Retaining Walls To The Cold Bath, Octagon Pool And Watery Walk

The retaining walls to the Cold Bath, Octagon Pool, and Watery Walk were built around 1738-40 by William Kent. They are made of squared and coursed limestone. The walls surround the octagonal Cold Bath, which features an ashlar rim, and the larger Octagon Pond located in Venus' Vale. A serpentine stream, made of channelled limestone, flows from a spring near the Temple of Echo through the Cold Bath to the Octagon Pond. This serpentine stream is significant as it represents the earliest application of the Rococo "line of beauty" in garden design and reflects Kent's belief that "Nature abhors a straight line." It is known as both the Watery Walk and The Rill. These features are part of the landscape gardens designed by William Kent between 1733 and 1740.