The Famous Lamport Rockery

Jake Croft, former Head Gardener at Lamport Hall and Gardens, on the fascinating history of the Rockery , constructed in 1847 and one of the most interesting in the country. - 25 May 2025

Quite possibly the most interesting rock garden ever constructed, the Lamport Rockery stands an impressive 24ft high, 90ft long and 47ft wide. Construction started in 1847, just a year after its creator, Sir Charles Isham, inherited the Lamport estate. The Rockery is rather unique in several ways. One key feature is its proximity to the hall. Its half-moon face also faces the hall, not into the main garden. In fact if you didn’t know it was there you would never expect to find such a feature. A visitor said in 1872, "from no part of the house or grounds do you see much of the rockery until you get inside it".

It is often suggested by visitors to the Rockery that it looks like a ruin but this was never the intention, and I don’t believe Sir Charles liked the idea of it being likened to a ruin. He didn’t want the Rockery to resemble any sort of “modern antiquity” and it was instead to look like a natural crag or in his words an “imitation of beautiful unstratified rocks in miniature form”. The inspiration for this would have most likely come from John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843) and his book ‘An Encyclopaedia of Gardening’. There was much stone left over from rebuilding work carried out on the hall which got dumped in the stone yard but Sir Charles avoided using any of this spare stone to make sure his rock work would look natural. He said “it was never contemplated to use them for so questionable a purpose”. Also unusual is the fact Sir Charles did a lot of the construction himself or directed the placing of rocks personally. An article in The Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener & Country Gentleman from June 1872 reads “the whole affair is not only the design of the Baronet, but almost every stone, large as many of them are, was put in its place by his own hands”.

The planting in the Rockery was another feature that differed from all others. It did not contain an extensive variety of alpine plants, it was planted to be “pleasing and picturesque”. The plants were selected to clothe the Rockery, rather than the Rockery be constructed for the growth of a collection of plants. The plants used in the rockery included masses of Aubrietia deltoidei (Rock Cress), lots of Sempervivum arachnoideum (Cobweb Houseleek) and Saxifrages. It contained a curious collection of pigmy spruce firs, pigmy cedars and firs. At the time they were believed to be a separate genus of plants called Retinospora, but we now know that it’s a common condition that affects horticultural varieties of conifers. Spreading juvenile leaves persist on adult trees that normally have small, scalelike leaves, pressed against the stem. They were planted to look like a miniature version of a German Pine forest. Sir Charles pruned all the conifers himself. He never reduced the height of any of them but he removed side branches and partially exposed the roots. Some of the conifers were over 70 years old and no taller than three foot. It was almost like the art of bonsai, which isn’t believed to have arrived in England until 1909. Many of the conifers came from the Royal Exotic Nursery, London. Some others came from far less glamorous locations, like a stunted cedar which Sir Charles rescued from the refuse heap of an unknown Northampton nursery. Other plants used to clothe the Rockery were Fragaria vesca (Alpine Strawberry), Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy), Buxus sempervirens 'Variegata' (Variegated Box), Acer palmatum (Japanese Maple) (some of which are still in the rockery), Agave utahensis (Utah Agave), Veronica spicata (Spiked Speedwell), Thalictrum (Meadow Rue), Euphorbia (Spurge), Purple thyme, Polypodium cambricum (Welsh Polypody) and many different types of Ivy.

Sir Charles and his Rockery are best remembered because of the population of gnomes, gartenzwergor gnomen-figuren, for which Sir Charles is credited as being the first person to introduce to the horticultural world. Again, his use of them in the garden was inspired by John Claudius Loudon who had advocated the idea of a garden of miniature firs with figurines of children to match. Before Sir Charles created his many dioramas and scenes, gnomes had been used as talismans for mining communities. The gnomes were added to the Rockery sometime between 1872 and 1888, imported from Germany or brought back with Sir Charles after visiting the country. They were all displayed in small scenes with accessories like ladders, chains, signs, etc and they had quartz crystal caves to work in. The gnomes became the chief attraction of the Rockery. Sir Charles wrote in his book ‘Notes on Gnomes’ in 1884:

“The most characteristic feature of the Rockery is its miniature population. To some it is the chief attraction, having perhaps never before been introduced into a European garden. The late J.C. Loudon having been impressed with the value of such an adjunct when tastefully introduced, idealised in a wood cut in one of his volumes a group of children under some specimens of Pinus Nanus, with appropriate remarks on the charm such treatment might impart to miniature gardens. What delight would the realisation of this idea have afforded him, especially the gnomes, as it would also their German manufacturers to see the right thing in the right place rather than on a drawing room table, bearing a match box ill adapted for its purpose, now removed”.

Sir Charles was a spiritualist and believed that gnomes were real creatures that helped miners to find rich veins of ore. Sir Charles wrote about the gnomes at length saying, “Had gnomes been but imaginary creations, they would never have been admitted into the Lamport Rockery”.

Another resident of the Rockery was a terracotta figure of a young girl reading a book. It was said that the figure was so lifelike that it would startle most visitors. There was a watering can by her side as though to suggest that she had been tending to the plants before sitting down to read her book. Two presents had been given to her; a hat and a diamond ring.

The Rockery was a real labour of love for Sir Charles, he worked on it almost every day for over 50 years. The Cosmopolitan magazine for 1888 says: “there is probably no other piece of ground of such limited dimensions anywhere to be found which has received so much minute and constant culture for over a period of forty years”. Sir Charles was well aware of the maintenance burden his Rockery would become, saying in his twilight years “No one understands looking after it, the rockery will deteriorate rapidly. No one living could by any possibility keep it up, whatever they may think”. In his final days at Lamport he wrote about the misfortunes that might befall his Rockery, “the rockery may remain beautiful for many years, but its doom is sealed the day I leave Lamport”.

As it happened, doom was sealed for his miniature friends. The legend is that his two daughters didn’t appreciate the amount of time and money their father devoted to the Rockery’s inhabitants and had shooting parties using the gnomes as targets. By chance, one fell into a crevice during the assaults and survived unscathed. The gnome was found many years later and has assumed the title of the oldest gnome in the world and enjoys the fame that comes with it. It is unknown what fate befell the reading girl.

The rockery at Lamport Hall before and after restoration works

For the Rockery itself however, the future is not all ‘doom’. The Rockery may no longer contain many of its original features but is maintained and, starting 2024 an extensive restoration took place to bring the rockery back to life. It has been restored in the style of the original. The dwarf conifers are back, along with as many of the original plants we can find. When you visit make sure to stop by and have a look at this unique garden feature. I hope it has returned the glory back to this important part of Lamport. The force of the Isham motto befits the Rockery well,

“IN THINGS TRANSITORY RESTETH NO GLORY”

Jake Croft is the former Head Gardener at Lamport Hall, and is now a professional Garden Consultant at Croft Garden Consultancy. 

Find out much more about the gardens and grounds at Lamport Hall and Gardens at their website: www.lamporthall.co.uk