Brenda Colvin
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Brenda Colvin
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(1897–1981) was a British
landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...
, author of standard works in the field and a force behind its professionalisation. She was part of the
Colvin family The Colvin family is the family descended from James Colquhoun Colvin (1767–1847), the son of Alexander Colvin (1718–1791) and Elizabeth 'Bettie' née Kennedy (1714–1795). James was a merchant trading between London and Calcutta during the E ...
, which had long ties to the
British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...
.


Biography

Colvin was born in 1897 in India where her father, Sir Elliot Graham Colvin, was a senior administrator in
Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
and
Rajputana Rājputana (), meaning Land of the Rajputs, was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the entire present-day States of India, Indian state of Rajasthan, parts of the neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and adjo ...
. Colvin received her training in
garden design Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of garden, gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expe ...
from
Madeline Agar Madeline Agnes Agar (21 May 1874 – 30 November 1967) was a British landscape designer. She was an early professional female landscape designer in Britain, and responsible for the design and the layout of a number of public gardens across London ...
at
Swanley Horticultural College Swanley Horticultural College, founded in , was a college of horticulture in Hextable, Kent, England. It originally took only male students but by 1894 the majority of students were female and it became a women-only institution in 1903. Early his ...
(now
Hadlow College Hadlow College is a further education, further and higher education college in Hadlow, Kent, England. The curriculum primarily covers land-based subjects including Agriculture, Horticulture, Habitat conservation, Conservation and Wildlife mana ...
, which continues to teach
University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along wi ...
courses in the subject). Agar and Colvin worked together on
Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Co ...
. Colvin set up her own practice in 1922. In the early years of her career, she worked mainly on private gardens and designed nearly 300. In 1969, she was joined by Hal Moggridge as partner; the firm continues under their joint names. Colvin co-founded the Institute of Landscape Architects in 1929 (later the
Landscape Institute The Landscape Institute (LI) is a UK based professional body for the landscape profession. Its membership includes landscape architecture, landscape architects, urban designers, landscape planners, landscape scientists and landscape managers. ...
). She served on its Council for 47 years and became its president in 1951. Colvin wrote ''Land and Landscape'' (1947, revised 1970). In the 1960s Colvin shared an office with
Sylvia Crowe Dame Sylvia Crowe, DBE (15 September 1901 – 30 June 1997) was an English landscape architect and garden designer.Hal Moggridge"Crowe, Dame Sylvia" (1901–1997) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; access ...
, later also president of the ILA (1957–1959). In 1945, immediately after the end of World War II, Colvin offered a room in her Baker Street offices to Crowe from which Crowe could resume a career in private practice. Colvin designed many gardens, including one with the socialite Norah Lindsay at the Manor House in Sutton Courtenay, and one at
Burwarton Burwarton is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. Local governance is provided through the 'grouped' Parish Council for Aston Botterill, Burwarton and Cleobury North. The Parish falls within the Brown Clee Division of the ...
. Colvin also worked on industrial landscaping, siting factories and reservoirs,
New Towns A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
, and created landscapes around the Drakelow C Power Station and the
University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...
. One of her most historically significant garden designs still remains at
Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...
which is now listed, the listing states "''The landscaping of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth campuses, particularly the earlier Penglais campus, is of exceptional historic interest as one of the most important modern landscaping schemes in Wales...One section of the Penglais campus was designed by the well known landscape architect Brenda Colvin and is one of the very few of her schemes to have survived. A number of women have played a key role in the development and planting of the whole site.''" Colvin continued her landscape practice into her eighties. Her own garden was at Filkins in the
Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...
in
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
, and is now the office of Colvin and Moggridge. Sometimes the company opens it via the
National Garden Scheme The National Garden Scheme opens privately owned gardens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Channel Islands on selected dates for charity. It was founded in 1927 with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to th ...
. As of 2024, only three of Colvin's gardens are known to remain.


Partial list of listed gardens

*Steeple Manor,
Steeple, Dorset Steeple is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the civil parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in the English county of Dorset. It is situated west of the coastal resort town of Swanage at the foot of Ridgeway Hill. In 2013 the estimated popul ...
(1924, GII) * Sutton Courtenay Manor,
Sutton Courtenay Sutton Courtenay is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire, England. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames south of Abingdon-on-Thames and northwest of Didcot. The 2021 census recorded th ...
, Oxfordshire (1948–51, c.1960 GII) *Morgans Junior School, Hertford, Hertfordshire (1948–49, GII*) * Salisbury Crematorium, Salisbury, Wiltshire (1956–58, GII)


Written work

* ''Trees for Town and Country'', written with Jacqueline Tyrwhitt. London :
Lund Humphries Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham (Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office in B ...
, 1947. * ''Land and Landscape''. London: John Murray, 1948. * ''Wonder in a World''. London: The Cygnet Press, 1977.


Further reading

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colvin, Brenda 1897 births 1981 deaths
Brenda Brenda is a feminine given name in the English language. Origin The overall accepted origin for the female name Brenda is the Old Nordic male name ''Brandr'' meaning both ''torch'' and ''sword'': evidently the male name Brandr took root in areas ...
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English horticulturists English gardeners English landscape architects English garden writers