Anthony Greenstreet mourns the loss of a two-storey marvel which stood in the grounds of Oatlands Park until its demolition in 1947
Is there any point in regretting lost buildings unseen by living eye? Pointless or not, one cannot help it. Surely there must be some who use Nonsuch Park to exercise their countless dogs who regret that it is no longer graced by the fabulous Palace that rose there from 1538. Had it not been destroyed in the 1680s, the surrounding settlements of Stoneleigh, Cheam and Ewell would have been famous throughout the world.
Once Elmbridge, too, had a marvel of its own in the grounds of Oatlands Park, Weybridge: a two-storeyed grotto of unsurpassed splendour which latterly visitors could view for a few pence. Probably few now living ever saw it, for it was declared unsafe by the local council and demolished in 1947.
The grotto was never universally admired. In The King’s England: Surrey (1938) Arthur Mee described how, in the 18th century, a Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme commissioned what would become the crowning glory of his park:
“The Duke brought from Italy a father and his two sons and for a generation these three laboured to make the place, covering its walls with shells and stones, rare minerals, shining crystals and horse’s teeth, making inlaid patterns and imitation stalactites, little rooms and winding passages, a gambling den, and even a place for a bath – a wonder in those days. There can be few better examples of misspent ingenuity and wasted effort than these walls with millions of fragments on them.” (In fact, the grotto was probably built by a specialist English grotto-builder, Joseph Lane and son).
Still, probably few would unequivocally back the artistic taste of Arthur Mee – certainly not against that of the diarist and servant of the National Trust, James Lees-Milne. He visited the grotto on 12 March 1944, found it “fascinating” and (in Prophesying Peace, 1977) described it in detail:
“It is extremely elaborate...[but] fast deteriorating, at the mercy of children who pick the shells off the walls. The outside is made of decayed lava stone, encrusted with large fossils and sea urchins. It contains an upstairs room in bad condition, the walls inlaid with fluorspar and vauxhall looking-glass plates, the ceiling hung with great stalactites of felspar. Below are wonderful passages and a subterranean hall dripping with stalactites. The walls are decorated in rude chevrons of glittering red and blue stones and lit by specially constructed windows once filled with stained glass…
"There is a tiled bathroom, its walls and ceilings decorated with whorls of mussel shells, and great conches. Of its kind this is far the best grotto I have ever seen, a superb plaything of variety and imagination… From the lead pipes everywhere in evidence it is apparent that the walls were made to drip and cascade with water, when the rare stones glistened. There are niches for flambeaux. Chandeliers may have hung from some of the stalactites. In front of the grotto is a deep depression which was at one time a pool for swans.”
Of all this former wonder there remains only a slightly larger than life-size, 17th or 18th century marble copy of an antique classical statue of Venus (now in Elmbridge Museum) which had stood by the grotto bath. It is also said that shells identical to those that lined the grotto walls may still be found in the wall at the top of the driveway into the car park at Oatlands Park Hotel.
How tragic that, had the destruction of this glittering marvel been only briefly delayed, it would probably have become a listed building of architectural merit and been restored to its former glory. What lustrous and lasting fame would then have accrued to Weybridge!
- Illustration reproduced by kind permission of Elmbridge Museum, Elmbridge Borough Council.
- Elmbridge Museum is now a museum without walls. Go to elmbridgemuseum.org.uk to see over 40,000 objects in its collections as well as online exhibitions and local history.
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