Albury is nearly two miles from Chilworth station, and the Tillingbourne
runs through and under it. Albury has a number of beautiful chimneys;
chimneys that are tall and graceful, of red brick, shaped and moulded in
ingenious spirals, with patterned sides and columns, and crowsteps and
other ornaments and uses. You would not guess all that a chimney can be,
until you have seen Albury. A year or two ago there was another charm in
the village. You looked in from the main street at what seemed like half
a road, half an entrance to a square of houses, and found yourself in
the remains of an old farmyard, of which one side was a row of cottages.
The rest was old red brick--I think I remember a great dovecote--and a
quiet look of age and disuse. But now new buildings are rising in its
place.
[Illustration: _Chimneys, Albury._]
Just outside Albury is one of the Duke of Northumberland's houses, in
Albury Park. The garden holds a historic yew hedge, but it is not shown
to the public and I have not seen it. John Evelyn laid out the gardens;
Cobbett has described the yew hedge. In his day it belonged to Mr.
Drummond, a banker, and Cobbett, who had heard much of the park and
gardens, rode up to the house and asked permission to see them. So he
saw the yew hedge, and wrote about it.
"Between the house and the gardens there is a very beautiful run of
water, with a sort of little, wild, narrow sedgy meadow. The gardens are
separated from this by a hedge, running along from east to west. From
this hedge there go up the hill, at right angles, several other hedges,
which divide the land here into distinct gardens, or orchards. Along at
the top of these there goes a yew hedge, or, rather, a row of small yew
trees, the trunks of which are bare for about eight or ten feet high,
and the tops of which form one solid head of about ten feet high, while
the bottom branches come out on each side of the row about eight feet
horizontally. This hedge, or row, is a _quarter of a mile long_. There
is a nice hard sand road under this species of umbrella; and summer and
winter, here is a most delightful walk! Between this row of yews, there
is a space, or garden (a quarter of a mile long you will observe) about
thirty or forty feet wide, as nearly as I can recollect. At the back of
this garden, and facing the yew tree row, is a wall probably ten feet
high, which forms the breastwork of a terrace; and it is this terrace
which is the most beautiful thing that I ever saw in the gardening way.
It is a quarter of a mile long, and, I believe, between thirty and forty
feet wide; of the finest green sward and as level as a die."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account