Yorkshire's Designed Landscapes - the Role of Early Yorkshire Nurseries

Previous series presented by Yorkshire Gardens Trust in association with the Gardens Trust have largely focussed on the great estates of the county. This series, presented by specialists in their fields, explores a variety of other types of designed landscapes through thought-provoking and meaningful presentations.

This ticket is for this individual session and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for the other individual session via the link below, or you may purchase a ticket for all sessions at a cost of £28 via the link here. [Gardens Trust and Yorkshire Gardens Trust Members may purchase tickets at £21 for the series or £6 each talk].

Ticket sales close 4 hours before the talk.

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

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Week 1. 17 September: The role of town memorials: collective memory, counter-memory, and forgetting in Barnsley. First of 4 online talks £8 each or all 4 for £28 (Gardens Trust and Yorkshire Gardens Trust Members £6 or £21)

Week 2. 24 September: Gale Common Artificial Hill of Fly Ash – a new landscape feature. Second of 4 online talks £8 each or all 4 for £28 (Gardens Trust and Yorkshire Gardens Trust Members £6 or £21)

Week 3. 1 October: 'One of the first that brought our northern gentry into the method of planting and raising all kinds of forest trees, for use and ornament’: the role of early Yorkshire nurseries in northern plantations. Third of 4 online talks £8 each or all 4 for £28 (Gardens Trust and Yorkshire Gardens Trust Members £6 or £21)

Week 4. 8 October: Bolton Abbey: A Picturesque Landscape Garden. Last of 4 online talks £8 each or all 4 for £28 (Gardens Trust and Yorkshire Gardens Trust Members £6 or £21)

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Week 3. 1 October: 'One of the first that brought our northern gentry into the method of planting and raising all kinds of forest trees, for use and ornament’: the role of early Yorkshire nurseries in northern plantations with Gillian Parker

Garden history often assumes that landowners looked to London for their horticultural needs until the early 19th century. This presentation shows that this was not necessarily the case and that Yorkshire nurseries transformed landscapes from the late 17th to early 19th centuries by fulfilling orders for and planting thousands of trees that, in places, are still evident on the ground.

Archival evidence about large Yorkshire nurseries, garden histories researched by Yorkshire Gardens Trust members, and contemporary maps demonstrate how nurseries contributed to the radical reworking of northern estates. Modern maps and satellite images show the plantation footprints that still exist, evidencing the lasting impact of the nurseries and the landowners who bought from them and the economic interdependence of early nurseries, enclosure and plantations.

Since retiring from a career in social policy research, Gillian Parker has been studying garden and landscape history. She completed a PGDip in Garden and Landscape History in 2020 (Institute of Historical Research, University of London). Between 2021 and 2024 she was a part-time PGR student in the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield, supervised by Dr Jan Woudstra, and is continuing in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, supervised by Professor Jonathan Finch. Her research explores the social, economic and horticultural history of the Backhouse Nursery of York. She is a Trustee of the Yorkshire Gardens Trust, a member of its Research and Recording group and a volunteer at the George Dillistone Garden – Goddards - in York.

Image: Nathan Drake (c.1728-1778), The New Terrace Walk, York, 1756, York Museums Trust, Public Domain, via ArtUK

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