Tuesday 6 December 2011

ABC Wednesday - Urns

The immaculate topiary of Tatton Park and one of the cast iron urns near the entrance to the Rose Garden with a relief showing Greek warriors.  The garden designers must have had a fondness for these receptacles because they are everywhere.
on top of the ornate seats

and  by the side of Verona marble bench whose ends are carved into winged lions.
But sometimes things are not what they seem. Stand here in the Pleasure Gardens and look at the wall (built in 1818 and behind which are the Orchard and Vegetable gardens) ] with ornamental urns stood on the top.  They are a disguise and are actually chimneys.  The south facing walls gain most of the sun but north facing walls are often in shade  and these were heated in spring and autumn by furnaces whose flues ran through the thickness of the wall and emerge as chimneys.  From the 18th to the mid 19th Century heated walls (also known as 'hot walls') were quite common in the north. Fires would have been lit in early Spring in order to protect the fruit blossom from frost.  

More words starting with the letter U can be found at ABC Wednesday, a journey from A to Z

9 comments:

Gigi Ann said...

Well, what an interesting story about the Urns, especially the tale of the Hot Walls.

Roger Owen Green said...

Those ARE nice urns!

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

photowannabe said...

I again learned something new today. I never heard of hot walls before. it certainly makes a lot of sense.

Rajesh said...

Beautiful garden with nice work of art on urns and seats.

Tumblewords: said...

Fascinating and absolutely beautiful!

Meryl said...

Beautiful gardens... and 'cool' to learn about 'hot' walls!

Chubskulit Rose said...

Love that last photo!

U is for Umbrella, please come and see. Thanks!

Jama said...

Interesting story about the urns but they sure are beautiful!

Lisa said...

How interesting. And ingenious! Thank you for cluing us in on this piece of history. The gardens are gorgeous.