‘We have just begun to build a green house’
As Henry Stockman points out at the Orangery, which he built, not everyone was pleased that a carpenter had improved on the design of the well-known garden designer Nathaniel Richmond. However, Theresa Parker championed Henry. In 1773, she wrote to her brother that:
“We have just begun to build a Green house which will be seventy two feet long & I think will be a handsome one tho’ it is a sort of building that admits of very little beauty. I wish I could have my brother’s opinion of it, & will send him a Sketch of it, if I have time it is Stockmans improvement upon a plan he saw of Mr. Richmonds.” [British Library, Add Mss 48218, f.194: Therese to Fritz, Saltram 4 June 1773]
As Henry was building the Orangery, Theresa Parker was thinking about how best to decorate the interior. In a letter to her brother Lord Grantham of 31 July 1774, she wrote:
“Our Green House is putting up & I think will look very handsome I will send you the size of the inside Walls for your opinion how to ornament them. I want to have Niches & Statues for the Summer – exposed as it is, to the Sea air, & the Dampness these must be in the walls set aside all thoughts of Paintings I have not had time fully to consider it, but I have a notion we may get good Medallions & Bas Reliefs in Artificial Stone, which properly arranged over Niches may make it clever.” [British Library, Add Mss 48218, f.151: Therese to Grantham, Saltram 31 July 1774]
Sadly, no references survive for the final scheme within the Orangery, and the exact details of Theresa’s scheme are unknown. Whatever she chose as the final decoration, she was happy with her decision. In a letter to Lord Grantham written the following June from London, she is eager to spend time in the space:
“I shall be very impatient to get to Saltram, which I think I shall enjoy much more than ever this Summer, it must of course be in a quiet way. I propose sitting much in the Green House & drawing a good deal & I think the place must be in the highest Beauty…” [British Library, Add Mss 48218, f.161: Therese to Grantham, Sackville Street 2 June 1775].
After her death, her sister Anne continued Theresa’s work in the garden. An Orange Grove was created in 1782 as a summer position for the orange trees.
“We are now planting and finishing the place for the Orange Trees, which is behind the Chapel, it is so warm a situation that we mean to plant all sorts of curious shrubs, Myrtles we are sure will grow & geraniums we mean to try”. [Anne Robinson, 4 Jan 1782. Letter to Lord Grantham. British Library ref. BM ADD MSS 48218 60].
The Orange Grove may not have been in the same position as today. The 1784-’86 OS map shows an open area to the northwest of the Chapel, about halfway between the Orangery and the Chapel.
Emma Philip