Campbell Park, Milton Keynes added to Register of Nationally Important Sites
Campbell Park, Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes Parks Trust Ltd, 1300 Silbury Boulevard, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes – Awarded Registered Park and Garden Status. List Entry Number: 1467405
Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust welcomes the decision to include Campbell Park in Milton Keynes on the Register of Parks and Gardens at Grade II.
Two years ago, to mark the 50th anniversary of Milton Keynes’ foundation, the Trust made a submission to Historic England, based on a research and recording project, which set out the importance of the Park as one of the largest and most imaginative to have been laid out in Britain in the later C20. It is a key part of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation’s planned cityscape, linking urban Central Milton Keynes to a swathe of naturalistic parkland down the Ouse Valley. It is has been little altered over time and has been well looked after by the Milton Keynes Parks Trust.
Historic England has recognised these qualities and calls it a “swaggering performance” and in addition singles out the early encouragement of biodiversity and how the Park has group value with the Shopping Building, which shares its sense of scale and generous use of space.
Further reading:
The Research and Recording Report for Campbell Park by Gill Grocott and Jill Stansfield can be found at:
https://bucksgardenstrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Campbell_Park-rvsd1.pdf
The July 2020 Newsletter has two articles Parks in Milton Keynes, pages 6 & 7 by Neil Higson, Chief Landscape Architect for Milton Keynes Corporation from 1977 and Milton Keynes –The Animated Landscape, page 4 by Jill Stansfield and Gill Grocott.
Historic England Register – list of all the new best post war parks,gardens and landscapes:
https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/news/best-post-war-parks-gardens-and-landscapes-protected/
Gwen Miles -Newsletter Editor August 2020
COMPILING THE RECORD
Post 1945 designed landscapes listing project.
The Gardens Trust in partnership with Historic England – ‘Overlooked, undervalued and at risk’
In the autumn of 2017, an exciting new national project ‘Compiling the Record’ was launched at a successful joint conference, held at the newly refurbished Garden Museum. The conference highlighted the vulnerability and lack of knowledge and understanding of post 1945 designed landscapes and it ended with a call to all County Gardens Trusts and other interested parties to submit nominations via the Gardens Trust website.
A total of 112 nominations were submitted and of these six were in Buckinghamshire. All of these sites have been recently researched by the Bucks GT research and recording volunteers, apart from the crematorium for which Sarah Rutherford had written a description. The dossiers for the sites can be found on our website: www.bucksgardenstrust.org.uk
Central Milton Keynes (Civic Spaces) Campbell Park Milton Keynes (Parks)
Chilterns Crematorium (Cemeteries) Bledlow Manor and The Lyde (Garden)
High and Over, Amersham (Garden) Bekonscot Model Village (Garden)
The Gardens Trust commissioned Karen Fitzsimon (Osmunda Projects) to carry out further research and prepare information on each nomination. Thus enabling Historic England’s convened panel of experts to make an informed decision on a site’s eligibility for designation and inclusion on the Historic England’s Register.
It has been a long wait but finally we have received the brilliant news that Campbell Park, Milton Keynes is going to be given Grade II status on Historic England’s Register of Parks and Gardens.
Claire de Carle August 2020
Historic England Register – list of all the new best post war parks,gardens and landscapes:
https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/news/best-post-war-parks-gardens-and-landscapes-protected/
