Fernery The Grotto

The Grotto and Fernery is a structure built in the early 1830s for the 3rd Lord Ongley, with entrance gables that were rebuilt by the Shuttleworth family and dated 1876. The grotto is constructed of mottled red brick and features clay tile roofs with ridge cresting. The fernery has a base of the same brick and supports a mainly glass and cast iron structure, with the ironwork produced between 1830 and 1833 by Barwell swaggers at Eagle Foundry in Northamptonshire.

The building has a cruciform plan, with the grotto running roughly north-south and the fernery west-east. The grotto features a gabled roof, while the fernery is designed as a vaulted glasshouse, complete with an iron and glass dome at the intersection. Inside, the grotto is lined with tufa stone to create a cave-like appearance and includes a lancet window on the wall of each wing opposite a niche, which may have originally been intended for statuary. The later entrance gables have round-headed archways and glazed doors.

The two wings of the fernery are each supported internally by a pair of slender cast iron pillars and feature a circular stained glass panel in the end wall. The central dome is topped with a lantern that has a conical roof and a ball finial.