Historic garden conservation is a specialised type of historic preservation and conservation or restoration concerned with historical and landmark gardens and designed landscapes.
Historic garden conservation is a specialised type of historic preservation and conservation or restoration concerned with historical and landmark gardens and designed landscapes.
Practitioners predominantly come from backgrounds in horticulture, garden design, landscape design, and landscape architecture. To prepare a management plan for a historic garden, such experts require knowledge and skills in environmental design, horticulture, landscape history, architectural history, and management. Specialist educational programs are available (see section below).
Historic garden restoration is the professional task of restoring historic gardens to the character they had at a previous point in history. Since the use of old gardens is in flux, this normally involves a consideration of current and future use. The job of researching historic gardens and preparing a policy for their conservation involves landscape archaeology, historic knowledge, design judgment and technical skill in horticulture and construction.
Several universities and colleges in England run undergraduate and postgraduate courses related to historic garden conservation.
Statutory protection exists for registered parks, gardens and designed landscapes. There are separate heritage registers maintained for each of the four countries of the United Kingdom:
In Australia, the Australian Garden History Society is a similar organization to the UK's Garden History Society.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the National Trust, and likewise in Scotland the National Trust for Scotland, own or manage many country houses and/or the gardens and parkland attached to them, as well as other treasured gardens, parks and landscapes, on behalf of the nation.
The Garden History Society is the oldest such society in the world, forming in 1966. It became The Gardens Trust [9] in 2015, having merged with the Association of Gardens Trusts. Its aims are to study garden history and conserve historic gardens. Since 1995 it is a statutory consultee on proposals affecting registered parks, gardens and landscapes in England. It has about 1,500 members and publishes the Garden History journal twice-yearly, as well as a regular members' newsletter. The society has an active group for Scotland, with its own regular newsletter and conservation officer.
The Welsh Historic Gardens Trust is a similar society specifically for gardens, parks and landscapes in Wales. Most of the counties of England also have their own trust, which were represented by the Association of Gardens Trusts, which since 2015 forms part of The Gardens Trust.
In London there is the Garden Museum, covering all aspects of gardening history and with a large and growing collection of historic objects such as old tools and plans.
In the United States, The Garden Conservancy actively assists in the preservation of notable gardens and designed landscapes in the country.
There is also the California Garden and Landscape History Society for events and education in California specifically. [10]
The Garden Club of Virginia has restored many of the most notable historic gardens in Virginia since its founding around 1913. A Historic Garden Week is run, in part to raise money for restorations.
The Archives of American Gardens is an archive which preserves documentation and content related to gardens in the United States. Housing over 80,000 photographic images and records pertaining to over 6,000 gardens throughout the United States, some as old as the 1870s, the Archive is part of Smithsonian Gardens, a unit of the Smithsonian Institution.
Recent and ongoing examples of garden conservation and restoration in England include the Privy Garden at Hampton Court Palace, Painshill in Surrey, Lowther Castle in Cumbria, Lever Park in Lancashire, Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire, Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, Croome Court and Witley Court in Worcestershire, [11] Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, Westbury Court Garden in Gloucestershire, and the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall.
Many of these aim to restore a garden, or parts of it, to as near as possible its state at some earlier date. At Kenilworth this is 1575, Hampton Court and Westbury Court about 1700, rather later at Wrest Park and Painshill, and around 1760 at Croome Park. Biddulph Grange, Witley Court and Heligan are Victorian gardens (of rather different types), and Lever Park early 20th century.
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
This page gives an overview of the complex structure of environmental and cultural conservation in the United Kingdom.
Cadw is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. Cadw works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage sites of Wales, to make them available for the public to visit, enjoy, and understand their significance. Cadw manages 127 state-owned properties and sites. It arranges events at its managed properties, provides lectures and teaching sessions, offers heritage walks, and hosts an online shop. Members of the public can become members of Cadw to gain membership privileges.
In the United Kingdom a listed building is a structure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. The term has also been used in the Republic of Ireland, where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, although the statutory term in Ireland is "protected structure".
A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate climates, especially colder areas, such as Scotland, the essential function of the walling of a garden is to shelter the garden from wind and frost, though it may also serve a decorative purpose. Kitchen gardens were very often walled, which segregated them socially, allowing the gardeners, who were usually expected to vanish from the “pleasure gardens” when the occupants of the house were likely to be about, to continue their work. The walls, which were sometimes heated, also carried fruit trees trained as espaliers.
The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register was set up by Historic England under the provisions of the National Heritage Act 1983. Over 1,600 sites are listed, ranging from the grounds of large stately homes to small domestic gardens, as well other designed landscapes such as town squares, public parks and cemeteries. The register is published on the National Heritage List for England alongside other national heritage designations.
This is an alphabetical index of articles related to gardening.
Painshill, near Cobham, Surrey, England, is one of the finest remaining examples of an 18th-century English landscape park. It was designed and created between 1738 and 1773 by Charles Hamilton. The original house built in the park by Hamilton has since been demolished.
Croome Court is a mid-18th-century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Upton-upon-Severn in south Worcestershire, England. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for the 6th Earl of Coventry, and they were Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the mansion's rooms were designed by Robert Adam. St Mary Magdalene's Church, Croome D'Abitot that sits within the grounds of the park is now owned and cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.
Penllergare is a country park in Wales. It was the estate of John Dillwyn Llewelyn adjacent to what is now the village of Penllergaer, Swansea. Although the names are similar, the village of Penllergaer grew up as a separate entity from the Penllergare estate. The park is listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Historic England is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with protecting the historic environment of England by preserving and listing historic buildings, scheduling ancient monuments, registering historic parks and gardens and by advising central and local government.
Kate Felus is a designed-landscape historian. She studied at the University of Warwick and the University of Bristol. Her specialist subject area is the social history of 18th-century gardens and their buildings.
Writtle University College is a university college located in Writtle near Chelmsford, Essex. It was founded in 1893. Writtle obtained University College status in May 2016.
The Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland is a listing of gardens and designed landscapes of national artistic and/or historical significance, in Scotland. The Inventory was originally compiled in 1987, although it is a continually evolving list. From 1991 it was maintained by Historic Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, and is now updated by a dedicated team within Historic Environment Scotland. As of 2016 the Inventory includes over 300 sites across Scotland.
The Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest is a listing of significant ornamental parks and gardens in Northern Ireland. It is maintained by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), an executive agency within the Department of the Environment of the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and was given statutory status in 2022.
The Nelson Garden, on 13 Chippenhamgate Street, at the rear of No.18 Monnow Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire is a 19th-century garden that was the scene of a tea party held to honour Lord Nelson in 1802. The garden is one of 24 sites on the Monmouth Heritage Trail. It is bounded on the south by the line of the medieval town wall through which it is entered via a short underground passageway. The garden has limited public access and is now managed by a trust. It is included on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
The Gardens Trust is a national membership organisation in the United Kingdom established to study the history of gardening and to protect historic gardens.
The Welsh Historic Gardens Trust is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation. Established in 1989, the trust exists to support the conservation of historic parks and gardens in Wales.
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