Bushey Rose Garden Restoration
News on the proposed restoration of the Bushey Rose Garden.
Latest News - 7 May 2008
Plans to restore the Rose Garden in Bushey to its former glory has been given another boost after the Council secured further lottery funding.
Thanks to a grant of £942,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund the garden will have many of its listed features restored.
Councillor Brenda Batten, Portfolio Holder for Culture, said: "This is wonderful news and will really help us to transform and regenerate this beautiful historic garden.
I am very excited about this project and believe the restoration will prove to be a major asset to the community."
In October 2006, the Council got through the first round of the application process and the results of the second round of bidding were announced this week (6 May).
The Grade II listed garden is in a conservation area and contains several Grade II buildings, but has deteriorated over the years and suffered from vandalism. The money will be used to restore all listed features, including the summer house, paved areas and the pergola as well as the sunken garden.
Other proposals include an on-site gardener, toilet facilities, CCTV, new planting, establishing a team of volunteers, more events and creating an education programme so that local schools can use the garden as an outdoor classroom.
The Rose Garden plays an important role in the Bushey community. Sir Hubert von Herkomer, RA , an eminent Victorian artist, ran an Art School on the site from 1883-1912. The garden replaced the art school in 1913, created for Herkomer by pre-eminent landscape designer, Thomas Mawson, who was given a portrait by the artist in lieu of payment. Mawson later went on to become the first president of the Landscape Institute and has left a legacy of parks and gardens in the UK and abroad.
The Steering Group, made up of Council Officers, Councillors, Friends of the Rose Garden and the Bushey Museum & Art Gallery, will reconvene to discuss the next steps. Future news on the project will be updated here.
If you would like further information on the Rose Garden project, please contact Fiona Leadley on Freephone 0800 731 1810 or email: fiona.leadley@hertsmere.gov.uk.
The History of the Rose Garden
The Art School
During the latter part of the 19th Century many notable artists lived in Bushey. From 1883 until 1904 the Rose Garden was the site of an Art School established by Sir Hubert von Herkomer RA, an eminent Victorian artist (1849-1914). Herkomer had some 500-600 artists studying there before he eventually grew weary of the responsibility of overseeing the school. Lucy Kemp-Welsh, a former student of Herkomer’s, opened her own art school on the same premises, “The Bushey School of Painting”, in 1905. Herkomer repurchased the school in 1912 and demolished it.
The House
Herkomer built a house called ‘Lululaund’ in Melbourne Road adjoining the Rose Garden but all that remains of the house is part of the front elevation which is now the entrance to the Bushey branch of the Royal British Legion . The house was designed by H H Richardson, an American architect, and was built between 1886-1894. It has been referred to as a ‘Bavarian Castle’ and was named after Herkomer’s second wife Lulu.
The Garden
In 1912 Herkomer demolished the Art School and commissioned Thomas Mawson (1861-1933) to design a garden. Mawson noted his proposals on his first visit:
“… The garden was to be separated from the kitchen garden by a brick-built pergola, with a handsome garden pavilion at one end. The centre of the panel rose garden was to be sunk two feet, with a fountain in the centre, and considerable spaces of ground were to be planted as foils against adjoining properties…”
Many of the original features of the garden still remain such as the Sunken Garden, Summer House, Monument, Column and Pergola. The Cloister in the lawn area were the remnants of the Art School and were found by Three Valley Water at their depot in Clay Lane and re-erected in the garden in the mid-1990s.
The garden was commissioned in exchange for a portrait by Herkomer. In Mawson’s autobiography he wrote: “…Herkomer remarked: “We have still to settle your fees, and I am going to make a suggestion which I hope you will accept. I think,” he said, “you ought to have our portrait painted; my price for this would be six guineas. Let’s swop. I’ll do your portrait, whilst you design my rose garden, and we’ll call it quits.”
Mawson later became the President of the Landscape Institute in 1929.
The Bushey Urban and District Council bought the garden in 1937 from the Herkomer estate.
Recent History
During the late 1980s and early 1990s with the drive for greater efficiencies and revenue savings under the Compulsory Competitive Tendering regime, the Rose Garden in common with many parks nationally suffered from under-investment which lead to the deterioration of the fabric of the garden.
In 2002 the Rose Garden was registered as a Park and Garden of Special Historic Interest Grade II. Since December 2005, the Garden has been partially closed as the footpaths are considered to be a hazard. Hertsmere Borough Council proposes to restore the garden to its formally glory and is seeking funding from the Heritage Lottery. A Steering Group has been formed of local Councillors, representatives from the Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, Bushey Forum and Friends of the Rose Garden to take the project forward.
More information is avialable on facilities in the Rose Garden.
The Bushey Museum and Art Gallery
Paintings by Sir Hubert von Herkomer and artefacts from Lululaund can be found in the Bushey Museum and Art Gallery.