The Garden History Blog

The British galleries in the Victoria & Albert Museum hold many treasures but probably none more interesting to lovers and historians of gardens than two large early 18thc wall hangings from Stoke Edith in Herefordshire.  They show elaborate formal garden scenes in the Anglo-Dutch style of late 17th century.

George London, the great landscape designer and royal gardener, is known to advised at Stoke Edith in 1692 so it  is likely that pleasure grounds there were  laid out around  then, in a similar formal style  to that depicted these amazing embroideries.

It is tempting to think that the hangings depict the actual gardens that London designed for Paul Foley, who was Speaker of the House of Commons, and if one believes family tradition that they were made by the women of Foley’s  family that would be more than a possibility.   Unfortunately this view, which used to be shared by Historic England, has been disputed more recently by experts at the V&A who believe that the sheer scale of the hangings, and the consistently high quality of the workmanship suggest that this was unlikely to have been an amateur affair. They argue instead that the hangings were bought from a professional workshop and probably represent a pastiche of contemporary fashionable garden features rather than  Stoke Edith itself. There is certainly evidence of the purchase of other hangings for the house [Country Life, 9 Aug 1956].

Whatever the truth read on to discover more about Stoke Edith and what the hangings tell us about garden design of the period… Continue reading →