In Hackney and Kensal Green Cemetery in Scape Remain Largely
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A STRATEGY FOR THE PARK and GARDENS at HAMPTON CourT PALACE unsuccessful, despite the Millennium A STRATEGY FOR THE Park and GARDENS Commission’s earlier expressed enthusiasm. at HAMPTON CourtTPALACE The sound of raspberries rather than of trum- By David Jacques pets now greets the Commission andits deci- sions, and the Commission compares Introduction unfavourably with the Heritage Lottery Fund, TT: gardens at Hampton Court are of which disburses grants with less fuss and to world renown. Here, in the finest apparently muchgreatereffect. Baroque layout in Britain, elegant Bids for National Lottery funding - up to parterres, walks withfine vistas, exquisite stat- go% for schemes of under £100,000 and up to uary and ironwork, and numbers of walled 75% for larger projects under the Urban “Parks enclosures, are set within a landscape of park- “Programme — have been madebylocal plan- land cut by canals and framed on oneside by ning authorities and trusts for a wide range of the River Thames. Together, this combination historic parks and gardens in Londoninclud- of elements provides a setting for the six acres ing Gunnersbury Park and Osterley Park of building which go to make up Britain’s (both in Hounslow), the Old Deer Park (in largest country royal palace. The principal Richmond), Emslie Horniman Pleasance built elements and garden areas of this land- (Kensington), Waterlow Park, St Pancras scape remain largely unaltered, though their _ Gardens, St George’s Gardens, and Russell character has changed at various times with Square (Camden), Battersea Park changinguses, garden fashion, and the growth (Wandsworth), Crystal Palace (Bromley), of plants. Nunhead Cemetery (Southwark) and Well These alterations, although often being of Hall Pleasance (Greenwich). The bids made interest in their own right, have also often include applications for funding for the acqui- contradifted the design intentions of the sition of land(as at Osterley), for commission- Baroque layout. As the various planted over- ing a Management/Restoration Plan (Old lays themselves decay, numerous dilemmas DeerPark), and to carry out the restoration of arise as to the most desirable treatment, and archite€tural detail and the reinstatement of these dilemmas are compounded by aesthetic the original planting scheme (Emslie considerations, modern pressures of use, and Horniman Pleasance, designed in 1912 by archaeological constraints. C.F.A. Voysey). A strategy for the gardens has now been pre- Moves to proteét and repair churchyards, pared in order to establish the principles of burial grounds and cemeteries were given a care, the desired style and content of the gar- boost by the conference held in November dens, and a framework for future restoration 1996 by the London Historic Parks and Gardens and upgrading. Its recommendations seek to Trust, at which delegates were much encour- ensure a consistency (though not uniformity) aged by the work being done by Trusts and of approach, and that changes that are urgent Friendsat, for example, Abney Park Cemetery and/or important are tackled in a rational way. in Hackney and Kensal Green Cemetery in Kensington and Chelsea. Background ampton Court became Royal in the He: 15208, and in the next decade the country’s largest Tudor gardens were developed by Henry vii. A tiltyard, ornamen- tal orchards, a pond, yard and a privy garden were formed, whilst a walled deer-chasing course was made in the HomePark. The divi- sion of the estate in this way has largely sur- vived to the present, moulding all future devel- opments. The gardensfell behind in fashion during the early seventeenth century, but it is clear that Charles 1, with his uncompleted plans for 43 THE LONDON GARDENER orThe Gardener’s Inteltigencer Volno.2 For the years 1996-97 19. Queen Mary's Bowerasit appeared in c.1920. The trees succumbedto Cutch elm disease in the 19708, Garden in 1995. but this photograph provided a model for the dower planted in the Privy (Historic Royar Paraces) 44 A STRATEGY FOR THE Park and GARDENS at HampTon Court PALACE the Longford River, Charles 1, with his Great creation of purpose-made public parks a Water, and then William 111, all recognised the decade later, and at least one innovation at capability of the place to demonstrate the Hampton Court proved particularly influential utmost in magnificence. William 111 came - the massed beddingin the Fountain Garden. closest to realising his ideal, and the gardens Visitor numbersto the gardens had been ris- he left, and which Queen Anne further ing during the early nineteenth century but embellished, stood as the quintessential shot up after the Palace was opened to the Western Baroque garden in Britain. Ironically, this was general public in 1838 and the South amply shownbythe frequentuse of Hampton Railway was extended to Hampton Court in Court as the modelof the type of garden that 1849. With the hordes at the gate, the residents new plant- the proponents of the /andscape garden wished retreated to the Privy Garden, and to sweep away. ing was designed to provide privacy. In 1890 Fortunately their wishes were not gratified at even the Privy Garden was made public, the time and Hampton Court. In fact, no less a figure than HomePark was openedforthefirst Capability Brown, Royal Gardenerthere from a golf club established in the park. 1764 till his death in 1783, refused to modify the The new breed of Superintendents at of park layout, ‘out of respect for my profession’. In Hampton Court shared the ideals consequence, the Hampton Court gardens and superintendents up and downthe country, and in parks are remarkable for the extent of surviv- were just as interested in the latest fashions carpet ing fabric from the periods of Henry vi and horticulture. In the 1870s they tried William 111. Indeed, taken as a whole, with its bedding in the Fountain Garden, the in important Victorian additions, the ensemble1s Wilderness was converted to a wild garden unrivalled in Britain and rivals the great the 1900s, a superlative herbaceous border was Baroque gardensof Europe, suchas Versailles, established along the wall in the Fountain Schénbrunn and Herrenhausen. Garden in the 1920s, cherries and other orna- From the 1530s the Royal Court regularly mental trees were planted extensively post- stayed at Hampton Court, but its last visit was war, and ornamentalconifers were established in 1737. After this date the Palace and gardens in the apprentice training groundinthe 1970s. gradually becamethe semi-private preserve of The desire of successive superintendents to a legacy of ‘grace-and-favour’ residents, whilst the house- provide for the public has left keeper and gardener operated a remunerative exceptional horticultural achievement, but also sideline in showing Palace andgardensto suit- one of municipalisation. Seating, bins, mettel- able persons. ing of gravel paths, metal edges, and horse Garden. With the incentive to modernise having rides are to be found in the Fountain been removed,no further radical changes took Dust and dirtrises from the loose gravel paths, place, and successive Royal Gardeners saw no and they are not most convenient for wheel- a restau- need to do more than fulfil their contracts to chairs and buggies. In the Tiltyard, parking, and tennis maintain the place. Meanwhile, a slow decline rant, lavatory blocks, car walled garden com- of the fabric was underway. The Wilderness courts have invaded the on Hampton Court lost its hedges as the infill planting started to partments. Traffic levels Green have led to form a high canopy and the clipping of the Road and Hampton Court topiary was stopped, probably by Capability various traffic improvement measures, urban environment of Brown.In time, the resulting growth changed road furniture and an adverse wasgiven a high- the appearance of the parterres radically, so fumes and noise. Vrow Walk in the 1970s. that the borders were eliminated, and, in the ly urban landscape treatment led to paths Fountain Garden, the hollies were too. Traffic within the outer court on the It was this picturesque and rather decrepit being laid outside the lines of bollards scene which presented itself to EdwardJesse, West Front. display the Office of Woods and Forests’ Itinerant Concentration upon horticultural Deputy Surveyor, who assumed responsibility over the last 160 years has focused attention on the overall for the highly successful improvements of the the plant content, rather than on views. Anearly Hampton Court gardens from the mid 1830s. chara¢ter of the gardensor the Privy Garden Jesse’s initiative proved to be a prelude to the example was the change to the 45 THE LONDON GARDENER orThe Gardener’s Intelligencer Volno.2 For the years 1996-97 in the 1830s, when the planting for privacy The Landscape Strategy counteracted William i11’s intention of open- he need for a strategy for the gardens ing a view of the River Thames. Morerecent- and park at Hampton Court has never ly, planting on the far bank of the canal has been stated, though studies in recent reducedthe importantviewsoutoverthepark. years have paved the way. Thefirst was a com- Overall, the original design intentions have prehensive historical survey, undertaken in been largely forgotten, and views to the River 1982 by Travers Morgan Planning. There were Thames, and over the park, have been further reports in 1988/9 on the management obscured. of the gardens and park, undertaken by Land A considerable number - thousands - of Use Consultants. The urgent need to replant ornamental trees and shrubs have been plant- some of the avenues following the Great ed at Hampton Courtthis century. Planting in Storm in 1987, and the restoration of the Privy the Wilderness, in the park, and along the Garden following the repair of fire damage in Barge Walk has usually been historically inap- the South Wing, have intervened, but, on the propriate.