| Inaugural 2010 Claremont Garden History Lecture Held - 2011 Lecture now being planned |
With the help of many volunteers and the very entertaining and informative Professor Timothy Mowl, the first garden history lecture, held on 5 September 2010, is now on the books and is history itself. More than 60 people attended the lecture. The question and answer session added just the sort of conversation regarding current assumptions and trends in garden history scholarship we were hoping for.
The entire lecture can be found on YouTube.
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Professor Timothy Mowl is featured in this first annual lecture at Claremont Fan Court School. It is available at YouTube in seven parts. The first part is shown above.
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As details of the 2011 Lecture are confirmed they will be shared here
2010 Press Release - Esher, Surrey UKProfessor Timothy Mowl to be speaker at Inaugural Claremont Garden History Lecture Series and Open Day - Sunday, 5 September 2010
Claremont Fan Court School is pleased to announce the inauguration of its Claremont Garden Lecture Series beginning with the opening lecture on Sunday afternoon, 5 September, in the School’s Mansion. Timothy Mowl, author and Professor of Architecture and Designed Landscapes at the University of Bristol, has accepted the invitation to deliver the opening address. This annual lecture series will provide access to the school's portion of Claremont with Brown's picturesque and sweeping park and to provide an historical context for this viewing through Prof. Mowl’s lecture.
The Claremont Garden History Lecture series is being established as a forum for the
discussion and promoting of garden history scholarship. Its goals include the presentation of the latest in academic research as well as the sharing of the private portion of the park and garden with the general public. The long term goal is to increase the public's appreciation of designed landscapes and to better understand their original cultural context.
The Open Day will start at 1 p.m. with the grounds and mansion open to the public.
At 4:30 p.m. Prof. Mowl will present the inaugural lecture, followed by a question and answer session and book signing. Admission will be 10.00 GBP which includes access to the grounds, mansion and lecture.
Professor Timothy Mowl is a popular and prolific author and speaker, well known to both garden history scholars and the public. His ongoing project, "Historic Gardens of England", supported by grants from the Leverhulme Trust, is modeled after Sir Nicolaus Pevsner's "Buildings of England". Upon completion, the nationwide project will present historic landscapes and gardens in separate texts, county by county. Ten books have been published to date. Prof. Mowl is an engaging speaker with a long-standing interest in the cultural context of designed landscapes – the people who designed and lived in what are now considered historic buildings and gardens.
Claremont Fan Court School is situated on grounds originally purchased by Sir John Vanbrugh for his own house and then developed by him for Thomas Pelham-Holles, the Duke of
Newcastle. The Duke of Newcastle used Claremont as one of his principle residences from
1769 to 1774. He expanded the extent of the park and developed it extensively with Charles
Bridgeman and William Kent. It was subsequently reshaped by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for Clive of India. During the 19th c. Claremont was the home of Princess Charlotte, Prince Leopold and Princess Victoria before she became Queen. Claremont remained a royal residence during most of the 19th c. as a favorite of Queen Victoria's. A portion of the original garden has been open to the public and owned by the National Trust since 1949 but the portion owned by the school has only occasionally been open to the public. Having a Grade 1 listed landscape that exhibits the successive work of Vanbrugh, Bridgeman, Kent and Brown is a resource that students of garden history, cultural geography and, in Claremont's case, British
royal history will find endlessly fascinating and informative.
For more information please contact Kim Stapff, Claremont Fan Court School at
01372 - 473625 or kstapff@claremont.surrey.sch.uk
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The GreenHistory Concept
Have
you strolled through a garden, delighted with the experience, but
wanting to know more about the people who made the garden, designed it,
lived in it when it was new and were part of the history of the garden's
special time and place? Gardens are very carefully designed
interactions between man and nature and reflect the age in which they
were originally made. They are historic artifacts which may not display
as well on shelves or in museums as the clothing, pottery, books,
clothing, armor and swords their owners left behind, but they can tell
us much about their time.
GreenHistory is a program devoted to establishing a vibrant and far
reaching discussion of garden history. To do that we will use as many
tools as come to hand and will engage the garden history community,
landscape architects, architects, urban designers and all interested in
culture, history, music, art and the sciences to find the best path for
the purpose. The Claremont Fan Court School's Annual Garden History Lecture is the foundation from which more ideas on how this discussion can be built.
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