An Introduction
The National Pinetum was established jointly by the Forestry Commission and
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1924. The transference of the Bedgebury Beat
in 1924 consisted of 2335.3 acres ( 945.09 hectares ). A further 5.8 acres (
or 2.35 hectares )were transferred on 1.12.37 to form an extension to the Pinetum,
giving .a total area of 2341.1 acres ( 947.43 hectares). The poor soils and
air pollution from London made Kew an unsuitable site for a new conifer collection.
Ideally it was to be within a day's travel from London.
Bedgebury Forest with its scots pines of various ages, sweet chestnut coppice
with oaks and some small conifer plantations was eventually chosen as the most
suitable. The area included streams in valleys, a lake, marshy parts and drier'
ridges. A previous owner between 1850 and 1870 planted ornamental conifers near
the lake and other vantage points. He also established an avenue of Lawson cypresses.
All these known qualities made it a promising site for developing a landscaped
` conifer collection. The first trees, raised from seed at Kew, were planted
in 1925 after some clearance of the woodland. In 1965 Bedgebury became the sole
responsibility of The-Forestry Commission, though close links with Kew Royal
Botanic Garden are maintained through representation of the Bedgebury Advisory
Committee .
Purposes of the Pinetum
The word "pinetum" ( pronounced Py-knee-tum ) means a collection of pine trees
or more generally conifers. In contrast an "arboretum" is a tree collection
including both conifers and broadleaves. The main purpose of Bedgebury Pinetum
is to develop and maintain a comprehensive collection of conifers that can be
grown in Britain. Emphasis is placed on trees of known natural origins and on
authenticated cultivars or varieties. The Pinetum thus forms a reference collection
for the use of foresters, botanists, horticulturists and members of the public.
The Pinetum plays its part in testing and conserving new introductions into
Britain and assessing their capabilities in our climate.
The Pinetum has been laid out so that the form, colour and texture of mature
conifers can readily be seen. The Pinetum provides a valuable educational resource,
particularly for school parties but also for students of forestry, arboriculture,
horticulture and related subjects. Not least of course it provides quiet enjoyment
for members of the public in its grassy avenues, the long vistas, the many unusual
trees and shrubs and the wealth of birdlife.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Manor of Bedgebury is a very old one, first mentioned in a deed of Kenwulf,
King of Mercia in A.D.815. Its large woodland area has remained continuously
under forest through the centuries to the present day. The Manor was owned by
six generations of the de Bedgebury family from Norman times to about 1450.
It passed through marriage to seven generations of Colepepers ( Culpeppers )
who were prominent in the politics of Tudor and Stuart times.. They lived in
the original Manor house built where the Great Lake is today and their family
monuments are in Goudhurst church. In August 1573 Queen Elizabeth was a guest
there during her perambulation of Kent and knighted the then owner Alexander
Colepepper. The estate was sold in about 1680 to Sir James Hayes who had gained
his fortune from a wrecked Spanish galleon and built the red brick manor on
its present site. In later years the Great Lake was created by damming the stream.
The Manor passed through several owners until bought in 1836 by Viscount Lord
Beresford, a Field Marshal under the Duke of Wellington in the Spanish Peninsular
wars. He encased the red brick house with local sandstone from Priors Heath
quarry nearby, adding a parapet and two wings. Lord Beresford married Louisa
Hope, daughter of Lord Decies, Louisa Lodge, Louisa Lake and Ladies Lake are
named after her. He improved the estate, creating from i840 to 1848'~the village
of Kilndown, with the building of the church, school, vicarage and three lodges,
Beresford and Bedgebury Lodges in local stone, and Keepers Lodge ( now in the
centre of the Pinetum renamed Park House ) built in brick with some local stone.
Bricks were made by hand from the local clay and may be associated with the
hornbeam coppice still present locally, a good fuel wood for heating brick kilns.
From 1850 the estate staff increased and at one time there were 40 gardeners.
More housing for them meant the growth of Kilndown and Bedgebury hamlet.
Further estate expansion was ordered by Lord Beresford's successor, his stepson
Alexander James Beresford-Hope whose wife was Lady Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil. "Lady
Mildred's Drive" is the level track from Marshall's Lake through the Pinetum
still lined with some of the Lawson cypresses planted to mark the drive ( for
coach and horses ) through the forest to Bedgebury Lodge, which still stands
beside the A21 London road in Flimwell.
In 1855 A.J. Beresford-Hope's large growing family needed extra servants in
the house. So two top storeys were added . Home Farm was built with smithy,
barns and a brick-walled vegetable garden. Further from the house was built
the brick-walled fruit garden now the car park for the Pinetum. Long before
1860 ornamental trees were planted around the three lakes. A guest at Bedgebury
Park, Rev.B.Webb, wrote in his diary on 13/12/1860 that he walked in the Pinetum!
By the 1890s the family fortune was exhausted. A sale catalogue prepared in
1897 contains references to the landscaped pinetum and lakes; the new owner
was a London financier, Mr I.Lewis. The 1914-1918 war added to the estate's
deterioration. The main estate was purchased by the Crown in 1919 for forestry
purposes, while the house in its parkland was purchased by the Church Educational
Corporation to become a girl's school, which. it still is today. In -1924 Bedgebury
Forest was transferred to the Forestry Commission and the present area of the
Pinetum and Forest Plots was set aside to establish a national conifer collection.
FORMATION OF THE PINETUM
Alarm over the poor condition of the coniferous trees at Kew in 1920 was made
.worse by lack of money for improvements. Sir John Stirling Maxwell,Bt.,. then
a Forestry Commissioner, suggested to the late Sir Arthur :Hill of Kew the possible
formation of a new Pinetum on Forestry Commission land, undertaken jointly with
Kew. The project was approved by the then Forestry Commission Chairman, Lord
Lovat. The late Lord Robinson and Sir Arthur Hill .were asked to find a suitable
site, and after inspecting several possible locations Bedgebury was selected
as the most suitable.
During the clearing of the standing timber and coppice, numerous trees and small
coppice areas were retained for landscape and shelter. Most of the specimen
conifers were kept with groups of Scots pine , some isolated oaks, hollies,
and many large masses of rhododendron were also kept for appearance and shelter.
The first plants had been raised at Kew from 1921 and many representative species
of most genera were planted in the first two years, 1925 and 1926. Some of these
are now very big trees, but the first few years were not favourable to newly
planted trees with dry springtime's and hard frosts at damaging times. There
were many losses, and except for larches very poor growth. 1929 was the first
favourable year, but also the start of depression times with little money to
care properly for the trees. Between 1930 and 1935 many of the old retained
trees blew down and 19 degrees Fahrenheit of frost on May l7th 1935 damaged
many young trees. 47 degrees of frost on January 20th 1940 did tremendous damage.
One effect is still marked, the lack of trees of true cypresses( Cupressus )
surviving from the early plantings. All but three -in the whole Pinetum were
killed by this frost.
The Pinetum forms a unique collection with species of areas, as far as possible,
planted in associated families ( e.g.: 2 needled pines ) . The collection forms
a living index, the only place in the World as far as we know, planted on scientific
grounds. Knowledge of each individual species and its potential: was needed
to position them to every advantage. Fortunately the layout and early planning
of avenues, vistas and groups.-:were undertaken with great skill by Mr W.Dallimore,
a notable botanist who had retired from Kew. He planned and supervised the work
until 1945 , mostly . under great difficulties, in the early years .from inadequate
,funds and war-time-conditions. This work would- -have been of little result
without A the :::able assistance of Mr W.Castle at Bedgebury. The beauty :of
the landscaping and the success of the trees, despite; severe climatic conditions
is due largely to these two men. Mr Dallimore served many more, years on the
advisory committee and wrote extensively on the Pinetum.
RECENT HISTORY
Until the early 1960s visitor to the Pinetum were relatively few. With increasing
pressure on the narrow forest road to Park House the present walled car park
was acquired. It was opened in June 1965 with access through farm fields to
Thornhill, a coppice area on the west of the Pinetum. This coppice was cleared
in 1965/66 and planted with various species including the shelter-belt of Leyland
cypress. Parts of Dallimore's Avenue and the bank to the east of it had long
been saturated by a series of springs. The largest of these were piped successfully
in 1967 and improved the drainage and growth of the spruces.
In 1967 the Lawson cypress extension was started to accommodate the many new
varieties of the North American tree which were being raised in European nurseries.
The A.W.Westall Collection of dwarf and slow growing conifers was started in
1970 in what was a rhododendron thicket. It has been extended over the last
10 years into part of the Yew Bank and contains a good range of dwarf conifers.
Some of the smallest dwarf conifers are displayed opposite the visitor centre,
adjacent to the Pinetum's planting stock holding nursery. This collection was
made by Mr A.W.Westall who was in charge of the Pinetum from 1948 until his
retirement in 1981.
För mer information prova någon av följande länkar!
http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/hort/sctop/Englndtr/scnaegld.htm
http://www.woodhamhall.demon.co.uk/surround/pinetum.html
http://www.villagenet.co.uk/esussex-iron/attractions/bedgebury.html
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Around/regions/se/segardens.asp