The Grotto Located Within The Grounds Of The Former Grove Estate

The Grotto, located within the grounds of the former Grove Estate, dates from around 1790. It features a brick inner core with an exterior facing of flint and random stones, including conglomerates, sandstones, marble, and tufa. Inside, the dome is decorated with scallop shells. The grotto consists of a circular inner chamber that can be accessed through a lobby. It has a recessed arched doorway set into a tripartite front. A circular hole at the top allows light into the chamber, which contains a primitive altar opposite the entrance. This altar is made from a heavy slab of Hertfordshire sandstone supported by squat legs carved to resemble quivers filled with arrows. The brick walls are plain, while the inner surface of the domed roof displays 12 rows of red cockle shells, with impressions in the mortar indicating that another row of shells once circled the top of the wall. The floor is made of beaten earth and shows no signs of decorative treatment such as pebbles or knuckle bones. The lantern may have originally been glazed.

Historically, this grotto is a notable example of mid-Georgian landscape architecture and was part of the garden surrounding The Grove, which was demolished in 1979. According to "The Ambulator" from 1820, it was likely constructed by a German city merchant named Fierville, who owned the estate from 1782 to 1790 before being succeeded by Dr. Alexander von Mayersbach. The grotto was situated within a Wilderness area, near a replica of Rousseau's grave on the Ile des Peupliers at Ermenonville, as well as a hermitage and a mock-tumulus elsewhere on the estate. The altar is an unusual feature and may have been dedicated to Diana, the Goddess of Hunting. The grotto serves as a reminder of a largely vanished romantic landscape and symbolizes the earlier history of Stanmore as a place of genteel retirement.