This section is from the book "A History Of Gardening In England", by Alicia Amherst. Also available from Amazon: A History Of Gardening In England.
Birdcage One other of the said little courts is fitted with a birdcage, Fountain. having three open turrets, very well wrought tor the sitting and perching of birds; and also having standing in it one very fair and handsome fountain, with three cisterns of lead belonging to it, and many several small pipes of lead, gilded, which, when they flow and fall into the cisterns, make a pleasant noise. The turrets, fountain, and little court are all covered with strong iron wire, and lie directly under the windows of the two rooms of the said Manor House called the Balcony Room and the Lord's Chamber ; from which Balcony Room, one pavement of black and white marble containing 104 foot, railed with rails of wood on each side thereof, extends itself into the said alley over the middle of the said birdcage. This birdcage is a great ornament both to the tarras or walk, very well turfed, extending itself two hundred and thirty yards from East to West, and containing twenty-five foot in the breadth thereof; the North side whereof is planted with lime trees of very good bulks, and of a very high growth, growing, both tops, bodies, and branches, in a most uniform and regular manner ; the height whereof, being perspicuous to the country round about, renders them a very special ornament to the whole house. The south side of the said turfed tarras is planted with Elms, betwixt every one whereof grows a Cypress tree, well planted and ordered, much adorning and setting forth the completeness of the tarras ; besides which there are on either side of the said tarras, betwixt every tree, borders of box, very well ordered, adding also a further ornament thereunto; which tarras and borders we value to be worth 2s. 6d.
House and Garden; the materials whereof and the said fountains and cistern, and the said marble pavement and rails, we value to be worth in the whole at £2^. 4s.
In the height of the said Higher Level there is one fair green Tarras.
At the east end of the said turfed tarras there stands one fair Banquet-banqueting house, most of wood; the model thereof containing a House, fair round in the middle of four angles, covered with blue slate, and ridged and guttered with lead, wainscoted round from the bottom to the roof, varnished with green within and without, benched in the angles, having sixteen windows or covers of the same wainscot, to open or shut at pleasure, and having also sixteen half rounds of glass to enlighten the room when those The covers are shut up ; the floor paved with painted tile in the angles, Garden and with squared stone in the middle; in one of which angles stands a table of artificial stone very well polished ; and in every of the said angles, besides the said benches, there stands one wainscot chair. There are to the said banqueting house, two The double leaved doors, the one pair of which doors opens in the very middle of the said tarras, the outside thereof being gilt, with several coats of arms ; the other of the said leaved doors opens into a fair walk within the Park, planted with Elms and Lime trees, extending itself from the said banqueting house in a direct line eastward, to the very Park pale. The round of the said banqueting house is handsomely arched; within which thirteen heads or statues, gilded, stand in a circular form, adding very much to the beauty of the whole room. The materials of this house, the said table and chairs, we value to be worth £66. 13s. 4d.
At the west end of the said turfed tarras there stands one Garden other Garden or Summer house, covered with blue slate, and ridged, and guttered with lead, wainscoted and benched round, paved with square tile; in which stands one table of Ranee stone, set in a frame of wood. There are two doors belonging to this garden house, the one opening into the said tarras, and the other opening into the Churchyard, into an alley or walk therein, leading to the Church door, planted on either side thereof with Sicamore trees. The materials of this house, and the said table, we value to be worth £13. 6s. 8d.
Betwixt the ascent from the said Lower Level and the said turfed tarras, there are on each side of the gravelled alley that leads from that ascent to the said tarras, three grass plot walks planted with fruit trees of divers sorts and kinds, both pleasant for taste and profitable for use; the borders of which grass plots are Coran* trees; the value of which trees and borders doth herein and hereafter appear in the several particulars thereof; the value of the grass plots being comprised in the foresaid yearly value of the whole Upper Garden.
Maze. In the South of the said turfed tarras there are planted one great Maze, and one Wilderness, which being severed with one gravelled alley in or near the middle of the said turfed tarras, sets forth the Maze to lie towards the east, and the Wilderness towards the west. The Maze consists of young trees, wood[s], and sprays of a good growth and height, cut out into several meanders, circles, semicircles, windings, and intricate turnings, the walks or intervals whereof are all grass plots. This Maze, as it is now ordered, adds:
The very much to the worth of the Upper Level. The Wilderness (a Wilder work of a vast expense to the maker thereof) consists of many ness. young trees, woods, and sprays of a good growth and height, cut and formed into several ovals, squares, and angles, very well ordered; in most of the angular points whereof, as also in the centre of every oval, stands one Lime tree or Elm. All the alleys The of this wilderness, being in number eighteen, are of a gravelled Level earth, very well ordered and maintained; the whole work being compiled with such order and decency, as that it is not one of the least of the ornaments of the said Manor or Mansion House. The foresaid alley dividing the said Maze and Wilderness is planted on each side thereof with Lime trees and Elms, betwixt every tree whereof grows a Cypress tree; at the south end of which alley, and in the wall that parts the said Upper Garden from the Vineyard Garden, betwixt two fair pillars of brick, there are set fair and large pair of railed gates, of good ornament to both the said gardens. On the South side of the said Maze and Wilderness there is one close or private gravelled walk, inclosed on each side thereof with a very high and well grown hedge of thorn, extending itself from the East wall to the West wall of the said Upper Garden ; at each end of which close walk there stands Shadow one little shadow summer house, covered with blue slate and ridged with lead, and fitted for resting places. Which Maze and Walk.
* Currant.
 
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