Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are extensive gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond upon Thames and Kew in southwest London, England. The current director is Sir Peter Crane.

History

Kew Gardens originated in the exotic garden at Kew Park formed by Lord Capel of Tewkesbury, enlarged and greatly extended by Princess Augusta, the widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales, for whom Sir William Chambers built several garden structures of which the lofty Chinese pagoda from 1761 remains. George III enriched the gardens, aided by the skill of William Aiton and of Sir Joseph Banks. The old Kew Park (by then renamed the White House), was demolished in 1802. The "Dutch House" adjoining was purchased by George III in 1781 as a nursery for the royal children. It is a plain brick structure now known as Kew Palace.

In 1840 the gardens were adopted as a national botanical garden. Under Kew's new director, William Hooker, the gardens were increased to 30 ha (75 acres) and the pleasure grounds, or arboretum, extended to 109 ha (270 acres), and later to its current size of 120 ha (300 acres).

The Palm House was built by architect Decimus Burton and iron-maker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848, and was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron. The Temperate house, which is twice as large as the Palm House, followed later in the 19th century. It is now the largest Victorian glasshouse in existence.

Kew was the location of the successful effort in the 19th century to propagate rubber trees for cultivation outside South America.

1987 saw the opening of Kew's third major conservatory, the Princess of Wales Conservatory (opened by Princess Diana in commemoration of her predecessor Augusta's associations with Kew)Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Augusta, Princess of Wales. Retrieved October 6, 2005., which houses 10 climate zones.

In July 2003, the gardens were put on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Kew Gardens today

Kew Gardens is a leading centre of botanical research, a training ground for professional gardeners and a popular visitor attraction. The gardens are mostly quite informal, with a few formal areas. There are extensive conservatories, a herbarium, library and eating places.

Kew is important as a repository of seeds; it has one of the most important seedbanks. With the Harvard University Herbaria, and the Australian National Herbarium, they co-operate in the IPNI database to produce an authoritative source of information on the nomenclature of plants.

Despite unfavourable growing conditions (atmospheric pollution from London, dry soils and low rainfall) Kew remains one of the most comprehensive plant collections in Britain. In an attempt to expand the collections away from these unfavourable conditions, Kew has established two out-stations, at Wakehurst Place in Sussex, and (jointly with the Forestry Commission) Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent, the latter specialising in growing conifers.

The nearest combined rail and London Underground station is Kew Gardens station (District Line and Silverlink) to the east of the gardens, within easy walking distance.

Pagoda

In a corner of Kew Gardens stands the Great Pagoda (by William Chambers), erected in the year 1762, from a design in imitation of the Chinese Taa. The lowest of the ten octagonal storeys is 49 feet (15 metres) in diameter. The whole structure from the base to the highest point is 163 feet (50 metres) high.

Each storey finishes with a projecting roof, after the Chinese manner, originally covered with ceramic tiles and adorned with large dragons; these were reputedly sold by George IV to settle his debts. The walls of the building are composed of very hard bricks. The staircase, 253 steps, is in the centre of the building. The Pagoda was closed to the public for many years, but will be opened to visitors between 27 May and 24 September in 2006.

Recently, the premises underwent a master-planning at the hands of the international architecture firm, Wilkinson Eyre.

Museums and gallery

Near the Palm House is a building known as "Museum No. 1" which was designed by Decimus Burton and opened in 1857. Its aim was to illustrate mankind's dependence on plants, housing Kew's economic botany collections including tools, ornaments, clothing, food and medicines. The building was refurbished in 1998. The upper two floors are now an education centre and the ground floor houses the "Plants+People" exhibition which highlights the variety of plants and the ways that people use them.

The Marianne North Gallery was built in the 1880s to house the paintings of Marianne North, an MP's daughter who travelled to North and South America and many parts of Asia to paint plants. The gallery has 832 paintings.

As a result of the Japan 2001 festival, Kew acquired a Japanese wooden house called a minka. It was originally erected in around 1900 in a suburb of Okazaki. Japanese craftsmen reassembled the framework and British builders who had worked on the Globe Theatre added the mud wall panels.

External links

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — official website
Millennium Seed Bank Project
The International Plant Names Index
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — a Gardens Guide review
BBC A Year at Kew documentary behind the scenes at Kew Gardens
Explore Kew Gardens — Virtual tour including 42 interactive 360° panoramas,
narrated slideshows, maps and full text for the hearing-impaired

References

Location

Wikimapia

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