NEW BOOK – PRELIMINARY NOTICE

Brenda Colvin – Pioneer of Twentieth Century British Landscape Design

by Patricia (Trish) Gibson

In spite of the ever-growing interest in the history of twentieth century garden design, this will be the first full account written of the life of Brenda Colvin (1897–1981), a pioneering influence and leading figure in the worlds of garden design and landscape architecture. While the contributions of her friends and contemporaries Geoffrey Jellicoe and Sylvia Crowe have been acknowledged by garden and landscape historians, Colvin’s originality and importance have yet to receive the recognition they richly deserve. This book aims to correct that neglect.

At the age of only 23, Colvin set up her own practice in London and proceeded to design all kinds of garden, ranging from grand ones for the nobility to small town ones for the ordinary people of the British Isles, and even a few abroad. She was a woman working in a man’s world of contractors and gardeners. Yet all who worked to put her designs into practice were won over and appreciated her professional approach.

At the same time, her strongly-held belief in the value of our landscape led her to be a key figure in the establishment and development of the leading professional organization, the Institute of Landscape Architects, now called the Landscape Institute.

Colvin was one of the major thinkers behind the plans for reconstruction during and after the Second World War. She developed philosophies and designs for the future of the British landscape – the new towns, the reservoirs and power stations, the roads and factories – and put them into practice in her own work. At the same time, her profound love of plants – and her skill in handling them – stayed with her to the end, and her own garden in Gloucestershire is still proof of her skilful plantsmanship.
Drawing on Colvin’s own writings and personal papers, including the extraordinary notebook in which she listed every one of her commissions, and on interviews with those who knew and worked with her, Trish Gibson’s informed biography is the intriguing story of a woman whose importance has been largely overlooked. It explores her character, arguing that her unassuming nature is the key to this neglect and, using the evidence of the gardens and the larger landscapes for which Colvin was responsible, it reveals this remarkable and influential woman’s legacy to present-day garden and landscape design.

Contents
Prologue – Upton Wold, an introduction to Colvin’s remarkable talents; Beginnings – childhood and family, Swanley Horticultural College, influence of Madeline Agar; A Small but Satisfying Livelihood – first commission at Stair House, Lulworth, business progress, her notebook of commissions; The Idea of Landscape Design – involvement in the foundation of the Institute of Landscape Design and its journal; Widening Horizons – Pre-Second World War gardens such as Steeple Manor, Conderton Manor, Boldre Hill and others including small London gardens, and Zwiec (Poland); Continuous Calm Enjoyment in All Seasons – Colvin’s inspirational writing on plants; Trees in Town and Country – Colvin’s perceptive writing on trees; The Landscape Institute during and after War; The Public Landscape – Colvin’s philosophy and projects, e.g., Trimpley Reservoir, Aldershot Military Town, East Kilbride, Rugeley and other power stations; Gale Common Hill, and university campuses at Aberystwyth, East Anglia and Queen’s Belfast; Later Private Gardens – Sutton Courtenay, Old Parsonage, Buscot, Okeover, Acrise and her own garden at Filkins, Lechlade; The Legacy; Bibliography; Appendix – Colvin’s notebook of commissions; Index.

The Author:
Trish Gibson has a BA in French Studies from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1971) and an MA in Garden History from the University of Bristol (2002). She is married, and lives and gardens in Cornwall.

To be published April 2008
ISBN: 978 185341 138 0 casebound only.
Pages: c. 256
Illustrations: c. 120 colour and black and white photos, garden & landscape plans.
Price: c. £20.00