Gardens Throughout Sutton’s History
Wed 14/Feb/24
Gardens Throughout Sutton’s History
This half term, Whitehall is running a Gardens Through Time trail celebrating the different gardens throughout history. A new exhibition - From Oranges To Watercress, looking at the history of plant growing in the local area, and featuring two Elizabethan gardens, has also just been installed in Whitehall. To celebrate this, this blog post will focus on some of the most notable gardens throughout the history of the area.
Nonsuch Palace
A photo of the Nonsuch Palace model at Whitehall, complete with the gardens.
Back when Nonsuch Palace was still standing, it was surrounded by 16 acres of garden. On the left side of the Palace was a topiary garden, while on the right side was a hedge maze with several trees planted next to it. The back garden consisted of eight topiary gardens, two posts and a fountain.
There was a chalk wall thought to be one of the remaining parts of Nonsuch Palace. This wall is now part of Nonsuch Mansion’s garden, on the left of the garden gate.
You can visit Whitehall and take a look at the palace model in the Nonsuch room in order to find out more about what the garden may have looked like.
Carew Manor
Sir Francis Carew (1530-1611) built one of the most impressive Elizabethan gardens on the grounds of Carew Manor. It featured many delights such as an orangery, ornament fountains, a grotto and even an elaborately decorated banqueting house. The orangery in particular was renowned for being the first one in England to have orange trees planted directly into the ground. Queen Elizabeth I visited the garden on many occasions, and other famous people such as writers Daniel Defoe and John Evelyn and sculptor John Gibson continued to visit it throughout the succeeding centuries.
Nonsuch Palace
Nonsuch Mansion’s impressive garden still remains. In the front garden is a ditch running north from the eastern gate, also known as a “ha ha”. It was designed to keep animals out of the garden while still allowing the house to be seen from the park.
The back garden has a lawn with a large ditch at the back. On the right side is a pathway with trees on the sides, while on the left side is a flower garden that comes complete with a small fish and frog pond. A notable feature is the rose tunnel with flower beds by it.
The nursery garden that lay across the drive from the Service Wing no longer exists, but it would have provided pretty much all of the house’s food needs. Fresh fruit and vegetables were grown there that would have provided nutrition. Nearby was the Lodge, where the Head Gardener lived, and behind that was the home farm that provided milk, eggs and butter. The gate in the opposite wall led to the ice well, which stored ice that would be used for cooling wine or making ice cream.
At the back of the formal gardens is a Terrace, first built in the 1840s by William Francis Gamul Farmer. There is a glass house at the front which used to house orchids, azaleas and tender plants. At the back of the Terrace is the Pinetum, initially planted in the 1840s. It originally had cedars and redwoods planted in it, but later on it featured more of a variety such as atlas cedars, pines, firs and even gingko and tulip trees.
An old chalk pit known as the Dell was converted by Thomas Whateley in the mid 19th century into part of the garden, complete with a London Plane tree. This no doubt helped to turn a potential eyesore into something more attractive.
You can see a map of the garden here.
Imogen Easton
Works Cited:
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Dent, John. The Quest For Nonsuch, London Borough of Sutton Leisure Services, 1981.
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Lister, Lalage. Nonsuch: Pearl of the Realm, Sutton Leisure Services, 1992.
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Michell, Ronald. The Carews of Beddington. London Borough of Sutton Libraries and Arts Services, 1981.
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The Carews of Beddington Park…the interesting bits! SS Media Ltd., 2010.