Crystal Grotto regains its sparkle
13 September 2011
One of the country's most romantic garden features, the Crystal Grotto in Painshill Park, Surrey, is to be restored to its dazzling heyday when it was described as 'the finest of its type ever built'.
The Grade I registered 18th-century garden has won a grant of almost £750,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete the renovation of the Grotto, considered the most spectacular of the many follies at Painshill. It sits across two islands on the lake at the centre of the park, and the inner chambers were once so encrusted with sparkling minerals that visitors said it looked like 'a true fairy grotto'. Pools and cascades within the cave-like structure were filled with corals and shells and fed by lake water.
The Grotto was designed by the owner of Painshill, aristocrat and plant collector Charles Hamilton, and built during the 1760s by grotto maker Joseph Lane. During the restoration the Woollett bridge across the lake, previously lost, will be rebuilt from the only remaining likeness, an engraving made in 1760.
Inside, the main chamber will be lined with calcite, gypsum, quartz and other minerals, while inverted wooden cones, plastered with lime mortar and studded with crystals, will recreate Hamilton's sparkling artificial 'stalactites'.
The public can watch the restoration develop throughout the year, although opening times are limited and it's advisable to phone ahead to check.