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Research

Do you value London’s green spaces? Would you like to help us discover the fascinating history behind them? By doing this, you could be helping to protect them for the future.

London Parks and Gardens (LPG) seeks to champion, cultivate knowledge about and celebrate London’s parks, gardens and open green spaces.

Bridgehouse Meadows, one of the sites researched as part of Lewisham: London Borough of Culture
Photo: Rosanna Cavallo

Who we are and what we do

Our LPG Research Group is a friendly, lively group of volunteers who research the history of green spaces – large and small – across London and use their findings to contribute to the trust’s aims in various ways, either directly or indirectly, including:

  • adding to the Inventory of Historic Green Spaces – currently containing over 2,500 parks, gardens, squares, churchyards, cemeteries and other green spaces of historic interest across London. The information in the Inventory is a key resource for our Planning Group who respond to planning applications deemed to adversely impact green spaces.
  • writing articles for publication in our members’ magazine, London Landscapes; our ‘serious but not academic’ annual publication: The London Gardener; or other relevant journal.
  • giving a talk as part of our annual programme of lectures.
  • leading a walk around an historic green space, or spaces.

Our group currently meets every three months in central London to share progress on research, receive training and share good practice and information. We also organise occasional visits to archives or places of significance to researchers.

What you can do

Whether you are an experienced researcher, have attended a course and would like to put theory into practice, or would like to learn how to research a garden’s history, this is the group for you. Plenty of support is available and you are free to choose which gardens you research and how much time you commit. All we ask is that any research findings can be used to support LPG’s work. Research volunteers can work individually, join up with others or work in collaboration towards a common theme.

Our Projects

Themes the Group is currently working on include:

The contribution of migration to London’s parks and gardens

(New themes are currently under discussion)

Past themes have focused on research related to:

The group published this book to mark the bicentenary of Repton’s Death
Further details

To join the Group or find out more, please email office@londongardenstrust.org

Research Focus

A series of articles have appeared in London Landscapes focussing on recent research:

Sharing Repton

The Sharing Repton project was one of five national pilots funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund. LPG worked in collaboration with English Heritage, The Gardens Trust, and three refugee groups to engage new audiences in the care and celebration of parks and gardens. This project took place in two parts, firstly at Kenwood House and then in Russell Square. This film shows part of the project that took place in Russell Square in May 2019. We created the film to show some of the potential benefits that derive from supporting the trust, whether through membership, donations, buying tickets to London Open Gardens or other fund-raising events.