Description

674-1/13/261 PIGEONHOUSE LANE
16-JUN-04 (South of)
GROTTO IN THE GROUNDS OF ASCOT PLACE,
TO SOUTH OF HOUSE AT WEST END OF LAKE

GV I
Grotto. c1750, Robert Turnbull & Scott, masons, for Daniel Agace.
MATERIALS: stone, with exotic mineral embellishment.
PLAN: irregular plan of one main chamber and several lesser chambers.
EXTERIOR: approached by cavernous entrance on east facing end of lake. A mound of large boulders and blocks of stone apparently disposed at random among grass and mosses, with small shrubs. 2 flights of small irregular stone steps to top of mound where there are flat stones for sitting. Below rocky entrance with an iron gate to small, over antechamber with seats formed of low rocks and quartz decoration to walls. Narrow entrance to main chamber, quatrefoil shaped, lit by octagonal central lantern in roof whose leaded lights show quatrefoil shapes. Walls are covered with small, white glittering quartz crystals in large clusters. All around edges of roof descent artificial stalactites of varying lengths in irregular double row. Also covered with small, white lengthwise crystals. From subsidiary entrances at either side of mould other passages and small chambers, behind main chamber, can be reached.
HISTORY: According to J.C. Loudon (The Gardener's Magazine, 1829, 568)this grotto was built to the designs of Daniel Agace, owner of Ascot Place, with masons named Turnbull & Scott. According to Rupert Gunnis's 'Dictionary of British Sculptors', Robert Turnbull built both the grotto and the Corinthian Temple at Ascot Place in c.1750, citing Hakewill's 'Windsor'. The embellishment of the interior may be the work of the specialist grotto-builders, Joseph & Josiah Lane of Tisbury, who also worked on the grottoes at nearby Oatlands and Painshill. Headley and Meulenkamp state that 'it is hard to think of a finer grotto in Britain'. An outstanding example of a Rococo garden structure, related to an important Registered landscape, which reflects the contemporary taste for buildings of mystery, delight and natural wonderment.
The grotto forms part of the garden listed II* in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
SOURCES: English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest: Part 3 : Berkshire; Gunnis R: Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851: 401; Barbara Jones, Follies & Grottoes (1974), 160-63; Gwyn Headley & Wim Meulenkamp, Follies (1990), 215; Hazelle Jackson, 'Shell Houses and Grottoes (2001), 18-19, 33-34.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Ascot Place at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4804037

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]