Henry Essenhigh Corke : pioneer plant photographer

Posted on 21/05/2016 by The Garden History Blog
Japonica (Japanese Quince),Cyedonina japonica, from Beautiful Flowering Shrubs, 1922

“Japonica (Japanese Quince), Cydonia japonica”, from Beautiful Flowering Shrubs, Gertrude Clarke Nuttall, 1922 https://archive.org/details/beautifulfloweri00nuttrich

Yes! There really are two people called Essenhigh Corke worth writing about on a garden history blog.

Today’s is Henry, son of Charles  who was the subject of a  post last month. Henry was even more talented than his father  and gained a formidable reputation as a pioneering photographer. He was also a keen botanist and a Fellow of the RHS, and managed to combine his two passions in the beautiful photography for gardening books including several for Harry Higgott Thomas, who was subject of last week’s post. In fact it was through researching  Harry Thomas’s work that I discovered Henry in the first place.

Penzance Briar, from Beautiful Flowering Shrubs, by Gertrude Clarke Nuttall, 1922

Penzance Briar, from Beautiful Flowering Shrubs, by Gertrude Clarke Nuttall,1922 https://archive.org/details/beautifulfloweri00nuttrich

Sadly, as was the case with his father ,very little seems to be known about Henry’s personal life, and there are no known photographs, which is a bit odd considering several of his family were professional photographers and ran a photographic studio, but read on to find out what I have managed to discover…

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Harry Higgott Thomas

Posted on 14/05/2016 by The Garden History Blog
Harry Higgott THomas photo courtesy of Jeremy Thomas

Harry Higgott Thomas
photo courtesy of Jeremy Thomas

Harry Higgott Thomas was a man you probably haven’t heard of. If he’d stuck to his first career choice – working in a bank – there’s no reason why you ever would have done.  But, he changed careers, went to train at Kew and  50 years ago had become one of the best known names in garden writing. Not only was he a prolific author of horticultural books, but he worked with Gertrude Jekyll, edited Popular Gardening for more than 40 years,  became the first regular gardening columnist on the Daily Telegraph, was awarded the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour and elected president of the Kew Guild.

Read on to find out more … Continue reading →

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Capability Brown and Africa… did you really say Africa?

Posted on 07/05/2016 by The Garden History Blog
/Users/davidmarsh/Library/Group Containers/Q79WDW8YH9.com.evernote.Evernote/Evernote/quick-note/drdavidmarsh___EverCapability Brown - but where is he?photo courtesy of Nicholas Marsh

Capability Brown – but standing where? photo courtesy Nicholas Marsh

I’ve just returned from a month in southern Africa and was bowled over by the range of plants and landscapes that I encountered in the western Cape and Namibia.  I can’t stop enthusing about what I saw but wondered how on earth I could legitimately fit that excitement into a blog that’s about historic parks and gardens in Britain.

Then I hit upon the answer.  I’d link it to everyone’s man of the moment – Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

Up until now I’ve rather avoided writing much about him because of his ubiquity. You can’t open a serious newspaper or magazine this year without someone famous mentioning Brown and his genius, Brown and his influence on land sculpture or art or the English imagination, or almost anything else for that matter.  Up until now, because I couldn’t think of anything original to say, I thought probably best to keep my mouth shut….until a couple of my fellow P&G trustees suggested I ought at least to try. After all we at P&G are going to play host to the Capability Brown Festival archive when the tercentenary is over.

So here goes. I’m going to write about the links between Capability Brown and Africa. Will such a harebrained scheme work? Can I find 1500/20 words of wisdom to inform or amuse? Well read on to find out… Continue reading →

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Temple Newsam

Posted on 30/04/2016 by The Garden History Blog
The Sphinx Gateway, David Marsh, April 2016

The Sphinx Gateway,
erected during Capability Brown’s involvement at Temple Newsam, c.1760 based on designs by Lord Burlington published in 1738.                                                                David Marsh, April 2016

A trip to Yorkshire for a wedding gave me a great opportunity to visit a garden I’ve always wanted to see: Temple Newsam, a wonderfully rambling imposing mansion  just a couple of miles from Leeds city centre.  Best known for its magnificent collections of furniture, ceramics, paintings, silverware and textiles,  it also has gardens that make a visit worthwhile on their own.

The Victorian cast-iron fountain in the South Garden, David Marsh, April 2016

The Victorian cast-iron fountain in the South Garden, David Marsh, April 2016

To add to the interest there is currently [until 30th October 2016] an exhibition called Visioning the Landscape about the history of the estate from 1622 to 1922.  Odd dates to choose you might think, but 1622 is the date when the estate, then in a parlous state, was bought by Sir Arthur Ingram for £12,000, and 1922 the year that Edward Wood, Earl of Halifax, handed it over to Leeds City Council who still own it today. The exhibition explores the different ways that the landscape at Temple Newsam was perceived during those 300 years.

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The house and end of the stable block.          David Marsh, April 2016

Read on to find out more…

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Charles Essenhigh Corke

Posted on 23/04/2016 by The Garden History Blog
West View, Hever Castle, Hever painted by Charles Essenhigh Corke - 1904

West View, Hever Castle,   1904

For garden and landscape historians some of the more obvious sources for knowledge of what a site  was like, and how it has developed, are paintings and, more recently photographs.   So it’s quite surprising that the name of  Charles Essenhigh Corke is not better known.  Although he never moved from his home town of Sevenoaks where he was born in 1852 and where he became a professional studio photographer, in his spare time  he also enjoyed painting. His preferred subjects were the great houses and gardens  of west Kent including Hever, Ightham, and Penshurst, but above all Knole. Many of his paintings were used to illustrate books or turned into highly popular postcards.

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Italian Garden, Hever Castle, c.1910

Little is known about Charles, and I cannot even find a photograph of him, despite his profession,  and even stranger considering that his son and daughter followed him into the profession.  But read on to find out what I have managed to unearth…

Scotney Castle

Scotney Castle

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