All lectures are from 7 to 8 pm on a Monday
evening. Doors open 6.30pm.
Join us for a glass of wine (included in the ticket price), interesting
conversation and a browse on our bookstall before and after the lecture.
Lectures are held at the Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB.
Nearest station: Lambeth North (820m)
Nearest buses: 3, 77, 344, 507, C10. Street map
Monday 12 October - The Development of the Royal Parks in London in the Early Nineteenth Century
Dana Arnold
During this period royal parks were created, transformed or modified in accordance with the principle 'the country in the city'. Professor Arnold, author of Rural Urbanism: London Landscapes in the Early Nineteenth Century (2005), will guide us through them.
The Crystal Palace Masterplan is the subject of the lecture on 9th November
Monday 9 November - The Masterplan for Crystal Palace Park
Sarah Couch with Latz and Partners
Crystal Palace Park, the Sydenham site of Paxton's great building, has been the subject of development plans ever since fire destroyed the Palace in 1936. Sarah Couch and the architects Latz and Partners have been involved in drawing up the most recent masterplan, and will talk about the interpretation of the site's exceptional significance in the genesis of the design. »
Article on Crystal Palace
Monday 14 December - The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association: Past, Present and Future
Joyce Bellamy
In 1882, in response to the lack of open space in the capital, the MPGA was founded to preserve and improve what was available, thus becoming a vital agent in the provision of congenial places for rest and recreation as well as play and sport. In large and small ways it continues to perform this function, not least through Joyce Bellamy herself as its Secretary.
Monday 11 January - The South London Botanical Institute: the First Hundred Years
Roy Vickery
In the century since its foundation in 1910 by civil servant, ornithologist and botanist Allan Octavian Hume, the SLBI has thrived but not essentially changed. At its home in Tulse Hill are a small botanic garden, a herbarium, a library and lecture rooms, providing valuable facilities for the institute's members, who have included many distinguished botanists. Roy Vickery is the SLBI's Chairman.
Monday 8 February - Gordon Cullen and London's Townscape
Alan Powers
In his influential study Townscape (1961) Gordon Cullen applied precepts derived from picturesque landscape theory to modern urban design, expounding them through engaging drawings. A number of his proposals were related to London, though few were carried out.
Monday 8 March - Valentines Mansion and Gardens - a Restored Window into the Past
Nigel Burch
Described as 'Ilford's last surviving mansion of significance', Valentines has a garden dating in its essentials from the 1720s. It includes a canal and pond, grottoes and cascades, two walled gardens, an alcove seat, a mid-Victorian rosary and a dovecote. At the end of the nineteenth century part of the land was acquired for the public and in 1912 the Mansion and Gardens were bought by Ilford Borough Council to complete the present park. Nigel Burch directed the recent restoration.
» Article on Valentines Park
Monday 12 April - Loddiges of Hackney, 1771-1852
David Solman
In 1771 Joachim Conrad Loddiges took over the Mare Street nursery of his fellow German, John Busch. Known as 'the Hackney Botanic Nursery Garden', in the 1820s it became the pre-eminent nursery in London, its collections outshining Kew's, and went on to supply the major gardens of Britain and Europe. David Solman's 1995 history is the first to be published.
