The history of the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall, is well known. The young gardeners marched into the Great War, many never to return, and the gardens declined into brambles until rediscovered by Sir Tim Smit over 30 years ago. Recently, I visited the newly-opened RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford, Greater Manchester. After buying a coffee at the magnificent
I wondered about the gardeners here. Did they suffer the same fate as the young men of Heligan? Delayed by the pandemic, RHS Garden Bridgewater (www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/ bridgewater) took six years to develop, finally opening in May 2021. It was created from the former gardens of Worsley New Hall, originally owned by the earls of Ellesmere (Egerton Estate). Built in the 1840s, gardener’s cottage, home for 50 years to venerable head gardener William Barber Upjohn until his death aged 96 in June 1936, Worsley New Hall itself fell into decline after World War Two and was demolished during the 1940s.
