‘Longleat’ in W. Robinson, Garden Design and Architects’ Gardens: two Reviews, illustrated, to show, by Actual Examples from British Gardens, that Clipping and Aligning Trees to make them ‘Harmonise’ with Architecture is Barbarous, Needless, and Inartistic. London: J. Murray, 1892, facing p.16. B.19.21

Throughout the nineteenth century, the proliferation of the suburban villa, combined with a flourishing romantic nostalgia for old rural England, led to the emergence of one of the most ubiquitous figures in modern British culture: the amateur gardener. The Gardeners’ Chronicle was established in 1841 to advise professional and amateur gardeners alike, but more specialised publications provided instruction on principles of garden design. In Garden Design and Architects’ Gardens, the Irish gardener and journalist William Robinson employed real landscapes, including one of Brown’s at Longleat, as working examples through which to educate his readers. Robinson’s enthusiasm for naturalistic planting brought renewed relevance to Brown’s landscapes.