Elisabeth Whittle

Elisabeth Whittle
The recreated Tudor garden at Tretower Court designed by Whittle
Education	Master of Arts
Occupations	Author Historian
Years active	1993–present
Known for	Garden historian
Notable work	Book: Historic Gardens of Wales: An Introduction to Parks and Gardens in the History of Wales

Elisabeth Whittle is a garden historian from Wales. A former president of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust and a trustee of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, her published works include studies of the historic gardens of Wales and of the history of Glamorgan and Gwent. She is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Career

For twenty-one years Whittle worked for Cadw, the Welsh historic environment agency as their Inspector of Historic Parks, Gardens and Landscapes. She retired in 2014.[1][2] She is a former president of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust and is a trustee of the National Botanic Garden of Wales.[1] Whittle, the holder of a Master of Arts degree and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London,[3] lived in Usk, Monmouthshire for many years,[2] but moved to Wilburton, Cambridgeshire in 2019.[4] Following her relocation, Whittle took on the chair of the Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust.[5]

Whittle was a member of the Garden History Society from the early 1980s and between 1989 and 1997 co-edited, with Jane Crawley, their journal Garden History.[6][7] She has a particular interest in Tudor and Stuart gardens.[8] In 1991 she re-created the 15th-century garden of Sir Roger Vaughan at Tretower Court in Powys, Wales.[9] She also discovered evidence of the 17th-century appearance of the gardens at Raglan Castle, now destroyed, which has been published in the Cadw guidebook.[10]

In 1994 Whittle led work on the compilation of the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales to assist owners, developers and planners to manage the country's landscape heritage.[11] She became a trustee of the Hobson's Conduit Trust in 2018 and vice-chair in 2020.[12] John Newman, author of the Gwent/Monmouthshire volume in the Pevsner Buildings of Wales series, recorded his debt to Whittle in the foreword to his work.[13]

Selected works

• Historic Gardens of Wales: An Introduction to Parks and Gardens in the History of Wales (1992) ISBN 9780117015784 (OCLC 60058597)[14]
• Guide to Ancient & Historic Wales: Glamorgan and Gwent (1992) ISBN 9780117012219 (OCLC 30739843).[15]

References

1. "Elizabeth Whittle". Botanicgarden. National Botanic Garden of Wales. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
2. Williams, Sally (9 April 2014). "Tudor estates paved the way for prized gardens of Monmouthshire". WalesOnline. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
3. "Area Committee Grant 2016 Application Form - Nelson Garden Preservation Trust" (PDF). Monmouthshire Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
4. "New CGT Chair". Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
5. "Council of Management". Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
6. Garden History Society (2003). News. Garden History Society. p. 4. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
7. "Journal". The Gardens Trust. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
8. Whittle, Elisabeth (2016). "The earliest recorded tomato in Britain, in Wales". Australian Garden History. 28 (2): 21–23.
9. Landsberg, Sylvia (1 January 2003). The Medieval Garden. University of Toronto Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-8020-8660-0. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
10. "Guide book recreates the lost gardens of Raglan Castle". WalesOnline. 25 October 2003. Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
11. "Local crop of parks, Gardens". South Wales Echo. 10 May 1994. p. 14.
12. "Trust". Hobson's Conduit Trust. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
13. Newman, John (2000). Gwent/Monmouthshire. Pevsner Architectural Guides. London: Penguin Books. Foreword. ISBN 9780140710533. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
14. Whittle, Elisabeth (1992). The historic gardens of Wales : an introduction to parks and gardens in the history of Wales. Cardiff: Cadw. ISBN 9780117015784. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
15. Guide to Ancient & Historic Wales: Glamorgan and Gwent. Cardiff: Cadw. 1992. ISBN 9780117012219.