Stunning archive of park images opens to public for new perspective

Organisers of an historic archive holding thousands of images of parks and gardens are inviting people to send in their own images and contribute to the collection this summer.

The Historic England Archive is calling on people to add a new perspective to these heritage viewpoints by uploading their own photographs of the parks alongside the historic images to show the changes and similarities.

The archive includes a collection of historic public park postcards from the collection of artist Nigel Temple.

Mr Temple was an artist, postcard collector, antiquarian and an authority on garden design throughout his life between 1929 and 2003.

He contributed to a number of journals on architecture, archaeology and garden history, and was registrar of research for the Garden History Society.

The collection consists of seven series, the largest and most important of which is the collection of postcards showing public parks and gardens.

Rachel Prothero, Historic England’s head of content, said: “The Nigel Temple Collection of postcards gives us a wonderful snapshot of a moment past in some of the beautiful parks and gardens to be found across the country. 

“We’d love for people to add their photographs of the same locations so we can see how these cherished landscapes look today and add to their story.”

A number of South London parks feature in the archive, including Brockwell Park, Peckham Rye Park, Battersea Park, Wimbledon Park and South Park Gardens in Wimbledon.

Historic England’s Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England was established 40 years ago and now features more than 1,700 sites. 

It includes gardens, public parks and other planned open spaces such as town squares, cemeteries and hospital landscapes.

Pictured top: Clockwise from top left, images of Battersea Park, Ruskin Park, Peckham Rye Park and Myatt’s Fields Park (Picture: Historic England Archive)