| dc.description.abstract | Trelissick walled kitchen garden currently lies dormant at the heart of a thriving National Trust property on the outskirts of Truro in Cornwall. Created in the 18th century, this highly productive space fed and adorned the estate throughout its ever-evolving lifespan and numerous proprietors. The mid-20th century saw its decline and enforced state of redundancy, mirroring the fate met by many similar sites across the nation. The site now stands on the brink of regeneration. This thesis locates the public historic walled garden within the wider historiography and seeks to present a framework in which the National Trust can present the walled kitchen garden to a 21st century audience, one that respects its historic origins yet responds to the needs and wants of its visitors, all the while retaining relevance. Despite the development of wider historical discourse surrounding concepts of public history, history from below and new museology, the discipline of garden history has mostly fixated its gaze upon conventional elitist narratives which gravitate towards the 18th century British landscape movement. This thesis explores the limitations of such an approach, as well as the means by which garden history can reassess its dependence upon hegemonic discourse, thereby becoming more responsive and future oriented, embracing notions of co-curatorship and dialogue that are at the heart of alternative methodological perspectives such as new museology, public history and history from below. Thus, Trelissick’s walled garden has the potential to embody the manifestation of garden history – often regarded as a purely scholarly discipline – in historic gardens themselves. | en_GB |
