The transformation of Greenwich Park is progressing rapidly now.
The landscape that we see today was developed by Charles II and is the work of several people: André Mollet, Sir William Boreman, and Le Nôtre.[1]
Andre Mollet
André Mollet advocated ‘extensive axial avenues and walks laid out in exact proportions…a great Walk of double or treble rank, either of female Elms, or of Lime Trees.’[2] He worked for Charles II on other sites and surely he would have influenced the king’s thinking and
Sir William Boreman was Clerk to the Royal household and responsible for implementing the king’s plans for the restoration of Greenwich Park. He started planting the avenues in the 1660s.[3] The long avenues included 6,000 elms and many Spanish chestnuts.[4]
The Great Steps
Sir William Boreman was also responsible for The Great Steps which were terraces sloping down from the Tower on top of the hill and lined up with the Queen’s House. Each was 40 yards wide and there were hawthorn trees on both sides.
Or was the designer Le Notre? Information is conflicting and unclear.
Charles II wanted a cascade down the steps which made me think of La Granja, near Madrid.
Grass steps?
I amy be wrong, but I believe the terraces are to be grassed – so how will they retain their sharp edges? Might it have been possible to ‘finish’ Charles II’s vision and create hard landscaping with a cascade?
[1] The plan by Le Notre, the outline of which is just visible on Google Maps: https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/greenwich-park-revealed/heritage/landscape-restoration-project/the-trees-of-greenwich-park/the-grand-plan
[2] Couch, Sarah M: The Practice of Avenue Planting in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Garden History, Vol.20, no.2, p.174; http://www.jstor.or
[3] Avenues in Greenwich Park: https://www.londongardenstrust.org/features/Greenwichrevealed.htm
[4] Aslet, Clive: The Story of Greenwich, 1999, Fourth Estate, p.114