This talk is based on William Wilshere’s Farm and Gardening Memoranda, spanning the years 1809 to 1824, supplemented by information from his cash books, bills and a journal and planting book started by his gardener, James Bowie, in 1812. Bowie left Wilshere in August 1814 when he was sent by Sir Joseph Banks on a plant hunting expedition to Brazil.
Wilshere’s purchase in 1801 of a substantial share in Samuel Whitbread’s brewery provided him with a large income. In his extensive garden he built a peach house, cultivated exotic fruit and flowers and a wide range of vegetables, as well as raising thousands of trees, quick thorn, and shrubs in his tree nursery, both for his own estates and for sale to owners of landscape parks.

Bridget Howlett enjoyed a long career as an archivist at London Metropolitan Archives and has lived in Hitchin for over forty years. She is a member of the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust and the Hitchin Historical Society and has written and talked on the town’s past. William Wilshere’s Hitchin Garden and Farm 1809-1824 is expected to be published in 2023.

Please note that:
• Tickets for the talks at Woolmer Green Village Hall can only be purchased online via Eventbrite and will not be available on the door. Each event capacity is 40.
• Doors will open at 2.15pm for a 2.30pm start and refreshments will only be available before the talk starts.
• Unfortunately, it will not be possible to record the ‘live’ lectures.