The archive, an important record of historic garden design (dating between 1820 to 1870) includes over 700 design sketches and plans, 900 watercolours, sketches and studies, and 100 other items including notebooks and papers, all belonging to Nesfield and his sons Arthur Markham and William Eden Nesfield.
The Nesfield family developed over 250 landscapes, and were at the pinnacle of British landscape design following Humphry Repton’s era and alongside Joseph Paxton. Their designed landscapes include Witley Court, Regent’s Park, Holkham Hall, Alton Towers, Castle Howard, and several vistas at Kew Gardens.
Nesfield’s formal style incorporated complex parterres, grand fountains, and intricate statuary. Many of these gardens have sadly, long vanished or changed beyond recognition – not least due to the high level of upkeep demanded by the designs. The archive is therefore, the best surviving record of hundreds of important gardens across the UK.
William Andrews Nesfield was born in 1793 in County Durham. After a career in the military he took up watercolour painting, followed later by a career as a landscape architect – quickly becoming one of the most sought-after landscape architects of the mid-Victorian era.
The archive contains detailed designs for the iconic fountain at Witley Court, even including intricate preparatory studies sketched by William Nesfield of the fish and seashells that feature. The fountain and gardens were recently the subject of significant restoration, and still attract many visitors each year. Other surviving designs represented in the archive are the spiral fountain at Alton Towers, and the parterres along the Avenue Gardens at Regent’s Park.
Nesfield’s designs for Castle Howard in Yorkshire are featured extensively in the collection. Here, he laid out the gardens in 1853 with the Atlas Fountain as a centrepiece, originally surrounded by an intricate parterre with a geometrical design made out of low box hedging, coloured gravels, and herbaceous plants. The parterre was removed in the 1890s but the fountain remains in place.
The collection predominantly comprises the archives of the family business in garden and landscape design, but also includes a large quantity of material from William Andrews Nesfield’s earlier career as a watercolourist. The watercolours demonstrate how his career and interests progressed, and how his early career as a watercolourist influenced his later business.
The archive was purchased through grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (£70,956) and supported by the Art Fund (£54,000), The Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Fund (£20,000), and the Friends of Nations’ Libraries (£13,107).
Christopher Woodward, Garden Museum Director, said: “This is the most important and illustrious archive of historic garden design ever to come up for auction and we are very proud to be its custodian. And grateful to the funding bodies who sprang into action so effectively. At a personal level I am just sorry that Dr Shirley Evans is not with us to hear this news; she wrote the book on the family, and through her inspiration we set our heart on the archive when it arrived at Sotheby’s in 2015. We will dedicate this acquisition to her.”
Simon Thurley, Chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, said: “We are delighted to support the Garden Museum’s acquisition of the Nesfield Archive. The Nesfield family were some of the UK’s most eminent landscape architects and the acquisition of their family archive will give many more people the opportunity to discover the origins of some of the UK’s most famous landscapes – elements of which can still be seen today. The National Heritage Memorial Fund exists to save the UK’s most outstanding heritage and make it publicly accessible, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. We are delighted to count the Nesfield Archive as part of the growing collection of UK heritage that belongs to all of us forever.”
A public programme of talks and events will be held to celebrate and delve deeper into this historically significant collection, starting with a talk on the 4th of February 2025, in collaboration with The Gardens Trust. Gardener and landscape historian Ben Dark will discuss the significance of the Nesfields and their style, with some of the archive being made available to view for attendees.
The archive will be held in the Garden Museum’s Archive of Garden Design, which preserves and provides access to the working records of leading British garden designers. Material from the collection will be available (by appointment) to view in The Foyle Study Room, at the Garden Museum. A selection of highlights from the archive will also be displayed amongst the museum’s permanent exhibits. It will soon be possible to search the collection through their online catalogue, which the Garden Museum aims to release shortly.