Grotto At High Elms Country Park

Grotto at High Elms Country Park

A grotto or garden shelter built between 1885 and 1896 for John Lubbock, who was created Lord Avebury in 1900. The grotto is situated at the north west end of a rectangular set of stone garden walls, to which it appears to have been added. It faces south west and comprises a large alcove with a round-headed roof approximately nine feet high and twelve feet wide. Tapering side retaining walls, extending nine to twelve feet in length, are entirely covered in rough flints. The structure was designed to contain a garden seat and was used by Lord Avebury for whom it was built.

The High Elms estate belonged to the Lubbock family from 1809 to 1938. The Third Baronet, John William Lubbock (1803–1865), rebuilt the main house. In 1865 his son John Lubbock (1834–1913) took over the family bank and High Elms estate. Lubbock had a distinguished career in public life and heritage preservation. He was introduced into Darwin's inner circle and became a member of the Royal Institution, the Geological Society and the Royal Society. He served as Liberal MP for Maidstone between 1870 and 1880 and represented London University between 1880 and 1900. He championed early closing bills in the 1870s, drafted the Bank Holiday Bill of 1871—the first secular holiday in British history, popularly known as "St. Lubbock's Day"—and pushed through the Ancient Monuments Act in 1882, a landmark in historic buildings legislation. He was also an advocate of voting reform and one of the founders of the Proportional Representation Society in 1884. When he was created a peer in 1900 he chose the title Avebury after the ancient druidical site which he had campaigned to preserve from destruction.

During his tenure the gardens were extended with two lawns terraced into the hillside to the south west of the mansion, a yew walk constructed to the south west, and the grotto built facing south west. The grotto does not appear on the 1885 25-inch Ordnance Survey sheet but is shown on the 1896 sheet. It is a very late example, substantially intact, of a rare building type, and represents one of the few structures at High Elms directly associated with Lord Avebury following the loss of the main house to fire in 1967.