How did Kew Gardens begin?

Answer 1

Kew Field - the origins of the estate at Kew - was once a single large strip-farmed field that began to change gradually, from around 1600 into the more regular enclosed fields shown on the 1730s map of the St André estate. Prior to this, between 1500 and 1550, the house of Kew Park had been built into Kew Field's northeast corner and its estate extended from there. The Kew Park estate changed hands several times through the 16th century, settling with Sir Richard Bennett in the first half of the 17th century. His daughter, Dorothy Bennett, inherited the estate. She married Sir Henry Capel, and it was the Capel family who developed the first famous gardens in Kew Park. The Capels lived at Kew Park (later calling it the White House) during the latter half of the 17th century. The 1730 map shows the house and gardens occupying a small area south of the Dutch House. The design was of small walled gardens and formal courtyards flanking the house, with the land outside used for agriculture. The map also shows that the Capel estate (by now named St André due to Elizabeth Capel's remarriage) extended south for about two thirds of the length of today's gardens. Records of the time declare that Sir Henry Capel and "the whole Capel family were famously devoted to gardening ... it was close to an obsession". The gardens were widely admired, especially for their greenhouses, trees and exotic plants. The diarist and author John Evelyn (1620-1706) was also a keen botanist and landscape designer. A regular visitor to Kew Park, he noted in 1678, "Hence I went to my worthy friend Sir Henry Capel ... his garden certainly has the choicest fruit of any plantation in England, as he is the most industrious and understanding in it". In 1683 he commented on the "cupola made with pole work between two elms at the end of a walk, which being covered by plashing the trees to them ... very pretty". In 1688 Evelyn recorded that Capel's "orangerie and myretum are most beautiful and perfectly well kept. He is contriving very high palisadoes of reedes to shade his oranges during the summer and painting those reedes in oil". Kew Field - the origins of the estate at Kew - was once a single large strip-farmed field that began to change gradually, from around 1600 into the more regular enclosed fields shown on the 1730s map of the St André estate. Prior to this, between 1500 and 1550, the house of Kew Park had been built into Kew Field's northeast corner and its estate extended from there. The Kew Park estate changed hands several times through the 16th century, settling with Sir Richard Bennett in the first half of the 17th century. His daughter, Dorothy Bennett, inherited the estate. She married Sir Henry Capel, and it was the Capel family who developed the first famous gardens in Kew Park. The Capels lived at Kew Park (later calling it the White House) during the latter half of the 17th century. The 1730 map shows the house and gardens occupying a small area south of the Dutch House. The design was of small walled gardens and formal courtyards flanking the house, with the land outside used for agriculture. The map also shows that the Capel estate (by now named St André due to Elizabeth Capel's remarriage) extended south for about two thirds of the length of today's gardens. Records of the time declare that Sir Henry Capel and "the whole Capel family were famously devoted to gardening ... it was close to an obsession". The gardens were widely admired, especially for their greenhouses, trees and exotic plants. The diarist and author John Evelyn (1620-1706) was also a keen botanist and landscape designer. A regular visitor to Kew Park, he noted in 1678, "Hence I went to my worthy friend Sir Henry Capel ... his garden certainly has the choicest fruit of any plantation in England, as he is the most industrious and understanding in it". In 1683 he commented on the "cupola made with pole work between two elms at the end of a walk, which being covered by plashing the trees to them ... very pretty". In 1688 Evelyn recorded that Capel's "orangerie and myretum are most beautiful and perfectly well kept. He is contriving very high palisadoes of reedes to shade his oranges during the summer and painting those reedes in oil". Kew Field - the origins of the estate at Kew - was once a single large strip-farmed field that began to change gradually, from around 1600 into the more regular enclosed fields shown on the 1730s map of the St André estate. Prior to this, between 1500 and 1550, the house of Kew Park had been built into Kew Field's northeast corner and its estate extended from there. The Kew Park estate changed hands several times through the 16th century, settling with Sir Richard Bennett in the first half of the 17th century. His daughter, Dorothy Bennett, inherited the estate. She married Sir Henry Capel, and it was the Capel family who developed the first famous gardens in Kew Park. The Capels lived at Kew Park (later calling it the White House) during the latter half of the 17th century. The 1730 map shows the house and gardens occupying a small area south of the Dutch House. The design was of small walled gardens and formal courtyards flanking the house, with the land outside used for agriculture. The map also shows that the Capel estate (by now named St André due to Elizabeth Capel's remarriage) extended south for about two thirds of the length of today's gardens. Records of the time declare that Sir Henry Capel and "the whole Capel family were famously devoted to gardening ... it was close to an obsession". The gardens were widely admired, especially for their greenhouses, trees and exotic plants. The diarist and author John Evelyn (1620-1706) was also a keen botanist and landscape designer. A regular visitor to Kew Park, he noted in 1678, "Hence I went to my worthy friend Sir Henry Capel ... his garden certainly has the choicest fruit of any plantation in England, as he is the most industrious and understanding in it". In 1683 he commented on the "cupola made with pole work between two elms at the end of a walk, which being covered by plashing the trees to them ... very pretty". In 1688 Evelyn recorded that Capel's "orangerie and myretum are most beautiful and perfectly well kept. He is contriving very high palisadoes of reedes to shade his oranges during the summer and painting those reedes in oil".