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www.gardenhistorymatters.com

Please do come take a look and hopefully you’ll be interested enough to join. Also, any ideas for posts and/or feedback most appreciated.

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As part of the reorganisation of the Society’s conservation and planning work, we wish to appoint a part-time Deputy Conservation Officer for England.

The Deputy Conservation Officer will work in close association with the Principal Conservation Officer and the Conservation Casework Manager in planning casework.

The Deputy Conservation Officer will also be involved in developing and updating the Society’s generic conservation advice (known as Planning and Conservation Advice Notes), and will be closely involved in training and support for county gardens trusts and other local and national amenity societies who are undertaking conservation and planning work.

Details of this part-time post are available from the Society’s office, by emailing a request or if writing for details, please address to Administrator (address  below) and enclose an SAE.

Closing date: Friday 13th January 2012.

The Society’s offices are closed over the Christmas and New Year period.

CONSERVATION CONSULTANTS (ENGLAND)

We are also looking to appoint a panel of appropriately experienced and qualified Consultants upon whom the Society can call to deal with specific conservation cases. Consultants should be members of the Society, but Trustees are ineligible for this role. This freelance work would be undertaken on the basis of a standard inclusive case fee.

Download a .pdf version of the GHS Conservation Jobs advert

Expressions of interest in covering letter and c.v. may be lodged at any time.

Working Together

The Working Together Feasibility Study Group, comprising GHS, AGT, the Garden Museum and the Parks & Gardens database (P&GUK), continues to discuss a possible way forward towards closer co-operation between its members.

A prime motive for undertaking this study, which has strong support from English Heritage, is the prospect of reduced Government funding for historic parks and gardens, and particularly the likelihood of a reduction in financial support from English Heritage for our work in 2012–13.

Facing the prospect of reduced public funding as well as potentially harmful changes in national planning policy, we know that our current individual resources will not be sufficient to address threats to the parks and gardens about which we all care.

As part of the Study, each organisation has also undertaken a thorough review of its activities and the way in which each organisation operates. This has included a critical analysis of each others’ operations. The conversation has been wide-ranging and occasionally challenging, but also stimulating.

It is already impossible for the GHS alone to respond to all planning threats to our parks and gardens. Collectively, and by building on our respective strengths and expertise, we stand a much better chance of making our views known to, and understood by, national and local government.

The Study Group has concluded that uniting our skills and resources will give us a more effective voice and avoid confusion as to which body is giving what advice. Giving County Gardens Trusts’ membership more ability to get involved with direct conservation action underpins this thinking. These conclusions have been welcomed by English Heritage.

Future GHS Conservation Activity

During October, following recommendations from the Conservation Committee, GHS Council decided to implement a reorganisation of conservation practice within the GHS.

Jonathan Lovie will remain as Principal Conservation Officer and Policy Adviser in England; Linden Grove’s role as Casework Manager (England), and the Casework Log are unaffected by this reorganisation. In Scotland, Alison Allighan remains as Conservation Officer; and a Casework Log, similar to that operating in England, will also now be created and maintained. As part of this process, three of our existing Conservation Officers in England will be redundant from 4 April 2012.

The way forward

Under the Principal Conservation Officer, a new post of Deputy Conservation Officer (England) has been created; you can see an advertisement for this post elsewhere in this section, and an invitation for expressions of interest from individuals wishing to be Conservation Consultants in England. The freelance Consultants will be commissioned to deal with specific conservation cases, complementing the work of the Principal and Deputy Conservation Officers in England. Our current Conservation Officers may, of course, apply for both the advertised roles.

Planned changes to the Society’s conservation operation include:

• Moving away from a geographical structure for responding to consultations.

• Reinvigorating the Society’s role as a campaigner for Parks and Gardens.

• Providing support and training for county gardens trusts and others to engage in more conservation work, especially where this affects sites on which they are the undoubted experts.

• Ensuring, with the help of the Society’s colleagues in the CGTs, that local government recognises the importance of Parks and Gardens when drafting local plan policies.

The Society also intends to concentrate resources on responding to changes in Government policy affecting Parks and Gardens; and responding to the major cases and generic threats which face Parks and Gardens.

The site of the house and garden at Sayes Court — John Evelyn’s London residence by the then Royal Dockyard at Deptford — is currently subject to a planning application from a property developer which would see the site of the garden built over. A small group of concerned locals has mounted a campaign to conserve the site with a view to seeing it re-emerge as a public garden or park, integral to the riverfront residential development envisaged by the developers. At present, the entirety of the Sayes Court estate lies under an apron of concrete, but it is believed that garden archaeology could reveal much of its layout; the cellars of Evelyn’s house survive and have already been subject to some archaeological investigation. The site of Sayes Court takes up about one-sixth of the area to be developed, now known as Convoys Wharf. The proposal from developers Hutchison-Whampoa is for 3,514 residential units, 80% of them one- and two-bedroom flats, in three tall blocks of 32-, 38- and 46- storeys, plus a variety of smaller blocks typically between 8–18 storeys; one of the blocks is directly over the site of the principal parterre of the garden.

The masterplan gives some idea of the scale of the intended development, see http://www.sayescourtgarden.com/campaign.html for more.

The GHS supports this campaign and is adding its voice to those suggesting that Lewisham Council looks favourably on the idea of conserving the site of Sayes Court as part of an overall development plan when the application is considered by Lewisham’s planning committee in either January or April. A revised plan would potentially mean the construction of approximately half the number of residential units, with a greater mix of commercial, community, artistic and other uses at the site, as well as the integration of green space on the footprint of the old garden.

The garden at Sayes Court (see Garden History 25:2, Winter 1997) was laid out by Evelyn from 1653 and included an oval garden, a terrace walk or mount, an orchard and the grove, which contained more than 500 specimens of standard oak, ash, elm, service, beech and chestnut. Numerous unusual and exotic spice and citrus plants were grown here (the proximity of the docks playing its part) and there was also a substantial kitchen garden of 38 beds laid out systematically. Other attractions included a banqueting house and an island reached by a drawbridge. All of this is well delineated in Evelyn’s own plan of the garden, held by the British Library and viewable in the online gallery section of its website.

Wooden model of Sayes Court made by George Carter in 1988, for the V&A Garden exhibition. The (originally) Thames side walk to the right of the model can still be detected on aerial photos of the site today. Picture by Tim Richardson.

Charles II visited the garden on several occasions, though the most celebrated story was the time when Peter the Great of Russia, who leased the house for a period, ruined some of Evelyn’s prized holly hedges having been pushed around the garden in a wheelbarrow for fun.

After Evelyn’s death in 1706 Sayes Court was used as a poor-house for 125 years. By the end of the 19th century both the house and garden were in disrepair. The old dockyard was transformed into the Foreign Cattle Market, leading to the conversion of a great double-arched slipway cover into cattle sheds. This is now a Grade II listed structure and must remain as part of any future development. The house itself was slightly damaged during the Second World War by a V1 rocket and was subsequently demolished. The local activists suggest that the great arched structure could be used again as a boatyard for the construction of historic wooden ships, and to that end they have teamed up with historic ship experts who have submitted their own detailed proposals based on other schemes which have been successful, not least as tourist attractions, in France and the Netherlands.

Today the surrounding local area is taken up by light-industrial units and low-rise residential blocks, but John Evelyn and the garden at Sayes Court is commemorated in local street names and remains very much a part of the folk memory of Deptford. Sayes Court has even been ‘saved’ on one previous occasion, when a descendant of John Evelyn mounted a campaign in the 1880s with the help of Octavia Hill (prior to her creation of the National Trust) to turn it into a public park. The campaign was successful and Sayes Court Park remained a public amenity until the First World War, when 3/4 of the park was absorbed into the Dockyard and never returned. The remainder of the park was remodelled in the 1950s.

In 2000 Lewisham Council commissioned a report on Sayes Court, its significance and the impact of development. Prof Burdett’s report recommended the reinstatement of the complete area of John Evelyn’s garden as part of the scheme and highlighted the role of the wharf area as a historically important site in terms of both ship-building and horticulture.

For more information see: www.sayescourtgarden.com and londonslostgarden.wordpress.com

See our Events pages for April 2012 Study Day info.

This post was submitted by alanophrys.

A previously unrecorded scheme by James Pulham & Son has recently come to light on the estate of Craigengillan, near Dalmellington in East Ayrshire, formerly home of the McAdam family of ‘tarmacadam’ fame. Confirmation of its date and authenticity comes from the diary of one time Pulham employee Fred Rickett, whose diary records three separate visits to Craigengillan, spread over several years. What Rickett refers to as a ‘rock and water garden’ for Mrs. McAdam occupied him on three separate occasions between 1910 and 1915.

The diary was discovered by Claude Hitching, whose eagerly awaited book on The Pulham Legacy is now due to be published in the New Year.

Owner Mark Gibson shows some of the Pulham rockwork recently unearthed at Craigengillan. Photo by the author

Owner of Craigengillan Mark Gibson has now begun the gradual process of unearthing the scheme, which includes a mixture of natural and artificial stonework. The garden having become almost entirely obscured by several decades accumulation of soil, leaf litter and vegetation, its large extent is only now becoming apparent as work progresses. It is hoped that, in time, the rock garden will be fully revealed, and the water supply to the cascades and pools will be restored once more.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded funding of £12.4m to six parks in London, Felixstowe, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Merseyside and Dunbarton. HLF and the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) have also jointly awarded £3.5m to two further parks in Godalming, Surrey and Nottingham. All parks can now begin major redevelopment work, with opportunities for volunteering and training tied into most awards

Walpole Park, Ealing, London: grant of £2.4m

Pitzhanger House, at the heart of Walpole Park. By courtesy of the Trustees of the Sir John Soane Museum

Walpole Park’s gardens and lawns are the backdrop to the Grade I listed Pitzhanger Manor (above). Sitting in the heart of Ealing town centre, the park has a number of historic features including a Grade II* listed rustic bridge, a Portland stone bench and a lodge building. The park was opened to the public in 1901. HLF’s grant will help restore the park to its original beauty and improve its visitor facilities. The park will undergo major conservation to recreate the Regency planting and reinstate the kitchen garden.

Other awards were made to:

Raphael Park, Romford, Essex: £1.7m;

Felixstowe Seafront Gardens, Suffolk: £2.1m; Exhibition Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: £2.4m; Victoria Park, St. Helens, Merseyside: £3m;

Dalmuir Park, Dunbartonshire: £859,600.

Also joint HLF/BIG funding of £3.5m to: Nottingham Forest Recreation Ground: £3.2m &

Phillips Memorial Park, Godalming, Surrey: £335,000

Initial Lottery support and development funding totalling £725,427 has also been awarded to the following 10 parks across the UK: Boultham Park, Lincoln; West Hackney Recreation Ground, London; Alexandra Road Park, Camden, London; Plashet Park, Newham, London; Wharton Park, Durham; Castle Vale Park and Coronation Park, Berwick-upon-Tweed; Moor Park, Preston; Westgate Gardens, Canterbury; Lightwoods Park, Sandwell; Belleisle Park, South Ayrshire.

For more information

We are working through this complex document, and will be submitting a full response to Government in due course. However, it is clear that the proposed Framework contains some very worrying changes which have the potential to allow unchecked and damaging development on a scale not witnessed since the 1930s.

The policies are clearly designed to promote significant additional development in an attempt to stimulate the economy. While this is a legitimate objective for national planning policy, the planning system should not be seen solely as an engine for economic growth. A credible planning system must safeguard the needs of people and the environment (in the broadest sense) as well as the economy.

With a presumption in favour of permitting new development in “undesignated” areas of the countryside (all areas outside Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs) where the planning authority does not have a core strategy in place (and 47% of local authorities do not have a local plan in place); and a requirement for every local authority to identify an additional 20% of its land for development, historic landscapes, and particularly their settings, will be at unprecedented risk from harmful change.

We strongly support the campaign launched by the National Trust to win changes in the Draft Framework. The consultation period expires on 17th October, so time is short. Please consider adding your name to the Trust’s on-line petition to Government: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main

The text of the Draft National Planning Framework can be found at: www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/1951811.pdf

It is also possible for individual GHS members to respond to the Government’s consultation. We would be very pleased if members’ responses could please be copied to the Office at Cowcross Street, or emailed to: enquiries@gardenhistorysociety.org

Jonathan Lovie, Policy Advisor

You may want to look at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/countryside/8745764/New-planning-laws-already-in-force.html

On 8 July there was a sale of ‘Old Master Sculpture’ at Sotheby’s where the last two Saxon deities from Stowe were catalogued at £200–300,000. They didn’t sell (or aren’t recorded as being sold on the Sotheby’s website) and their fate remains unknown. Originally part of Sir Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham’s famous 18th century gardens at Stowe, Buckinghamshire, Woden and Seatern are the last two of Rysbrack’s great Saxon deities remaining in private hands.

Commissioned in the late 1720s the gods represent the days of the week, Wednesday and Saturday, and epitomised the height of 18th century antiquarianism in the gardens at Stowe. Rysbrack used the finest Portland stone, which has retained much intricate detail, and the heroic figures have developed a timeless mystery, enhanced by the picturesque weathering of nearly 300 years.

The detail of carving on these original sculptures is noticeably finer than that of the replicas now in place at Stowe, though they do give the effect. Surely the point of returning sculpture to any garden, where they have been lost as a result of theft or sale is to make the experience of visiting them more fulfilling. Many garden statues were themselves replicas of earlier exemplars (though the Deities appear to be one-offs), often made in different materials so it’s not unreasonable that replicas are used, as long as they look right.

Woden and Seatern are the last two of Rysbrack’s great Saxon deities remaining in private hands. By courtesy of Sotheby's auctioneers.

The sculptures are being sold by the Aspinall Foundation. Of the others, two (Mona & Friga) are now in the Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury, and two in the V&A (Thuner and Sunna), the seated statue of Thuner remains to be replicated. Tew has finished up at Anglesey Abbey, another National Trust property.

Any offers?

Tim Richardson writes:

I have written this course as an ideal introduction to English garden history. It provides an overview of five centuries of development, from Baroque formalism through the naturalistic landscape style, right up to contemporary cutting-edge planting style.

The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner called the landscape garden Britain’s major contribution to the visual arts, and this course aims to explore why and how that came to be so. Beginning in the mid 17th century, when grand gardens were laid out in formal style, the course traces the development of garden style across five centuries. There is special emphasis on the early-18th-century landscape garden, as perhaps the high point, when politics, art, science, philosophy and gardening intersected in an unprecedented way. Later in the century Lancelot Brown made the style his own, creating a landscape monopoly across Britain, before Humphry Repton brought back an element of formality in the Regency period.

The 19th century witnessed the apogee of the head gardener and the creation of the first public parks, while new plant introductions from China and elsewhere provided new impetus to horticulture. The 20th century was one of the richest periods in English garden history and will be fully explored here. Gertrude Jekyll pioneered the colour-themed herbaceous border and her partnership with architect Edwin Lutyens created what is often seen as the perfect stylistic union between house and garden. The story is brought right up to date with modules on 20th-century planting theory and contemporary art or sculpture gardens such as Little Sparta.

Formed of ten modules, it is strongly recommended that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you), as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.

For more information:

www.conted.ox.ac.uk/V200-48#Abstract

if you have any questions about this course, please email

During the visit by members of the GHS to Knighton Wood in Woodford on 7 July, it was suggested that the 40-acre woodland had been planted by a ‘skilled craftsman’ in the picturesque style; with grouping of native trees planted on mounds. The name of William Barron was proposed and further research also indicates that it could be Barron. The making of the garden dates from 1863, and still has significant plantings of rhododendrons, Highclere holly and bamboos, together with a Pulham Rock Bank. There are no family records existing that could identify the ‘skilled craftsman’ and there appear to be no records for William Barron and Son of the Elvaston Nurseries in Borrowash.

Sara Tenneson addresses GHS & LPGT members at Knighton Wood, on what had till then been a very damp visit. Photo by Robert Peel

Does anyone have any information about William Barron and Son working in the South East, ie London, Essex, or other South Eastern counties in the period from 1863 to the late 1880s?

Contact Sara Tenneson: 020 8505 8558