LPGT News

Reproduced from London Landscapes - Summer 2007

Park Bench

News from around London*s Parks, Gardens and Squares

Hampstead Heath Adds Back the Land that Got Away

THE first new land to be added to Hampstead Heath in more than 60 years has been officially opened to the public.

A hectare of land near Athlone House, a former NHS care home, was handed over to the Heath's owners, the City of London Corporation, by Brooking Properties Ltd, a developer building luxury homes at the Athlone House site.

Maintenance

As well as giving the land, Brooking Properties additionally made a one-off payment of £50,000 for ongoing maintenance. The addition will provide an important buffer between the Athlone House development and the adjacent Kenwood.

The land was originally part of the 1860 mock-Elizabethan mansion's garden but had once briefly been part of the Heath. The plot was sold off in the 1930s by the LCC to fund the purchase of other land around Kenwood.

When Athlone House and grounds were sold in turn by Kensington & Chelsea Hospital NHS Trust in 2003, the purchasers, Dwyer Investments Ltd, submitted a detailed planning application to Camden Council. During the statutory planning consultation, the City of London Corporation objected to various issues in the application. The City and the Athlone House Working Party, together with Camden, then negotiated with Dwyers for changes to the application.

As a result, the transfer of the hectare of unencumbered, freehold land was agreed.

Harry Undisturbed

The transferred land will not include the area currently occupied by Harry Hallowes, who has lived in a makeshift shed on part of the land for the last 18 years. The City and developers Dwyers had an existing agreement with, Mr Hallowes that he would be permitted to remain on his pocket of land, undisturbed, for as long as he wanted to be there. While this agreement continues, Mr Hallowes has subsequently been awarded title to his land.

The new Heath extension represents a personal triumph for Highgate GP Dr Chris Hindley. When Dr Hindley, a founder member of the Highgate Society, heard through NHS contacts that the nursing home was marked for closure, he launched a campaign to return the lost garden to the Heath. Dr Hindley was present at the official opening ceremony in June to see his idea come to fruition.

Heath Superintendent Simon Lee said he believed the Heath could grow even bigger in coming years.  He added: "The Heath has expanded in the past, and that process is not necessarily finished. There are potentially other slices that could be made part of the Heath."

Postscript

Planning permission was originally given for new development in the grounds of Athlone House that retained the existing house and views. Subsequently Athlone House has been sold separately from the grounds to a new owner, who wishes to demolish and replace it.

Sloane Square Crossroads Plan Scotched

PUBLIC opposition has caused the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) to scrap its plans to build a crossroads through Sloane Square (see LL, Spring 2007).

More than 65 per cent of the 6,800 people who took part in a consultation about the plans said they opposed the RBKC plans.

Atkins Plan Boosted

The results of the consultation are still being analysed but it could push an alternative design by architecture practice Atkins to the forefront.

This design was commissioned earlier this year after a group of residents and businesses formed the Save Sloane Square pressure group. The Atkins plan renovates the existing Square.

Head of Atkins' London-based urban design and public realm team Matthew Tribe said: "While we don't know what the [council's] announcement will mean for the future of Sloane Square, we are pleased that our alternative vision has stimulated interest and debate among the local community.

"Our scheme was developed with two clear purposes in mind - to make Sloane Square a place that people enjoy visiting and to provide a focal gateway to Chelsea and the Kings Road area."

Mandela Statue In Parliament Square

A 9-foot bronze statue of South African statesman Nelson Mandela, now 88, marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa, is to be erected in Parliament Square.

The statue will be funded by the Mandela Statue Fund and constructed from a clay model made by the sculptor lan Waiters, who died last year. Mr Mandela sat for Mr Waiters for nine hours in 2001.

Westminster Council has granted permission for the statue to be erected in Parliament Square later this year. 

Parkies Back in Westminster

PARK-KEEPERS are set to make a comeback in Westminster after the City Council backed plans to reintroduce them across the borough in a bid to deter petty crime and anti-social behaviour in their parks. A total of 38 park keepers will patrol the 54 main parks in Westminster.

Councillor Alan Bradley, Cabinet Member for Street Environment said: "The new dedicated security park wardens, will help reduce residents' concerns. Westminster Council is taking the lead to ensure that safety and security does not just begin and end at the park gates."

* A live-in park keeper was installed at Carlisle Park, Hampton. LB Richmond, in the spring after complaints from local residents about the threatening behaviour of groups of youths congregating there.  This culminated in a horrific bottle attack on a teenager in the park last summer.

Bloomsbury Squares Reopen

GORDON and Woburn Squares, in Bloomsbury, were reopened to the public this spring at an official opening by The Princess Royal.

Woburn Square

Entrance to the renovated Woburn Square

The squares had been closed for a year during renovation work costing £1.46m..

New Garden at Tate Modern

A new Community Garden, occupying a narrow strip of land between Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre, has been developed by the Tate in partnership with Bankside Open Spaces Trust. A steering group of local residents contributed to the design process.

The garden is aimed primarily at those who live in Bankside and do not have much outdoor space of their own.

Pigeons Turfed Off as Trafalgar Square Goes Green

IT may have looked like a trick photo, but it was real enough. Nelson's Column looked down on a sea of green for two days in May after London's tourist board pulled off the ultimate 'guerrilla gardening' stunt, laying down 2,000 square metres of turf overnight around the city's famous landmark.

Visit London decided to green up Trafalgar Square to promote the capital's many 'villages', the local neighbourhoods to which many tourists never venture.

Visitors to the square were able to sit in specially laid-out deckchairs, enjoy a picnic, or take part in a Tai Chi class.

Chief executive of Visit London, James Bidwell, said: "From the rural feel of areas like Bexley Village and Wimbledon, to urban villages like Marylebone and even Canary Wharf, the campaign will help everyone discover Village London."

A new section on Visit London's website at www.visitlondon.com/villages will be dedicated to London's villages.

The 40 tonnes of turf was supplied by grass specialists Lindum Seeded Turf Ltd, based in Thorganby in the Vale of York. It was laid overnight in one-metre strips and watered down with a fire hose.

Stephen Fell, Managing Director of Lindum, said: "It was really exciting to be involved in a project like this. The whole mood of the square changed by covering it with grass and it encouraged people to stop, sit and picnic, much as they would in a London park. It really highlighted the contribution that grass can make in transforming urban spaces, even if it was only on a temporary basis on this occasion."

This is the second time Lindum has supplied turf for Trafalgar Square, having rolled out a temporary tennis court last year for top tennis stars, Tim Henman and Boris Becker to play on.

48 hours later the turf was relaid in Bishop's Park in Fulharn - see next story.

SW6's 'Margate Sands' Return

BISHOP'S Park, Fulham, has slumped into disrepair in recent years despite its Grade ll-listed status. Now the park is poised for a ambitious £4m upgrade.

The restoration plans from LDA Design include putting back an historic 'urban beach', known in Edwardian days as 'Margate Sands'. It was once a popular feature with local children.

Project leader Sally Prothero said: "It has historical value and unique character. We are looking to restore what was once an urban beach next to an ornamental pool."

A Heritage Lottery Fund bid is due in September.

Society Wants Coleridge Statue In Highgate

THE Highgate Society is campaigning to put up a statue to the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) in Pond Square.

Coleridge lived for 20 years in two Highgate homes, one of which overlooked the square. Coleridge, known as the Sage of Highgate, is famous for works like The Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan.

The plan has been backed by the Friends of Coleridge, who said they could help raise funds.

Terrapins Facing Heath Expulsion

SPECIALLY designed traps have been placed in three Hampstead Heath ponds to catch terrapins.

Terrapins are a continuing problem for parks managers across London. They can do as much damage to fish stocks as herons and are very aggressive. There may be as many as 150 red-eared terrapins living in the ponds on Hampstead Heath, dumped there by their owners after they outgrew their tanks. The terrapin is not native to Hampstead and eats newts, toads, fish, even ducklings.

Once caught, the terrapins will be flown to Italy where they have been offered new homes by a reptile charity.

Fiona Digs In at Chiswick House

FIONA Crumley has been appointed as the new head gardener at Chiswick House Gardens.

Janie Burford, a trustee and member of the interview board, said: 'We are very excited to welcome Fiona on board.

"It's the first time in many years that we have had such an experienced and enthusiastic horticulturist on site. Her early priority is to work closely with the contractors and Goosefoot Volunteers to improve the presentation of the park and gardens.

"Fiona will play a crucial role within the team driving forward the renaissance of Chiswick House Gardens."

Chiswick House Gardens

Before joining Chiswick House Gardens Fiona Crumley had 14 years' experience working at the Chelsea Physic Garden, three years at the privately-owned Newby Hall garden in North Yorkshire, and a one year placement with London Borough of Enfield Parks Department. 

Water Towers May Rise Again

BRUNEL'S water towers at Crystal Palace will be rebuilt if a remarkable plan combining old and new goes ahead.

The original towers, which were 280 feet tall, were designed by Brunel and completed in 1855 to feed the fountains in the parkland surrounding Joseph Paxton's vast glass conservatory.

The conservatory itself, with nearly 1m square feet of glass, was quickly dubbed the Crystal Palace when it first opened in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

After it closed, it was rebuilt on an even larger scale on Sydenham Hill in southeast London. The tanks at the top of the towers could hold 1,200 tons of water and visitors to the Palace were able to admire 11,788 jets of water flowing at 120,000 gallons a minute.

When the original glasshouse caught fire in 1936, it had to be destroyed. The water towers survived and were only removed in WWII to prevent them being used as a landmark by the German air force.

The latest plans, developed by Latz & Partners with local planners and backed by the London Development Agency, involve planting trees around the footprint of the former palace and reinstating the original entrance and main walkways.

Roger Frith, who is leading the project for the LDA, commented that reconstruction of both towers might be difficult as one is so close to the BBC mast on the hill.

Glasshouses in the Sky

A Lambeth housing development is to include the UK's highest glasshouses, almost 150m above a new public park at ground level.

The £200m housing scheme includes a skyscraper with a modern twist. Trees beneath a box-like atrium will crown the bronze and white stone-clad tower at Doon Street, Lambeth. At street level, 144m below the roof gardens, trees, grass, paving and parasols will front the development. Some 330 flats, rising to around 40 storeys, will surround a courtyard in front of the public park.

Architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands are also handling the landscape. Construction is due to start in 2010.

'Evergreen'

SALLY Williams writes to say that 'Evergreen', the artificial tree on the cover of London Landscapes (Spring 2007) is a work by David Batchelor.

LL 15, showing 'Evergreen'

It was commissioned for More London Development and installed in 2003 in More London Place, SE1, as part of the programme of public art curated by Andrea Schlieker, which also included works by artists Fiona Banner and Stephan Balkenhol.

The work was funded by More London Development Ltd, Pool of London Partnership and Arts & Business New Partners, and it was fabricated by Mike Smith Studio. 

AA Course Lost

Twenty years ago Ted Fawcett founded, at the Architectural Association School in Bedford Square, the post-graduate diploma course in the conservation of historic parks and gardens.

Not to underestimate the importance of the founding of the Garden History Society or of English Heritage, Ted's course and the Heritage Lottery Fund have been the two greatest influences for good in the garden history world. The National Lottery has provided the wherewithal for the reinvigoration of countless public parks and gardens but the AA trained a generation of practical doers and helped put in place a network of skilled and knowledgeable professionals.

Hazelle Jackson writes: "I was lucky and privileged to be among the first of Ted's students and it is tragic that the AA course has been discontinued and that there is no longer a practically based garden conservation course held in London."

Olympic Questions

Mention of the Lottery leads to thoughts of 2012, tawdry logos and diminishing funding for public parks and good causes generally. The 1968 Munich Olympics, though overshadowed by violence, did leave a lasting legacy in the form of the Olympiapark, a fine modern landscape that survives as an adornment of an attractive city with a large number of good public parks.

Much of the publicity for 2012 has been negative - the country has not forgotten or forgiven the extravagant folly of the Millennium Dome - and to date the headlines have been about misleading and escalating costs, displaced travellers and dispossessed allotment holders rather than exemplary and sustainable design and the knitting back together of a damaged and fragmented landscape.

Five years hence will Channel tunnel (and maybe by then Crossrail) passengers bound joyfully down from their trains at Stratford or will they shudder at the vain glory of it all and rush on, travelling hopefully to more rewarding destinations?

 

CHRIS SUMNER, the Trust's fourth chairman, reviews his first months in office

Sumner's Summer Summary

I think I must be just about the oldest new boy on the block. I retired from my job with English Heritage at the end of March and took over the chairmanship of the Trust in May this year but have been around since the Trust's inception in May 1994, since when there have been three women in the chair.

Chairman Chris Sumner talks to Canon Jane Hedges at the Trust's garden party in June, held in College Garden, Westminster Abbey 

Claire Sharrock was our first chairman, albeit for only a brief time. Then came Pamela Paterson, who gave the Trust its present form, overseeing the establishment of Duck Island Cottage as our picturesque and prestigious headquarters.

And then Barbara Simms, who consolidated the Trust's activities and introduced a more formal framework of groups to promote and manage an increasing number of events and publications.

Barbara supervised the publication of the Trust's Inventory and added to its educational role by commissioning the London Parks Discovery Project (www.parkexplorer.org.uk) and by encouraging the publication of London Landscapes, under Hazelle Jackson's inspired editorship.

The Trust and I are indebted to my predecessor and I wish especially to thank and congratulate Barbara for all that she has done over the last six years. My brief time as chairman, but long acquaintance with the Trust, have made me realise how much time and hard work our volunteers and consultants put in and I send my thanks to all of you, not least to my vice-chair, Liz Goodfellow.

Annual General Meeting

This year's AGM was held at the Bridge House, Tower Bridge Road, on 16th May and was a well-attended and convivial event, preceded by a guided tour of Red Cross Gardens, Little Dorrit Park and St. George's Churchyard, Borough High Street with the Project Manager, Verena McCaig; and a walk along part of the Jubilee Walkway, from London Bridge past the Mayor of London's City Hall to the newly laid-out Potters Fields, led by Joyce Bellamy.

Joyce is a founding member of the Trust. She is Secretary of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association and has been associated with the Jubilee Trust Committee since at least 1977.

Red Cross Gardens were originally laid out in 1887 as a communal garden associated with model cottages and a community hall designed for Octavia Hill. The garden was largely asphalted over in the twentieth century but has been charmingly and successfully restored and replanted with the help of Heritage Lottery Fund and other grant aid. The LPGT gave funding for two years towards its upkeep.

The loss of public and private gardens under tarmac for car parking or "ease of management" damages the appearance and amenities of towns and suburbs and increases both the dangers of flooding and the harmful effects of drought. It was thus heartening to see at Red Cross Gardens, the reintroduction of flower beds, gravel and a decorative wild-life pond. The loss of gardens to help cope with the perceived need for additional housing in London and other cities is politically highly charged. It is, sadly, much easier to turn an attractive environment into an ugly one than to accomplish the opposite - Red Cross Gardens are a rare and very expensive bucking of the trend but it is perfectly possible to achieve a high density of development and a high-quality environment by following eighteenth and nineteenth century precedent and pooling the available development land for communal use.

Open Garden Squares Weekend

South Kensington is one of the richest and most attractive areas of London but it also has the highest density of residential development of any area in the country, achieved by building medium height terraces, generally or five or six storeys, around large communal gardens.

The earlier terraces faced onto garden squares which were part of the public civic domain. Nineteenth-century terraces, as often as not, concealed communal garden at the back, but in all cases large secure gardens were formed that depended for their enduring success upon three factors:

Which, of course, leads on to Open Garden Squares Weekend, held this year on 9th and 10th June and blessed with warm weather dry weather. At the time of writing, it is too soon after the event to be able to report fully, but all the signs are that it was very successful with large numbers of visitors to the 160 participating squares and other gardens.

It is the Trust's highest-profile event and I wish to thank our generous sponsors, consultants, countless volunteers and a loyal and enthusiastic public. Planning and preparation have to start early each year and involve an enormous number of people raising funds, organising, promoting and advertising events, designing and editing the artwork, selling tickets at the gates and providing entertainment and refreshments.

Winter Lectures

The as-ever excellent series of Winter Lectures finished in April with Sarah Couch's perceptive and sympathetic talk on E.A. Bowles and his garden at Myddelton House. This also marked our farewell to the Georgian Group's elegant offices. A greatly increased hire charge for 6 Fitzroy Square rules out the future use of the building by the LPGT and the 2007/8 Winter Lectures, again organised by Katy Myers, will be held at the Museum of Garden History.

Summer Visits

We are now into the summer walks and visits season, organised by John Goodier. I can vouch personally for the excellence of the visit to the United States Ambassador's house and gardens at Winfield Lodge, Regent's Park.

The LPGT party was received by the head gardener Stephen Crisp, who has created a most lovely garden of 12 acres of undulating grass, wood and flowers around the 1930s mansion built for the Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton

Osterley Study Day

Osterley Park, a great sixteenth-century house rebuilt in neo-classical style by Robert Adarn and now owned by the National Trust, is less well known than it deserves.

The theme of the study day held the on 7th June was 'The Architect and the Gardener'. Ted Fawcett spoke on the recent history of the estate and his own involvement with the restoration of the gardens in the 1980s, and Richard Wheeler, NT Parks and Gardens Curator, spoke on 'Robert Adam and the Design of the Osterley Pleasure Grounds'.

The park and gardens were redesigned in the later eighteenth century to show off the remodelled house to best effect and Richard speculated authoritatively about Adam's likely responsibility for designing the string of lakes and encircling tree and shrub planting that replaced the earlier fish ponds and formal avenues.

Other speakers addressed the subjects of the American Garden, the Flower Garden and the planting of the Long Shrubbery. The talks were followed by a series of conducted walks around the grounds, which have been transformed over the past 20 or so years.


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