Fernery The Grotto

TL 1444 OLD WARDEN THE SWISS GARDEN

11/176 The Grotto and Fernery 11.10.73

• II*

Grotto and fernery. Early 1830's for 3rd Lord Ongley, entrance gables rebuilt by Shuttleworth family and dated 1876. The grotto is of mottled red brick and has clay tile roofs with ridge cresting. The fernery has base of same brick, supporting mainly glass and cast iron structure (ironwork produced 1830-33 by Barwell swaggers Eagle Foundry, Northants). Cruciform plan, grotto running roughly N-S, fernery W-E, grotto with gabled roof, the fernery a vaulted glasshouse, with an iron and glass dome at the intersection. The grotto is lined with tufa stone to give'a cave-like appearance, and has a lancet window to the all of each wing opposite a niche, possibly originally intended for statuary. The later entrance gables have round-headed archways and glazed doors. The 2 fernery wings are each supported internally by a pair of slender cast iron pillars, and each have a circular stained glass panel to the end wall. The central dome is topped by a lantern with a conical roof and ball finial.

Listing NGR: TL1492144703