Cannons (house) - Gardens

Gardens

The grounds of Cannons extended to 105 acres (0.42 km2) and were renowned for their magnificence. There was a pleasure garden an orchard and a grand terrace opening on to a parterre containing gilded statues.

Chandos had a water engineer of international fame in his household - his chaplain, the Rev John Theophilus Desaguliers, FRS. Desaguliers created a system of pipes of different materials and bores to feed the water features. In fact, he was better-known for his scientific expertise than his interest in his parishioners. The water gardens, which included a great basin, a canal and numerous ornamental fountains led Nicholas Hawksmoor to comment "I cannot but own that the water at Cannon's... is the main beauty of that situation and it cost him dear".

Another FRS associated with the Cannons garden was Richard Bradley, a horticulturalist who was to become the first professor of botany at the University of Cambridge. Bradley, who dedicated a gardening book to the Duke, supplied plants for the gardens.

Chandos, together with his head gardener Tilleman Bobart, oversaw changes at Cannons reflecting the eighteenth-century movement towards a more naturalistic style of landscape gardening. Some features from the original park survive, including two lakes, the Basin Lake and the Seven Acre Lake. English Heritage has included Canons Park on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Read more about this topic:  Cannons (house)

Famous quotes containing the word gardens:

    Typical of Iowa towns, whether they have 200 or 20,000 inhabitants, is the church supper, often utilized to raise money for paying off church debts. The older and more conservative members argue that the “House of the Lord” should not be made into a restaurant; nevertheless, all members contribute time and effort, and the products of their gardens and larders.
    —For the State of Iowa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    Thou didst create the night, but I made the lamp.
    Thou didst create clay, but I made the cup.
    Thou didst create the deserts, mountains and forests,
    I produced the orchards, gardens and groves.
    It is I who made the glass out of stone,
    And it is I who turn a poison into an antidote.
    Muhammad, Sir Iqbal (1873–1938)

    the men
    Leaving the gardens tidy,
    The thousands of marriages
    Lasting a little while longer:
    Never such innocence again.
    Philip Larkin (1922–1985)