Mark Laird is Senior Lecturer in the History of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University and the foremost authority on John Evelyn. He has recently written to the Mayor of London from Harvard Design School with respect to the Convoys Wharf application and in support of the proposals from Sayes Court Garden CIC:
"It is impossible to overstate the significance of Sayes Court and the history of John Evelyn's life and work at the site that is under threat of irreversible development. Over the past twenty years, I have written three scholarly articles on Evelyn at Sayes Court. My forthcoming book, A Natural History of English Gardening (Yales University Press, Spring 2015) will open with a chapter on his significance as horticultural and technological innovator and as environmental policy maker. His Fumifugium (1661), Sylva (1664) and Acetaria (1699) laid the groundwork for a sustainable London of the 21st century – clear air, tree canopy, and food in the city.
"The Greater London Authority has shown leadership through policy documents (from London Biodiversity Action Plan and East London Green Grid Plan to the March 2012 report, London World Heritage Sites – Guidance on Settings). These documents are in line with the new UNESCO Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape (HUL, November 2011), which seeks to integrate 'policies and practices of conservation in the built environment into the wider goals of urban development'. In the Foreword to the March 2012 GLA document, Boris Johnson reiterates the importance of London's built and natural heritage in benefiting 'our economy, culture and quality of life'. Sayes Court is the test case for his claim: 'How we manage this dynamic juxtaposition in ways that respect the past, while welcoming the future, will be a mark of our success in maintaining London as a really world class city'.
"The arguments in the 'Sayes Court Garden Programme and Analysis' report (February 2014) – and especially the modifications to P16 proposed in the 26 February 2014 statement – are built on very solid foundations. As you are aware, the Sayes Court Garden website features my own reconstructions of Evelyns's parterre and grove, which, until the better winter of 1683/4, lay immediately adjacent to his manor house. The archeaological site plan of Stuart Structures may look insignificant, yet the trace of the garden wall on the west side of the important vestiges of the manor house and the trace of the dockyard perimeter wall on the east side are absolutely critical to what I have reconstructed. The proposed P16 block would forever destroy and cover over these traces and vestiges and obliterate the core of Sayes Court – the manor house that was the intellectual home of Evelyn's environmental vision.
"Creating, by the modifications to P16, a new Centre for Urban Horticulture on the archaeological site of the manor house is precisely the accommodation of the old within the new that the Mayor sees as a measure of success and that UNESCO would deem a model for Historic Urban Landscape. The Centre would join other models of 'best practice' from around the world. Using the Evelyn cabinet of curiosity as a starting point for a modular and flexible layout of the garden spaces would unify the geometries of the blocks with the geometries of urban horticulture and forestry, mediciinal gardening, beekeeping and fruit growning, and greening technologies. The opportunity for local communities to benefit from learning about health and nutrition with environmental education at the primary school level makes Evelyn's teachings relevant now and for the future.
"The Royal Horticultural Society and the National Trust have both identified an acute skills shortage in areas that Evelyn would have understood when writing his Directions for the Gardiner at Says-Court in the mid-1680s. A Centre for Urban Horticulture, while training a new generation of local youth as skilled gardeners, could also become a centre of excellence in the fields of landscape urbanism and ecosystems performance. It could advance natural and cultural heritage studies in cooperation with the World Monuments Fund, English Heritage, National Trust, the Council for British Archaeology and the Garden History Society. In this vision for the Centre, the four pillars of sustainable development identified in the UNESCO statements on HUL – economy, ecology, community and cultural resources – are integrated in an appropriately holistic way: [HUL] seeks to increase the sustainability of planning and design interventions by taking into account the existing built [and natural] environment, intangible heritage, cultural diversity, socio-economic and environmental factors along with local community values'.
"The international community of scholars and practitioners is watching the debate over Convoys Wharf and Sayes Court with great interest and some anxiety. Will the GLA's guidance in the debate feature positively in textbooks to come as it has in the past in books devoted to biodiversity and climate-change planning? I, for one, am putting my faith in the Mayor and the GLA to reach the only right decision."
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Saturday, 15 June 2013
Restored cannon on show at Twinkle Park summer festival
Kids and parents alike were fascinated by the restored Saker cannon on show at the Twinkle Park festival last weekend, right next to the Convoys Wharf site.
The cannon was brought to the festival by the Lenox Project as a way of raising awareness about the project and also giving local people a chance to find out about the Convoys Wharf redevelopment proposals and talk about the impact it will have on them.
The cannon, which is has been identified as a 'short' naval Saker of English manufacture, was believed to have been cast some time between 1620 and 1630, some 40 years before the Lenox was launched from Deptford Dockyard.
It was in a sorry state when it was first discovered by a scrap merchant clearing a riverside site in south east London, and has been lovingly restored by Lenox Project founder Julian Kingston.
Julian cleaned the corrosion off the shaft, removed the oversize cannon ball which was jammed into the end, and replaced the trunnions and button with replica pieces turned in wrought iron.
The replica wooden carriage was built using the dimensions of an original carriage in Windsor Castle, which carries a 'long' saker cannon; Julian built the carriage out of elm and used traditional smithing crafts to forge and shape the wrought iron rings and other components.
Kids were fascinated by the cannon and the story of its restoration, and it proved a talking point for visitors as well as a popular photo opportunity!
The Lenox Project is planning to take the cannon out to schools and youth groups to continue raising awareness. If you would like to know more, please contact info@buildthelenox.org
The cannon was brought to the festival by the Lenox Project as a way of raising awareness about the project and also giving local people a chance to find out about the Convoys Wharf redevelopment proposals and talk about the impact it will have on them.
The cannon, which is has been identified as a 'short' naval Saker of English manufacture, was believed to have been cast some time between 1620 and 1630, some 40 years before the Lenox was launched from Deptford Dockyard.
It was in a sorry state when it was first discovered by a scrap merchant clearing a riverside site in south east London, and has been lovingly restored by Lenox Project founder Julian Kingston.
Julian cleaned the corrosion off the shaft, removed the oversize cannon ball which was jammed into the end, and replaced the trunnions and button with replica pieces turned in wrought iron.
The replica wooden carriage was built using the dimensions of an original carriage in Windsor Castle, which carries a 'long' saker cannon; Julian built the carriage out of elm and used traditional smithing crafts to forge and shape the wrought iron rings and other components.
Kids were fascinated by the cannon and the story of its restoration, and it proved a talking point for visitors as well as a popular photo opportunity!
The Lenox Project is planning to take the cannon out to schools and youth groups to continue raising awareness. If you would like to know more, please contact info@buildthelenox.org
Monday, 19 November 2012
Sayes Court Garden Schools Workshop
Thursday 22 November 2012, 1.30-4.30pm
Sayes Court Park, Deptford SE8 3LN
The Sayes Court Garden project and Outdoor Children are excited to annouce the commencement of the first of their workshops engaging children in the fantastic Sayes Court Garden Project.
On Thursday, 22nd November, children and teachers from Grinling Gibbons Primary School and Sir Francis Drake Primary School will visit Sayes Court Park to participate in an afternoon of educational workshops designed to engage and stimulate whilst most importantly of all – having fun!
"Exploring, wondering, clambering, rummaging – there is so much for children to enjoy in our outdoor heritage, be it park, garden, countryside or urban scene. So why do we instead too often rely on a soulless prescription of plastic equipment, well-meant fact sheets and gift shop bribes?" LINDEN GROVES, OUTDOOR CHILDREN
John Evelyn’s garden at Sayes Court was one of the most famous and revolutionary gardens of its time. This was the site of not only his innovative designs and experiments, but also where he wrote his many forward-thinking texts on horticulture including Sylva, Fumifugium and the copious notes for his master work, the Elysium Britannicum.
Evelyn’s many visitors included his friends Samuel Pepys and Christopher Wren and even King Charles II himself. Towards the end of his life the house and gardens were let, and subsequently trashed(!) by Czar Peter the Great of Russia, who reportedly rode on a wheelbarrow through John Evelyn’s prize Holly Hedge, causing many hundreds of pounds worth of damage.
John Evelyn was constantly inquiring and ingenious, fascinated by the world in which he lived. We think he is a brilliant role model for children facing the exciting challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
Outdoor Children – Children in the Historic Environment
"We need to stop using Health & Safety, budgets and asset protection as an excuse. Let’s shake our youngest stakeholders by the hand, engage our child visitors in our landscapes, and empower them to … enjoy!” LINDEN GROVES, OUTDOOR CHILDREN
Outdoor Children is managed by Linden Groves, a qualified landscape historian and mum-of-three with a determination to give the historic outdoors a small place in every child’s heart. Having worked for over a decade as a mainstream landscape historian, dealing with conservation issues and writing books, Linden’s experiences visiting parks and gardens with children have given her a passion for engaging the young with their outdoor environment.
Sayes Court Garden CIC
The Sayes Court Garden Community Interest Company’s aspiration is to create a public garden and research centre on the site of John Evelyn’s 17th Century garden in Deptford, SE London.
Sayes Court Garden fell into sad neglect shortly after Evelyn’s death in 1706, and through the vicissitudes of fate has come down to us today as a corner of the parcel of Convoys Wharf, where the current owners, Hutchison Whampoa, intend to build directly where the most innovative and influential parts of the garden lay.
Sayes Court Garden CIC is founded on the belief that this crucial piece of our national heritage is not only a once-beautiful historic garden, but also has a vital role to play in the success of the new development for the community at large.
Alongside their work with Outdoor Children on a series of fun but educational workshops for local primary school children, they will be seeking funding to roll out into a package of online resources, ongoing workshops, and celebratory events for the younger generation.
www.sayescourtgarden.org.uk
www.outdoorchildren.co.uk
Sayes Court Park, Deptford SE8 3LN
The Sayes Court Garden project and Outdoor Children are excited to annouce the commencement of the first of their workshops engaging children in the fantastic Sayes Court Garden Project.
On Thursday, 22nd November, children and teachers from Grinling Gibbons Primary School and Sir Francis Drake Primary School will visit Sayes Court Park to participate in an afternoon of educational workshops designed to engage and stimulate whilst most importantly of all – having fun!
"Exploring, wondering, clambering, rummaging – there is so much for children to enjoy in our outdoor heritage, be it park, garden, countryside or urban scene. So why do we instead too often rely on a soulless prescription of plastic equipment, well-meant fact sheets and gift shop bribes?" LINDEN GROVES, OUTDOOR CHILDREN
John Evelyn’s garden at Sayes Court was one of the most famous and revolutionary gardens of its time. This was the site of not only his innovative designs and experiments, but also where he wrote his many forward-thinking texts on horticulture including Sylva, Fumifugium and the copious notes for his master work, the Elysium Britannicum.
Evelyn’s many visitors included his friends Samuel Pepys and Christopher Wren and even King Charles II himself. Towards the end of his life the house and gardens were let, and subsequently trashed(!) by Czar Peter the Great of Russia, who reportedly rode on a wheelbarrow through John Evelyn’s prize Holly Hedge, causing many hundreds of pounds worth of damage.
John Evelyn was constantly inquiring and ingenious, fascinated by the world in which he lived. We think he is a brilliant role model for children facing the exciting challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
"We need to stop using Health & Safety, budgets and asset protection as an excuse. Let’s shake our youngest stakeholders by the hand, engage our child visitors in our landscapes, and empower them to … enjoy!” LINDEN GROVES, OUTDOOR CHILDREN
Outdoor Children is managed by Linden Groves, a qualified landscape historian and mum-of-three with a determination to give the historic outdoors a small place in every child’s heart. Having worked for over a decade as a mainstream landscape historian, dealing with conservation issues and writing books, Linden’s experiences visiting parks and gardens with children have given her a passion for engaging the young with their outdoor environment.
Sayes Court Garden CIC
The Sayes Court Garden Community Interest Company’s aspiration is to create a public garden and research centre on the site of John Evelyn’s 17th Century garden in Deptford, SE London.
Sayes Court Garden fell into sad neglect shortly after Evelyn’s death in 1706, and through the vicissitudes of fate has come down to us today as a corner of the parcel of Convoys Wharf, where the current owners, Hutchison Whampoa, intend to build directly where the most innovative and influential parts of the garden lay.
Sayes Court Garden CIC is founded on the belief that this crucial piece of our national heritage is not only a once-beautiful historic garden, but also has a vital role to play in the success of the new development for the community at large.
Alongside their work with Outdoor Children on a series of fun but educational workshops for local primary school children, they will be seeking funding to roll out into a package of online resources, ongoing workshops, and celebratory events for the younger generation.
www.sayescourtgarden.org.ukwww.outdoorchildren.co.uk
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