Restoration Within Reach for Iconic Gardens at Chiswick

Chiswick House, September 2005 The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced that it has earmarked £7.9 million as part of a £12.1 million project to restore the gardens at Chiswick House. The bid, submitted in October 2005, is backed by a Trust formed to drive forward the improvements, as well as by English Heritage and the London Borough of Hounslow.  

The HLF money is vital if the decline of the gardens, a result of decades of wear and tear in this enormously popular public park, is to be halted. With Stage 1 approval, the bid team can begin work on drawing up the detailed plans, for a Stage 2 submission to the HLF in Autumn 2006.

Pyrotechnics in Chiswick House Amphitheatre, 2005 Carole Souter, Director of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "Chiswick House and Gardens is a hugely popular and much-used local landmark. This major boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund will not only help safeguard the future of these beautiful gardens but will also attract many more visitors and volunteers to enjoy them."

The gardens are an invaluable resource for local people, with space for children to play, for sports and dog walking, but they are also of enormous historical significance. The design of Chiswick House in the 1720s by Lord Burlington ignited international enthusiasm for its neo-Palladian style of architecture, and with his layout for the gardens, William Kent inspired the English Landscape style, a fashion that swept the world.

After Burlington’s death the gardens at Chiswick continued to evolve through the work of some of the most significant garden designers of their time. As the home of successive members of Lord Burlington’s family, including Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Chiswick House welcomed scores of significant guests including the musician Handel, the politician Charles James Fox, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. 

The project will revitalise and restore the historic gardens, landscapes will be replanted, miles of paths will be repaired, and access for the many people who visit every year will be improved alongside the provision of much better information about the site. There are proposals for a new café, education facilities and a play area for children as well as the restoration of historic buildings like the Conservatory and the gardens’ many features and statues. All this will be delivered without compromising the principle that the gardens will always remain free to the public. English Heritage manages Chiswick House on behalf of the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport and this project is a flagship in the Government’s drive to engage new audiences.

Rupert Hambro, Chairman of the Chiswick House and Gardens Trust, said today: “This is a very exciting day for Chiswick House and Gardens. We have the opportunity to do something really special and make this iconic site secure and sustainable for future generations to enjoy.

“After many years of development, we are delighted to have received approval for the outline plans, but much of the hard work is still to do. We will now be pulling together the detailed proposals for the next stage of the bid, and we will need help and input from local people to do that. We want to make sure the gardens are once again as magical as when they were first laid out nearly 300 years ago, while also creating a public park fit for the wide range of visitors who enjoy it today.”

Local opinion has been sought by the project team throughout the development of the proposals and will be particularly important as the Stage 2 submission is drawn up. Consultation will be carried out using workshops, tours and questionnaires before the plans are finalised.  If successful, the funds could be awarded in Spring 2007.