Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Elba and the Hundred Days, 1814-1815; Waterloo, Battle of, Waterloo, Belgium, 1815
On the north, or British, side of the Château, was a spacious Farm
yard, bounded on the west by a large Barn and a Shed, and on the
east by Cow Houses and Stabling adjoining the Garden. There was a
continuation of the Stabling along the north side, and a gateway;
and near the centre of the yard there was a drawwell of which the
superstructure formed a dovecot.
On the south, or French, side of the Château, and inclosing the latter,
was the Court yard; of which a Barn on the west, the Gardener's House,
some Stables and other Offices on the south, and the Garden Wall on
the east, formed the boundaries. There was a communication between the
Court and the Farm yard, by means of a doorway in the small portion of
wall connecting the Château with the great Barn; and through the whole
length of the latter building there was also a carriage way leading
from the one Court into the other. A gateway, passing through a portion
of the Gardener's House, led out from the Court yard to the south, or
French, side; and from this gate a narrow road conducted across the
open space between the Buildings and the Wood, through which it took
its course in the same direction until it gained the fields beyond the
inclosures. There was also a pathway from this road, commencing at the
corner of the little Garden, and traversing the Wood in the direction
of the south-east angle of the general boundary of the inclosures,
whence it continued towards La Belle Alliance.
The approach to Hougomont from the Nivelles road was lined, nearly as
far as the Château, by fine tall elms: it conducted to the gate of
the Farm yard facing the British Line; and, sweeping along the west
side, it led also to the South Gate of the Court yard. On the east side
of the Buildings was a large Garden, laid out with all the formality
which characterises the Flemish style. It was inclosed on the south
and east sides by a high brick wall, and on the north side, facing the
British Line, by a hedge. Adjoining the east side of the Garden, but
considerably wider and longer than the latter, was the Large Orchard,
and along the north side was the smaller Orchard--the latter bounded by
a hedge and hollow way, and the former inclosed within high and compact
hedges, partially lined by a ditch on the inner side. A prolongation of
the southern hedge of the Great Orchard formed the boundary of the Wood
facing the south Garden Wall, and in the narrow space between these two
boundaries was a row of apple trees, which, together with the hedge,
served to conceal, in a great measure, the Garden Wall from the view
of an Enemy, approaching through the Wood. There was a small Garden in
front of the Gardener's house, formed by the continuation of the south
Garden Wall until it met another wall issuing perpendicularly from the
South Gateway leading out of the Court yard. There were two inclosures
on the west side, of which one served as a Kitchen Garden.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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