Newsletter of the Staffordshire Gardens and Parks Trust. Registered Charity No. 1013862. SUMMER 2015 ISSUE No. 52 News Staffordshire Gardens & Parks Trust Published by the Staffordshire Gardens and Parks Trust. c/o South Staffordshire LETTER Council, Wolverhampton Road, Codsall, Staffordshire WV8 1PX. Tel: 01902 696000 A LOST LANDSCAPE REDISCOVERED When, in 1758, Arthur Chichester, 5th Earl and later 1st Marquess of Donegall, bought Fisherwick Hall, between the villages of Whittington and Elford, near Lichfield, it was a ‘fine old timbered and gabled hall’ built in the late sixteenth century.

He then commissioned ‘Capability’ Brown increasing its length and creating to design and build a new house in the a ha-ha, extending the length of fashion of the times and more befitting to an existing lake and laying out a his dignity, a task which lasted from 1766 second, connected to the first by till 1779 and cost £200,000. No expense a cascade, building an orangery was spared; floors and fireplaces were of and planting 10,000 trees, including marble, doors of mahogany, walls were oaks, elms and firs (which earned painted or hung with silk. Furniture was the Marquess a medal from the designed by Joseph Bonomi, an Italian-born, Society of Arts for planting the London-based architect who had worked greatest number of trees in that for Robert Adam and who, towards the year). end of his life, was appointed architect to St. Peter’s, Rome; the ceiling of the The result was, in the words of principal drawing-room was painted by Timothy Mowl and Dianne Barre, Conservatory an Italian artist, John Francis Rigaud, who “one of his most attractive parks”, specialised in decorative painting for the which Arthur Chichester stocked town and country houses of the nobility. with deer and game. Several He commissioned Thomas Gainsborough entrance lodges were built, a deer to paint the family’s portrait and filled the cot and kennels were added, a house with antiquities and objets d’art. ‘Ladies Botanical Garden’ complete with a Chinese pavilion was laid By this time, Brown was no stranger to out, and a new carriageway leading Staffordshire, having already worked at to the house was laid down, Chillington, Ingestre, Weston, Trentham and flanked by trees which, in keeping Himley. He had been commissioned by with Brown’s established style, an earlier owner, Samuel Hill, to prepare prevented visitors from seeing a plan, but, when Hill died in 1757, Brown the house until the last minute. Gate Posts once part of the main entrance had not yet submitted his proposals. Arthur In another characteristic flourish, Chichester, who, in spite of his title, never Brown used the churches of distant town house), proved an unsustainable drain lived in Ireland and was, in fact, educated Tamworth and nearby Elford as eye- on his resources; and after the Marquess’s at Oxford and Eton, instructed Brown to catchers. death the estate was sold off in 1808, design both house and park, and Brown half to Sir Robert Peel, of Drayton Manor, responded by designing a house in the Sadly, such extravagance, when added to half to Richard Bagot Howard, owner of fashionable Palladian style very similar to his son’s addiction to gambling (in those the Elford estate.* Subsequently, Brown’s the house he had designed at Croome days, there was a racecourse just outside landscape was divided into nine farms Court. He went on to landscape the park, Lichfield, where the Marquess also had a and most of his trees felled and sold. The

continued overleaf house was demolished six years later and garden at Elford, and Richard its contents and architectural features Bagot Howard would not have dispersed; for a number of years the wanted the expense of running magnificent Corinthian portico fronted a two labour-intensive walled hotel in Walsall until the hotel itself was gardens. demolished. No plans had survived which The lakes, now reduced to ponds, are could give them any indication as buried deep in thick woodland, though the to how the garden had originally cascade still functions, and a length of the been planted, so Andrew and ha-ha has been cleared of brambles. Annamarie set about putting it back to how they thought it The magnificent Orangery, otherwise might have been. Currently, it is Bridge over which carriages once rumbled known as “The Greenhouse”, which was laid out in four large rectangular once fronted by a Corinthian portico, was beds, planted in rotation, three to used for many years as a cow-shed and grow a wide variety of vegetables has become so ruinous that, in spite of its such as beetroot, parsnip, onion, age, English Heritage has declined to list it garlic, asparagus and vines, and the on the grounds that not enough of it has fourth of soft fruit. survived. Though there is evidence that The stable block has now been converted the South Wall of the Garden into privately-owned residences. was once heated and may have supported a hothouse, its honey- Despite these depredations, enough combed wall continues to exude remained to make a guided tour of the heat absorbed from the sun and site led by someone familiar with surviving can reach temperatures of 15°C Walled Garden landmarks interesting to garden historians, (such is the size of the Garden and such a person is Annamarie Stone, that, conversely, the North Wall acts as a It is heartening to find couples like Andrew who took our party on an informative walk frost-trap!). This enables nectarines, peaches, and Annamarie Stone who can look round that part of Fisherwick Park which apricots, grapes and figs to be grown along beyond primary commercial needs and now forms Woodhouse Farm. The farm, it. Cherries, plums, pears and apples are recognise the heritage attached to the which covers twenty-two acres, occupies grown on the adjoining West Wall. historic environment (albeit in this case land which was once the back lawn and depleted) in which they work, and, while cherry orchard of the now-demolished Woodhouse Farm is part of Community striving to make a living, also work to Hall, and includes the Walled Garden. Supported Agriculture, a scheme promoted ensure that that heritage is not completely Annamarie and her husband, Andrew, run by the Soil Association to encourage lost to later generations. Woodhouse Farm, previously worked partnerships between farmers and their since the 1960s by Andrew’s late father, community through an arrangement by * Elford Estate followed a downward Annamarie undertaking the responsibility of which local people sign up to buy produce trajectory very similar to that of Fisherwick. running the Walled Garden, while Andrew for a season, thus guaranteeing them a In 1936 its owner, Francis Howard Paget, runs the farm. weekly share of fresh, seasonal produce “desirous of preserving the estate for all and the farmer the security of knowing that time for the benefit of the public”, donated Prior to being taken on a guided tour of he has a regular, reliable market. In addition the Hall, built in 1758, and surrounding land the Walled Garden led by Alan, the head to the produce from the Walled Garden, to Birmingham City Council, who used it to gardener, the party was given a short Andrew and Annamarie sell beef from Irish store its arts treasures during World War account of the more recent history of the Moiled Cows and pork from Gloucester II. Thereafter, its condition was allowed to site by Annamarie, who explained that, after Old Spot , both raised on the farm. A farm deteriorate until it was finally demolished in prolonged negotiations with the owners, shop is open on Tuesday and Saturday 1964 and the land used for housing. Birmingham City Council, to whom the afternoons throughout the year. farm had been donated for the recreational However, the task of restoring the Walled use of its citizens in 1936, Andrew and In furtherance of a policy of encouraging Garden, which was once planted with half Annamarie took over the tenancy in community involvement, the farm offers a mile of fruit trees, has been undertaken 2009, though neither had had any formal opportunities for classes in planting and by a group of local residents who got training in agriculture, Andrew’s previous cookery and has community areas which together to submit a successful application occupation having been an electrician and can be hired for parties, group visits or for a £½m from the Heritage Lottery Annamarie’s a beautician. workshops, while afternoons are organised Fund in order to develop the garden for for volunteers to carry out clearance work community use. The Elford Hall Garden They found the Walled Garden, which which protects and exposes some of the Project, when completed, will, amongst pre-dates the house and may possibly be historic features of the landscape like the other objectives, have restored the the largest in the County, to be just a field, ha-ha. The farm entertains visits from local Victorian gardens, established allotments, used, Annamarie thought, first for planting organisation such as schools, Scouts, Cubs laid down a bowling green and laid out a agricultural crops, and, latterly, for grazing and Brownies, and Women’s Institutes and is tennis court. horses. She speculated that this might have also engaged in a project designed to help been because there already was a walled those overcoming mental health problems. “One of the prettiest retreats it is possible to conceive”

Nicholas Pevsner’s description of Biddulph Old Hall as “a late 17th Century house of no pretension which is attached to an Elizabethan Mansion sacked in the Civil War” does little credit to its extraordinary history. Members learnt about this extraordinary history when, in the company of members of the Staffordshire Historic Buildings Trust, they were entertained by the present owners, Nigel Daly and Brian Vowles. The building probably originated sometime James Bateman, builder of Biddulph restoration, starting with in-depth research between 1490 and 1520 as a simple hall Grange, acquired the house, by then known and extending their ownership to 85% with kitchen attached. A tower was added as “The Old Hall”, as a folly in 1861. He set of the walk, an area of seven acres. The in 1530.The property, by then known as about connecting it to the Grange by laying worst of the tipped rubbish has now ‘Biddulph Hall’, was extensively re- down a walk through a steep woodland been cleared, including builder’s rubble modelled and enlarged by John Biddulph valley alongside the Clough stream, a dumped into the first of the waterfalls, after 1558, eventually taking the form project which involved building several and two of the stone flight of steps seen today of a large irregular residential bridges, two dams, a tunnel running have been excavated. They have already block with forecourt and gatehouse. under the road and the construction of commissioned the clearing of some of The Biddulphs were a recusant family many steps. His lavish expenditure, both the fallen trees and a survey of surviving with Jesuit connections. Recent research here and at The Grange, led to straitened specimen trees planted by the Batemans. suggests that the pre-eminent architect circumstances, and, in 1871, he was forced of the Elizabethan era, Robert Smythson, to sell the Biddulph estate, including As our walk through the partially-cleared who worked extensively for the Earls of Biddulph Old Hall and The Clough. landscape revealed, much remains to be Shrewsbury, another influential Catholic done before the site is fully restored to family, may have been responsible for the He did, however, arrange a lifetime tenancy its former glory; fallen trees, overgrown design of the domed tower and forecourt. for his third son, Robert, a member of the vegetation and self-seeds need to be The Biddulphs espoused the Royalist cause second-generation Pre-Raphaelite group of cleared, paths excavated and their exact in the English Civil War, and in 1643 the artists. Robert’s work was much admired in route established, the lower dam rebuilt Hall was subjected to a prolonged siege his own time, but his reputation has since and the lake reformed, lost specimen trees, before falling to Commonwealth troops in lost some of its lustre. ferns and water-plants replanted. the face of a determined bombardment. Subsequently, the building was partially Robert continued to develop the landscape All this will need support from both demolished to prevent it from being re- around the Old Hall until, in 1887, a local qualified professionals and volunteers, and garrisoned, and pillaged of its stone and writer could describe The Clough as “a the assistance of the media in publicising ironwork very paradise of woodland scenery” where the project and helping to raise the “artistic effect has aided nature in creating necessary funding, and Nigel and Brian Towards the end of the seventeenth century one of the prettiest retreats it is possible to are anxious to engage the interests of local the Hall was re-occupied and enlarged, conceive”. groups in their project. They welcome using materials from the ruined mansion. arranged visits and are also holding a Once popular with artists and series of open days for the general public. The house underwent further extensions photographers, it subsequently entered The visit allowed members to appreciate in the nineteenth century, when a two- a long period of decline; the walks were the strong appeal that the natural beauty of storey wing was added as a Catholic overgrown, the dams destroyed, and loads the walk once exercised on earlier visitors, chapel, later adapted as an artist’s studio by of debris, tipped into the valley, filled the and any SGPT members unable to take Robert Bateman, though the quality of its lakes with rubbish of all kinds, including part in the Trust’s visit in June might well construction left something to be desired, the ubiquitous shopping trolleys! wish to avail themselves of the second as the collapse of an external staircase chance offered by one of these open days. during the occupancy of the present The present owners, recognising its Details of these open days can be obtained owners has demonstrated! significance and the status which it once by emailing Nigel Daly at enjoyed, have begun the necessarily- [email protected]. protracted process of recovery and

Wall showing impact of cannon fire Biddulph Old Hall (on the left) The Clough “CONDITOR HORTI FELICITATIS AUCTOR”*

On a beautifully sunny afternoon in May, swept from time to time by a cooling breeze, more than fifty members and friends - many replete from an excellent pre-visit lunch at the Wilton Court Hotel in nearby Ross-on-Wye - descended by coach and car on The Laskett, Sir Roy Strong’s iconic garden set in rural Herefordshire off the A49 between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye.

We were welcomed by Fiona Fysch, the gave up the tenancy, and, together, they garden manager and Sir Roy’s private set about designing the present garden, secretary, who explained that, regretfully, which now covers four acres. Sir Roy had been unable to greet the party in person owing to a previous Inspiration was drawn from a number of engagement in Stratford-on-Avon. sources, the principal one being Hidcote However, we were each provided with Manor, in Gloucestershire, where, at an audio guide pre-recorded by Sir Roy, the beginning of the twentieth century, which at least allowed us to feel that we Lawrence Johnston, having similarly The Laskett were being led round the garden by the extended the grounds surrounding great man himself! the house by acquiring the fields which surrounded it, created a garden Strictly speaking, The Laskett is not a comprised of a series of ‘rooms’, each garden, but a series of gardens, each with its own distinctive character. In both recording a significant moment in the gardens, the planting reflects the Arts and lives and careers of both Sir Roy and his Crafts’ preference for native flowers and wife, the late Julia Trevelyan Oman. Not shrubs, though this is by no means the for nothing is The Laskett described as only style apparent in the gardens; “an autobiographical garden”. the parterre of green and golden yew The Howdah Court recalls the more formal Elizabethan and And what lives they have been! Director Jacobean tradition, while the long vista of The National Portrait Gallery between of the twentieth century, who worked of the Elizabethan Tudor Walk, inspired 1967 and 1974, when, aged thirty-eight, with some of the leading figures in the by the Lime Walk at Sissinghurst (though he became the youngest Director of world of drama, opera and ballet, such as twice as long), which terminates at the The Victoria and Albert Museum, Sir Roy Jonathan Miller and Sir Frederick Ashton. Shakespeare Monument, recalls the retired from that post in 1987 to pursue That year, they purchased The Laskett, an gardens of the Italian Renaissance. a career as a writer and consultant, his early Victorian house with a conventional subjects covering the history of the Arts, garden of lawn, shrubbery and rose bed, The Garden, which claims to be the of monarchy, of gardens and gardening, which they spent the next three decades largest privately-owned formal garden and of feasting. developing into the remarkable pleasure created since 1945, constantly surprises garden which it has become today. In and delights the visitor, who passes In 1973, he married Julia Trevelyan 1975, a field they owned which had been through a series of enclosed spaces, Oman, one of the most distinguished rented to a neighbouring farmer was many dedicated to a national event (the theatre designers of the second half drawn into the garden when the farmer Silver Jubilee, the Diamond Jubilee), an

Silver Jubilee Garden, with Rose Garden beyond and Triumphal Arch in background Newly-created 80th Birthday Garden achievement (Sir Roy’s twenty years as Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum), a personal landmark (his fiftieth birthday), a valued friendship (the society photographer Sir Cecil Beaton, the ballet dancer and choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton) in the lives of the garden’s creators. Thus, close to the house, the Die Fledermaus Walk, a long gallery of yew and beech, commemorates Julia’s production of that opera at the Royal Opera House, while the Pierpoint Morgan Rose Garden is named after the library in New York where Sir Roy gave a series of lectures in 1974, the fee for which paid for the garden (Indeed, the gardens were developed and enlarged The Elizabethan Tudor Walk The Shakespeare Monument as and when funds became available).

Similarly, elsewhere in the garden the Hilliard Garden is so named after the Elizabethan miniaturist, about whom Sir Roy wrote a book, while “Glyndebourne” commemorates Julia’s production of Richard Strauss’s opera “Arabella” there.

Other gardens identify themselves by what has been planted in them: the Spring Garden; the Rose Garden; the Christmas Orchard (which houses a collection of old apple varieties, pears and a rare variety of quince); the Scandinavian Grove (planted with silver birch). The Crowned Column in the Elizabeth Tudor Garden The Gardener in the Gardener’s Garden

Sculpture and statuary feature overtaken in the course of their tour of national importance”, advising him that prominently and continue the theme of the gardens by adverse weather as well an independent charitable trust be remembrance: as space for holding events. It faces a established instead. Sir Roy’s response a pinnacle from Nicholas Hawksmoor’s formal parterre surrounded by hedges was to threaten to leave instructions in All Souls College, in Oxford, of box. his will for the gardens to be razed a year commemorates Sir Charles Oman, Julia’s For Sir Roy, a walk through the gardens, after his death, a natural enough reaction grandfather, who was a fellow of the which has allowed him and his wife Julia to the Trust’s rejection of his generous college and the University’s Chichele to express their artistic, literary and offer, but the many who have been Professor of Modern History; four horticultural talents, must be a poignant fortunate enough to enjoy the multiplicity pieces of statuary from the old Palace of and, since the death of his wife, a painful of delights the gardens offer will be Westminster serve as a reminder that Sir walk down Memory Lane, in which he delighted to learn that they will now be Roy is currently High Bailiff and Searcher is reminded not only of his many past bequeathed to Perennial, a UK charity of the Sanctuary of Westminster Abbey achievements shared with Julia but also of dedicated to horticulturists in need, and also commemorate the publication long friendships now ended. providing a range of support services in 1996 of Sir Roy’s book, “The Story of for those working in, have worked in or Britain”. The National Trust declined Sir Roy’s retired from the industry (and known offer to leave The Laskett to the until 2003 as “The Gardeners’ Royal The largest structure is the Colonnade, Trust on the grounds that it “failed to Benevolent Society”). an open pavilion supported by four Ionic reach the high rung of historical and pillars which provides shelter for visitors * “They who Plant a Garden Plant Happiness” Footnote: The Trust is extremely fortunate that one of its members, Michael Faarup, was able to use family connections to arrange the rare privilege of a visit on a Saturday. Michael also arranged for lunch to be taken at The Wilton Court Hotel before the visit, and the Trust wishes to put on record its profound gratitude. “One of ’s outstanding attractions”

In July, members of the Trust visited the Grade II-listed Hall and Park, where they were joined for the visit by members of the Shropshire Parks and Gardens Trust, in whose county the Hall is located.

We were met by Phillip Coxill, where lime kilns Operations Grounds Manager, predominated who began work at Lilleshall as a around the old Hall groundsman looking after its many in Lilleshall village. pitches and has now graduated to Work began on managing the grounds not only the gardens in here but at all three National Sports 1827 with the Centres, in Shropshire, Berkshire creation of formal and Nottinghamshire. terraces, lawns and planting, Before a tour of the main gardens including the the group was given an introductory remarkable feat of talk by Sarah Ashmead on the bringing in and re- history of the Lilleshall estate. planting already- Ashmead-Price, Landscape Planning mature trees. The and Design Consultants, have pleasure gardens prepared a Landscape Master Plan and parkland for improvements to the pleasure continued to be The Dial Garden grounds, avenues and wider estate at developed after Lilleshall. the house was pollution affecting the nearby river, completed in 1831. and the estate was plundered for The present Hall was built by material which could be used in Jeffry Wyatville for the 1st Duke of Lilleshall Hall was just one estate developing the grounds at Lilleshall. Sutherland in 1831, but its history owned by the family, who also For example, the Estate Ledger extends much further back in time. owned a London house, Stafford Book of 1908 records that part of The estate was originally part of House, in Berkeley Square, Cliveden the stonework was brought from the demesne of , House in Buckinghamshire, Trentham at the same time as the a once-powerful Augustinian Dunrobin Castle in the Northern Temple structures were moved here foundation built between 1145 and Highlands, and, of course, Trentham as the Trentham estate was sold. 1148 which entertained two kings, Hall. Each was visited in turn Henry III and Richard II, and whose throughout the year, Lilleshall being The fifth Duke sold the bulk of the impressive ruins are now in the occupied over Easter for hunting Lilleshall estate at the outbreak of care of English Heritage. Following and parties, when it was the task of World War I in 1914, and in 1918 the Dissolution of the Monasteries the head gardener to ensure that Sir John Lee bought Lilleshall Hall in 1543, it was acquired by James the gardens were at their finest and the remaining fifty acres of Leveson, a wealthy and influential during the four weeks of the family’s garden. In 1927 the estate was sold to Wolverhampton wool-merchant. residence. This was achieved by Herbert Ford, a wealthy Ironbridge employing between twenty and industrialist married to Alice Perrins, Ownership then passed to Sir thirty gardeners, compared with the whose family gave their name to the William Leveson-Gower, the first in five or six employed today, although famous sauce. Under his ownership a long line of a prominent political the latter have the advantage the grounds were developed as a family who went on to acquire a of working with far superior pleasure park complete with a golf succession of titles until, in 1833, Sir equipment! course and a narrow-gauge railway George Leveson-Gower became the which ran through Abbey Wood. first . However, Lilleshall became for a time the family’s principal Midlands During World War II, the Hall While Sir George is perhaps best residence when Trentham Hall was became an orphanage and the known for his part in the infamous being extended in the 1830s and grounds were extensively farmed; Highland Clearances, his wife, again between 1900 and 1910, when and in 1949 Herbert Ford, faced with Elizabeth, already a Countess in her Trentham Hall was being sold. a daunting bill to restore the Hall own right when she married him, and gardens to their pre-war state, will be remembered for her part After a period of inactivity, the sold the estate to the Central Council in the creation of the gardens at gardens were renovated by the of Physical Recreation (CCPR), who Trentham Hall, the family’s principal fourth Duke and his Duchess, opened it as a sport centre, thus seat in Staffordshire, where she Millicent, between 1890 and 1911. continuing the tradition established introduced ideas first developed at The walled Kitchen Gardens by Herbert Ford of offering Lilleshall. The designed estate and were extended, the Dutch Garden recreational activities to the public. pleasure grounds were developed constructed, and improvements with the ‘new’ Hall, primarily made to the Dial Garden and the The registered Park and Garden is by the 2nd Duke of Sutherland Italian Water Garden. A Peach now occupied by the National Sports and his young wife, Harriet, who House, subsequently demolished, Centre, which is operated by Serco were given the estate when they was added in 1898 to an enlarged Leisure on behalf of Sport . married. An ‘instant’ landscape was walled kitchen garden area. The National Sports Centre covers required to give a suitable backdrop Around this time, the family were around 134 hectares in the centre of to the house and to screen the preparing to abandon Trentham as the 200 hectare Registered Parkland, industrial landscape to the north, a consequence of the foul-smelling which includes Abbey Wood and Italian Water Garden The Temple Loggia

Gorse Covert woodlands beyond crowned with a ball which marked the fountain back into full play. Lilleshall Hall. grave of Czar, a Russian wolfhound brought back from Moscow in the We continued through the Dial The party was then introduced to nineteenth century. Garden, a formal flower garden so the newly-created Discovery Trail, called because of its circular shape, designed to open up the garden to The parkland contains a huge variety on to the raised terrace at the front controlled public access and soon of trees, tens of thousands having of the house which took us along to be available as a mobile phone been recorded as planted throughout the Duchess Walk past the Dutch app. The walk, led by Phil and Sarah, the 1830s. As well as native species Garden; once planted with roses but began at the Apple Walk, progressing such as oak, beech and silver birch, now under grass, it will be eventually through a series of arches once they include cypress, juniper, cedar, restored as a rose garden. covered with apple trees and climbing wellingtonia, spruce, fir, pine and roses, but now planted with vines, maple (Even before reaching the Before re-entering the Hall, where wisteria and clematis. Now half its Hall, the visitor will have travelled cake and tea awaited us, we had the original length, it is intended to re- down a mile-and-a-half long avenue opportunity to pause for a while instate it as a vine walk. lined with woodland belts and a and from our elevated position on wellingtonia avenue, having entered the terrace to admire the scope and The walk then took us down to the through the Golden Gates, a replica of absorb the detail of the garden spread Temple Loggia, stone arches which the gates at the front of Buckingham out below us. once formed part of a colonnade at Palace!). Trentham Hall and moved to Lilleshall This was our third visit this summer in 1912. A smaller fragment, known as We then made our way back to the to an historic garden under sensitive the Temple, serves as an eye-catcher in balustraded Italian Water Garden laid restoration, and it is heartening to another part of the grounds. Passing out in 1910; at the centre is an octagonal all who cherish our garden heritage through a wilder part of the grounds lily pond and fountain surrounded by that that there are individuals and planted with oak and rhododendron, four lozenge-shaped ponds bordered organisations willing to dedicate their we reached the Pet Cemetery, by flower beds. Plans are in hand to time and their resources to ensure its dominated by a large stone plinth improve the water flow and bring the survival. PRESENTATION Catherine Thorpe, SGPT Treasurer, presents Lord Cormack with an engraved Tutbury Glass rosebowl to mark his retirement as President of the Trust. In response, Lord Cormack wrote to the Chairman: ‘I was deeply touched, and most appreciative, to receive that marvellous engraved bowl which the Trust so kindly gave me to mark my retirement as President. It is something that we shall always treasure in our home and will bring back happy memories….’

Officers Of The Trust President: Charles Bagot-Jewitt Chairman: Alan Taylor Members of Council of Management: Treasurer: Catherine Thorpe Membership Secretary: Elaine Artherton Alan Taylor; Elaine Artherton; Sarah Ashmead; Newsletter Editor: Bryan Sullivan Website Manager: Jackie Moseley Francis Colella; Michael Faarup; Andy Goode; Company Secretary: Ryan Taylor Julie Hall; Joe Hawkins; Jackie Moseley; Catherine Thorpe; Bryan Sullivan Visit the Trust’s website www.staffordshiregardensandparks.org for information about the aims of the Trust, its activities and its publications, including past issues of the Newsletter. KEITH MALCOLM GOODWAY (1930-2015)

Keith was born in Southend and brought up in Surrey. In 1954 he joined the staff at the University College of North Staffordshire at Keele, where the first biology course in the country had been established in 1950. Keith will forever be remembered for his association with Keele but also for his careful scholarship, wise, measured advice and a dry humour betraying his appreciation of irony and the ridiculous.

He was resident on campus, and to all garden historians’ regret that he In 1991 Keith became Chairman of The married Cordelia Lamb, a former Keele never turned his researches into a book Garden History Society’s Conservation student, in 1957. He became known, on Emes’ complete oeuvre. Panel and became GHS Chairman from inter alia, for his study of kettle holes 1995 until 1998. He was for ten years (depressions left by blocks of glacial ice, In 1976 Keith became a member a member of English Heritage’s Parks the water surface later covering over of the small ad hoc committee and Gardens Advisory Committee, an with bog vegetation). He conducted seeking to acquire a lease of the indication of the wide national respect field trips to a 40-acre natural mere, gardens at Biddulph Grange from in which he was held. Between 1998 Copmere, near Eccleshall, to study the Health Authority. and 2008 he was a trustee of Kelmarsh europhication, and was later involved, Negotiations stalled until in 1981 Keith, Hall, in Northamptonshire. as an expert in the native flora, in by then a member of its Mercia Region assisting Land Use Consultants in re- Committee, introduced The National Keith moved to Stone in 1993. He vegetating the Park Hall Country Park, Trust to the site. This led ultimately to joined the Stone Historical and Civic east of Stoke, in 1974. the Trust acquiring James Bateman’s Society and indulged a range of ornamental gardens in 1988, and interests. He was appointed a trustee When Keith first arrived at Keele the restoring them before opening to the of the William Salt Library and was a magnificently laid park and gardens public in 1992. volunteer at the Wedgwood Museum. had been in decline since before World Keith took a prominent part in the War Two. In 1939 the estate had been During the 1980s Keith had an on-off appeal in 2012/13 to raise money to requisitioned by the War Office, and entry into retirement but was much purchase the matrix from Stone Priory, dozens of temporary buildings came delighted that the two large and used for making seals for the Priory’s to be erected to house troops. The particularly ugly huts placed on the deeds. new university college occupied the Italian gardens by Nesfield in the 1860s temporary buildings, “The Huts”, as they in front of Keele Hall were removed. Keith remained an interested member were called, of which there were over a Although there were not the funds to of SGPT, delivering a fascinating talk on hundred. recreate that design Keith did install a Josiah Wedgwood’s gardens at Etruria as heather garden which gave some of the the Christmas lecture in 2014. He was Keith got to know the grounds at same feel. This was unveiled at the 1986 apparently in good health, and only the Keele extremely well. In 1975 his “A GHS annual conference. Saturday before his death had taken guide to the trees at Keele”, was issued part in the Trust’s visit to Fisherwick. as an Occasional Publication by the In 1984, at very short notice and with It came as a shock that he died so University Library. He had by then no clear guidance or precedence, Keith, suddenly. He was buried in the new been drafted to the grounds committee Peter Hayden and Alan Taylor drafted woodland section of Stone Cemetery. and became its chairman. In the late a shortlist of twelve sites for the new Being the first in it, he got the prime 1970s redevelopment of the temporary English Heritage Register of Historic spot, atop a small knoll appropriately buildings was nearly complete, but Parks and Gardens, notable both overlooking the landscape of the Trent attention to the campus landscape was for its brevity and rigour. Keith was flood plain. overdue. After seeing “A PLAN of the subsequently chairman of the steering intended improvements at KEEL the committee of the Staffordshire Gardens The Staffordshire Gardens and Parks seat of Ralph Sneyd Esq by William and Parks Trust, which was formally Trust has received donations in Keith’s Emes” in the University Library Keith established in 1992, and remained memory totalling over £700, for which it wanted to find out more about Emes. chairman for three years and on its is extremely grateful. His researches had identified about fifty council until 2007. Keith was Trustee attributions by 1980. Although Keith of Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens from AGT published the ‘Landscapes and Gardens 1991 until 1993. (Thanks to Nick Goodway and others for at Keele, 1700-1900’ in 1982 it is much contributing material for this tribute) STOP PRESS At the Annual General Meeting of The Association of Gardens Trusts, held in Newcastle on July 24th, the merger with The Garden History Society was approved by 24 votes to 7, with one abstention. A press release regarding the subsequent formation of The Gardens Trust, including a new website, will be issued very soon. The SGPT, together with the Shropshire, Hereford & Worcester and Warwickshire Trusts, all voted against the merger because of concerns over the business plan. The SGPT’s Council of Management will be discussing its response at its next meeting.

The Trust is pleased to announce that Elaine Artherton has agreed to take over the role of Membership Secretary. Elaine is Conservation Officer at a Midlands local authority.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Editor acknowledges with grateful thanks the contributions of Sarah Ashmead and Alan Taylor in the preparation of this Newsletter and of Gareth Williams, Curator at Weston Park, who very kindly provided the illustrations for the article on Fisherwick Park.