I've been meaning to get down and take some shots of this place for quite some time as there are currently none of it on this wonderful site of ours.(I can say "ours" can't I? Do I have the appropriate number of experience points?) A vacancy in my diary, (owing to the snow) meant that I could scoot down there recently, on account of the fact that it is virtually on my doorstep.
The grotto itself is really quite one of the oddest things in Carshalton, particularly when you read about the way it looked when it was in use. A sign above it, helpfully put up by the nice people at Sutton Council (ha!), says that it originally had a seashell shaped marble basin in the middle of the central chamber and this was decorated with flint glass seashells and coral. There is no sign of this now of course, but you can see the central chamber, along with the two smaller chambers flanking it.
The grotto apparently dates from the 1720's when it was put up to cover the springs which feed the River Wandle. The whole of Carshalton Park was a partly built mansion prject started by the local lord of the manor Thomas Scawen. He was a merchant who fell on hard times and the planned mansion was never built, but he did succeed in getting the grotto built, which was designed by the Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni.
The grotto is meant to feed into a venetian style canal, which you can see the outline of in the pictures below, but in this age of global warming, it (like the springs that feed the wandle, are mostly dry, and the Wandle efectively ends at Carshalton ponds about a half a mile north of this point.
You can't get into the main chamber from the front of the grotto. The lower entrance alluded to by Cybergibbons in his report of 2005 has been (like all the other chambers) double reinforced with steel gates and fencing. A look past this though and you can see part of the chamber, which is a sexpartite vault (three chambers in front, and three behind) and must have been glorious in its day.
This isn't the best view of the grotto, but its the one you get if you approach from the kids playground, which is where I was!
On closer inspection you can see that the outside has been properly chavved - which is a real pity because its actually quite an impressive structure.
This is a view of the lower chambers, which I believe at one point you could crawl through
These are some views through the double steel fencing, which aren't that good, but give you some idea of what it was like inside
And this is the helpful sign put up by the council!
Finally, a view from the top of the grotto looking out over the now dry canal, which in the snow, gives you some idea of how Scawen wanted it to look.
Anyway - enjoy
GDZ
The grotto itself is really quite one of the oddest things in Carshalton, particularly when you read about the way it looked when it was in use. A sign above it, helpfully put up by the nice people at Sutton Council (ha!), says that it originally had a seashell shaped marble basin in the middle of the central chamber and this was decorated with flint glass seashells and coral. There is no sign of this now of course, but you can see the central chamber, along with the two smaller chambers flanking it.
The grotto apparently dates from the 1720's when it was put up to cover the springs which feed the River Wandle. The whole of Carshalton Park was a partly built mansion prject started by the local lord of the manor Thomas Scawen. He was a merchant who fell on hard times and the planned mansion was never built, but he did succeed in getting the grotto built, which was designed by the Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni.
The grotto is meant to feed into a venetian style canal, which you can see the outline of in the pictures below, but in this age of global warming, it (like the springs that feed the wandle, are mostly dry, and the Wandle efectively ends at Carshalton ponds about a half a mile north of this point.
You can't get into the main chamber from the front of the grotto. The lower entrance alluded to by Cybergibbons in his report of 2005 has been (like all the other chambers) double reinforced with steel gates and fencing. A look past this though and you can see part of the chamber, which is a sexpartite vault (three chambers in front, and three behind) and must have been glorious in its day.
This isn't the best view of the grotto, but its the one you get if you approach from the kids playground, which is where I was!
On closer inspection you can see that the outside has been properly chavved - which is a real pity because its actually quite an impressive structure.
This is a view of the lower chambers, which I believe at one point you could crawl through
These are some views through the double steel fencing, which aren't that good, but give you some idea of what it was like inside
And this is the helpful sign put up by the council!
Finally, a view from the top of the grotto looking out over the now dry canal, which in the snow, gives you some idea of how Scawen wanted it to look.
Anyway - enjoy
GDZ
