Welcome to the Birkbeck Garden History Group web site. The group is interested in studying garden history through lectures, garden visits and exhibitions and in encouraging others to become interested in the subject of garden history. Click on the links along the top of the page to find out more about the BGHG and our activities. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of this page on the right to receive alerts when new items are posted.
Viewing Repton Revealed at London’s Garden Museum (24 October – 3 February 2019)
As mentioned in our October post, there is a unique opportunity to view 24 of Humphry Repton’s trademark ‘Red Books’ at the Garden Museum’s latest exhibition Repton Revealed.
A taster of what to expect can be viewed here in a short film in which Jeremy Irons voices Humphry Repton’s own words.
One of the highlights of the BGHG year is the Annual Lecture held every November. Unlike our visits programme, Lectures and Study Days are open to the general public and we welcome anyone interested in the history of gardens and landscapes.
This year our Lecturer will be writer and poet, Tamsin Treverton Jones
Photo:Robin Webster / Storm damage, 1987
For full details of the event and how to book BGHG annual lecture 2018 flyer
Visit our Garden History Lectures & Talks page for details of ‘Drawings and Imagination: How Designers Promote to Clients’ being held at The Garden Museum on 20 November 2018
The Enchanted Garden opens 20 October at the William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, London, E17 4PP
Open Tuesdays – Sundays 10.00 -17.00 Free admission.
This new exhibition explores how contemporaries of William Morris, a key figure in the development of domestic garden design, and subsequent generations of artists, have been inspired by gardens, including Morris’s own gardens at Red House and Kelmscott Manor.
For further information visit http://www.wmgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions-43/the-enchanted-garden
25 October – Visit to Rousham including lecture and garden tour (members & friends only)
27 November – Annual Lecture: Tamsin Treverton-Jones will give a lecture based on her book Windblown: Landscape, Legacy and Loss – The Great Storm of 1987. (Public event – booking details will be available here soon).
16 March 2019 – BGHG Annual Study Day. (Public event – full details will be available in the Near Year)
Details of a conference, exhibition and film showing at The Garden Museum, a Folly Fellowship Symposium taking place at Lydiard Park, and a Walk on Hampstead Heath have been added to our Outside Events page.
New lectures offered by The London Parks & Gardens Trust, The Garden Museum, and Gardens Trust have been added to our Garden History Talks & Lectures page. Please note that the Gardens Trust Winter Lecture Series this winter starts in December and continues until April 2019.
Two new books due to be published this month, plus a new version of an established classic have been added to our Publications page
Three courses have been added to our respective Gardens History Studies pages.
Beyond Brown’s Landscapes at RHS Lindley Library at Longer Garden History Courses
A Study Day on Water in Motion and a 1-day course on Plant Hunters That Transformed our Gardens at Garden History Short Courses
Six new books – all published today (6 September) – on a wide range of garden topics have been added to our Publications page. Ranging from Britain’s island gardens to gardens in war-torn landscapes, and from very personal modern gardens to the gardens of Oxford Colleges, Charleston’s glories and transatlantic influences, four are totally new publications whilst those on Oxford College gardens and Charleston are new format or ‘refreshed’ editions of earlier publications.
Gardens Trust weekly Garden History blog. The URL for this blog has been updated on our Links page
The Georgian Group
Visit Garden History Lectures and Talks for details of the Georgian Group’s lecture All Around is Fairy Ground: Repton & the Regency Garden which will take place on Thursday, 6 September 2018.
Registration opens at 10.00am on Monday, 20 August for the Paul Mellon Public Lecture Series on The Artist and The Garden. The course will take place on Thursday evenings from 27 September – 25 October 2018 from 18.30 -20.30 at the Paul Mellon Centre.
Attendance is open to all and free to attend but enrolment is required.
Further details, including the programme, can be found on our Lectures and Talks page.
