The Victorian Greenhouse Range
In typical Victorian fashion the greenhouse range or 'the range' as it was often known was accurate but something of an understatement. The range consisted of various greenhouses that were usually interconnected into one large homogenous building. The individual greenhouses that comprised a Victorian greenhouse range were extremely varied in type and design to suit the best needs of the owner and his head gardener.
The first range pictured was built for Hamar Bass who was the MP for Tamworth between 1878-1885, then later, MP for Staffordshire between 1885-1898. He lived at Byrkley, Burton-upon-Trent. The range consisted of greenhouse for orchids, a hot house, two rose houses, one late and one early peach house, a foliage house, plus an early, midium and late vinery. The rule at the bottom right of the drawing represents 50ft making the range approximately 340ft wide.
 The second range pictured was built for Francis Whitburn at Great Gearies, Ilford, Essex. Approximately 140 ft wide this range comprised of vineries on the left at the back and peach houses on the right. The greenhouses in the foreground were cold houses and two stove or hot houses. The Head Gardener, Mr Jas Douglas remarked "There is not one thing, from the largest down to the most minute details, that it is possible to find fault with."
  This range belonged to Lord Middleton at Birdsall, Yorkshire. The central range (foreground) extended to about 380 ft wide , we have no details for the remaing glasshouses to the left. The houses in the central area were for peaches, foliage, cucumbers, vines, melons and hot houses. Mr Bailey Wadds, the Head Gardener remarked to the manufacturers that their boilers had worked for twelve years "with great satisfaction . . . . . and have never been out of order up to the present time". The right-hand picture is an internal view of Lord Middleton's foliage house which is the centre house of the central range.
 The range of orchid and stove (hot) houses built for Mr W.G. Blake of Ecclesall, Sheffield, consisted of cool orchid houses running along the front of the garden wall. In front of them running tangentially were the hot houses. While behind the wall itself was a tiered cool orchid house, the potting shed, a 30ft fernery and an 16ft long boiler house.
Featured below are four ranges: Note the frames in front of the Forcing House in the second image.
   
  A variation of the range on the right is located at Winsford Walled Garden. The greenhouse range features a conservatory in the centre. The one at Winsford is noticeably wider and deeper than the one feature here, though it no longer has the the central conservatory section. A photograph of the Winsford conservatory range can be seen below on the right. At Winsford there were three greenhouse ranges surrounding the vegetable garden, the greenhouse range shown runs along just one side of the vegetable garden. The vegetable garden at Winsford never had a wall, being rather superfuous. Instead, Winsford had a walled flower garden that was the envy of much larger gardens - it still does. Today, the old vegetable garden contains even more flowers.
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