Jekyll Memorial | |
---|---|
Type | Memorial |
Location | Busbridge, |
Coordinates | 51°10′37″N 0°36′05″W / 51.1769°N 0.6013°W |
Area | Surrey |
Built | C.1932 |
Architect | Edwin Lutyens |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Jekyll Memorial |
Designated | 1 February 1991 |
Reference no. | 1044532 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | McLaren Headboard |
Designated | 1 February 1991 |
Reference no. | 1188875 |
The Jekyll Memorial, Busbridge, Surrey, England, commemorates the gardener Gertrude Jekyll and members of her family. Designed by Jekyll's friend and collaborator, Edwin Lutyens and constructed in 1932, it is a Grade II listed structure.
Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932) was a gardener whose work had considerable influence on subsequent garden design theory and practice. [1] [2] A close friend of Edwin Lutyens, she collaborated with him on designs for over 100 gardens. [3] In 1896, Lutyens designed Jekyll's house, Munstead Wood, at Munstead Heath near Busbridge. [4] The death of "Aunt Bumps", as Lutyens called Jekyll, in December 1932, shortly after that of her brother Herbert in September the same year, led Lutyens to design a family memorial. Tributes to Dame Agnes, Herbert's widow, who died in 1937, [a] and to Francis, their only son who died in 1965, were subsequently added. [5]
The memorial is located at the south-east corner of the Church of St John the Baptist in Busbridge. It comprises three stone tomb slabs, placed in front of a stone exedra which is topped by a semi-circular urn. Pevsner describes the whole as "an intricate composition, oddly like Soane translated into the blunt obtuse forms of the 1930s". [6] The original inscription read 'In remembrance of Herbert and Gertrude Jekyll long time dwellers in their homes in Munstead who passed to their rest in the Autumn of 1932. / Their joy was in the work of their hands: their memorial is the beauty which lives after them'. This was later updated to include reference to Herbert's widow; 'Also of Agnes Jekyll whose spirit ever dwelt in loving kindness'. The memorial is a Grade II listed structure. [5]
To the right of the Jekyll Memorial stands a carved wooden headboard commemorating Francis McLaren (1886–1917). McLaren had married Barbara Jekyll, daughter of Sir Herbert and Lady Jekyll, and was killed in a flying accident in 1917. [7] The headboard was also designed by Lutyens and consists of five, pegged, panels, showing the arms of the Royal Flying Corps and carrying details of McLaren's career as a member of parliament and as a second lieutenant in the RFC. It has its own Grade II listing. [8]