Georgian Garden Buildings (Shire Library)

Georgian garden buildings often seem monuments to rich mens' folly and whimsy, but they always had a purpose, whether functional or ornamental. Today they are valued for their social history and their key place in the history of architecture and landscape design, as well as often for their sheer beauty or quirkiness.

This glossary of Georgian garden buildings introduces their place in architectural and landscape history. It then explains the purpose and form of individual types in the context of the English landscape garden, perhaps the greatest contribution that these islands have made to the visual arts worldwide. These buildings were at their zenith through the long eighteenth century (1688-1837) and took on a huge and surprising variety of shapes, styles and uses. The book looks at each of 30 types in all their variety - from Arches to Towers via Columns, Hermitages and Rotundas. As well as their appearance their use was just as important. Did Hermitages really house hermits? What was the point of a sham castle or Gothic ruin?

Sarah Rutherford is a Kew-trained gardener with an MA in the conservation of historic parks and gardens, and a PhD on the landscapes of nineteenth-century lunatic asylums. She worked for English Heritage assessing over 250 sites across England for the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, becoming Head of the Register. During this time she visited many Georgian landscape gardens and has studied still more as an enthusiastic freelance consultant researching and writing conservation plans for parks and gardens. She lives in Bucks, where she gardens and is Vice Chairman of the Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust.

Jonathan Lovie is an historian who has worked for English Heritage. Today he is a freelance landscape consultant and also serves as the Conservation Officer for The Garden History Society.