The British Cemetery: Architecture, Landscape, Sculpture
A talk with Brent Elliott and Roger Bowdler, chaired by Todd Longstaff-Gowan
The cemetery is one of Britain's most overlooked landscape types - part garden, part gallery, part monument to loss. In this talk, historians Brent Elliott and Roger Bowdler introduce their new book The British Cemetery: Architecture, Landscape, Sculpture (Liverpool University Press, on behalf of Historic England), which traces the evolution of the British cemetery from its roots in the churchyard and the fashionable landscape garden, through its full flowering as a new kind of designed ground in the nineteenth century, to the burial landscapes of today.
Drawing on more than seventy years of combined research and conservation experience, Elliott and Bowdler range across the British Mainland tracing how cemeteries became stages for family identity and social standing. The talk will also look forward to the natural burial movement and to cemetery design for Muslim burial practice, bringing the story right up to date.
Chairing the discussion is Todd Longstaff-Gowan, landscape historian and garden designer, who will draw out the connections between cemetery design and the wider traditions of British landscape and garden-making.
Please note that our talks now begin at 6:30pm, rather than 7pm, giving you more time to enjoy dinner at our award-winning Garden Museum Cafe. Table reservations are available here. Your talk ticket also includes entry to the Garden Museum’s temporary exhibitions from 6pm on the evening of the talk.
Select below
A talk with Brent Elliott and Roger Bowdler, chaired by Todd Longstaff-Gowan
The cemetery is one of Britain's most overlooked landscape types - part garden, part gallery, part monument to loss. In this talk, historians Brent Elliott and Roger Bowdler introduce their new book The British Cemetery: Architecture, Landscape, Sculpture (Liverpool University Press, on behalf of Historic England), which traces the evolution of the British cemetery from its roots in the churchyard and the fashionable landscape garden, through its full flowering as a new kind of designed ground in the nineteenth century, to the burial landscapes of today.
Drawing on more than seventy years of combined research and conservation experience, Elliott and Bowdler range across the British Mainland tracing how cemeteries became stages for family identity and social standing. The talk will also look forward to the natural burial movement and to cemetery design for Muslim burial practice, bringing the story right up to date.
Chairing the discussion is Todd Longstaff-Gowan, landscape historian and garden designer, who will draw out the connections between cemetery design and the wider traditions of British landscape and garden-making.
Please note that our talks now begin at 6:30pm, rather than 7pm, giving you more time to enjoy dinner at our award-winning Garden Museum Cafe. Table reservations are available here. Your talk ticket also includes entry to the Garden Museum’s temporary exhibitions from 6pm on the evening of the talk.
Our payments are processed using : Payyo
