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We at Kent Gardens Trust need volunteers who are interested in gardens, horticulture, social and cultural  history, local history or archaeology to get involved and help support our work.

Tunbridge Wells Historic Gardens Project

We recently completed the Tunbridge Wells Historic Gardens Project to update records of parks and gardens in the borough.In 1992-6 a comprehensive register of parks and gardens in Kent (The Kent Gardens Compendium) was produced by KCC in conjunction with Kent Gardens Trust. This included parks and gardens of historic importance as well as those smaller gardens which were mainly of horticultural or amenity value. The survey of Historic Parks and Gardens in particular has been of great help to the planning authorities in Kent by identifying significant sites which should if possible be protected. The information it contains is in the process of being included in the National Parks and Gardens Database which is a joint project (funded by the Lottery) of the Association of Gardens Trusts and York University.

More than ten years on, the Compendium needed to be looked at again in order to

• Identify any additional sites which should be included
• Update entries in the light of recent research
• Check the maps and information given for accuracy and
• Review the condition of  sites and update the information in the Compendium

Tunbridge Wells District Council obtained funding to carry out a review of the historic sites within its area and  Kent Gardens Trust was involved in the project which we hope will be replicated in due course in other parts of the county.

Volunteers undertook much of the initial research, using maps, pictures and other records and their work was used by a professional garden historian to produce a comprehensive report and to update the information about public access and bibliographical references.

an interesting and thorough training was provided in techniques of historical research and recording and volunteers also benefitted from having their work supervised by experienced garden historians. Garden history involves many different areas of interest including social and cultural history, archaeology and horticulture.

The initial project was limited to the Tunbridge Wells District, but the Trust is confident that other local authorities will carry out similar reviews in future. Kent Gardens Trust now hascreate a group of trained volunteers throughout the county who will be able to research and record historic parks and gardens in their areas and provide advice to planning authorities with the aim of protecting our garden heritage for future generations.

The Trust would like to enrol more volunteers who are interested in researching gardens and anyone who would like to get involved should contact us.

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