The landscape at Fonthill: An assessment of the grottoes and their builders

The part played by Alderman Beckford in the development of the park at Fonthill is typically overshadowed by the later works of his son, particularly the move westwards relative to the site of Fonthill Splendens and the building of Fonthill Abbey and its surrounding new park. It is not the intention here to focus on the latter, but rather the Old Park, as it is called, and the contributions there of Beckford, father and son. For Britain, the eighteenth century heralded major changes to tastes in, and commentary on, gardening. Indeed, as a follower of the formal fashions brought over