AGM 2022

We are delighted that our guest speaker will be James Mackay, Chairman of the Warwick Society.  We are also pleased that we are returning to the same venue as last year, Hill Close Gardens.

Hill Close Gardens are the sole surviving group of detached Victorian pleasure garden plots with public access in the UK. And they were only saved because of the efforts of local people.

The Gardens were created on the outskirts of Warwick in 1845 in order to rent to local tradesmen and their families (who would have lived above their town centre shops with no gardens of their own).  They were divided into separate plots which developed characters as individual as their tenants:  some with summerhouses, lawns and garden ponds; others with vegetables or fruit trees (60 varieties of apples and 11 varieties of pear still grow there); and some even housing pigs.  Being on the edge of towns, such gardens were prime sites for suburban development and by 1993 planning permission had been granted for 30 houses on the few surviving plots at Hill Close Gardens. But local pressure succeeded in halting the development, with four of the summerhouses being listed as Grade II and the gardens themselves eventually being registered as a Grade II* site of Special Historic Interest.

If you can come to the AGM early you will be able to explore these fascinating gardens before the meeting starts.  There should also be time for a stroll around afterwards.  

We look forward to seeing you once more.