What’s on

Marble Hill Archaeology has been taking place on site as part of the Marble Hill Revived’s discovery and investigation of the site. Judith Dobie, lead illustrator for the Marble Hill archaeology as part of Historic England.

William and Jane Hogarth took on a second home in the country in 1749. The house stood in the corner of a mixed orchard which had been enclosed within a high brick wall in the 1670s. It had been built between 1713 and 1717 and the Hogarths immediately extended it by an additional room on each of its three floors. The family was to retain a connection with the property until 1808. Research into the history of the site has supported the lottery-funded Mulberry Garden Project now nearing completion. A handsome learning studio has been built beside the House. Hogarth’s serpentine ‘Line of Beauty’ has influenced both the architecture and the planting. The plot has become an innovative “exhibition garden” with planting and features telling its whole story, to be recounted in this talk.

Val Bott, Chairman of the William Hogarth Trust (WHT) gives a 20 minute talk via Zoom, with a Q&A to follow.

Events organised as part of the Thames Luminaries Virtual Lecture series by Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

In 1807 J.M.W. Turner acquired two plots of land in Sand Pit Close on the Twickenham side of the Thames, a short walk from Richmond Bridge. He would build his little villa, to his own designs, on the larger plot, overlooking a steeply sloping garden with a very large pond, and some evidence for the way it was laid out can be found in his sketchbooks. The house and once-large garden stood alone then, on the fringes of two grand estates, and provided a peaceful retreat from the busy hum of the London art world.

Catherine Parry-Wingfield an art historian and former trustee of Turner’s House Trust, gives a 20 minute talk via Zoom, with a Q&A to follow.

Events organised as part of the Thames Luminaries Virtual Lecture series by Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The English Landscape tradition has been described as our greatest contribution to the arts and the early eighteenth century was pivotal in the evolution of the English garden and many of our current perceptions of landscape stem from eighteenth-century theory and practice.

Alexander Pope was the principal literary genius of his day and the leading poet of his generation. He was considered something of a pioneer in the landscape movement with his Guardian essay of 1713 playing a critical role in the transition from emblematic to expressive garden design. His influence was critical, advocating ‘the simplicity of the ancients’ encapsulated in his poetic line to: ‘Consult the Genius of the Place in all,’ he was fundamental in establishing the new national style that came to be known as ‘English Garden Style’ which we will explore through his own garden at Twickenham and other gardens he influenced.

Dr Marion Harney, Director of Studies and Director of Teaching at the University of Bath, gives a 20 minute talk via Zoom, with a Q&A to follow.

Events organised as part of the Thames Luminaries Virtual Lecture series by Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Considered one of Britain’s greatest influences on European art and architecture, the English Landscape Movement has influenced gardens across the globe from Blenheim Palace to Central Park in New York. Developed by William Kent, along with his mentor and friend Lord Burlington, the English Landscape Movement broke down the rigid formality of the early 18th century garden to create something quite new: a natural landscape, developed to complement the neo-Palladian villa at its centre. Today, the House and Gardens exist in harmony, each enhancing each other’s beauty. This talk will explore the origins of movement, and how the landscape we see at Chiswick today came to be.

As Head of Gardens and Landscape, John Watkins leads the English Heritage Garden and Landscape team in their work with historians, landscape architects, botanists and ecologists to tell the stories of the landscapes EH cares for. He gives a 20 minute talk via Zoom, with a Q&A to follow.

Events organised as part of the Thames Luminaries Virtual Lecture series by Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

In the early 18th century, ideas about garden design were changing fast. Using 18th century plans and archives we will explore the garden at Marble Hill which included grottoes, groves, wildernesses and a ninepin bowling alley! Henrietta Howard’s friendship with Alexander Pope, Lord Bathurst, Lord Peterborough and Lord Ilay, meant that her garden at Marble Hill was influenced by some of the most fashionable garden enthusiasts of the time. This talk will explore how the garden was created, who might have influenced its design and how Howard would have enjoyed using it.

Emily Parker is a Landscape Advisor at English Heritage. She gives a 20 minute talk via Zoom, with a Q&A to follow.

Events organised as part of the Thames Luminaries Virtual Lecture series by Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Strawberry Hill is “an open grove through which you see a field which is bounded by a serpentine wood of all kind of trees and flowering shrubs and flowers.” Although the former water meadows of Strawberry Hill that separated the gardens from the Thames have now been developed, the core of the gardens remains intact. The development of the gardens and landscaping of the grounds started at Strawberry Hill when Horace Walpole acquired the property in 1747 and continued until his death in 1797. Further additions to the gardens were made during the 19th century, most notably during the occupation by Lady Waldegrave, but it is Walpole’s intervention that provides the greatest significance and interest. Explore the 18th Century Garden through this lecture, taking in the ‘goose-foot’ trio of avenues to the famous veteran trees of Strawberry Hill to find the ‘gaiety in nature’ that Walpole describes at Strawberry Hill and that is still present today.

Henrietta Gentilli has been both a city and country gardener for 40 years and is trained and practising as a garden designer for the last 16 years.

A 20 minute talk via Zoom, with a Q&A to follow.

Events organised as part of the Thames Luminaries Virtual Lecture series by Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Boston Manor Park is the surviving part of a larger estate which existed in Brentford from the 12th century to the 1920s. It was a priory farm in the 13th century, supporting St Helen’s Priory in the City of London and had later associations with Sir Thomas Gresham, Lady Mary Reade and the Clitherow family. Today it is a public open space and the setting for the 17th century Boston Manor House and both still retain features from their long history. Our talk will focus on the planned Lottery-funded renovation of the Park and the challenges of preserving and adapting its historic landscape.

David Stockdale and Sion Thaysen gives a 20 minute talk via Zoom, with a Q&A to follow.

Events organised as part of the Thames Luminaries Virtual Lecture series by Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The gardens and grounds of Orleans House were ceremoniously transformed and reconfigured by each occupant of the 18th century house. As the estate expanded down to the river and up towards Richmond Road, the gardens saw orchards, grottos, ice houses, formal planting and wild woodland. During this talk, Blue Badge London tour guide Minna Andersen will take us through the notable features of the ever changing gardens, from their initial landscaping by James Johnston to the woodland grounds you can walk through today.

Minna Andersen, a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide, gives a 20 minute talk via Zoom, with a Q&A to follow.

Events organised as part of the Thames Luminaries Virtual Lecture series by Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Ham House Garden is part restoration and part re-creation of a c17th landscape, designed with house and garden in harmony, created to impress. This illustrated talk will consider how the garden has evolved to offer the contemporary visitor beauty and relevance while still retaining the original ideas and intentions of its creators.

Join us as we discuss the archaeology that has taken place at Marble Hill to explore the historic landscape. Find out more from archaeologist, Thomas Cromwell, in a fascinating lecture on Zoom.

Thomas Cromwell is an archaeologist from the Archaeology Projects team at Historic England with an interest in historic gardens and buildings, and is the lead archaeologist investigating the site for the Marble Hill Revived project.  He has been involved in excavations exploring Marble Hill’s history in 2017 and 2020.