Thursday 29^th May 2008

Kensington Roof Gardens

NEW AVENUES TO EXPLORE AND CELEBRATE-

Parks & Gardens UK – Garden Heritage Online

The Association of Gardens Trusts congratulates Parks & Gardens UK on the launch today of their groundbreaking website, www.parksandgardens.ac.uk - a new and exciting treasure trove of information that focuses on the historic parks and gardens of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands - a major milestone in conserving the nation’s garden heritage.

1965 Foundation of the Garden History Society

1983 English Heritage, the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England.

1984 English Heritage begin to publish county registers of gardens and parks of historic interest in England. The first membership county gardens trust founded.

1988 English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens completed initially featuring 1085 gardens of national importance.

1992 The Association of Gardens Trusts (AGT) founded to represent the member county gardens trusts (CGTs).

2008 Every county in England and Wales with a county gardens trust.

29 May 2008 Parks & Gardens UK website launch at Kensington Roof Gardens, a one and a half acre garden conceived by Trevor Bowen, Vice-President of Barkers, 100ft above street level and laid out by Ralph Hancock, a landscape architect, 1936-8. Speakers include garden designer/ TV presenter Chris Beardshaw, John Julius Norwich, patron Parks & Gardens UK and Gilly Drummond OBE, AGT President and patron Parks & Gardens UK.

Matching funding for the Heritage Lottery Fund Grant of just under £1million for the development of the website was provided by volunteer hours from county gardens trusts from all over the country. These research groups identify and record significant parks and gardens in their counties and are being trained to upload information on to the website. Their support and commitment to researching, collating and supplying information in the public domain on gardens, parks and landscapes, including designers, landscape architects, nurserymen, and plant collectors, was essential to the initiation of the project and will continue to underpin the sustained growth and development of Parks & Gardens UK, which is supported by Parks and Gardens Data Services, a not for profit company. There will be, by the end of March 2009, nearly 7000 records and multiple educational resources on the website - easily accessible to all – at the touch of a button

Knowing so often leads to caring.

Some 43 years since the Garden History Society’s pioneering conservation began, the Parks & Gardens UK website will offer a growing, potentially endless store of “garden tales” to delight and intrigue. Faster, easier access to information will also help to identify those parks and gardens of regional and local importance, some of which may be at risk, and not necessarily on the national English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens or the CADW Register of Landscapes, Parks and Gardens or the Historic Scotland Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes.

GillY Drummond OBE, President AGT and Nick Bennett, Chairman AGT

Gilly Drummond, patron of Parks & Gardens UK and President of the AGT, says: "If we explore every avenue of designed landscape and then, if the opportunity arises and circumstances permit, do something positive with the information, we will add to the narrative of the country’s garden and landscape assets. As the database develops, I hope that county trust volunteers will look closely at the historic interest and quality of their suburbs. Our leafy suburbs, where 8 out of 10 people in England live, are most at risk, particularly from infilling on gardens.

Just two recent examples of the need for the Parks & Gardens UK website: - firstly, the West Midlands Spatial Strategy requires Herefordshire to have 16.600 housing units and Worcestershire to have 56,000 housing units. Herefordshire already has ‘Historic Herefordshire Online’ containing the complete survey of historic parks and gardens undertaken by the Hereford and Worcestershire Gardens Trust. Worcestershire hopes to update their existing survey, district by district, digitalising and expanding their records. There is little time as the developers’ helicopters are already circling over every green space, park and garden or green field site.With sound information available on the web not only to planners but to local communities, those that are the most significant and valued by local people will have a better chance of surviving.

People do care passionately about their patch!

Secondly, The Devon Gardens Trust, who have just celebrated their 20^th Anniversary – have found at Coombe Royal, near Kingsbridge, a rare and unusual, purpose- built citrus fruit wall, thought to be the first in the country. The great stone, Tudor type arches provide recesses for the fruit trees, for ‘Lemon, Bergamot, Citron, Seville Orange, Shaddock, Lime and Mandarin’. Shaddock? No, it is not a cross between a shad and a haddock – the RHS dictionary simply says Citrus maxima or Pummelo, Polynesia, 1722. How did it get here, who brought it and when? Fascinating. Can we get these trees growing again at Coombe Royal? If anyone can, Devon will, by helping to set up a Friends Group.

The Association of Gardens Trusts is proud to be a partner in Parks & Gardens UK. Easy, online access and volunteer involvement in the County Gardens Trusts will encourage and stimulate enjoyment and interest in historic landscapes at local, national and international level.