Unforgettable Gardens - London Squares

This new series of talks celebrates a diverse range of gardens in London, from historic squares, a public common and cemetery to working community gardens.

This ticket is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions via the links below, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 4 sessions at a cost of £16 via the link here.

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. Please note the slightly earlier time for these talks of 6pm. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

Week 1. May 5. London Squares: Part of a series of 4 online lectures, £5 each or all 4 for £16.

Week 2. May 12. The Wandsworth (un)Common Story: Part of a series of 4 online lectures, £5 each or all 4 for £16.

Week 3. May 19. Brompton - A Garden Cemetery reborn: Part of a series of 4 online lectures, £5 each or all 4 for £16.

Week 4. May 26. Stories from Community Gardens: Part of a series of 4 online lectures, £5 each or all 4 for £16.

Week 1. May 5: London Squares by David Marsh

London’s garden squares are now seen as much needed green oases in the bustling modern city, but this has not always been the case. Once the privileged space of the wealthy residents around them with railings and gates locked against the "rudeness of the populace” many are now open to the public. They have survived changes in taste and style, war and reconstruction and all the vicissitudes of finance and management problems. They have seen their buildings refaced, redeveloped or replaced, while their layout planting, lighting, and railings have often altered. Yet they have retained their spatial integrity. David will trace their history and development and show how despite everything their successful combination of architecture and horticulture makes them one of the defining features of London life.

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David Marsh is a researcher and lecturer. He writes on any and all aspects of garden history and helps organise the garden history seminar at London University’s Institute of Historical Research. He is a trustee of the Gardens Trust and is the inspiration behind the GT Covid lockdown online talks, organising their extensive on-line programme. For the last seven years has also written a weekly garden history blog for them which you can find here.