Staine Hundred
The March Meeting was well attended to hear Ms Twigs Way talk about "John
Loudon and the Histon Road Cemetery". Even though most had never heard of
him before, all enjoyed the lively and informative talk about a man who lived
from 1783 to 1843, and is rated as one of the four greatest gardeners of his
time. He was born in Lanarkshire, and even at an early age was a workaholic,
leaving school at 14 to work in Edinburgh Nurseries, where he stayed awake two
nights a week to learn as there was not enough hours in the day!
At the age of 20, he moved to London where most head gardeners were Scottish and employed others from Scotland to work with them. He wrote copiously about gardening: books, magazines and pamphlets. He had rheumatic fever which physically affected him and he later had both an arm and leg amputated, but it never stopped him writing and designing gardens. His plans for the "Lungs of London" which included large green belts around the industrial parts, were ahead of his time and he was particularly interested in the London Squares and parks and providing green spaces where the poorer people could go.
Having read "Gardening for Ladies", he asked to meet the author and was surprised to find it was a young lady in her twenties, and at the age of 47 he married her. He sent her to be trained, and she continued to write about gardening for ladies in a magazine until she was replaced by a male author. They had one daughter Agnes.
Loudon became particularly interested in the design of cemeteries which he thought should be a place of education with all the trees named as in an arboretum and where one could learn about architecture from the tombs. He was asked to design History Road Cemetery and drew up plans which had an avenue of trees round the edge and a central avenue which contained over 2,000 holly trees, 114 pines, 18 cedars, 76 yews and 200 spruces. He said that multiple burials should only be allowed if there were 6 feet between the different layers, which would have meant burying the first one 24 feet under ground - not a task that many gravediggers would be willing to do! He also said that there should be no tombs above ground level, but the Committee who needed to run the cemetery at a profit did not agree to either of these proposals. In particular they needed to attract some of the middle class Dissenters who would not want to be buried in a churchyard and would want to leave their mark with an impressive tomb. The lodge stood just inside the gates, and the area nearest Histon Road was left for the growing of flowers by the lodge keeper who could thus sell them to the visitors and would not need so much in the way of wages. Loudon even suggested that this area could be sold off for housing at some future date. The central chapel was taken down by the council soon after WW II.
The next meeting is on April 21st when Mrs Donna Martin will talk about "Soham and its Abbey".