out ground’ at Rectory Wood as part of this project wood heritage project’ in search box. 16s4d. An entry for 13th March 1703 states ‘Garden tools from London’ £1.6s.6d. The The remains of two important buildings first entry for ‘workman’s wages at labouring within Rectory Wood, the Ice House and th More Woods and digging’ was for 20 March 1703, when th Summer House, have been excavated and Detail from undated early 18 century map The Woodland Trust is working with payments to masons and bricklayers are also recorded by local volunteers. There is now a showing garden to east of Walcot Hall. The landowners to help them plant trees, and will recorded, for ‘pulling down old garden wall’. thriving Local History Group carrying out area of the garden is recorded as 8 acres assist anyone wanting to do the same through This might suggest there was an existing research into such subjects as The Ice Houses 2 rods 2 perches the MOREwoods programme. garden, which had to be demolished first. of Shropshire, The Impact of the Railways on The total weekly wage for labourers was www.woodlandtrust.org.uk In December 1703 there are entries for ‘taking Church Stretton and The History of Church between £2.16s.8d. and £8.6s.10d., and for up trees at Bitterley’, another property owned Stretton Workhouse. Volunteers have also bricklayers and masons between £1.16s.4d. by John Walcot, and ‘digging coping stone at been involved in creating a new Local History and £4.18s.3d. Resource Centre, opened in March 2010 as Visit to Kenilworth Castle Sibdon Carwood’, both in Shropshire. By January 1704 there was more ‘digging of part of the project celebration, by duplicating th Over the next few months there are regular On Saturday 18 September, members of coping stone’, ‘planting of trees’ but also materials held at Shropshire Archives. Some weekly payments to ‘workman for making Shropshire Parks and Gardens Trust travelled unspecified ‘things from London’ and of this information has also been digitised and ground of new garden’, to ‘workmen for by coach to Kenilworth Castle, primarily to payment to a carpenter for ‘making frames for is available though the ‘Discovering quarrying foundation stone’ and to bricklayers Shropshire’s History’ website. see the re-creation by English Heritage of the melons’ £0.14s.8d. Elizabethan Garden, which had been lost for and masons. There are also interesting entries for ‘smiths for making mattocks, ‘digging over 400 years. Throughout 1704 there are regular but smaller Several events and guided walks have been clay’ presumably for bricks, ‘making bricks’ payments to ‘workmen working at the organised to inform local people and visitors and faggots for firing or ‘burning’ bricks. The first castle had been established in the gardens’, bricklayers, masons and for of the important discoveries made as part of th There is an entry for May 1703 for ‘carriage 1120s, and in the early 13 century King John ‘quarrying stone at Longville’. Between May the Rectory Wood Heritage Project. On site of (..) from London’ for the large sum of interpretation and a leaflet have been created added an outer circuit of stone walls and a dam. The dam greatly enlarged an artificial

10 7 The following article is the work of the North Shropshire’, published in 1996. There he lake, in which the canons of nearby closest companions, on one occasion, with the Lydbury Field Group, an offshoot of the South refers to the period 1660 to 1750 as the age of Kenilworth Priory were permitted to catch apparent connivance of the gardener, an Shropshire Historical & Archaeological ‘Formality’ when the fashion for large formal fish. In 1266 the castle subsequently official in the Earl’s household, Robert Society gardens became popular. withstood a full scale siege. The castle was Langham, ‘sneaked’ in while the Queen was later developed as a palace for John of Gaunt, out hunting. He left an extremely detailed Walcot: the Eighteenth Century The existence of the large formal garden at son of Edward III [although he seldom visited description of the garden features - the Formal Garden Walcot sixty years prior to Clive purchasing it]. Forty years later in 1414, in the great hall, terrace, the arbours, aviary and the giant the estate is seen in a plan of Walcot and its King Henry V received the insulting gift of obelisks. The accuracy of his account was The creation of a formal garden at Walcot by environs. This plan (below ) was found tennis balls from the French Dauphin - which borne out by archaeological evidence, which John Walcot between 1703 and 1707 is hanging at Walcot Hall and was created for ultimately led to the battle of Agincourt. included confirmation that an eight sided recorded in the estate accounts (Shropshire John Walcot. It shows the house and park fountain once stood at the centre of the Archives ref. 552/10/1358). The existence of with avenues of trees and is in full colour, but garden. these accounts was referred to by Paul unfortunately it is not dated. Stamper in ‘Historic Parks and Gardens of Today at the castle entrance, visitors are provided with individual audio guides, which together with information boards, allow visitors to progress at their own pace. The approach to the castle [from the car park], along the raised ‘dam wall’, was the one that the Queen herself would have taken on her visit. The audio guide and display boards explain that the land to either side of this raised causeway was once flooded. The Newly restored garden in foreground larger flooded area on the left was known as (English Heritage) the mere, at the far end of which King Henry V had built a Pleasance in the Marsh – a In 1563 Queen Elizabeth I granted the castle recreational manor house, with gardens to her favourite, Robert Dudley, who was surrounded by a double moat. Now only created Earl of Leicester the following year. earthworks remain, and an information sheet Although Dudley had harboured hopes of a states that a visit to these earthworks would marriage with the Queen, his comparatively take 30 minutes there and back. lowly status and, more importantly, the fact that he was already married went against Crossing the ‘dam wall’, which was later used these aspirations. [In 1560 one impediment to as a tiltyard, entry through the castle wall is his marital ambitions was removed when his by way of two D-shaped towers, which would wife met an untimely and somewhat originally have been set with a portcullis. suspicious end]. The Queen made several Once inside, the ruined buildings of the castle visits to Kenilworth, and in 1575 Dudley rise on the left, and a fairly short walk along entertained the Queen to 19 days of festivities the footpath leads to the Elizabethan Garden. - which included the presentation of the newly created garden. This is not the first view the Queen herself would have had. She would have stood at the th There is documentary evidence of a garden at top of the steps leading out of the 12 century the castle in 1374, and again in 1463, but the keep, the Great Tower, overlooking the 1575 garden drew inspiration from French Garden opposite the Aviary. It was a garden and Italian Renaissance models. The classical meant to impress a Queen, and now 400+ The undated recently discovered map of Walcot Park, showing the new garden in the centre aviary and obelisks are among the earliest years later and following the research and re- (Private Collection) recorded appearances of such continental creation carried out by English Heritage, features in an English garden. Although the impresses much humbler visitors. There is garden was closed to all but the Queen’s not space here to write a full description of

6 11 the garden and its features [which is available Gatehouse became tenanted as a farmhouse - in the excellent EH guidebook], but although and the area between the Gatehouse and the all the plants, which would have been stables was used as a farmyard. available in Elizabethan England, have been designed to peak each year in July, the month In 1937 the castle was purchased for the of the Queen’s visit - they still made a very nation by local motor industry magnate Sir attractive display in the September sunshine. John Siddeley [d. 1953], who was created the first Lord Kenilworth. Apart from the stables, where light refreshments are available, the only other While the historic romance between Elizabeth and Dudley is the dominant theme at the castle and garden - which had encouraged Victorian visitors to the ‘romantic ruin’, particularly after the publication of Walter Scott’s novel ‘Kenilworth’ in 1821 - the romance lives on with the castle licensed for civil weddings - and a notice posted on a wall referred to a forthcoming marriage later in the afternoon of our visit.

It was my first visit to the castle and there was much more to see and learn than I had expected – and which left me wanting to spend longer there. English Heritage have produced an excellent guide book - published within the past few months - and from which the historical information above is sourced.

Delaine Haynes Detail taken from map in the Millichope Estate Sale Catalogue of 1886 with the house Bursary Scheme in the centre and the Lower Cascades located south-east, below the Lower Pool

The Committee are pleased to be able to and new planting, but always combined with England. As a result of this research, A reproduction of the central fountain made, like report that they have recently been able to the care of significant ‘late mature’ trees, such restoration work has recently been completed the original, in white Carrara marble and as grant another bursary. The recipient is as ‘the Millichope Oak’. The many fine oaks, on the Lower Cascades and the packhorse described by Robert Langham.. The panels Miranda Jones, a former Shrewsbury girl who beech and lime over three hundred years old bridge. See below: around the base are carved with scenes from last year gave us a fascinating talk on her also form important habitats and represent a Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ project with Kew on the Turks and Caicos very precious resource. Most of all, they root Islands. this landscape into the past and make a huge intact building is Leicester’s Gatehouse – all contribution to the beauty and distinctive three floors of which are open to visitors. The Miranda is at present studying for a Phd at the landscape character of Millichope Park. castle itself was ‘slighted’, and the mere University of East Anglia and has been drained, after the Civil War - but the offered the opportunity to undertake a short Kunigunda Gough Gatehouse was modified into a residence by voluntary project as a Field Assistant in Peru. the Parliamentarian officer, Colonel This article derives from a recent report on Hawkesworth, in 1650. At the Restoration of “The project with which I am hoping to be the Millichope landscape commissioned by Charles II, Colonel Hawkesworth was evicted involved aims to investigate community and the Bury family and supported by Natural and over the following centuries, in the meta-population dynamics in an ant ownership of the Earls of Clarendon, the community living in a mutualistic symbiotic 5 12 This enlivening of interest in the park’s by Robert More’s membership of a society relationship with a Neotropical plant, Cordia Welsh Marches Pomona carriage drives and walks included new which imported shipments of North American nodosa. The plant provides housing for planting in another valley, now Baldwyn’s species and seed) was reinforced by the several ant species in return for protection The launch of the Welsh Marches Pomona Glen, and the further beautification of water diverse plantings of the Rev. Norgrave and from herbivory. The mutualistic relationship took place in May this year. Big Apple very features. The pools below the house were his successor, Orlando Childe-Pemberton. is fundamental to the ecology of each species, kindly allowed Marcher Apple Network to gradually extended (exact dates unknown) to the density of each species of ant, for use their annual Blossomtime celebration for The exuberance & diversity of their tree form a peaceful, reflective composition with example, determining the relative abundance this book event and we are most grateful for planting is illustrated in the large scale maps the Temple above. His approach to the house of C. nodosa through its luence on fruiting their support. took advantage of the water in the prospect, and text of a Millichope sale catalogue of and flowering. The project therefore stems 1886 which noted ‘The Parks are thoroughly both here and at the series of lower cascades, from the thesis that a metacommunity system Publishing this Pomona is quite an natural & extremely beautiful, no pains of between the Lower Pool and the River Corve. is the driving force behind the maintenance of achievement for our small organization. We expense having been spared to bring them to tropical tree diversity. This would, however, are fortunate in our area to have the artistic Map evidence indicates a construction date a pitch of excellence seldom surpassed the be impossible to test for the diversity of talent of Margaret Gill, a lady who has between 1833 and 1843 for the sequence of former owner has spent thousands of pounds tropical trees in the study area and the paucity worked carefully with Mike Porter in order to newly-formalised cascades (originally a on their development’. of information available on their biological paint not only beautiful pictures, but also winding stream) which are currently under interactions and competition. The project is accurate and authentic depictions of special restoration. A little stone ‘packhorse’ bridge therefore using the ant system as apple blossoms and fruit, which the text, after gave access to the enlarged rolling parkland, representative of tropical forest diversity, with many years of research, aims to describe. typically screened from the adjoining turnpike multiple species inhabiting the same niche, road by boundary planting. The walks now while allowing quantitative analysis due to MAN is conscious of following the historical showed off water in its different moods: the smaller number of species involved. tradition of this area of England and Wales. particularly the contrast between still, Fieldwork for this project will involve Several wonderful pomonas have been reflective sheets of water and the musical collecting ants and plant samples to perform published in the Welsh Marches. The most sounds of fast-flowing and falling water. spatial genetic structure and isolation by recent (1987) is Bulmer’s Pomona, in which distance analyses in the lab (at UEA).” enthusiasts find a splendid range of cider An illustration by Leighton, dating from apples known to have been successfully Applications for these awards are welcome at grown locally for many years. It provides an 1871, shows the picturesque composition of a any time, and details relating to eligibility pale, classical house set above the lake, its historic record and is particularly useful for and the types of project covered can be found identification. banks abundantly clothed with exotic conifers on the Trust’s website or from the Secretary of diverse form. Within these inner Pleasure Grounds the new introductions included Next year will mark the bicentenary of the publishing of Thomas Andrew Knight’s Monkey Puzzles, Redwoods, Caucasian Fir Greener Corners in London and many other Firs and evergreens. ‘Pomona Herefordiensis’. Two of the apple varieties in our new Pomona were raised by The 1886 map also shows the extensive Londoners who give cheer to passers-by with him. Previously, Bringewood Pippin and innovative planting can now enter a monthly Onibury Pippin had never been adequately The lower cascades and ‘packhorse bridge’ network of walking or carriage circuits for pleasure around the park, designed with competition aimed at boosting the city’s described and indeed had been overlooked This emotive approach to landscape design periodic viewpoints from which to admire biodiversity and highlighting the patches of since Victorian times. It is exciting that they accompanied the general Romantic movement both parkland and the distant views. The green in unlikely corners. have been rediscovered and propagated, for in literature and the arts (eg the term ‘glen’ fashion for rustic work was reflected in ‘the both are delicious little eating apples. reflecting the influence of Walter Scott’s Moustry’, a former thatched summerhouse The Conservation Foundation’s Green novels), and the restoration of pride in British high up the Foxley valley, which would have Corners Award scheme is looking for To have local apple varieties positively concepts and building forms after the long provided an outstanding prospect of the ‘beautiful, unexpected, inspirational, identified and described is extremely helpful, European wars. Although this led to the rise dominant summit of Brown Clee on the gorgeous, delicious and witty green corners’. especially as in the wider apple world they of the ‘Victorian gothick’, it did not stem the opposite side of Corvedale. Categories range from ‘no man’s lands’, such would probably be classed as ‘unkown’. Victorian passion for plant hunting and the as alleyways or slivers of land beside Bridstow Wasp is an example of a variety introduction of the latest exotic species to Through the twentieth century the Bury motorways, to roof balconies and sacred known to the legendary Victorian their landscapes. At Millichope the early family has continued the tradition of spaces for silent contemplation, plus the more Herefordshire pomologists who compiled The introduction of conifers (perhaps influenced introducing new layers of landscape design predictable squares and allotments. Herefordshire Pomona, but they left it out of their book. When over 100 years later, MAN

4 13 encountered a well-loved local apple called Book Reviews ‘Carnation’ around Glasbury-on-Wye, research had to start at the beginning. It was Enville, Hagley, The Leasowes – Three almost a decade later, when researching the Great Eighteenth Century Gardens, by library of the Hereford Cider Museum, that Michael Symes and Sandy Haynes, published Mike Porter recognised their Bridstow Wasp by Redcliffe Press Ltd of Bristol. £14.99 was actually the apple we had been calling ‘Carnation’. Many different associations linked these three Midland gardens at the time of their creation Not even the National Apple Collections at in the mid 18th century, so it is exceedingly Brogdale can hope to get every identification appropriate that they are treated together in right, as the history of the Sweeney Nonpareil this volume. They are situated within 10 illustrates. An apple sent to Brogdale as miles of each other, sharing similar geology Bringewood Pippin was fortuitously grafted and a topography offering gentle hills and and planted in 1984 in our orchard at long views rather than the dramatic. Aberhoye, where Mike was trying to build up Furthermore, they also share the unexpected a collection of local apple varieties. When it fact that no professional designer was produced fruit it was eventually recognised, involved in their creation, and their after several trips to the Lindley Library, as owner/creators were therefore open to a wide Sweeney Nonpareil, a very individual-looking variety of influences as they pursued their The Temple designed by George Steuart apple – green, covered with a latticework of development over many years. brown russet. This was known to Victorian Pemberton family. Not all lived regularly in apple buffs, but had fallen out of favour and the old house, having legal practices th All three gardens were well known and often knowledge in the ups and downs of the 20 visited as a group, so much so that by the elsewhere, but after inheriting this estate in Taxus baccata (Common Yew) century. Now it has a description and 1770’s there are guidebooks linking them, 1832, the Revd. Robert Norgrave Pemberton illustrations it should be easier to recognise. including Joseph Heely’s ‘Letters on the decided on ambitious new building works: the As he had earlier done at Rectory Wood, the Beauties of Hagley, Envil and The elegant new stone mansion in classical style, Rev. Norgrave continued to enthusiastically Selecting the 31 varieties for the Welsh Leasowes’, which is much quoted here. designed by Edward Haycock (architect and plant new woodlands, copses and newly Marches Pomona presented plenty of Indeed, the extensive use of quotations from influential County Surveyor), an innovative introduced specimen trees. Visiting the park problems and research will go on because we contemporary visitors is the great asset of this model farm complex, and new roads and after the Rev. Norgrave’s death, Abraham still have many un-named apples in our book, providing fascinating detail of the many bridges, some of which improved his Darby III of ‘Colebrook Dale’ commented on museum orchards, which may be local to our missing features but also drawing attention to commuting journey between Millichope Park not only ‘extensive flower and kitchen area. All 31 of the Pomona apples have been the literary and historical associations as well and his parish at Church Stretton. gardens: quite well worth seeing’ but also planted in our Paramor orchard. as the visual effects. In this way the reader ‘beautiful full grown timber and plenty of it Recent studies have revealed that he was becomes party to the original intentions of the about the house’. equally ambitious in re-designing the Chris Porter creator – much written about by Shenstone landscape of his estate. Through land Archivist, Marcher Apple Network himself in the case of The Leasowes, but not His parkland extensions offered new scope purchase, and also land exchanges after the so well recorded at Enville. Indeed, the 4th for the picturesque treatment of the little Munslow Enclosure Award, he extended and Welsh Marches Pomona is written by Mike Earl of Stamford at Enville is seen as having tributary valleys cutting through the park consolidated the parkland and continued to Porter and all 31 varieties illustrated by the narrower interests, concerning himself which eventually join the river Corve. As at beautify it by abundant and varied tree Margaret Gill with life-size views of ripe fruit with little beyond his family and extensive Rectory Wood, where he had created longer, planting – a long-standing Millichope and blossom at both pink bud and fully open estates (which included Dunham Massey in indirect drive approaches (in Repton style), he tradition. The parkland even then included stages, plus line drawings of leaves and Cheshire and Bradgate in Leicestershire), maximised the use of valleys for picturesque many stately trees dating from the C16. sections of fruit. Hardback, full colour. . whereas Sir George Lyttelton was an MP and carriageways. From his newly built North Notable survivors today include the Price: £25, plus £5 p&p. Copies can be a poet and had a wide circle of political and Lodge a drive curved downhill between ‘Millichope Oak’. With a girth of 615cm its ordered direct from the MAN website: literary associates in London. mature trees and new plantations before the www.marcherapple.net/books.htm. Or from age is estimated at 417 to 444 years (planted view opened to the Speller Brook, tumbling 1564-1591). Other venerable trees include the Membership Secretary, Brook House, The wealth of illustrations serve several down a series of small waterfalls or cascades. two oaks which are over 500 years old, and a Hopesay, Craven Arms, SY7 8HD. Cheques purposes, with photographs of significant yew with an estimated age of 609 years. made out to Marcher Apple Network. surviving features, those at Enville being the

14 3 gardening opportunities in all new building Millichope Park and the Pembertons least well known; numerous contemporary Close: Landscape Design and Land Art in developments’. All of which sounds engravings suggesting possible sources of Scotland, photography by Allan Pollock- remarkably like the visionary policies of the Millichope Park is set on rising ground in inspiration; and engravings and watercolours Morris, published by Northfield Editions Bournville Village Trust over a hundred years Corvedale, and the present form of its of many features that no longer exist, £34.99 ago! designed landscape (a grade II* registered including urns which formed the focus of a Meanwhile, back in Shropshire, a well parkland) has evolved over several centuries. particular area and the many seats that whilst Published to coincide with an exhibition of organised campaign by residents in one of This article will focus particularly on the key modest in scale often occupied key positions work by this American photographer, this is Shrewsbury’s most attractive Victorian design elements which were introduced by the indicating where significant views might be much more than a book of photographs. Sir suburbs, Belle Vue, have successfully Revd. Robert Norgrave Pemberton, its owner had. Many such images come from private Roy Strong’s foreword, whilst referring to the campaigned against plans to build a five- in the early C19, while he was still rector at sketchbooks and, in the case of Enville, from challenge of the terrain and shortness of the bedroomed house in the mature grounds of 40 Church Stretton (see article on Rectory Wood Wedgwood’s ‘Green Frog’ service of 1773 flowering season, celebrates precisely that Belle Vue Gardens. Shropshire Council’s in Winter 2009/10 newsletter). created for the Empress Catherine of Russia. seasonality but most of all the strong sense of refusal seems fully in line with new place found in the great variety of more than government thinking, declaring that ‘the The earliest recorded phase of landscape The writers have used diagrams to telling 30 gardens illustrated. A brief introductory proposal would introduce a cramped suburban improvement dates from the mid C18 when effect , one showing the social networks that essay accompanies each entry, written by the style of backland development into the the More family began to enhance the setting linked the three creators, another listing the owner or designer (also represented by a existing historic conservation area, which of their early half-timbered house, influenced various features of the three gardens. This photograph) and thus providing a personal would remove characteristic open space and by the ‘English Landscape’ movement. They succinctly illustrates both the common introduction and insights into the concepts of which would be out of character with its were open to new fashions introduced from features, such as grotto, hermitage, cascades the design and challenges presented by the surroundings’. London and Europe, as well as the work of and statuary, and points out the differences so landscape setting. Perhaps 2010 will be seen as having been a their influential fellow-gentry in the Marches, that Enville alone has chinoiserie, but no good one for gardens! such as the Knight family (of Downton, Croft literary associations. For each property maps “Close” in the title, we are told, is used in the and Hafod), Uvedale Price at Foxley, and of sightlines are provided, including views Scottish dialect to describe a landscape so Tony Herbert Robert More at Linley Hall. beyond the boundaries. inspirational that heaven seems closer to earth Chairman in that place. Each garden is illustrated by In these new naturalistic parklands their At the time of their creation, it was The several images and amongst them the owners, and their eminent designers, favoured Leasowes that was the most famous of these photographer will be found to have indicated ASSOCIATION OF GARDEN TRUSTS classical buildings as eyecatchers. The More gardens. Much visited and much written the surrounding landscape, be it a glimpse of family of Millichope built an early, about, not least by Shenstone himself, it has the wild seashore beyond or the green pasture As Members of the Shropshire Parks & distinguished example as a monument for continued to have a lasting fascination, and of lowland slopes. The selection stretches Gardens Trust we are all also members of the family members: the Temple, of rotunda the wealth of information and quotations from Caithness, where Xa Tollemache has Association of Garden Trusts, to whom we form. It is the focus of views from the house contained here will only reinforce that status. redesigned a walled garden, to a sandy shore contribute £1.50 through our annual and pleasure grounds, being dramatically However, the accounts of Hagley and Enville in Dumfriesshire and a brief glimpse of a membership fee. The AGT has just issued for sited on high ground above the lakes. Dating are no less revelatory and, in the case of the labyrinth by Jim Buchanan. consultation a draft proposal for a feasibility from 1770, it was an important and influential latter, much of the information is being study to explore the options and possibility of early architectural commission in Shropshire revealed for the first time so that this hitherto Along with imposing images of well-known closer working with three related for George Steuart (whose later work quoted but little known landscape is here gardens such as Ian Hamilton Finlay’s Little organizations: the Garden History Society; included Attingham and also St.Chad’s). A brought to our notice in welcome detail. Sparta and Charles Jencks’ Garden of Cosmic the web resource based in York, Parks & further classical monument included an Speculation, we are introduced to the work of Gardens UK; and the Garden Museum based obelisk in a Grove, while Major John More’s Michael Symes and Sandy Haynes have private owners such Catherine Erskine’s lush in Lambeth.. will of 1862 intriguingly left a memorial fund provided us with exciting insights into the Oudolf-inspired sweeps of colour at Cambo to improve ‘the rock garden opposite to the creation and intended interpretation of these and the sophisticated designs of Niall The speaker at our November meeting is park at Millichope..and to complete the three important landscapes, together with a Manning and Alastair Morton set against the Steffie Shields, who is Vice Chairman of the Chinese (and water) works.’ which would chapter on the ferme ornee, all accompanied dour Stirlingshire moorland beyond. Urban AGT and will be talking about the have been newly fashionable innovations at by a wealth of contemporary material. This gardens occupy a small space, but Jupiter organization and current issues before her talk that date. account only briefly hints at the range of Artland, the creation of Nicky and Robert on Capability Brown. This meeting on 18th information gathered here, which must make Wilson outside Edinburgh, deservedly grabs His sister Katharine inherited the Millichope November is therefore starting at 7 pm. this book essential reading for all those with space to illustrate works by Marc Quinn, estate, and in turn it passed to relatives in the an interest in the English landscape garden. Goldsworthy, Gormley and many others.

2 15 Shropshire FORTH COMING EVENTS Shropshire Parks & Gardens Trust for Members and their Guests Parks & Gardens COMMITTEE

President: AEH Heber-Percy LL Trust Talks are held at the Shirehall in Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury. With the exception of Chairman: Tony Herbert 18 November meeting, which starts at 7pm, all talks start at 7.30pm.Members free, Guests Secretary: Mary King NEWSLETTER and Visitors very welcome – tickets £5 64 Falcons Way Shrewsbury No. 21, Autumn 2010 Thursday 21 October, 7.30pm SY3 8ZG Leighton Hall, Welshpool: The 01743 271824 development of its remarkable landscape [email protected] and Model Farm Speaker: Stephen Hughes, Head of the Survey Treasurer: Dermot Rooney Letter from the Chairman Branch of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales Events Secretary: Kathy Herbert Since the last Newsletter a General Election 01743 236127 has gone and a new Coalition government has Thursday 18 November 7.00pm been formed. So how will this affect Britain’s Reception to meet Steffie Shields from the Membership Daphne Capps parks and gardens you may ask? Association of Gardens Trusts who will Secretary: 01743 354540 The early indications have been promising. provide an update on the work of the AGT ‘A Lapfull of Windfalls’, by Clare Leighton, for Four After only a month in power an and then speak on the subject of Newsletter Editor: Belinda Cousens Hedges, 1935. announcement came from Greg Clark, Capability Brown and his Gardens 01743 718237 communities minister, that councils in [email protected] England are to get greater powers to stop Thursday 21 January 7.30pm developers building homes on gardens – a Big Happenings at Winterbourne Garden Members: Peter Dunhill Contents practice which has become known as ‘garden Speaker: Alison Darby, the curator in charge Fiona Grant grabbing’. The minister highlighted the of the big changes to Winterbourne’s house Yvonne Holyoak dilemma of gardens in the planning system and garden at the University of Birmingham John Thompson Millichope and the Pembertons whereby, until now, they have been classified in the same group of brownfield sites as th Thursday 17 February 7.30pm Website: www.shropshiregardens.org.uk The 18 Century Formal Garden at derelict factories and disused railway sidings. Croome Park – the National Trust’s rescue Walcot Action may have been taken only just in time. and regeneration of its historic landscape a Charity Reg. No: 1089258 Recent government figures suggest the Speaker: Michael Smith, Property Manager Rectory Wood Heritage Project proportion of houses built on previous with a wealth of knowledge about both the The Trust is a member of the Association of residential land, such as gardens, increased history and recent developments at Croome Garden Trusts: www.garden-trusts.org.uk from 1 in 10 in 1997 to 1 in 4 in 2008. Part of Visit: Kenilworth the problem is that gardens are usually much Thursday 24 March 6.30pm Please note that the opinions expressed in this cheaper and more convenient to develop than Annual General Meeting followed by newsletter are those of the contributors, and Welsh Marches Pomona industrial wasteland. refreshments and at 7.30pm by talk do not necessarily represent the views of the Welcoming the new policy Dr Simon Shropshire Parks & Gardens Trust or the The Restoration of Castle Bromwich Hall Book Reviews Thornton Wood, director of science and Gardens Speaker: Jean Draycott, Guide Editor learning at the Royal Horticultural Society with many years knowledge of the restoration went beyond the realms of protection saying of the gardens Forthcoming Events that the RHS ‘would like planning measures to go further than protecting existing gardens, to guarantee high-quality green space and

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