Photo Gallery
1 Dec 2026, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool (1863): Edward Kemp’s formal layout strove for solemnity and grandeur (Liverpool Echo)
The British Cemetery: Architecture, Landscape, Sculpture (Liverpool University Press, on behalf of Historic England), traces the evolution of the British cemetery from its roots in the churchyard and the fashionable landscape garden, through its full flowering as a new kind of designed ground in the nineteenth century, to the burial landscapes of today.
Drawing on more than seventy years of combined research and conservation experience, Elliott and Bowdler range across the British Mainland tracing how cemeteries became stages for family identity and social standing. The talk will also look forward to the natural burial movement and to cemetery design for Muslim burial practice, bringing the story right up to date.
Chairing the discussion is Todd Longstaff-Gowan, landscape historian and garden designer, who will draw out the connections between cemetery design and the wider traditions of British landscape and garden-making.
Please note that our talks now begin at 6:30pm, rather than 7pm, giving you more time to enjoy dinner at our award-winning Garden Museum Cafe. Table reservations are available here. Your talk ticket also includes entry to the Garden Museum’s temporary exhibitions from 6pm on the evening of the talk.
Brent Elliott spent 40 years working at the Royal Horicultural Society’s Lindley Library, for 25 of them as chief librarian, and for the last 10 as historian. During that time he also served as a committee member of the Victorian Society, the Garden History Society, and English Heritage, His books and articles deal primarily with garden history, the history of botany, and the history of botanical art; the books range from Victorian Gardens (1986) to The British Cemetery: Architecture, Landscape, Sculpture (2026, with Roger Bowdler). He edited Garden History from 1985 to 1988.
Roger Bowdler worked at English Heritage/Historic England from 1909 to 2018, ending as Director of Listing. He is now a Partner at Montagu Evans LLP, advising cilents on heritage matters. He has been chairman of the Mausolea and Monuments Trust, a council member of the Church Monuments Society and a Commissioner of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
Todd Longstaffe-Gowan is a landscape architect with an international design practice based in London. He is Gardens Adviser to Historic Royal Palaces, President of the London Gardens Trust, and the author of several books, including English Garden Eccentrics (2022) and Lost Gardens of London (2024) which accompanied the eponymous exhibition at the Garden Museum. Todd is a Trustee of the Cholmondeley Gardens Trust.