Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (also known as Kew Gardens)

www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list

A botanic garden established in the early C18 and increased in size under Sir William Hooker in the mid C19. The gardens were set within a royal park and remodelled periodically by leading designers.

NOTE This entry is a summary. Because of the complexity of this site, the standard Register entry format would convey neither an adequate description nor a satisfactory account of the development of the landscape. The user is advised to consult the references given below for more detailed accounts. Many Listed Buildings exist within the site, not all of which have been here referred to. Descriptions of these are to be found in the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest produced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

The Royal Botanic Gardens are located in outer south-west London on the south bank of the River Thames c 500m south west of Kew Bridge. Richmond Park (qv) lies c 1km to the south-east with the town of Richmond on the south-east boundary of the Old Deer Park. To the east lies the dense residential development of North Sheen. The River Thames provides the boundary to the west and Kew Green to the north. To the east the grounds are bounded by Kew Road and to the south-east by the railway line.

The Old Deer Park (139ha) is separated from the Botanic Gardens (128ha) by the C18 ha-ha. The fairly level ground of the Old Deer Park is screened from the river by thick boundary plantings.

The main approach to Kew Gardens is from Kew Green to the north-east through iron gates (listed grade II*) designed in 1848 by Decimus Burton. Numerous other gates provide entrances around the site, most dating from the mid C19 (and most listed grade II).

The botanic gardens contain many areas of different horticultural and botanic interest. The gardens contains over fifty thousand taxa of living plants from all parts of the world, used for research and education. In addition there is an Herbarium of about six million specimens, an extensive collection of anatomical slides, about one million specimens of plant products, and a comprehensive reference library. The Jodrell Laboratory, nursery, and lecture theatre lies in the north-west corner of the site and provides extensive educational facilities.

A network of paths provide access round the gardens. Five major features dominate the gardens: the Palm House by Decimus Burton with Richard Turner, c 1844(8 (listed grade I), to the east; the Temperate House by Decimus Burton, c 1845-6 (listed grade I) and the Pagoda by Sir William Chambers, c 1761 (listed grade I) to the south; the lake excavated c 1845 to the west; and Kew Palace, formerly known as the Dutch House, c 1631 (listed grade I), to the north. A number of other buildings of historical importance, many from the C18 by William Chambers for Princess Augusta, survive within the botanic gardens.

To the north of the lake a vista extends from the iron and glass Palm House across the river to Syon House (qv), horticultural interest in this area including the Rhododendron Dell, and the Bamboo and Azalea Gardens. To the south of the lake the paths lead past land set aside for a conservation area, to The Queen's Cottage (listed grade II*) built 1772. The path system continues in a south-easterly direction towards the Temperate House, extended 1898(9 and restored 1978(82, and the Pagoda from where there is a vista north-north-west to the Palm House.

The perimeter path on the east side of the garden leads under the arch (listed grade II* ) designed as a ruin by Chamber c 1760, past the Marianne North Gallery (listed grade II), by James Ferguson c 1882, to the Palm House and Palm House Pond. The Pond, remodelled by Nesfield in 1847, is all that remains of the great lake made for George III which covered the area now occupied by the Palm House and beyond.

From the Palm House the Broad Walk leads north-west back towards the main gate passing to the east the Orangery (listed grade I), by Chambers c 1761 and now (1998) used as a shop and restaurant. Kew Palace (refurbished late 1990s) stands to the north-west flanked on either side by C20 service buildings, laboratories, and a nursery.

Loss and damage to trees caused by the storms of 1987 and 1990 was considerable but between the Orangery and the Pagoda to the south examples of planting of c 1760 survive.

To the south of Kew Gardens lies the Old Deer Park, physically separated from the botanic gardens by the mid C18 ha-ha and formally separated in 1841 when Kew Gardens was taken into state control. Much of the parkland to the north is used by the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club (founded 1892); the remainder is divided up between the Athletic Ground, open grass recreation ground, tennis courts, and the public swimming pool first opened in 1966. The Royal Observatory (listed grade I) built for George III in 1768(9 to the design of William Chambers lies within the golf course in the north-west part of the park. The Observatory, which maintained its scientific role under a number of owners, closed in 1980. The building continues to be used as offices following its restoration in 1983. The three obelisks or meridian marks (listed grade II), erected in the park in 1778 to enable observation instruments to be adjusted, survive, one near the river bank to the north-west and two near the river bank at the southern tip of the site.

In c 1930 the new Twickenham Road was made, cutting across the south-east corner of the Old Deer Park. A strip of parkland, now (1998) used for car parking, is separated from the main body of the Old Deer Park by the dual carriageway. Access over the road to the park is via a C20 footbridge.

REFERENCES

Note: There is a wealth of published material about this site. The key references are listed below.

B Cherry and N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 2 South (1983), pp 506-12

R King, Royal Kew (1985) The Old Deer Park, Richmond, report produced by the Old Deer Park Action Group and The Friends of Old Deer Park, (1990) [copy on EH file]

Maps

Richmond and Kew, Works 32/99, 1637 (PRO) [copy on EH file]

J Rocque, Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster and Borough of Southwark and the country near ten miles around, surveyed 1741-5, published 1746

R Greening, Richmond Lodge Estate and Kew, 1748 (London Metropolitan Archives)

OS 60" to 1 mile:

1st edition published 1864

2nd edition published 1897

Description written: June 1998

Register Inspector: LCH

Edited: November 2001