The Mulberry Garden, exhibition until 1 November 2015

by Val Bott on 23/07/2015 · 0 Comments

Some of the research which underpins this website now forms the core of a special exhibition at Hogarth’s House in Chiswick. The Mulberry Garden is the name we’ve given to a project to reinvent the half acre plot at the House as an “exhibition garden”, telling its story from beginnings as a new orchard in […]

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Reputations

by Val Bott on 09/04/2014 · 0 Comments

A reputation for  reliability and quality was the key to success in business for 17th and 18th century nursery gardeners. This could be influenced by many factors, from a gardener’s training, through early employment, to the respect of patrons and colleagues. Personal testimonials passed on by satisfied customers were invaluable, while the emerging genre of […]

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Eating the past

by Val Bott on 04/03/2014 · 0 Comments

I wrote this short piece, first posted on 19 April 2012, to inaugurate the Jam Yesterday Jam Tomorrow blog for Richmond Environment Trust. This HLF-funded project was concentrating on market gardeners rather than nursery gardeners, and focussed on the 19th and early 20th centuries. They made a model market garden at Marble Hill House and […]

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The Murfin family

by Val Bott on 08/01/2013 · 0 Comments

By chance I found the headstone on William Murfin’s grave at St Nicholas, Chiswick. I had already discovered his will, but it threw up a question to which the inscription on this headstone provides the answer. William Murfin (1741-1813) was head gardener at Chiswick House by 1790 and worked for Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, on […]

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