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The Trust has a 25-year history of publishing reports and books, the most recent Trust publication being Humphry Repton in Buckinghamshire and beyond edited by Sarah Rutherford in 2018.
In 2013 the Trust embarked on a long-term project to research and record as many of the county’s historic sites, including cemeteries and parks that were not protected under Historic England’s Register of Parks & Gardens. The reports/dossiers are in two sections, the Buckinghamshire Locally Important Sites and the Buckinghamshire Nationally Important Sites.
By 2022 more than 100 reports/dossiers had been compiled by our volunteer recorders, some of which have aided in the prevention of unsympathetic development. These reports have now been added to the Buckinghamshire Local Heritage List, a government led Local Heritage Listing initiative to record local sites, buildings, and monuments that are of community and heritage importance. Thorough the Trust a number of our volunteer researchers and members are contributing to this project. A further 15 reports are to be found in the Artists’ Gardens project category.
This Publications section serves as a current archive of the work of the Trust and is continually being added to. The Research News gives updates on county sites, or research that has been undertaken by Gardens Trusts nationally such as The Bicycle Boys.
Nationally and locally important sites: an explanation
There are a total of 46 nationally important sites in Buckinghamshire, Grade I (6), Grade II* (11), and Grade II (29); these are all included on the Historic England Register of Parks & Gardens. They are therefore not being considered for inclusion on the Buckinghamshire Council Local Heritage List. It is important to remember that if a building is listed it does not follow that the garden is registered as generally the two must be considered separately.
https://bucksgardenstrust.org.uk/research-and-recording/nationally-important-sites/
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/
To be included on the Local Heritage List (LHL) Parks and Gardens need to survive intact or enough of the layout needs to survive to reflect the original design. Other significant points to consider are the history of the site, archaeological, artistic, and architectural interest. Gardens are ephemeral by nature and change with fashions, they are exposed to the vagaries of nature and time. Horticulture itself is not usually a consideration when assessing a historic garden although trees can be used to date the garden to a particular period. To date, the parks and gardens that have been nominated for the LHL are all those that have been researched and recorded by the BGT volunteers over the last ten years. Please note the LHL does not include the unitary authority of Milton Keynes.
https://bucksgardenstrust.org.uk/research-and-recording/locally-important-sites/
To find out more about the LHL, a number of YouTube videos are available including one on Parks and Gardens. Follow this link for videos on aspects of the LHL, especially ‘Understanding the historic parks and gardens of Buckinghamshire’.
