Agenda

English Heritage (EH) has recently commissioned the Garden History Society to conduct a London-based pilot scheme on a small number of at risk designed landscapes, whereby, using primarily desk-based research, the GHS provides EH with the background research needed to encourage owners to engage with their site and develop a conservation management plan. The first pilot site was the designed landscape at Trent Park (London Borough of Enfield), a site occupied by Middlesex University’s Trent Park Campus, until summer 2012. I was commissioned to undertake the study in June 2012. The report has been given to London Borough of Enfield in order to offer guidance on the role of the historic designed landscape within new use of the Campus.
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To quote: The University of Buckingham is introducing as part of its London Programme a new research MA in Garden History which offers a unique opportunity to study the subject. Interest in British gardens and their history has never been greater than now.  Historic gardens and designed landscapes are a major part of [...]
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DEPUTY CONSERVATION OFFICER (ENGLAND) 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 [...]
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We wanted to keep Members informed of important developments following our AGM in July at Keele, and that of the Association of Gardens Trusts at Oxford in September. 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 [...]
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Site of John Evelyn’s Deptford garden under threat 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 [...]
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AGM report The Society’s AGM was held at Keele University on 22 July 2011. 70 members were present. Messrs. Peters Elworthy & Moore were appointed as the Society’s Independent Examiners. We are pleased to announce that Dominic Cole was re-elected to Council, and Patrick Eyres, Jeremy Rye and Michael Thompson were elected as members of the Council. Peter Hayden [...]
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Kristina Taylor In the Non-Catholic cemetery in Rome, lying near Shelley’s grave, is a stone with a poignant inscription which reminds us of the dangers of trying to experience the thrills of sublime landscapes and why health and safety standards haunt our enjoyment of them: Sacred to the memory of Robert the eldest son of Mr. Robert [...]
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Mavis Batey This was the advice of Clary, the proud Rousham gardener who had laid out William Kent’s garden for General Dormer in 1737; it was also my advice to the Historic Buildings Council, over two hundred years after Clary’s letter, when acting as Secretary of The Garden History Society. We had approached them to consider [...]
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Pat Bras We often see references to the splendid 17th-century nurseries of London & Wise at Brompton Park, London. They were used by royalty and many other important landowners who were ‘improving’ their estates. They supplied trees, shrubs, fruit trees and especially the newly introduced plants, mainly from North America. The formal designs of George London & [...]
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John West writes: Caldwell Tower in East Renfrewshire was recently featured in a Channel 4 television series about the restoration of a number of small historic buildings. The particular programme repeated the owner’s belief that his tower was built in the 15th century and was the last standing portion of a large mediaeval castle which stood [...]
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Alix Wilkinson was an enthusiastic garden historian, intrepid traveller and cheerful, smiling friend and companion. To those who have travelled on garden history tours in Europe and the Near East she was a familiar figure. One of my first memories of Alix dates from a visit we made together to the Egyptian collection in the [...]
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report by Dominic Cole and Charles Boot Continuing the tradition of holding these events regionally, to reach as many members as possible, we were at the University of Keele in Staffordshire, described by our guest speaker Dr Nigel Tringham (of the History department at Keele) as the ‘lost county’. Some 80 members attended. Our visits to [...]
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Conference at Deer Park Hall, Pershore, Worcestershire on Tuesday 21 June 2011 report by Steffie Shields The Reservoirs Act 1975, ensuring the safety of UK reservoirs, is being updated by the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, England and Wales. Haycock Associates liaised with English Heritage and other key organisations to host a conference for interested groups [...]
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Symposium at Sypesteyn Castle, the Netherlands on 10 September 2010 report by D.H. van Wegen Theory of conservation and restoration is usually focused on Art with a capital A. Those involved with ‘Green Heritage’ can borrow from this, but usually they rely on standard practice, and common sense. In recent years conservation theory has been tailored to [...]
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Christopher Dingwall writes: It was back in August 2010 that I found myself standing with historian Louise Yeoman and several other interested parties in a ploughed field at Tullibardine, a little to the north of Auchterarder, in West Perthshire (above). My visit had been prompted by a telephone call asking whether there might be some truth [...]
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