DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67417#0201
THE GARDENS 157
Bellenden’s favours. First the Princess Amelia and
then the Duke of Gloucester, with his beautiful wife
and her three handsome daughters, lived in the
Pavilions, jJand after the Duchess’s death in 1807
they were occasionally occupied by the present
King’s grandfather, Edward, Duke of Kent, who
succeeded his uncle as Ranger. Only one of the
four houses remains standing, and this is now the
residence of Mr. Ernest Law, the historian to whose
taste and knowledge Hampton Court owes so much.
The plantation known as the Wilderness was
also laid out by Loudon and Wise, on the site of
Henry VIII.’s orchards, to the north of the Tudor
palace. This consisted of formal walks and tall
clipped hedges, with espaliers so high, Defoe tells
us, that they effectually hid the Chapel and other
parts of the old buildings, “which would have been
offensive to the sight.” Here, too, were those won-
ders of the topiary art which are described by the
German Laurenbergius, who marvels at the skill of
the English in this kind of sculpture, and dwells
with admiration on the giants, animals, castles and
ships, and the alcoves of trellis-work, the spirals
and circles, that were cut in box and yew. Un-
fortunately these ingenious creations perished under
Kent’s destructive hand, and a circular space with
seats round an old yew-tree is all that remains of
“ Troy Town,” once the counterpart of Loudon and
Wise’s quaint imitation of the “ Siege of Troy ” in
the royal gardens at Kensington Palace. Not even
Kent, however, ventured to lay sacrilegious hands
on the Maze planted by William III.’s gardeners
Bellenden’s favours. First the Princess Amelia and
then the Duke of Gloucester, with his beautiful wife
and her three handsome daughters, lived in the
Pavilions, jJand after the Duchess’s death in 1807
they were occasionally occupied by the present
King’s grandfather, Edward, Duke of Kent, who
succeeded his uncle as Ranger. Only one of the
four houses remains standing, and this is now the
residence of Mr. Ernest Law, the historian to whose
taste and knowledge Hampton Court owes so much.
The plantation known as the Wilderness was
also laid out by Loudon and Wise, on the site of
Henry VIII.’s orchards, to the north of the Tudor
palace. This consisted of formal walks and tall
clipped hedges, with espaliers so high, Defoe tells
us, that they effectually hid the Chapel and other
parts of the old buildings, “which would have been
offensive to the sight.” Here, too, were those won-
ders of the topiary art which are described by the
German Laurenbergius, who marvels at the skill of
the English in this kind of sculpture, and dwells
with admiration on the giants, animals, castles and
ships, and the alcoves of trellis-work, the spirals
and circles, that were cut in box and yew. Un-
fortunately these ingenious creations perished under
Kent’s destructive hand, and a circular space with
seats round an old yew-tree is all that remains of
“ Troy Town,” once the counterpart of Loudon and
Wise’s quaint imitation of the “ Siege of Troy ” in
the royal gardens at Kensington Palace. Not even
Kent, however, ventured to lay sacrilegious hands
on the Maze planted by William III.’s gardeners