Thames Landscape Strategy News
Spring 2005
AT the end of 2004 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £1,778,000
to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as the final stage of lottery
funding for London's Arcadia project.
|
The view of the Thames from Richmond Hill featured on
the cover of Issue 8 of London Landscapes. |
The grant will cover half of the costs of restoring the stretch of
riverside between Richmond Lock and Twickenham - the view seen from from
Richmond Hill. Work includes restoration and regeneration of public spaces
including the Twickenham and Richmond riverside promenades, maintenance of
local wildlife habitats and improved public access along the river and
foreshore.
Jason Debney, co-ordinator of the Thames Landscape Strategy. commented:
"Three years' hard work has paid off and we can now start to carry
out the works on the ground that we have all been waiting for. This
announcement allows works to start on Year One projects but, as with all
projects of this type, £1.3m match funding will need to be found if all
the other schemes in Years Two and Three are to be completed. We are all
going to be very busy." |
The works will be carried out over a three-year period to minimise the impact
on the local environment. The first works will take place along Cholrnondeley
Walk in Richmond and will include the removal of broken tree planters. These
will be replaced by areas of grass and the planting of trees to compensate for
those lost to disease in recent years. Work will then move along to Twickenham
riverside.
ONE of the most exciting restoration projects has been the clearance, at the
end of 2004, of an avenue of trees leading from the Surrey bank of the Thames
opposite Radnor Gardens in Twickenham across Ham lands and up to Richmond Hill.
This has renewed the "lost" vista to the Star and Garter Home on the
top of Richmond Hill. This view can now been seen from across the Thames in
Radnor Gardens in Twickenham. (Radnor Gardens is the small public park alongside
the site of Pope's villa and grotto in Twickenham.)
The Star and Garter first began life as a restaurant and hotel, and in the
19th century it was a favourite fashionable destination for London society. It
became the home for disabled servicemen in World War 1 and was rebuilt as the
now familiar red-brick icon in 1924.
The TLS document states: "Radnor Gardens are set on a particularly
significant spot. Not only does the park provide one of the only windows from
the built-up Middlesex banks onto the river, it also acts as the focal point for
the Ham House Avenue, visually linking Richmond Hill with Twickenham.
The Park's war memorial [in the form of a bronze cast of a waving soldier]
was originally placed there to be seen at the end of the Avenue by the disabled
soldiers and sailors in the Star and Garter Home on the Hill.
MEANWHILE out in South West London another Jubilee Gardens is also getting a
face lift - Jubilee Gardens off Mortlake High Street. This will include the
demolition of two large brick seating areas, design of native and wild habitat
schemes and the doctoring of trees to ensure their long-term health. The
improvements are being funded by the Thames Strategy Kew to Chelsea project.
Previous news of the Thames Landscape Strategy in
2003