DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0262
240
A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND.
books. The house was burnt many years ago, and never
restored, but the gardens have been kept up in their original
state, as they were laid out by Mr. Benson. He was Ambassador
to Spain, and Queen Anne gave him a grant of land on Bramham
Moor ; after he had built a house and made gardens round it,
she paid him a visit there, and created him Lord Bingley.
Along the house is a terrace, and in front of it a grass parterre.
From thence are seen vistas through the beech and hornbeam
woods beyond. From the northern end of the terrace, a
straight walk between high cut hedges runs westward, and
leads at once into the most entrancing maze of long walks
diverging from each other at regular angles. At the end
of some there is a small summer-house, a seat, or statue, or
monument. From the ends of the walks furthest from the centre
the view ranges over the open country beyond. The garden
stands above the level of the park, therefore the terrace-wall
which divides them has all the effect of a sunk fence. But the
most delightful part, perhaps, is where the avenues are wider,
where the walks skirt the edge of a canal, and the tall trees are
reflected in its silent waters. There is an open space laid out
as a “ French garden.” In this case it is an oval slope of grass,
with large flower-beds in a regular pattern ; a summer-house
overlooks this garden, and to the back of the summer-house
there is a large bowling-green, surrounded by trees, among which
are the walks. At the opposite end of the oval garden there is a
basin and “ cascade,” and a short distance from this point the
path rejoins, at its southern end, the terrace which runs in front
of the house. The effect of this garden at Bramham, on a fine
autumn day, with the slanting beams of the evening sun, seen
through the long vistas shining on the golden-brown foliage of
the trees, is truly beautiful, and leaves an impression never to be
forgotten.
There is a contemporary description of such a garden in a
letter written by Lord Percival to his brother-in-law, Daniel
Dering.* It is dated from Oxford, August 9th, 1724:—
“ Friday morning left Becconsfield ; we went half a mile out
* MS. belonging to Lord Egmont.
A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND.
books. The house was burnt many years ago, and never
restored, but the gardens have been kept up in their original
state, as they were laid out by Mr. Benson. He was Ambassador
to Spain, and Queen Anne gave him a grant of land on Bramham
Moor ; after he had built a house and made gardens round it,
she paid him a visit there, and created him Lord Bingley.
Along the house is a terrace, and in front of it a grass parterre.
From thence are seen vistas through the beech and hornbeam
woods beyond. From the northern end of the terrace, a
straight walk between high cut hedges runs westward, and
leads at once into the most entrancing maze of long walks
diverging from each other at regular angles. At the end
of some there is a small summer-house, a seat, or statue, or
monument. From the ends of the walks furthest from the centre
the view ranges over the open country beyond. The garden
stands above the level of the park, therefore the terrace-wall
which divides them has all the effect of a sunk fence. But the
most delightful part, perhaps, is where the avenues are wider,
where the walks skirt the edge of a canal, and the tall trees are
reflected in its silent waters. There is an open space laid out
as a “ French garden.” In this case it is an oval slope of grass,
with large flower-beds in a regular pattern ; a summer-house
overlooks this garden, and to the back of the summer-house
there is a large bowling-green, surrounded by trees, among which
are the walks. At the opposite end of the oval garden there is a
basin and “ cascade,” and a short distance from this point the
path rejoins, at its southern end, the terrace which runs in front
of the house. The effect of this garden at Bramham, on a fine
autumn day, with the slanting beams of the evening sun, seen
through the long vistas shining on the golden-brown foliage of
the trees, is truly beautiful, and leaves an impression never to be
forgotten.
There is a contemporary description of such a garden in a
letter written by Lord Percival to his brother-in-law, Daniel
Dering.* It is dated from Oxford, August 9th, 1724:—
“ Friday morning left Becconsfield ; we went half a mile out
* MS. belonging to Lord Egmont.