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History Hub

Exploring Garden History

Discover the people, places, styles and stories that have shaped our historic landscapes. The History Hub brings together resources from across the Gardens Trust to help you explore centuries of garden design, from visionary designers to iconic sites and enduring traditions.

Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon. Claude Lorrain, 1680.

Articles

Garden Historians

National Trust curator Dr Caroline Ikin shares her journey following a Garden History MA

Garden Historians

University lecturer Camilla Allen shares her route into garden history from landscape architecture

Garden Historians

Independent scholar Dr Jill Francis shares her journey into garden history from beginning her career at the BBC
Freelance writer, researcher and lecturer Dr Laura Mayer shares how she ‘fell’ into garden history

Garden Historians

Freelance Historic Landscapes Research Consultant Dr Louise Crawley tells us about her career journey

Garden Historians

Gardens Trust Director Linden Groves shares how she began her career in historic parks and gardens

Periods

With the end of the Wars of the Roses, England under the Tudor monarchs became a more peaceful country than it had been previously. Architecture became less defensive and more outward looking and the rich further developed their gardens.

Topics

What has a 16th century Italian architect got to do with 18th century English gardens? How did the Grand Tour indirectly influence garden design features?

Topics

We easily forget how life-changing some gardening inventions can be. One of those is undoubtedly the watering can. So who invented the watering can? And when?

Places

Inspired by the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition of 1910, Lord Egerton decided to install his own Japanese Garden at Tatton Park.

People / Places

Brown started work at Wimpole in 1767 and was one of more than 250 of his countrywide commissions.

People / Places

Take a walk around the landscape altered and de-formalised by Capability Brown in the 18th Century.

People / Places

Invited in 1779 to redesign the college gardens of Cambridge University, Brown envisaged uniting them into a single park. Unfortunately his grand plan was never realised but they can still be explored today.

People / Places

Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown bought the Manor of Fenstanton and Hilton in 1767 which can be explored in this 2 mile walk by Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust.

Topics

Take our family friendly activity sheets to your local park or garden to uncover its history and be inspired to create your own historic garden