Accessing the Archives - William Andrews Nesfield

This five-part online series is presented in partnership with the Garden Museum, to celebrate the Museum’s acquisition of the archives of the eminent landscape designer William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881). The extensive papers were previously held by the designer’s descendants in Australia.

A former soldier and skilled watercolourist, Nesfield was the first to describe himself as a landscape architect. He designed over 250 sites, characterised by formal, Italianate parterres, grand fountains and intricate statuary near the house, with more naturalistic landscapes beyond. By 1840 the gardening journalist JC Loudon was praising his painterly landscape designs as so successful ‘that his opinion is now sought out by gentlemen of taste in every part of the country.’ With changing fashions, his popularity fell away - but the acquisition of his archives gives us chance to consider again the artistry of his style and the significance of his designs.

Four talks, rich with archive material, will explore some of Nesfield’s most important commissions across the country. The series will conclude with a roundtable discussion reconsidering Nesfield, and how his archives can help us dig deeper into his importance and relevance today.

Image: Items from the Nesfield Archives (clockwise from left): Nesfield drawing of the Perseus and Andromeda fountain at Witley Court (detail); Nesfield plan of the parterre at Hillingdon Court, Middx (detail); pencil sketch of Nesfield by James Duffield Harding c.1840; Nesfield watercolour of Brancepeth Castle and St Brendon’s Church, ©Archive of Garden Design at the Garden Museum

…..

This ticket costs £35 for the entire course of 5 sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £8 via the links below. [Gardens Trust members £26.25 or £6 each]

Ticket sales close 4 hours before the first talk

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link, please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

Please scroll down below the links to see the full details of each talk.

…..

Week 1. 16 September: The Nesfield Gardens at Regent’s Park, London. First in this series of 5 online lectures, £8 each or all 5 for £35 (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25)

Week 2. 23 September: Revisiting William Andrews Nesfield at Castle Howard: A 21st-century perspective. Second in this series of 5 online lectures, £8 each or all 5 for £35 (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25)

Week 3. 30 September: The Rise, Fall and Revival of Nesfield's 'Monster Work' at Witley Court in Worcestershire. Third in this series of 5 online lectures, £8 each or all 5 for £35 (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25)

Week 4. 7 October: A Tricky Commission: the RHS Kensington Garden. Fourth in this series of 5 online lectures, £8 each or all 5 for £35 (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25)

Week 5. 14 October: Round Table: Reconsidering Nesfield. Last in this series of 5 online lectures, £8 each or all 5 for £35 (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25)

…..

Week 1. 16 September: The Nesfield Gardens at Regent’s Park, London, with Richard Flenley

This talk will explore both the creation of the Avenue Gardens at Regent’s Park (1863-65), still sometimes known as the Nesfield Gardens, and their restoration, undertaken by the Royal Parks in 1993-96.

William Andrews Nesfield laid out the formal Avenue Gardens in the south-east corner of Regent’s Park in 1863-64, within the broader John Nash landscape of the park. He worked in conjunction with two of his sons - William Eden who, as architect, designed a gardener’s lodge on the edge of the gardens, and Arthur Markham, who prepared the planting plans and implementation of the works. Within a few years the design was hailed as ‘among the most popular and attractive gardens in the public parks of the metropolis… tastefully embellished with flowers and ornamental-leaved plants.’ Of all the London parks, it was ‘the great show-place for flowers.’

Following a period of drift and decline, the Royal Parks commissioned Land Use Consultants in the mid-1990s to research and prepare designs for the restoration of the Avenue Gardens, based closely on Nesfield’s original plan of 1863.

Richard Flenley was a Principal and later Chair of Land Use Consultants [LUC] from 1970 until formal retirement in 2011. He led a wide range of planning and design projects including as an advisor to the Royal Parks. Since nominal retirement, he has focused mainly on voluntary work including trusteeships at Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing, 2014-18; the Quadrangle at Shoreham, Kent, 2007-19; and at Kelmarsh Hall, Northants, where he was also Chair of trustees up to July 2023. He is currently a Board Member of the Royal Parks Guild and an advisor on the Gardens Committee for the Crown Estate Paving Commission.

Image: Restoration Plan for the Avenue Gardens at Regent’s Park, 1993, by LUC for the Royal Parks, based on William Andrews Nesfield’s original plan of 1863, courtesy of LUC

…..

Week 2. 23 September: Revisiting William Andrews Nesfield at Castle Howard: A 21st-century perspective, with Christopher Ridgway

This talk will examine the commissions by the 7th Earl of Carlisle for Nesfield to transform the gardens at Castle Howard in the middle of the 19th century. His work included two large fountains, a parterre, and extensions to the south waterways over the course of fifteen years. The copious correspondence in the archives at Castle Howard chronicles these projects, including the disastrous over-run in costs, and the technical challenges for supplying the fountains. Acclaimed in its day, Nesfield’s garden at Castle Howard remains one of his most successful commissions, notwithstanding the alterations in subsequent years. The talk will also draw from Nesfield’s papers formerly in a private family archive and now in the collection of the Garden Museum and assess the present state of knowledge about this major landscape designer of Victorian England.

Christopher Ridgway has been curator at Castle Howard since 1985, and has published widely on its architecture, landscapes and collections, including several essays on Nesfield. He is chair of the Yorkshire Country House Partnership, and adjunct professor in the history department at Maynooth University. His book, ‘Castle Howard, A Grand Tour of England’s Finest Country House’ will be published in November 2025.

Image: Nesfield’s parterre at Castle Howard, c.1870, courtesy of Castle Howard archives

…..

Week 3. 30 September: The Rise, Fall and Revival of Nesfield's 'Monster Work' at Witley Court in Worcestershire, with John Watkins

This talk will chart the creation of Nesfield's grand parterres at Witley Court in the 1850s for William Ward, later Earl of Dudley, and their subsequent long period of decline following the sale of the property, a devastating fire and the systematic dismantling of the estate. In 1984 Witley Court came under the guardianship of English Heritage, who buried the remaining parterre to deter further removals. Following local campaigns, the grand Perseus and Andromeda fountain was restored in 2002 with an HLF grant, which also purchased land reuniting the formal and informal parts of the landscape. The lecture will detail further research and reconstructions that have revealed Nesfield’s intentions.

John Watkins led the Gardens and Landscape Team in English Heritage for 27 years, retiring in July 2025. He is a professional horticulturist with some 47 years’ experience, awarded the RHS Associate of Honour in 2016. As well as Witley Court, John has led high-profile restoration projects at Chiswick House and Gardens, Down House, Eltham Palace, Wrest Park, Kenilworth Castle, Boscobel House, Audley End Kitchen Garden and Mount Grace Priory. In April 2025 he was appointed as Chair of the Gardens Trust.

Image: William Nesfield, The South Garden at Witley Court (detail), c.1857, from the Nesfield Archives, ©Archive of Garden Design at the Garden Museum

…..

Week 4. 7 October: A Tricky Commission: the RHS Kensington Garden, with Fiona Davison

This talk, illustrated with plans, drawings and photographs from the RHS Lindley Library will look at the challenges William Andrews Nesfield faced when commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society to design its new garden at the heart of the ‘Albertopolis’ cultural quarter in Kensington. The talk will look at the conflicting agendas and personalities of the many people Nesfield had to work with and the factors influencing the design and planting choices eventually settled on. Although the garden was only in existence for forty years, it had far-reaching consequences for Nesfield, the RHS and horticulture generally.

Fiona Davison has been Head of Libraries and Exhibitions at the RHS since 2012. Prior to that she worked in museums for more than 20 years, including Hackney Museum and the Museum of London. She has published two books on garden history: Hidden Horticulturists: the working-class gardeners who shaped Britain’s gardens (Atlantic Books, 2019) and An Almost Impossible Thing: pioneer women gardeners (Little Toller, 2023). She regularly gives talks on garden history at the Lindley Library and external venues.

Image: William Nesfield, End of Canal – Terra Cotta Columns with Festoons of Creepers, sketch for the Kensington Garden, March 1861, courtesy RHS Lindley Collections

…..

Week 5. 14 October: Round Table: Reconsidering Nesfield

The series concludes with a round table discussion. This will draw together some of the themes and trends that have emerged from the series, highlight and debate further Nesfield designs, and share ideas for using the archives to re-examine Nesfield’s style, his significance during his lifetime and his legacy today.

Participants will include Ben Dark, author, head gardener, award-winning broadcaster and landscape historian, who gave the keynote talk at the Garden Museum’s launch of the Nesfield archives; Advolly Richmond, plant, garden and social historian, who has studied Nesfield’s designs at Alton Towers; Christina Hourigan, whose doctoral research includes examining Nesfield’s work at Kew; Rob Hillman, archivist at the Garden Museum; and some of the speakers from the earlier sessions in the series.

If you are involved in any way with individual Nesfield commissions (for instance as researcher, guide, gardener or volunteer), we’d be delighted if you’d join this session and share information about your site.

Image: A collage of items from the Nesfield Archives. ©Archive of Garden Design at the Garden Museum

…..