{"id":200,"date":"2021-10-16T21:01:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-16T21:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/?p=200"},"modified":"2021-10-16T21:06:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-16T21:06:00","slug":"christ-church-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/?p=200","title":{"rendered":"Christ Church Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\nFollowing\nsomething of an 18-month Covid-induced moratorium, it feels so good\nto be back visiting gardens again and meeting the countless\nhorticultural folk who help create and maintain London\u2019s green\nspaces. London, who I often consider one of my closest relatives,\nhas been eerily quiet since last Spring. The few visits I did make\nduring lockdown gaps felt very strange indeed. Anyway, the way I see\nit, and perhaps the healthiest way I\u2019ve decided to see it, is that\nLondon had a rest for a few months. A much needed rest. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well,\nlet us only look forward, and once again turn towards what we care\nabout most, the green lungs of London, the floral oases, the parks\nand gardens of London. Again, let\u2019s celebrate them, rest and relax\nin them, find fun, laughter and enjoyment in them! The call to nature\nis in our very DNA, and no matter what\u2019s going on in this crazy\nworld of ours, for me at least, there\u2019s always plants and gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today,\nI find myself visiting Christ Church Garden in Blackfriars, now\nmanaged by BOST (Bankside Open Spaces Trust), an environmental\ncharity based near London Bridge, who do incredible work, with\nlimited resources, managing and protecting the many parks and gardens\nbased in and around SE1. BOST were indeed worthy recipients of the\nMPGA\u2019s very own London Spade Award back in 2015. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nwith a history dating back some 400 years, my time and attention will\nhave to scurry past such \u2018recent\u2019 events as the Romanesque church\nthat was completed in 1741 and subsequently destroyed in the blitz\nbombings of 1941. Apparently, a burning cross fell from the church\nthat night and scorched the very ground it landed upon, the position\nof which is now marked by a stone cross. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Also,\njust yards from that cross stands a grade 2 listed fountain, a gift\nfrom the philanthropist John Passmore Edwards, erected by the MPGA in\nOctober 1900. The church of 1741 was in fact the second church to be\nbuilt on that site, the first (built in 1671) slowly sank into its\nown boggy ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following\nfurther, and severe, Second World War damage, a new church was\ncompleted in 1959, and although the church itself is worthy of my\nattention (large sequences of stained glass, a sculpture by Ian\nWalters and further glassworks by Frederik Cole) my interest, of\ncourse, lies in the garden itself. The churchyard was closed to\nburials in 1856, and in 1900 the MPGA converted it and laid it out as\na public garden. It was designed by Fanny Wilkinson, the first\nprofessional female garden designer, who was responsible for the\ndesign and layout of over 75 public gardens across London. A ceremony\nheld at the site on the 16th<\/sup>\nJune 1900 was commemorated by a plaque which can still be seen on one\nof the garden walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Restoration
The Mayor of Southwark, Councillor Harry Canagasabey\nunveiling the restoration stone on 16th June 2000<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast\nforward to the 1970\u2019s, the rapid decline of several riverside\nindustries (printing, food processing and engineering) motivated many\npeople to leave the area, resulting in the locale quickly becoming\nrun down and in desperate need of regeneration. So, in the year 2000,\nthe centenary of its original layout, and by using funds gathered\nfrom various sources \u2013 private, public and charitable – the\narchitects Marcus Beale, in conjunction with the MPGA and the Christ\nChurch Garden group, progressed with a major renovation of the\ngarden, its beds and borders, and of course, the drinking fountain. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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The fountain donated by the philanthropist John Passmore Edwards and erected by the MPGA in October 1900\ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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With\nsuch little information regarding the design style of Fanny Wilkinson\nand with none of her original garden plans in existence, it remains\npure speculation as to whether this particular garden reflects her\ndesign style: an excellent subject for a potential PhD may I suggest,\nor maybe not, depending on your level of studious tenacity and\ncommitment. You may recall that I completed a Masters in Garden\nHistory at London University a couple of years\nago,\nand despite much effort, I too came up wanting when it came to\ninformation regarding Fanny Wilkinson\u2019s design plans. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nmentioned, following the garden\u2019s refurbishment back in 2000, BOST\ntook over the maintenance of the site, bringing the local community\ntogether and forming an active steering group, ensuring the grounds\nremained the tranquil, green oasis they continue to be today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nmy mid-week, midday visit, and sitting softly under the ubiquitous\ncanopy of London Plane trees, I saw all the usual shade-loving\nsuspects: hardy Geraniums, Epimediums, Liriope, Hellebores and ferns,\nall mingled together with the shrubby stalwarts of Euonymous, various\nEuphorbias and Senecio. There was a designated rose border with many\ngood specimens in full flower, along with countless pink and white\nJapanese Anemones, standing sentinel and doing their late summer\nthing. The lush foliage of persicaria sat waist-high covering the\nbare legs of Choysia \u2018Sundance\u2019 whilst 2-metre tall yellow\nRudbeckia laciniata demonstrated how a North American prairie plant\ncan succeed, even in a shady London graveyard. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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As\nalways, in areas of deep shade, and when left to their own devices,\nplants will\nfind\ntheir own way in and settle down with good neighbours, completely of\ntheir own volition. In this situation, there\u2019s always the risk of\nsimply walking past and ignoring the plantings contained within these\nlittle shady enclaves. However, my advice would be to stop for a\nmoment, peer into these dark caverns, and admire the plant\ncommunities that exist there. These areas often house a mix of\ncultivated plants (bought, paid for and placed there by human hand)\ntogether with those that have simply flown in or emerged to fill the\ngaps in-between: ground-covering Ivy perhaps, or a rogue Acanthus\nspike. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A dell of deep shade. Always worthy of further investigation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Again,\nit need not be said, but it\u2019s these somewhat secret spaces which\nmakes London so special. Given its size, and the way in which its\nstreets are connected, Central London is a place that needs to be\nexplored on foot. Very often, I\u2019ll walk from one side of London to\nthe other. Say perhaps, from London Bridge to Regent\u2019s Park: my\nwalks are sustained by the odd coffee shop, with the occasional need\nfor a rest granted by garden spaces such as Christ Church. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nplaces are only made attractive and available by the commitment of\nthe communities that look after them, and by the financial donations\nand help offered by the likes of the MPGA. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nsee that in the Annual Report for the year 2000, and with regard to\nthe regeneration of the Christ Church garden, The Report states that\n\u2018one of the major strengths of the MPGA has been the association\u2019s\ncontinuity of purpose for over more than a century [and that] nowhere\nis this better illustrated than in relation to gardens created from\nchurchyards and burial grounds\u2019. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An ample blend of form, height, structure and texture, demonstrating the often-maligned and overlooked aesthetic of the shrub border<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So\nnext time you find yourself in the area of Blackfriars, do pop your\nhead into the gardens there at Christ Church. Take the opportunity\nfor a little rest and respite, and whilst there, do take a closer\nlook at the plantings and see how, as plant communities, they manage\nto co-exist in order to form a unified cohesive aesthetic. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until\nnext time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc\nOwen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc’s Gardens<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following something of an 18-month Covid-induced moratorium, it feels so good to be back visiting gardens again and meeting the countless horticultural folk who help create and maintain London\u2019s green spaces. London, who I often consider one of my closest relatives, has been eerily quiet since last Spring. The few visits I did make during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-london-gardens","tag-christ-church-garden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":285,"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions\/285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.mpga.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}