DOI issue:
Nr. 156 (February 1910)
DOI article:Country cottages and their gardens: illustrated by C. E. Mallows
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19868#0478
Country Cottages and their Gardens
undeniable. What better appeal can there be for
good gardening than in God's acre itself?
Another and a far more serious evil to rural
England than the want of care and thought in
gardening and kindred subjects lies in the exist-
ence of bad cottage building in general, and in
particular that for which the Government and the
various authorities in the country are responsible.
None of the admirable efforts of to-day to improve
these things appears to have even pricked the
skin of time-hardened officialdom. It is well-
nigh impossible in any county to escape that
particular curse which blights any and every part
of the country it touches. Officialdom, when it
turns its attention to building, whether old or new,
is no respecter of beautiful scenery and cares nought
for historic or sacred associations; it is a ruthless
and thoughtless destroyer of both. If there is one
district in England more than another where it
might reasonably have been assumed some atten-
LODGE AND GARDEN WALK AT TIRLEY COURT, CHESHIRE
DESIGNED AND DRAWN BY C. E. MALLOWS, F. R.I.B.A.
288
SKETCH FOR COTTAGE AT BYFLEET, SURREY
DESIGNED AND DRAWN BY C. E. MALLOWS, F.R.I.B.A.
tion would have been given to such subjects, it
is surely in the valley of the Wye, near Tintern
Abbey. Yet the Government Department respon-
sible for matters of this nature have chosen that
precise spot for the building of a group of cottages
of the very worst type of official " reach-me-downs."
Whether Tintern Abbey is approached from Chep-
stow by road or rail, there is no escaping them. If
the intention had been to exhibit to the world the
department's incompetence in artistic matters, no
better position could have been chosen, no better
subjects selected, and certainly no better colour used.
These cottages can be seen miles away; they have
been placed high up on the banks of the river and
the open country is around them; their shapes are
hideous and their colour is red with a blatant red-
ness that will never fade, and with which time and
nature will have nothing to do for many a year.
There is no mistaking their origin, they are stamped
with the official stamp, and no doubt if closer
examination of them were made the very number
of the pigeon-hole could be found from which they
were drawn. Yet the government cottages at
Tintern are but types of hundreds of others that
are yearly built by officialdom in all its various ugly
shapes, and will continue to be built, it is to be
undeniable. What better appeal can there be for
good gardening than in God's acre itself?
Another and a far more serious evil to rural
England than the want of care and thought in
gardening and kindred subjects lies in the exist-
ence of bad cottage building in general, and in
particular that for which the Government and the
various authorities in the country are responsible.
None of the admirable efforts of to-day to improve
these things appears to have even pricked the
skin of time-hardened officialdom. It is well-
nigh impossible in any county to escape that
particular curse which blights any and every part
of the country it touches. Officialdom, when it
turns its attention to building, whether old or new,
is no respecter of beautiful scenery and cares nought
for historic or sacred associations; it is a ruthless
and thoughtless destroyer of both. If there is one
district in England more than another where it
might reasonably have been assumed some atten-
LODGE AND GARDEN WALK AT TIRLEY COURT, CHESHIRE
DESIGNED AND DRAWN BY C. E. MALLOWS, F. R.I.B.A.
288
SKETCH FOR COTTAGE AT BYFLEET, SURREY
DESIGNED AND DRAWN BY C. E. MALLOWS, F.R.I.B.A.
tion would have been given to such subjects, it
is surely in the valley of the Wye, near Tintern
Abbey. Yet the Government Department respon-
sible for matters of this nature have chosen that
precise spot for the building of a group of cottages
of the very worst type of official " reach-me-downs."
Whether Tintern Abbey is approached from Chep-
stow by road or rail, there is no escaping them. If
the intention had been to exhibit to the world the
department's incompetence in artistic matters, no
better position could have been chosen, no better
subjects selected, and certainly no better colour used.
These cottages can be seen miles away; they have
been placed high up on the banks of the river and
the open country is around them; their shapes are
hideous and their colour is red with a blatant red-
ness that will never fade, and with which time and
nature will have nothing to do for many a year.
There is no mistaking their origin, they are stamped
with the official stamp, and no doubt if closer
examination of them were made the very number
of the pigeon-hole could be found from which they
were drawn. Yet the government cottages at
Tintern are but types of hundreds of others that
are yearly built by officialdom in all its various ugly
shapes, and will continue to be built, it is to be