DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65478#0105
it as it then was, and the garden remains very much the same now. The
lady says: “ The very flowers are old-fashioned, . . . none but flowers of
the oldest time, gay formal knots of pinks and sweet-peas and larkspurs
and lilies and hollyhocks, mixed with solid cabbage-roses and round
Dutch honeysuckles.”1 In short, the “squares, knots, and trails” in
which Parkinson arranged his Garden of Pleasure in 1629 were all to
be found in the original garden at Ham House.
The White Closet is the last of the rooms on the ground floor of
Ham House, for the State Apartments are all on the first floor, some
looking to the south across the terrace, the others, on the River Front,
facing north, and looking across the court-yard over the Thames, which
flows at no great distance. On the south front of Ham House there is
a fine terrace, 530 feet long and 38 feet wide. Beyond this is the smooth
extent of grass, called the Lawn, which occupies a space of nearly two
acres and a half. The Lawn stretches to the Wilderness with its lofty
Scotch firs, and at one side is the Ilex Walk, 228 feet long, and 54 feet
wide, shaded by the evergreen oaks which give its name to this
avenue. In the centre of the Ilex Avenue is a marble figure repre-
senting Bacchus.
The Grand Staircase at Ham House is opposite to the door of the
Chapel. The staircase is of highly polished brown deal, with very wide
and shallow steps. The balusters on one side are beautiful examples
of seventeenth-century carving in open designs, representing military
trophies and weapons alternately with groups of fruit and flowers. On
the other side of the staircase tall windows look out towards the river.
At the head of the staircase double doors in the centre of the wide
landing open into the State Apartments ; and similar folding doors, each
surrounded by elaborate carving, lead on the right to the State Bedroom
and on the left to another large bedroom called the Yellow Satin Room.
All these doors are carved, and, like many of the other doors in Ham
House, they are fastened by curious upright bolts beautifully wrought
in steel.
The State Apartments at Ham House are five in number, and
three of them are connected with smaller rooms called, in the language
of the old inventories, Closets.
1 Miss Hawkins, daughter of Sir John
Hawkins (the author of The History of Music}.
Sir John Hawkins died in 1789, and his daugh-
ter continued to occupy his house in Sion Row,
Twickenham. {Richmond and its Vicinity, by
John Evans, LL.D., 1825.)
33 f
lady says: “ The very flowers are old-fashioned, . . . none but flowers of
the oldest time, gay formal knots of pinks and sweet-peas and larkspurs
and lilies and hollyhocks, mixed with solid cabbage-roses and round
Dutch honeysuckles.”1 In short, the “squares, knots, and trails” in
which Parkinson arranged his Garden of Pleasure in 1629 were all to
be found in the original garden at Ham House.
The White Closet is the last of the rooms on the ground floor of
Ham House, for the State Apartments are all on the first floor, some
looking to the south across the terrace, the others, on the River Front,
facing north, and looking across the court-yard over the Thames, which
flows at no great distance. On the south front of Ham House there is
a fine terrace, 530 feet long and 38 feet wide. Beyond this is the smooth
extent of grass, called the Lawn, which occupies a space of nearly two
acres and a half. The Lawn stretches to the Wilderness with its lofty
Scotch firs, and at one side is the Ilex Walk, 228 feet long, and 54 feet
wide, shaded by the evergreen oaks which give its name to this
avenue. In the centre of the Ilex Avenue is a marble figure repre-
senting Bacchus.
The Grand Staircase at Ham House is opposite to the door of the
Chapel. The staircase is of highly polished brown deal, with very wide
and shallow steps. The balusters on one side are beautiful examples
of seventeenth-century carving in open designs, representing military
trophies and weapons alternately with groups of fruit and flowers. On
the other side of the staircase tall windows look out towards the river.
At the head of the staircase double doors in the centre of the wide
landing open into the State Apartments ; and similar folding doors, each
surrounded by elaborate carving, lead on the right to the State Bedroom
and on the left to another large bedroom called the Yellow Satin Room.
All these doors are carved, and, like many of the other doors in Ham
House, they are fastened by curious upright bolts beautifully wrought
in steel.
The State Apartments at Ham House are five in number, and
three of them are connected with smaller rooms called, in the language
of the old inventories, Closets.
1 Miss Hawkins, daughter of Sir John
Hawkins (the author of The History of Music}.
Sir John Hawkins died in 1789, and his daugh-
ter continued to occupy his house in Sion Row,
Twickenham. {Richmond and its Vicinity, by
John Evans, LL.D., 1825.)
33 f