The sequence of space which extends from the River Thames to Blackheath forms a brilliant composition of waterspace, planting, landform and buildings - the finest single work of landscape architecture in London. Yet this wonderful composition has many imperfections.
The Thames frontage is well managed in front of the Old Royal Naval College, but only there. A route from the river to the park was opened in the autumn of 1999. On reaching the park, one finds the Grass Parterre to be sadly neglected and often used for ball games, though it is the only English work by the greatest landscape architect of the seventeenth century (Andre Le Notre). The Giant Steps which once carried the line of the axis up the escarpment have fallen into decay. They were identified in a 1986 book on English Garden Design as one of the three most important garden restoration projects in England. Proceeding into the park one finds a rough and ready municipal attitude to detailed design (see the photographic commentary). There is too much bitumen and too much concrete; an ill-considered mish-mash of construction materials has been used, with granite imported from who-knows-where; the water conduits are shut and dry; the standard of the planting design is shoddy; new trees are spotted about in the absence of an overall strategy. Eventually, one finds the poor deer, for whom the park was made, shut away behind prison camp fencing. Outside the park wall, the standard of detailing and maintenance deteriorates. Blackheath is a desert of mown grass and amateurish design detailing.
The landscape strategy for the World Heritage Site should be based on the principle which Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, a former advisor on the Park, and the greatest European landscape architect of the twentieth century, described as CREATIVE CONSERVATION. This requires:
The diagrams on this display are an example of how the policy of creative conservation might be applied. A worthwhile landscape strategy can only be produced after a well-managed planning and design process. "The resolution of the ethos of history with that of present owner is perhaps the most interesting and compelling challenge in garden design" (Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, 1983).
