Weston Grove
Weston Grove, Southamptonparish:
county:
coords:
Southampton
Hampshire
SU4410
The place is described in text Cobbett 1830
... It was eight o'clock before we arrived at Mr. Chamberlayne's, ... To those who like water scenes (as nineteen-twentieths of people do) it is the prettiest spot, I believe, in all England. Mr. CHAMBERLAYNE built the house about twenty years ago. He has been bringing the place to greater and greater perfection from that time to this. All round about the house is in the neatest possible order. I should think that, altogether, there can not be so little as ten acres of short grass; and, when I say that, those who know any thing about gardens will form a pretty correct general notion as to the scale on which the thing is carried on. Until of late, Mr. Chamberlayne was owner of only a small part, comparatively, of the lands hereabouts. He is now the owner, I believe, of the whole of the lands that come down to the water's edge and that lie between the ferry over the Itchen at Southampton, and the river which goes out from the Southampton Water at Hamble. ...
...
So that, the views from this place are the most beautiful that can be imagined. You see up the water and down the water, to Redbridge one way and out to Spithead the other way. Through the trees, to the right, you see the spires of Southampton, and you have only to walk a mile over a beautiful lawn and through a not less beautiful wood, to find, in a little dell surrounded with lofty woods, the venerable ruins of NETLEY ABBEY, which make part of Mr. Chamberlayne's estate. The woods here are chiefly of oak; the ground consists of a series of hill and dale, as you go long-wise from one end of the estate to the other, about six miles in length. Down almost every little valley that divides these hills or hillocks, there is more or less of water, making the underwood, in those parts, very thick, and dark to go through, and these form the most delightful contrast with the fields and lawns. There are innumerable vessels of various sizes continually upon the water; and, to those that delight in water-scenes, this is certainly the very prettiest place that I ever saw in my life. ...
Shown on an old map by Greenwood 1826
