On Thursday 9 September the Group will visit the Manor House at Upton Grey and Farleigh House, both near Basingstoke in Hampshire.

We will assemble about 11.30 am at the Manor House at Upton Grey. Many will know Rosamund Wallinger, a member of our the Group, and will have read about her restoration of the Gertrude Jekyll garden at the house. Although the once flowering climbers will have finished, the China roses and many other varieties from 100 years ago should still be in flower. There should also be a fine display from the colour-graded herbaceous borders that Rosamund has recreated from the original Jekyll planting plans.

We will spend about an hour there and then move off to have a sandwich/pub lunch on the way to our second garden.

The garden at Farleigh House has been remade by Lady Portsmouth since the family returned to the house after a period when it was a boys’ prep school. In addition to the parkland with stylish modern additions, the kitchen garden has been divided into three, with an old rose garden, a wild rose garden and herbaceous borders. There is also a series of new conservatories for tender plants. There are many other features, rose-centred and not, so we should have plenty to see. We aim to arrive about 2.30 pm.

The cost for the two gardens is £10 and includes tea at Farleigh House. Because of the tea, we need to know numbers in advance, so please tell Mary Hember if you will be coming and either send her a cheque or pay on the day. She will then send you detailed directions for the gardens.

Contact: Mary Hember, The Wool House, Codford St Peter, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 0NE, tel: 01985 850152 email: mary@hember.net

The AGM & Conference will take place at Hunton Park, Hunton Bridge, Hertfordshire, WD4 8PN. Hunton Park is a pretty Queen Anne house situated just inside the M25 near Abbots Langley. Rooms are in a purpose-built annexe.

Lectures will take on Saturday and on Sunday morning. Speakers will include Jennifer Potter on her new book The Rose – A True History , Charles Quest-Ritson talking about The Roses of Ninfa and John West about Rose-growing in Scotland.
The conference will end on Sunday afternoon.

Many members tell us that talking about roses with fellow enthusiasts is an important part of these occasions, so the conference will also include an informal dinner on Saturday evening.

The cost will be £175 for residential delegates (including dinner) and £85 for day delegates. The cost of dinner will be £20.

For further details please contact the Events Organiser: Mary Hember,The Wool House, Codford St Peter, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 0NE.
Email: mary@hember.net

In order to improve membership service, the Historic Roses Group has appointed its own Membership Secretary to administer the affairs of all those who are solely members of the Group, ie those who have not also elected to be members of the Royal National Rose Society (RNRS).

The Secretary is: Ann Cannings, ‘Grasmere Cottage’, The Street, Walberton, ARUNDEL, West Sussex, BN18 OPG ENGLAND. Email: grascott@btinternet.com

Should members experience any problems re their membership or wish to seek further information concerning the Group, please contact Ann in the first instance.

Roses are a major part of our horticultural heritage. Fashions in horticulture change: roses that once enjoyed huge popularity in Britain have disappeared from commerce. The Historic Roses Group of the Royal National Rose Society is seeking to ensure that this heritage is not lost forever. It has compiled a list of all the roses bred in Britain before 1950 and now lost to cultivation in the UK. Many still linger in gardens overseas – for example, in France, Germany and Italy. The Group has begun to reintroduce those no longer grown in this country. Some of these ‘near-extinct’ cultivars have already been planted among the historical collections at the Royal National Rose Society’s new gardens at St. Albans.

The Group is also involved with a display bed at the City of London West Ham Park in East London, illustrating the history of rose breeding in Britain. This display starts with roses grown before 1550, and shows advances in breeding with selected roses bred in Britain up to 1950. West Ham Park has provided the space for the demonstration bed and looks after it. Many of the roses have been donated by David Austin Roses, Peter Beales Roses and Bill Le Grice Roses. The rest come from the Group’s own re-introductions.

In 2006, The Historic Roses Group asked the Royal Horticultural Society to help fund the Rose bed in West Ham Park. That support has not been forthcoming, but the Group and the Park both felt that the project was too good to drop. The Park Garden Manager therefore made available a site next to the existing rose garden which would be inexpensive to prepare, and planting began in Autumn 2007.

The roses have been arranged in rough chronological order, starting with the 16th-century Damask rose, ‘York and Lancaster’, and ending with the Hybrid Tea, ‘Dusky Maiden’ [1947]. The display also includes historic roses that had become extinct in Britain. The Group has had these propagated from rose plants still existing in the great collections at Sangerhausen in Germany and Cavriglia in Italy. The display bed opens in Summer 2008.

History of West Ham Park

Documents relating to the Park date back to 1566. It was originally part of the Upton House estate, before being acquired in 1762 by philanthropist Dr John Fothergill. Encouraged to build a botanical garden, Dr Fothergill would often waive his fees and accept payment in rare plants instead.

After Dr Fothergill’s death, the Park passed into the hands of the Gurney family. When the Gurney family wished to sell the estate during the 1860s, local residents worked with the City of London and the family to raise funds to purchase the site and enable it to be preserved as open space.

West Ham Park was officially opened on 20 July 1874. The ceremony was performed by the Lord Mayor of London and, as a band played in the background, deeds of title were presented declaring the Park “open public grounds and garden for adults, children and youth” and that the City of London should maintain the Park forever at its own expense.

This rich and diverse history has recently been recognised by the park being designated a Grade II listed site on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Specific Historic Interest in England.

Click the thumbnail images below to see larger images of the garden at West Ham

Browse through our archive of news and events to gain further insight into the Historic Roses Group’s meetings, events and organised visits since 2007.

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