The Mill Hill Peter Collinson Heritage Garden

On Thursday 21st June 2018 the fulfilment of an inspiration and an aspiration dating back to 2010 was achieved.

The Peter Collinson Heritage Garden was officially opened before an invited audience of distinguished guests, members of staff and Old Millhillians.

The Guest of Honour was Mr Joel Fry, Curator of Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia USA. Other guests included Lord Petre of Ingatestone Hall, the 18th Baron Petre and descendant of the 8th Baron Petre, Robert James, a close friend of Collinson, Dr Sandra Knapp, President of the Linnean Society of London, Mr Andy Mills, Head Gardener of The Painshill Park Trust, Dr Henry Oakeley, Director of the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians and several members of the Mill Hill Preservation Society who were involved in this project at its inception.

It was a beautifully warm summer’s day which put the garden in a very good light. The event was hosted by Mrs King who welcomed all those present before inviting the reading of an abridged version of Andrew Marvell’s poem, The Garden, by Sophia Lyndon-Stanford (?House). This set the scene before Dr Russell Cowan, Chair of the Project Team, addressed the audience, giving details of the history of the project, while acknowledging those whose inspiration this was, namely Jacqui Maynard, an amateur botanist and historian, and Roddy Braithwaite, OM, historian and author, both in the audience. Those who had provided the financial support for the project were thanked, including those organisations and individuals who had made donations. In this regard it was appropriate in the light of a generous donation that the OMC was well represented by the Chairman, the immediate past Chairman and the President.

Special thanks were given to the two experts employed by the Project Team, namely Sam Crosfield, garden designer, and Karen Bridgman, historic plants expert and horticulturist. Their contributions had been paramount in making this aspiration a reality such that the Heritage Garden is planted with 52 of the 182 species of plants, shrubs and trees introduced into the British Isles during his lifetime by Collinson. Each of these 52 species was sourced and planted by Mrs Bridgman.

Dr Cowan then provided a brief history of Peter Collinson FRS, born into a wealthy family of cloth merchants in 1694, and he went on to describe Collinson’s increasing significance as a gardener and amateur botanist throughout his life, helped by his wide range of influential friends and contacts, including Carl Linnaeus, Sir Hans Sloane, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Miller of the Chelsea Physic Garden and, perhaps most importantly, John Bartram, fellow Quaker, farmer and lover of all things horticultural while living outside Philadelphia. He was introduced to Collinson by Benjamin Franklin in 1730 by when he had already begun to lay out his botanical garden on his farm at Kingsessing Creek.

Collinson’s connection to Mill Hill dated from 1749 when he moved from Peckham into Ridge Way House with its eight acres of land, transplanting painstakingly all his much treasured plants and shrubs from his south London garden. Ridge Way House was to be-come the building in which Mill Hill School was established in 1807. The location of the Heritage Garden is essentially that of Collinson’s “Best Garden” where he planted his plants and shrubs, many grown from seeds or cuttings sent to him by Bartram, while what is now Top Terrace and beyond was called “The Field” and was planted with many of the trees he introduced into this country, some of which exist to this day. He lived in Ridge Way House until his death in 1768, leaving his widow who had inherited the house from her father, and a very significant horticultural legacy. staff. The Visitors’ Guide and the Catalogue of Plants will be available to them in Reception. Exceptions to these arrangements include Old Millhillians Day when the garden will be open for unaccompanied access and can be entered from Top Terrace, and official and social gatherings to which OMs may be invited and are to be held in the garden.

Mr Fry then showed himself to be a scholar of matters relating to John Bartram by giving us considerable detailed information and insight into the friendship enjoyed by Collinson and Bartram well over 30 years of transatlantic exchanges. Boxes of seeds, cuttings and other naturalistic items were sent by Bartram while Collinson sent in return books, clothes, cloth and money. The rate paid for each box was 5 guineas and their contents were purchased by landed gentry such as Lord Petre, the Duke of Richmond and the Duke of Bedford. They never met but their friendship and respect for each other never wavered through their mutual interest and respect.

After presenting Mrs King with a gift from Bartram’s Garden, including seeds of Collinsonia canadensis, the only plant to named after Collinson, Mr Fry officially opened the garden by cutting the ribbon tied around the commemorative sign that is a permanent fixture within the garden. He later planted a Magnolia tripetala tree, also introduced into this country by Collinson, on Top Terrace in the vacant location left by a Pin Oak planted by Collinson and dying only two years ago.

After an excellent and beautifully presented buffet lunch in the Crick Room for the guests and members of staff, a group of them joined Trevor Chilton, past Head of Biology and Housemaster of Collinson, as well as an invaluable member of the Project Team, in a tour of the grounds to view some of the estate’s most unusual and historic trees, several of which were survivors from Collinson’s time.

Old Millhillians are welcome to visit the garden but this must be by prior arrangement via the Head’s PA, Nina Coltman Leigh. Visitors will need to report to Reception to be signed in and will be accompanied to the garden by a member of

It is a credit to the Foundation that the Mill Hill Peter Collinson Heritage Garden is the only commemorative garden to this remarkable man whose contribution to British horticulture is still felt 250 years after his death and has helped shape the nature and style of gardens in this country and throughout the world to this day.