02 SUMMER 2003 Changing London

AN HISTORIC CITY FOR A MODERN WORLD

‘Many London squares are neglected, undervalued, hidden… or simply forgotten’ Drew Bennellick Landscape Architect, English Heritage.

London is a uniquely green city. An aerial view of the metropolis reveals an extraordinary quilt of open spaces – great inner city parks, outer London woodlands, private gardens large and small, formal squares, sports fields, cemeteries, tiny corners of grass, trees and flowers… London’s green patchwork is an integral part of the home, the workplace and playground of one of the world’s greatest historic cities. Together with its waterways and varied and sophisticated network of streetscapes, London presents a diverse and ever-changing urban environment that is unequalled elsewhere in the world. But is this diversity in harmony? This second issue of Changing London suggests there’s much going on to keep the balance right – but still a great deal more to do.

CONTENTS 4 6/7 2/3 Down In The Urban Forest ‘Sweet Thames, run softly…’ Forgotten Oases? 5 Planning the future of London’s London Garden Squares Reviving the Streets river and other waterways 02 SUMMER 2003

‘MANY SQUARES ARE NEGLECTED UNDERVALUED, HIDDEN OR SIMPLY FORGOTTEN’

Drew Bennellick, English Heritage Landscape Architect. 2/3

FORGOTTEN OASES? LONDON GARDEN SQUARES

Brunswick Square: before restoration. Park Square: reinstated railings.

WITH OVER 600 SQUARES,THESE URBAN GREEN SPACES PROVIDE A CRUCIAL LINK BETWEEN PRIVATE DOMESTIC GARDENS AND LARGE URBAN PARKS

The London square is one of the capital’s has created great interest.Technical (following the original designs), has greatest green assets and yet often the advice has been offered to many garden transformed one of London’s greatest INFORMATION POINT most taken for granted. With over 600 managers on planting, design, garden architectural set-pieces. A Campaign for London Squares (product code XH squares, these urban green spaces provide archaeology, suitable path surfaces, railing Later this year will see the completion 20153) can be obtained from a crucial link between private domestic repair or reinstatement.We also advise of works to restore Brunswick and English Heritage Customer gardens and large urban parks. But many on ways to reduce vandalism. Bloomsbury Squares. Both are included Services on 0870 333 1181 are neglected, undervalued, hidden or The last year has seen some impressive within the English Heritage Register of London Garden Squares Day simply forgotten.These oases provide improvement projects to some of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic For the fifth year running, on crucial wild life havens, safe play spaces, London’s most important squares.The Interest and both have been awarded Sunday 8th June the London Historic Parks and Gardens tranquil gardens and the setting for restoration of Russell Square, by Camden grants.The works will include new Trust with support from thousands of listed buildings. Although Council with support from the Heritage planting, path repairs, new furniture and English Heritage presents over 400 are protected by the London Lottery Fund, included the redevelopment at Brunswick Square, the reinstatement London Garden Squares Day. Squares Preservation Act of 1931, a of the café, the replacement of the of the impressive perimeter railings and This is a unique opportunity unique piece of legislation designed to to explore many of the capitals perimeter planting, the provision of gates.The works will complement the most hidden squares with over prevent their loss to development, many new furniture and most notably the landscape works recently completed at 70 private and public squares are uncared for and actually detract from reinstatement of the perimeter railings, the adjoining Coram’s Fields to restore and gardens taking part this year. their surroundings. which were removed during the Second elements of the historic landscape and Details and ticket information English Heritage is working hard to World War. provide new play facilities. from www.opensquares.org.uk promote the importance of the urban Many London squares were stripped of John Ruskin wrote,‘The measure of a city’s garden square. Our brochure, A Campaign their historic railings in 1941 and are still greatness is to be found in the quality of for London Squares, sets out our mission enclosed by ugly chain link fencing.The its public spaces, its parks and squares.’ to encourage investment in their care and Crown Estate’s superb reinstatement of We are working in partnership to restore management, to raise their profile and to the railings to Park Square East and West, that quality throughout the capital. ensure their conservation.The campaign plus the new gates to Regent’s Park 02 SUMMER 2003

The West End benefits from the generous Metropolitan Public Gardens Association open spaces of the inner Royal Parks. many were laid out as public gardens. Richmond, Bushy and Greenwich Parks Formal urbanity gave way in the C19 and add greatly to the amenities of south early C20 to more picturesque residential London.The Royal Parks were originally developments with both private gardens enclosed for hunting and later embellished and shared open space for informal and gradually made accessible to the recreation and organized sports, as public. In Bushy Park and Richmond Park exemplified by Hampstead Garden field boundaries and ridge-and–furrow Suburb and the “cottage estates” built by ploughing patterns survive as evidence the London County Council. Post-World of the earlier agricultural landscapes. War II redevelopment included the Epping Forest is a fragment of the formation of Burgess Park in south mediaeval royal hunting forest, and Trent London and Mile End Park in east Chris Sumner, Regional Parks Park, planted as a landscape park around London, and the creation of the Alton & Gardens Adviser. a grand house, was once part of Enfield Estates at Roehampton, where blocks of Chase. Other mansions and great houses flats of modern design were built by the survive as the centrepieces of parks, LCC in a landscaped setting provided by notably Osterley, Syon, Ham, Kenwood the grounds of a number of large C18 DOWN IN THE URBAN and Chiswick.The Royal Botanic Gardens, villas that were retained. Kew and the Chelsea Physic Garden In the City of London an area largely combine pleasure gardens with scientific destroyed by bombing was rebuilt by the institutions. Corporation of London as The Barbican, Cattle still graze at Osterley and Syon and a development of medium- and high-rise on Petersham Meadows, whilst farmland flats, a school and Arts Centre with survives around the fringes of London as lakes, fountains, lawns and trees which part of the Green Belt. At Totteridge and incorporates remains of the City’s FOREST at Harefield the historic pattern of small Roman wall. ‘LONDON IS ONE OF THE GREENEST hedged fields remains essentially The last few years have seen the unchanged. CITIES IN THE WORLD’ restoration of a number of public parks Land that was too poor to be cultivated in London using Heritage Lottery Fund The Forestry Commission calls London “the largest urban forest in the economically formed the basis of the money and at least one important new world” – about one twentieth of its surface is covered by trees.When metropolitan commons and heaths, such public park has been created – Barrier the royal and public parks, public and private gardens, playing fields, as Hampstead Heath, which were the Park at the north end of the Thames squares and cemeteries are added, the statistics start to bear out what subjects of some of the earliest campaigns Barrier. to protect London’s open spaces from the Londoner knows and the visitor rapidly perceives: London is one Our aim is to help tend the diverse ‘urban development. London’s expansion was of the greenest cities in the world. forest’ that is London so that future accompanied by the creation in the mid generations can enjoy what our forebears C19 of a number of large public parks, have bequeathed us. such as Battersea,Victoria and Finsbury, intended to provide physical and spiritual recreation and moral improvement for Londoners, especially those who did not have easy access to the Royal Parks or to private gardens and squares. The construction of Victoria Embankment INFORMATION POINT in the 1860s by Bazalgette led to the English Heritage’s Register formation of Embankment Gardens, of Parks and Gardens includes stretching for more than a kilometre descriptions of over 140 sites considered to be of special along the Thames. Some thirty years historic interest. It can be earlier, the scandal of overcrowded and obtained from Customer insanitary churchyards led to the creation Services (T: 0870 333 1181) of large cemeteries on cheap land away The Inventory of Parks and Gardens, prepared by the from the city centre. Kensal Green London Parks and Gardens Trust (1833), West Norwood (1838), and with financial assistance from Highgate (1839), are the earliest of the English Heritage and others was launched at the Trust’s Spring large metropolitan cemeteries, laid out as Conference in April 2003.It privately financed burial grounds adorned describes sites across London, with public walks, park planting and fine most of which are accessible to the public and all of which buildings and monuments. At much the contribute to London’s same period, the inner city churchyards greenery. Details from the were closed for burials, and with support London Parks and Gardens Trust (T: 020 7839 3969) from organizations such as the ‘Green all over’: Cricklewood typifies London’s suburban landscape. 4/5

‘Integrated townscape management will bring order and clarity to London’s streets

REVIVING THE STREETS

to a minimum and signs preferably Lottery funding and also to Trinity House treatments on streets, cameras, cabinets located at the back edge of the Square which Tower Hamlets and the and signs have all required English pavement, ideally mounted on the Corporation of London have been Heritage to work closely with Transport buildings. repaving.The Corporation has a for London to minimise clutter.We have We have found that Streets for All is reputation for high standard schemes, had limited success and hope in due echoed by popular opinion.The poor and recently they have started working course to review jointly the siting of state of public spaces and the negative with adjacent boroughs to extend their all signs and cameras further. effects they have on communities was high quality public realm outwards. During the rest of 2003 as a number of highlighted by the Prime Minister in his The completion of the extensive scheme exemplary petits projets are completed, Charles Wagner, Historic Areas Adviser. “Liveability” speech in April 2001.This of enhancement along Kensington High we will have more good practice in place led to the production of Paving the Way Street is eagerly awaited. A simple pattern to encourage others to do better. Perhaps Perhaps the greatest threat to the historic produced by CABE and the Office of the of large paving slabs is being laid; all the the corner has been turned and the environment is the gradual degradation Deputy Prime Minister in July 2002. guardrailing that penned in pedestrians streets of London are due for a renais- of the public realm – the public spaces To maintain the momentum, English has been removed, while traffic lights have sance. But we must be constantly and streets between the buildings. Once Heritage organised a series of seminars been incorporated onto streetlights and vigilant and campaign tirelessly to create renowned for their visual order, today for Council staff involved in traffic and other signs reduced to a minimum. clutter-free streets for people. After all, they are often a chaotic jumble of traffic highways engineering and urban design, as streets are places in their own right, signs, bins, bollards, guard rails and street Camden Council have taken the bold well as presentations to councillors and not just routes from A to B. furniture set in a confused mess of decision to invest £25m between 2000 lectures to local groups and public bodies. garish paving. and 2005 on improving the pavements For the last three years we have been in the borough as part of its ‘Boulevard In response to this, in 2000 English working with the boroughs to promote Project’. As large areas of Camden are Heritage published Streets for All: A guide designated as conservation areas, we have to the management of London’s streets. exemplary schemes around London. We highlighted the improvements on been keen to ensure that where historic This advocates integrated townscape The Strand carried out by Westminster paving and street furniture survive, these management, encouraging local authorities INFORMATION POINT City Council in Streets for All, which are recognised and reinstated as parts to think about the whole space of the complements the nearly completed of the works. We are also hoping that Streets for All can be obtained street, to systematically clear clutter from English Heritage Customer scheme for Trafalgar Square, implemented as part of the project, important historic and consider the implications of any Services (product code by Transport for London. squares such as Bedford Square can be XH 20137). new additions. London’s streets, public reinstated more closely to their original Paving the Way is available places and parks must be managed and At Tower Hill, the whole of the area is form with York stone pavements and a on www.cabe.org.uk or from presented to the same standards as being replanned to create a new public Thomas Telford Ltd, bound gravel carriageway. its rivals, like New York or Paris. space, free of traffic so that the historic Units I/K, Paddock Wood Distribution Centre, Streets should be uncluttered with setting of the Tower and the river can be Another example of a major initiative Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, an uninterrupted unified paving surface better appreciated.This will link to Tower with implications for the London Kent, TN12 6UU of traditional sized paving slabs, behind Hill Gardens which have been restored streetscape has been the introduction Tel: 020 7665 2464 Fax: 020 7665 2245 properly sized kerbs with signposts kept by Tower Hamlets Council with Heritage of the Congestion Charge. Zone entry 02 SUMMER 2003

‘SWEET THAMES, RUN SOFTLY….’ PLANNING THE FUTURE OF LONDON’S RIVER AND OTHER WATERWAYS

‘LANDSCAPE IS NOT ONLY SEEN WITH THE EYE, IT IS FELT IN THE HEART’ Jason Debney Thames Landscape Strategy Co-ordinator.

LONDON’S ARCADIA – strategic planning policy can be both LANDSCAPING THE THAMES written and realised on the ground through partnerships of communities The river Thames lies at the physical and statutory bodies. Besides being and spiritual heart of the capital, uniting a technical document incorporated different communities, cultures and in planning legislation, the Strategy has commerce, inspiring a special sense of acted as a handbook to help local identity. It has shaped the way the modern people protect and understand their metropolis has evolved and been essential river on a day-to-day basis. It is a notable to London’s economic growth symbolising milestone in the journey towards both London’s ancestry and its capacity integrated environmental planning and for change. has provided a model that has inspired Between Hampton and Kew, the Thames subsequent planning policy and guidance meanders through one the worlds finest including the emerging London Plan and urban landscapes. Centuries of royal, the Thames Strategy Kew to Chelsea. aristocratic and artistic patronage have The Thames landscape is remarkable left a legacy of architecture, parks, palaces, for its wealth of historic and natural wildlife and working communities that heritage, but the Strategy does not today forms an area of open space overlook the ordinary things that are unparalleled in the rest of the capital. most cherished by the public and that Celebrated as ‘London’s Arcadia’, this area give us a sense of place, pride and offers unique recreational opportunities security.The Strategy’s work is about for all Londoners to enjoy and forms people, and the day-to-day ways they a major tourist magnet. connect with their landscape and those The Thames Landscape Strategy evolved organisations that manage these places. from the growing awareness of the need At the core of the Strategy is the for integrated policies for the Thames in acknowledgement that landscape order to understand this special landscape assessment is based on more than and to respect its natural and manmade aesthetic or heritage interest alone. heritage in future policy and design. Landscape is not only seen with the eye, An analysis of the character of the river it is felt in the heart.This approach sits between Hampton and Kew led to the comfortably with regional and national publication of the Thames Landscape policy.Time after time this proves to be Strategy in 1994. Written by Kim Wilkie, the most effective way to raise funds and the Strategy proposed 180 different engage local people in the regeneration projects and pioneered the principle that of the historic environment. View of the Thames from Richmond Hill. 6/7 THE BLUE RIBBON NETWORK Deptford, and for many years the Port of form the capital. Such watercourses Putting Rivers on the Map, coined the London is acknowledged as a “green city” London was the biggest and busiest in connected the Thames and the docks to term “Blue Belt” to describe the Thames’s with a high proportion of man-made, the world, at the heart of a world-wide the wider hinterland. In providing access to central role and the need to protect it. natural and semi-natural open space trading empire.The Thames was an the national canal system, they created a The concept of a “Blue Ribbon Network” providing relief from the dense urban international highway linking London to navigable water network that linked the was born.This recognises that all London’s form – opportunities for relaxation, rest of the world.The great enclosed capital directly with the industrial and waterways and waterspaces are largely leisure and communing with nature. But docks of the East End are a major legacy agricultural areas of the country and physically linked as a continuous system. there is also another network of open of this. supported the sustained growth of the city. More importantly, they provide a chain of spaces providing equal, and sometimes But London also embraced the Thames Decline set in in the 19th century and spaces and corridors, freely accessible greater, opportunity to retreat from the for its potential to give pleasure. the city increasingly turned away from its and allowing a different perspective on pressures of urban living – an historic Throughout history the river has been rivers, canals and docks relegating them, the city through the distinctive and unique system of rivers, canals, docks and other central to London life – for national in the latter part of the 20th century, to views and vistas they afford.They also water spaces. ceremony and state occasions and for mere backdrops to development.Then, offer an alternative transport route away from congested road and rail modes. Like It still surprises many that London popular leisure pursuits. In the minds of in the 1990s a number of events led to a other open spaces, they provide scope is a water city. But in its genesis this Londoners and visitors alike, the Thames new focus on the Thames and waterways for contact with nature, with the added is essentially what it is. Pre-historic is central to the identity of the city. It both of London. Planning and design studies frisson of elemental forces of tides and communities sprang up along the Thames’ united and divided the city, – at various were initiated by the government, currents, and unique habitats for wildlife. banks, living off the river and using it as a times a binding and a barrier. culminating in Regional Planning Guidance Importantly for us, London’s waterspaces primary means of transport, even before The Thames is also at the centre of for the River Thames.The London Rivers encompass a huge amount of the cultural the Romans established their provincial a major hydrological ecosystem that Association published, Rivers of Meaning, heritage that defines London as an capital in the 1st Century. It was at this drains much of South East England. Its a seminal work on the significance of the outstanding historic city. time that London began its evolution into tributaries, some of them major industrial river in contemporary life. Kim Wilkie’s a major metropolis of global significance and trading rivers themselves (such as the Thames Landscape Strategy brought vision The Blue Ribbon Network concept is set built on its maritime power. England’s Lea, the Brent and the Wandle) feed the to a historically rich part of the river to become a model for environmental first navy was built on the Thames, at Thames and define the topographical valley. And, in 2000, the conference policy-making elsewhere.

‘THE THAMES AND ITS TRIBUTARIES SUSTAINED THE GROWTH OF THE CITY’ Alan Byrne Regional Planner, London Region.

INFORMATION POINT 1 Accessible Thames Walking Guide INFORMATION POINT 2 London Canals Committee, (Hampton to Kew). Free but Guidelines for Canalside The full Thames Landscape please send an A4 SAE including London Rivers Association, Development, LCC, 2000 Strategy document is available 54p stamps. Putting Rivers on the Map: on CD-ROM at £30 (inc. P& P) Blue Belt & the Future of See also Annex 2 of the Mayor from Jason Debney at Also published by Barne Elms Urban Rivers, LRA, 2000 of London’s Draft Plan, The Blue Holly Lodge, Richmond Park, Publishing: Ribbon Network. London Rivers Association, Richmond TW10 5HS Mavis Batey, David Lambert & Rivers of Meaning: Getting in Other available resources from Kim Wilkie, Arcadian Thames, Touch with the Thames, LRA, the TLS include: £9.99 plus P&P 1996 02 8 SUMMER 2003 Changing London AN HISTORIC CITY FOR A MODERN WORLD

– Tackle the problem of redundant historic buildings at risk in public LONDON:THE GREEN CITY parks and direct resources towards their sustainable reuse. London’s historic streetscapes and landscapes, its parks and gardens, rivers – Enhance our own public parks and landscapes . and waterways are amongst its greatest assets.They are London’s most precious, yet vulnerable, open spaces; open to all, yet so often – Play a major role in delivering 122 environmental projects by 2007 taken for granted. By working in partnership with other stakeholders, for Arcadia in the City – a part of the Thames Landscape Strategy English Heritage will seek to ensure that they are properly protected, from Hampton to Kew. proactively managed and positively – Develop and co-ordinate a series of exemplary area improvement enhanced as an integral part of London’s projects including Blackheath, St George’s Circus, Hyde Park Corner, attraction as a world city. the garden squares of Bloomsbury, and the Thames Landscape Strategy Our key partners include the Royal Parks, from Kew to Chelsea. the Mayor, the London Boroughs, CABE – Work with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to prepare a long-term Space, Groundwork, the Heritage Lottery conservation and landscape management plan for the proposed Fund, British Waterways, the London Rivers World Heritage Site. Association, the Thames Landscape Strategy and the London Parks & Green Spaces – Contribute to the work of the Mayor, British Waterways and the Forum. London Rivers Association to enhance London’s Blue Ribbon network. London’s historic streetscapes, waterways and open spaces are vital to its We will: economy and the quality of life of all who live and work here. Opinion surveys repeatedly demonstrate that one of the main reasons visitors and businesses – Promote Streets for All and the principles of integrated townscape come to London is the quality of its historic environment – its atmospheric management to create streets for people and liveable neighbourhoods. streetscapes, its parks, garden squares and open spaces. Improving the – Support environmental improvements which set new standards public realm is not an optional extra, it is a direct investment in the of best practice in the public realm. capital’s continued prosperity.We need to do better. – Provide advice and training on best practice for local authority Work with us in partnership and help us to release this potential staff working in the public realm. for the benefit of all. – Continue our Campaign for London Squares to direct resources Philip Davies, London Region Director. to high-priority projects to enhance their appearance, management and biodiversity.

CONTACT DETAILS We would welcome comments and suggestions on this edition.These should be sent to

Richard Dumville (Regional Policy Officer) London Region, English Heritage 23 Savile Row, London, W1S 2ET T: 020 7973 3783

Alternatively you can e-mail us at NEXT ISSUE [email protected]

Buildings At Risk If you have not received this edition direct and All over London, historic wish to be added to the circulation list, then buildings such as these in please send in your address details. Union Street, Southwark are at risk. Additional copies can be obtained from English Heritage Customer Services – call 0870 333 1181. In the next issue, find out how we are working to bring such buildings back from the brink and give them new life. Published by English Heritage Edited by Gordon Dulieu Designed by Real 451 Printed by VenturaLitho

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