Wisley Gardens, Woking, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

IN 1878, Glebe Farm was bought by George Fergusson Wilson (1822-1902), a London businesssman well known as a grower of fruit and orchids, who lived nearby at Heatherbank in Weybridge. Wilson established an experimental garden on part of the land, influenced by the writings of William Robinson (1838-1935) (Country Life 1897). He received practical assistance from Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) who wrote that 'He was kind enough to let me come and do actual spade work with him' (Jekyll 1937), and who commented, 'I have had the happiness of visiting Mr G F Wilson's garden at Wisley, a garden which I take to be about the most instructive it is possible to see' (Jekyll 1899). Some 5.5 hectares of the estate, which Wilson renamed Oakwood, was gardened, the remainder being let to a local farmer. Wilson died in 1902, and in 1903, Sir Thomas Hanbury KCVO, a wealthy Quaker and founder of the garden at La Mortola on the Italian Riviera, purchased the 24 hectare estate at Oakwood and donated it to the Royal Horticultural Society for use as an experimental garden and for the encouragement and improvement of scientific horticulture in all its branches. The lease of the Society's former garden at Chiswick, and many of its plants, were sold in March 1904 and the move to Wisley took place in April of that year. The estate at that time consisted of about 7.5 hectares of garden ground and water, about 7.5 hectares of grassland, and about 9 hectares of arable. Since then the Society has progressively enlarged the estate to its present (1999) extent and continues to develop the gardens for the benefit of its members and visitors.