A Visit to Danesbury Fernery with Hertfordshire Gardens Trust

Danesbury Fernery is now maintained by the Friends of Danesbury Fernery and will be at its peak during May, following the extensive restoration and replanting by the Friends Group. It was once part of the gardens of Danesbury House, built in 1776 by Captain Hon. Henry St. John R.N. for his young American bride Mary and originally called St. John’s Lodge but was re-named Danesbury House in 1824 by William Blake, a later owner. His son, William John Blake commissioned the building of the fernery, designed in 1859 by Head Gardener, Anthony Parsons and constructed by the Broxbourne based rock builder James Pulham & Son, in an old chalk pit east of the house. Completed in 1860, it was described in the leading journal of the time:Garden Memoranda, as ‘the best fernery to be found in the Home Counties‘.

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Host or Publisher Hertfordshire Gardens Trust