A Place Called Space: Hill Close gardens

We visited Hill Close Gardens last week. This was my first visit even though we have lived in the area for many years now. The history is fascinating.

The gardens are rare survivors of Victorian detached gardens (once found in many urban areas) used by townsfolk who lived above their businesses in the town centre and had nowhere to grow flowers, fruit or vegetables in their small back yards. In the mid-1840s the owner of Hill Close divided his land into 32 plots and rented them out to the townspeople to be used as detached gardens. The plots were laid out with hedges, entrances, paths and summer houses or sheds. There were fruit trees and ornamental planting.

The summer houses were mostly wooden but some were later built in brick. By 1860 the plots had been sold freehold to individual families and this has contributed to their survival, as has lack of road access. Only 16 plots remain today, as land was sold off for housing in Edwardian times.

Some owners cultivated their own plots but others rented them out.

The gardens continued be cultivated until after WWII when Warwick District Council began to buy up the plots for housing. When diggers were seen entering the area in early 1990s, a local resident alerted the neighbourhood and that was the start of the rescue of Hill Close Gardens, with one of the deciding factors being the designation of four of the summer houses as Grade 2 listed buildings. The site was listed later that year.

Each plot has a plaque that tells you its history. Plot 16: 'An early occupier of this plot was Thomas Gibbs of the Rose and Crown, Market Place. In 1867 it was sold to Samuel Cooper who had lodged at 44 Friars Street but subsequently lived at 23 The Butts. He was a printer and had retired by 1891. After a number of short tenancies it was bought in 1916 by Henry Bartlett, a baker and flour dealer of 25 Market Place. In 1953 the garden was sold to Jim Smith, a local greengrocer who also owned plot 19. Bought by WDC in 1992.