Langley, Batty (1696 -1751)

Batty Langley was the son of a jobbing gardener of Twickenham, and bore the name of David Batty, a patron of his father's. He inherited some of his father's clients in Twickenham, including Thomas Vernon of Twickenham Park. He moved to London, became an architect, and wrote many books on architecture, building and gardening. For the Palladian house built at Twickenham by James Johnston in 1710, Langley prepared a garden plan, full of mazes and tortuous paths, which was published in his book A Sure Method of Improving Estates (1728). Another of his books, Ancient Architecture Restored, published in 1742, and reissued in 1747 as Gothic Architecture, improved by Rules and Proportions, exasperated Horace Walpole. Langley was a Freemason and many of his books were dedicated to his Masonic brethren. The frontispiece to The Builder's Jewel (1741), for example, contains many examples of Masonic symbolism.