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CHAPTERFIFfBEN

The Conservation of English Landscape of the National Trust.

John Sales

Great Britain enjoys the greatest con- responsible private owner is the best centration and the most diverse collec- custodian of private gardens (and al- tion of bistoric gardens and landscape ways the best makers ofgardens). parks of any country in the world. At The National Trust has powers and fIrSt by accident, later by design, the responsibilities in the ownership of its National Trust bas corne to own an properties that are unique in the world. important cross section ofthern; indeed Its power to declare property inalien- the most varied collection and the larg- able rnakes the Trust the most effective est nurnber ever owned by a single preservation body that could be de- independent organisation. Almost one vised; safe generally frorn governrnent third of the United Kingdorn gardens as weIl as private acqusitions and ex- listed by ICOMOS as "of outstanding ploitation. The Trust currently spends international importance" are owned annuaIly more than t 2 1/2 rn on the by the National Trust. upkeep of its gardens, about 14% of The National Trust is primarily a total expenditure. AlI its incorne is raised land-owning cbarity .It owns 650 kilo- privately and the Trust has found it metres (over 400 miles) of coastline possible to keep abreast of the rapidly (about balf the total still unspoilt) and rising costs of recent years only be- nearly 200 ba (balf a million acres) of cause of a comparable increase in in- land of the higbest landscape quality, corne frorn a rapidly rising member- including more than a quarter of the ship, now over 1,000,000. This is one of Englisb Lake District National Park. the greatest voluntary memberships of The Trust owns over 150 important any charity in the world and wonderful country bouses (statelybomes) ând of- encouragement to all who value the ten with thern their estates and their heritage of the past. gardens; some like Stourbead, of the It is one thing to rnake a or to greatest importance. But in recent years design a landscape but quite a different the Trust bas also accepted gardens in mat ter to consider its preservation in their own rigbt, quite independent of perpetuity. This demands the kind of bouse and estate -bence the acquisition long-term approach, spanning succes- of world renowned gardenslike Hidcote, sive generations that was adopted by Bodnant, Nymans, Sissingburst, the land owners who first created them. Knigbtsbayes etc. On the other band the So much has been written about the trust is not acquisitive of bouses and great English landscape designers of gardens and believes that usually the the 18th century -, Brown, Repton ~ 145 John Sales

etc -that the importance of the owners far more difficul1than its conception. Il as innovators and, equally important, involves a discipline and a consistency as enlightened clients who cultivated that in the 2Oth century few families the and turned ideas into reality , and even fewer organisations can sus- tends to be underrated. Only with the tain. On the part of those responsible it consistent care and the critical eye of calls for subtle and sensitive manage- the .ownerswas it possible for the great ment; it calls for acute critical observa- 18th century landscapes,whether de- tion, the ability to anticipate change and signed by professionals or the dilet- constantly to be able to visualise the tantes, to reach the satisfactory matu- future results of today's actions, not rity that we see today. only major matters like the siting of car In practical terms the conservation parks but also all the other detailed of an historic landscape garden de- operations of upkeep and restoration. A mands a clear policy and a management garden is not an object but a process, plan designed with the history of the always developing and decaying. garden, its creators, its associations,its Change is inevitable and the func- locality andits unique qualities in mind. tionof management and their advisers The policy must be conceived prima- should be to direct such changes along ri I y for the preservation of the garden, the lines of a policy that preserves and for its own sake, rather than merely for restores the essential quaIities of the its exploitation as a useful resoufce.On place. In the context of the National the other band it would be fony to Trust it involves the need for rapport ignore economics.lncome derived from between all those involved -manage- new uses, provided that they are com- ment. advisers.committees and not least patible, and from larger numbers of the on whose skill. enthusi- visitors can be the means of survival asm and understanding much depends. and regeneration. While the policy and Only this persona! touch can ensure the the management plan must be flexible appearance of being loved and cher- enough to allow such changes to be ished that distinguishes a true garden absorbed, now and in the future, his- from a mere open spaceor institutional torical and aesthetic consideration playground. should always be paramount. In prac- Some of the greatest gardens ever tice conservation must always be a made were the work of individuals, compromisebetween the historical ideal accomplished in the span of one life- and the modem demandsof visitors and time. More often great gardens are the economics. What is important is that outcome of creative partnership; management should be consistent and sometimes ofhusband and wife, some- based on a belief that the garden win times of architect and artist-plantsman, continue indefinitely in its presentform. most frequently of designer and client. In their time Brown and Repton were Many of these great gardens have been selling not just a radical new fashion successfully preserved as near aspossi- but a system of upkeep, a management ble asthey were made. especially where plan, so wen adjusted to the economics the design is formaI and finite. of the English countryside that it bas With aIl landscapes and gardens. survived for 200 years. especially those of the English land- The application of such a policy is scapekind.a great design. a wonderful

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~ vision, is notenough. lthas to beplanted policy fonnulated which will go some and cultivated, interpreted and nurtured way to integrating the additions while for rnany years, both as it develops and preserving the original concept. then again, if it is to survive, after it has An important part of research lies in rnatured. The rernarkable consistency studying the documentary evidence. For of ownership of rnany houses in Eng- British gardens, including those owned land over the past 200-300 years and by the National Trust, much research absence of serious political upheaval, remains to be done. Contemporary de- invasion or civil war has been particu- scriptions and estate records can be of larly conducive to the long-term needs great value but, to me, plans, pictures, of garo.:n and landscape conservation. drawings and photographs are gener- Hence the survival of so rnany intact ally the most useful, being less de- 18th century landscape gardens, pro- pendent on the interpretation of the tected by a dynasty of the sarne family reader. The drawing of Kip and others of owners. circa 1700 record many of the fonna1 But over this period styles and fash- gardens which preceded those of the ions in have changed as English Landscape style of (he 18th rnuch as in architecture and a vast range century .A few of these layouts have of plants and has been introduced survived almost intact, e.g. Dunhain frornabroad. Many of the greatestBrit- Massey Park. Many were swept aside ish gardens have been overlaid with in the tide of the new tastebutfrequently , later styles and "enriched" with plants as at West Wycomb Park and Wimpole in Tesponseto the tastes, interests, and Hall, avenues and other important fea- the fortunes of successive generations. tures were retained and assimilated into ln some cases unquestionably great the new scheme. gardenshave evolved as a result, while, But the existence of descriptions, in other cases the quality of the out- plans, drawings and engravings does corne is a mat ter of opinion. Always the not ensuretheir accuracy.Kip was c1ever result is interesting. The unique quality in exaggerating the apparent size of a of rnany British gardens lies in the property and sometimesseemed to show sense of continuity that they convey intentions as well as facts. Layout and and the eyidence of change that they planting plans were not necessarily car- exhibit. Where it exists, this quality can ried out precisely as recommended and be more valuable than unsullied purity there was an understandable tendency of design. But the existence of overlays for owners to continue to "improve'. in and additions makes the task of con- their own way once the professional serving suchgardens rnorecomplicated. landscapedesigner was out of sight. On Any valid policy for the conserva- the other hand early Ordnance Survey tion of an historic garden rnust be based maps of the late 1800s and the early upon adequate research, airned not 1900s are valuable records, every fea- rnerely at establishing the original in- ture being marked precisely, including tention but also at finding out what was the trees. actually achieved and added in subse- One ràrely has the luxury of an exact quent generations. Only by unpicking precedent still valid today but this did the various layers of planting and de- occurat West WycombePark. Humphry velopment can each be evaluated and a Repton advised the Dashwood family 1f' 147 in 1805 and as was their right they rary employment programme, the Na- accepted some advice and ignored the tional Trust set up a scbemefor making rest. accurate measured surveys of some of Repton used West Wycombe as an its bistoric parks and gardens and using example in bis book "The Theory and these in conjunction with available Practice ofLandscape " pro- documentary evidence to produce the viding one of his characteristic "before fullest possible bistorical account. and after" drawings to iIlustrate how The team of young university gradu- rouch better the rather smalllake would ates began at Osterley park in Middle- look if the surrounding trees were to be sex, near London Airport. The bouse smaller and the island cleared to give a was given to the National Trust in 1949 view of the house and reflections of the by the present Lord Jersey with most of sky in the water. Over the past seven the inner portion of a once mucb larger years, thanks to natural disasters and park. The bouse and park are leased by consistent policy, it bas been possible the Trust to the Govemment Depart- to restore rouch of what Repton recOffi- ment of the Environment, wbo main- mended. tain the bouse as a museum and the Aerial photographscan be useful if grounds as a public park. The M4 Mo- by design or good luck the ideal condi- torway was built in the early 1960 just tions exist at the time they are taken. AIl to the north of the area owned by the are interesting but perhaps 2-3% of National Trustthrougb partoftheorigi- normal aerial photographs seero to be nal park. Althougb an important Eliza- of real value. Florence Court near bethan bouse and park existed on the EnniskiIlen in Northem Ireland is a late site until the early 18th century , it was 17th century house with an apparentI y the extensive alterations by Robert ordinary late 18th century park. AI- Adam after 1761 first for Sir Francis though it is not owned by the National, Cbild and then for bis brotber Robert, Trust we were asked to advise on the that bas the made tbe property notable. park because it is vitally important to The superb Elizabethan stable block the house. An aerial photograph taken remains largerly unaltered. late on a sunny winter' s day shows No famous landscape designer was marks in the , which has been involved in the park but it was compe- permanent pasture for 300 years. It tently laid out in the Englisb Landscape shows evidence of an earlier formaI style most probably by Mrs. Robert avenue leading to the house, of which Child and ber land steward,a Mr Builce. there is little other evidence. It also It bas been continuously developed shows where trees seero to have been since, eacb new generation bringing rerooved or to have blown down, mak- their own ideas and tbeir enthusiasms. ing it possible to replant according to The survey team not only plotted evidence as weIl as a feeling fQr what andnamed eacb but were able also might be right. to make an estimate of its age, based Much more tieldwork needs to be upon known growth rates of eacb spe- done to check the documentaty evi- cies, modified for this site by reference. dence but the cost of accurate survey to trees ofknown age mentioned in the work of this kind is very high. ln 1979 records. ln this way it waspossible to under a Govemment-tinanced teropo- make maps of surviving trees for eacb 148 of the main periods of developments Hall (n.Wales), and Claremont (Sur- and to compare them with maps discov- rey). Claremont is in the development ered in the archival search; beginning of the important 18th century land- with John Rocque's Survey of London scape garden and a brief account of its 1741-45 when the park was still small restoration provides a positive note on and formal, followed by maps of 1818, which to conclude this paper . 1832, the earliest ordnance Survey of The first house at Claremont was 1865, the O.S. map of 1894-6 and built after 1710 by John Vanburgh, finally the O.S. map ,of 1940. Dy ana- playwrite and architect of Blenheim Iysing the results, graphs and histo- and Castle Howard, first for himself grams can be drawn showing clearly and then for Sir Thomas Pelham-Holles the age distribution of all trees and main subsequently the Earl of Clare 1st Duke periods of planting of each species. of Newcastle. The latter retained Another interesting graph shows the Vanburgh to enlarge the house, build increase in the numberof trees its rapid the Belvedere and begin tolay out the development as an after garden. When he much enlarged the c.1850 and then again after c. 1900. As estate in 1716 the Duke consulted weIl as all this data affecting the formu- Charles Bridgeman and the early lation of a future planting policy, the scheme with its avenues, round pond ebb and flow of the park boundaries and and Arnphi-theatre can be attributed changesin accesscan be traced to build largely to him. Apart from the flrnl up a complete picture. ln more ancient lines of these formaI elements there landscapesevidence of old earthworks, were signs of the new spirit pervading parish boundaries,mediaeval husbandry landscape gardening in the asymmetry and ancient can be found. of the design and its winding walks and The science of "Iandscape archaeol- loose groves of trees. ogy" is still in its ihfancy and there is After Bridgeman, William Kent was enormous scope for such work, partly employed and the survey by John as an historical record and part I y as a Rocque of 1738 shows how Kent sof- basis for making long-term manage- tened the lines of Bridgeman's layout ment plans such as those the Trust has by breaking avenues into clumps and written for Osterley and for Stourhead, by extending the lake and making an where I worked with Kenneth island. He also constructed several Woddbridge. buildings. A survey by Rocque of 1750 For their effective long-term preser- shows a further stagewhen Kent' s work vation aIl gardensmust constantI y be in was largerly complete and the grotto a state of partial restoration. Most gar- had been added. dens of the National Trust are in this ln 1768 afterthedeathofNewcastle, condition, constantI y being restored, Lord Clive bought the estate and he replanted, re-worked and adjusted, lit- employed Lancelot Brown to rebuild tle by little. anticipating and reacting to the bouse on a higber site to the north- change, according to the funds avail- east. Brown' s drawings for the grounds able at the time.Dut occasionally. be- have not survived. Apart from the causeof specialcircumstances, the Trust changes dictated by moving the house, is able to undertake a major restoration his principal contribution was the di- as at Ham House (), Erdding version of the main Portsmouth road ~ 149 JohnSales

away from the lake. He retained and grassed over, the reaction became Bridgeman' s unique Amphitheatre. almost unanimously favourable. After Clive's death in 1774 the es- As an organisation responsible for tate becaIne, for a tragically short time, gardens and landscapes the National until she died in 1817, the home of Trust, like most charities, suffers from Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold the familiar problems of lack of money of Saxe-Coburg and then eventually and staff. But it enjoys the enormous becaIne a holiday home for the Prin- advantage of independence, which al- cess, later Queen Victoria, who passed lows it to take difficult decisions in the it to her younger son the Duke of Albany interests of its properties. Even more for his 1ifetime. ln this century the important are its continuity of purpose grounds had become entirely over and the stability of its commit tees and grown under a shroud of evergreen and its staff. This allows it always to take in the 1930s it was divided, part being the long view, perhaps the most vital of sold for speculativebuilding. The house all approaches to the conservation of with its immediate surrounding:sis oc- landscape gardens. cupied now as a girl's school and in 1949 the National Trust was given the remainder, i e the south-west corner with the lake and the aInphitheatre. For several years maintenance was in the hands of the local authority and little could be done about restoration. But in 1975, thanks to a grant from the Slater Foundation, it was possible to begin the enormous task of repairing the buildings and clearing the accumu- lated growth of many years to reveal and restore the landscape. One oftwo anonymous paintings of about 1740 shows the lake and island with its rusticatedTemple, and the grotto nearby. The extent of the clearance and restoration can be seen from photo- graphs of the saIne area taken before and just after the work. ,

Thanks to a total blanket of shrubs and trees, the aInOunt to which the Amphitheatre had survived could only be guessed.There were many reserva- tions and doubts about their total clear- ance,particularly from local people who had been in the habit ofusing the place as a public open space. But whlen the aInphitheatre began to emerge, and par- ticularly when it was restored to shape 150