Todd longstaffe gowan biography of martin
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The London Square
Modern-day London abounds with a multitude of gardens, enclosed by railings and surrounded by houses, which attest to the English love of nature. These green enclaves, known as squares, are among the most distinctive and admired features of the metropolis and are England's greatest contribution to the development of European town planning and urban form. Traditionally, inhabitants who overlooked these gated communal gardens paid for their maintenance and had special access to them. As such, they have long been synonymous with privilege, elegance, and prosperous metropolitan living. They epitomize the classical notion of rus in urbe, the integration of nature within the urban plan—a concept that continues to shape cities to this day.
Todd Longstaffe-Gowan delves into the history, evolution, and social implications of squares, which have been an important element in the planning and expansion of London since the early 17th century. As an amenity that foster
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Todd Longstaffe-Gowan
Friday, 21 February 2025Contact us
English Garden Eccentrics: Three Hundred Years of Extraordinary Groves, Burrowings, Mountains and Me
Sunday, 3 April 2022
10:00am
1 hour
Lincoln College
£7 - £12.50
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Landscape architect and author Todd Longstaffe-Gowan reveals some of the obscure and eccentric English garden-makers who created some immensely personal and idiosyncratic gardens between the early 17th and early 20th centuries.
The characters include the superstitious antiquary William Stukeley, the animal and bird-loving Lady Read, and the celebrated master of Vauxhall Gardens, Jonathan Tyers, who created one of the gloomiest and most perverse anti-pleasure gardens in Georgian England. Others built miniature mountains, excavated caves, assembled architectural fragments and fossils, and displayed exotic animals. Longstaffe-Gowan says these gardens were a form of autobiography and expressed the singularity of the characte
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English garden eccentrics
The English do eccentricity well, so it should be no surprise that garden historian Todd Longstaffe-Gowan has been able to unearth so many “characters” to grace this engaging 300-year overview of horticultural eccentricity and excess. My favourite has to be Mabel Barltrop.
Barltrop (1866-1934) – a mother of four and the widow of a Church of England curate – believed herself to be Octavia, the gudomlig Daughter of God, whose appearance had been foretold by the 18th century English prophetess, Joanna Southcott.
Southcott had predicted the second coming of Christ in England. Her prophesies were kept in a sealed box, which she instructed must only be opened in time of need by a gathering of all the Church of England’s bishops (there were then 24) – and only after they had spent some time studying her texts.