A UNIQUE garden has been destroyed without the owner asking permission from the council. Bateman's Folly in Worthing once housed a great collection of rare and exotic flowers in a

distinctly eccentric setting. Justin Parkinson looks at what we have lost.

"IT must be seen to be thoroughly appreciated, but as this is not in all cases practicable we are pleased to be able to supplement our account by an illustration."

So read an 1890 Gardeners' Chronicle account of James Bateman's back garden grotto.

One-hundred-and-ten years later, the words have a sadder resonance.

Never again will anyone sample the splendour created by the pioneering botanist behind his home in Farncombe Road, Worthing - pictures are all that remain.

Without consulting the borough council, surveyors acting on behalf of the building's owners recommended the purpose-built grotto, known as Bateman's Folly, was structurally dangerous and had to

be destroyed. It was razed

to the ground and the area cleared.

Mr Bateman's six-year labour of love, which had admittedly fallen into disrepair, became a suburban building site.

Where turrets, miniature alpine scenes, picturesque gorges and raised terrace walks once bordered a surreal mix of Mexican orchids, bamboo sticks and hydrangea, there is nothing.

At the time these plants, some of which are now everyday, were the height of exoticism.

The 1890 Chronicle piece continued: "There can hardly be any question about the uniqueness of Mr Bateman's garden, and the more one looks at it, the more surprising does it appear that a flat and desolate wilderness could be transformed into such a little paradise in the short space of six years."

A few hours is all it took to destroy.

Jack Hegarty, development manager at the borough council, said: "We are very angry. It was an exceptional piece of landscape architecture.

"It's unfortunate we weren't given the chance to save it. Worthing's lost something most people didn't know existed, but it's still a historic site and we are very concerned.

"This is something that Worthing could have been proud of. James Bateman was a very distinguished man in his field and his garden was a great achievement. I'm very angry with the surveyors. They must be embarrassed."

But a spokesman for the surveyor, Clive Voller Associates, of Farm Lane, Ditchling, said: "We argued that it was not a building and the council took it on the chin and agreed.

"They were going to accuse us of wrongdoing, but we disputed that with them. What happened was not illegal."

Mr Hegarty replied: "The grotto was a building. It contained artificial cavework which is classified as that.

"The only reason we didn't prosecute was that we had not seen its state in years and the surveyors could say in court that it was dangerous and get away with it."

The grotto declined after Bateman's death in 1897 and had fallen into disrepair by the Fifties, some of it damaged when a nearby gas meter was hit during the Blitz.

But it outlasted its creator by more than a century - not that many people knew about it.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.