Marble Hill grotto

 Marble Hill is a heritage house and park near East Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond. The park extends down to the Thames. There is a man made grotto in the park.

I first went to look at the grotto in March 2021 and found it was under renovation. Marble Hill House and the gardens were also going through extensive renovation. There was very little to see at the grotto, see photos on my blog.

My next visit was at the end of Feb 2022, and found there was an archaeological dig in progress at the grotto. The whole area was being excavated. Over the following months, I checked the Marble Hill website but there was no mention of the grotto.

I didn't get around to going back until Oct 2024 and was surprised at the transformation. It looked so different. The first two photos are March 2021, then Feb 2022 and finally Oct 2024 -

The notice board says -

Grotto & 'Rustic Grot'

Henrietta Howard probably started building the grotto at Marble Hill in the 1730s. In 1739, while decorating the grotto, Henrietta wrote "I am at this time over head and ears in Shells". The poet Alexander Pope advised Henrietta on her garden, and this grotto may have been influenced by the one he created at his house nearby.

Grottoes were a popular addition to 18th-century gardens as part of the fashion for recreating the gardens of ancient Rome. The grotto would have been a secluded spot, and may have been used for dining, entertaining and contemplation. 

While Henrietta lived here there were two grottoes, both featured in a poem of 1764 by her neice Anna Chamber. The one you see today was described as a 'charming scene' and surrounded by flowering plants, the other, located to the south, was called a 'rustic grot', enclosed by huge trees and rocks.

The sketch shows Alexander Pope in his grotto in Twickenham, and is attributed to William Kent, 1730s. I still want to visit Pope's grotto, but it has very limited opening times.

I was surprised at how small the grotto is, just a small room. Very different to Scott's grotto I recently visited. It is gated so people can't go in.

Both Scott's and Henrietta's grottoes were decorated with shells. Some of the shells in Henrietta's grotto came from the Caribbean. Traces of the shell imprints -

Research is being carried out in the grotto -

See more on Marble Hill on English Heritage