Comments on: Please change the inappropriate planting design in Salisbury Cathedral cloister "garden"

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:26:13 +0000

Thank you, Adam, for your thoughts on this interesting and important topic. I can't give a general answer but some of the points I would take into consideration are: 1) there should, at the least, be one example of a cloister in Europe where the grass is managed in whatever manner historians think is most likely to have been used when the garth was formed 2) despite the 'domestic' use of the arcades, I think of the garth as a 'sacred space' and believe it should be managed in this way. The purest example I know of is the shrine of Ise Jingu. 3) when thinking about a modern treatment of a cloister garth, one needs to make assessment of its QUALITY and IMPORTANCE. I regard Salisbury Cloister as being of high quality and therefore of great importance 4) the Large Cloister of Westminster Abbey does not seem to me of the same quality or importance. It has no use and little beauty. So, while not recommending a modern treatment, here or anywhere, I think it would be better suited to Westminster Large Cloister than to Salisbury Cloister or Canterbury Cloister. 5) I guess the Small Cloister at Westminster is of even less historic importance but (a) it is more beautiful than the Large Cloister (b) the locked gates give it pleasing sense of sacred seclusion 6) Umberto Eco wrote that 'The green turf which is in the middle of the medieval cloister refershes encloistered eyes and their desire to study returns'. One cannot have this experience if tourists are frolicing on a mown lawn or eating ice creams.

By: Adam Hodge

Adam Hodge — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:15:18 +0000

This subject Tom has raised begs some interesting questions. Should landscaping around such fine ancient ecclesiastical buildings strictly reflect the architecture, thereby preserving the genre, or be landscaped to more satisfy economic pressures as Edward has highlighted and Tom has recommended. Would a simple cloistered planting be acceptable or even a very modern style, as has been done at the front of St Aldates [Saxon] church in the centre of Oxford [opposite Christchurch College.]

In France at Abbaye de Royaumont there is a mix of ancient and modern landscape styles and it is most agreeable.

If Architects can justify adding futuristic additions or modifications to these ancient buildings is it not consistent to also allow modernistic styles of landscaping as well ?

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:29:23 +0000

Thank you for your comments. I am pleased to hear from Edward that things are going to change – but I disagree with Elephant’s Eye about the shrubs: they should not be there. A much better, and more historically appropriate, and cheaper, way of making the garth floriferous is to manage the ‘grass’ as a wildflower meadow – as Prince Charles is doing at Highgrove but for lower-growing species.

By: Edward Probert

Edward Probert — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:15:46 +0000

I am pleased to reassure you that Salisbury Cathedral is well on the case with this. I chair its Landscape Committee and we expressed concerns about this some months ago, and have since been working out ways to more satisfactory arrangements. Things always move slowly around cathedrals, partly because of chronic financial stringency, and also because much of our work is delivered by volunteers, whose feelings and goodwill deserve to be respected. I am hopeful that the above post by Mr Turner will be irrelevant within the reasonably near future.

By: Elephant's Eye

Elephant's Eye — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:12:25 +0000

At first glance, the shrubs are OK, even attractive. But the posts? Weird!