The Rosery

The Rosery - old Rose Garden - is situated east of the Mansion between the south wall of the walled gardens and the 'ha-ha'

It was originally set out for Sarah Ingleby in the early 1870s by William Earley, a well known gardener who also wrote for and edited various horticultural magazines. Details of Earley's planting scheme have been discovered recently and it is hoped that this garden will be included in the Park's restoration scheme.

As part of the preparations for the restoration scheme, and to help with match funding from the anticipated Heritage Lottery Fund bid, we are tending and identifying the old climbing and rambling roses which are growing in the garden. Some of these are trained over hoops as a hedge, others up wrought iron poles in a central, double, circular 'temple' and some along the edge of the 'ha-ha'.

We began monitoring and photographing the roses in Spring 1999 and each rose has been allocated a reference number. We have already pruned out a lot of dead wood which had been allowed to accumulate and have applied a mulch of horse manure - this work will continue in 2001. Fortunately, we have received expert help and advice from Margaret Stewart, a Vice-President of the Royal National Rose Society. Margaret has identified some of the roses and given us advice about the roses Earley planted in the 1870s.

With her assistance we are building our knowledge of the past and present stock of this garden and restoring it to something approaching a reasonable state.