De Jonge Entery in Beverwijk

A very local (Dutch) item: the identification of a nursery in Beverwijk. Plus: whether there is a relationship between this ‘young nursery’ and the so called ‘old nursery’ in the same city (but with different owners).

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Summary

A very local (Dutch) item: the identification of a nursery in Beverwijk. Plus: whether there is a relationship between this ‘young nursery’ and the so called ‘old nursery’ in the same city (but with different owners).

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De Kleefse reis van Jan Jacob Brants

John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen was stadtholder of the German city of Kleve from 1647 onwards. He created his own paradise there and during the following centuries many Dutch travellers found their way to this city just across the border. Kleve (Kleef in Dutch) was also the destination for Jan Jacob Brants and his fellow travellers in or around 1790. The record of their trip (and the route taken) comes in the form of an overview of costs incurred. It raises the question whether Brants deliberately visited some gardens created by the architect he himself had employed just before he went on this trip. Johan Georg Michael had created gardens and parks closer to home, but Brants possibly wanted to see the ones further afield?

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Summary

John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen was stadtholder of the German city of Kleve from 1647 onwards. He created his own paradise there and during the following centuries many Dutch travellers found their way to this city just across the border. Kleve (Kleef in Dutch) was also the destination for Jan Jacob Brants and his fellow travellers in or around 1790. The record of their trip (and the route taken) comes in the form of an overview of costs incurred. It raises the question whether Brants deliberately visited some gardens created by the architect he himself had employed just before he went on this trip. Johan Georg Michael had created gardens and parks closer to home, but Brants possibly wanted to see the ones further afield?

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Dutch alders from Rotterdam for Audley End – part 3

Het derde en laatste deel van mijn serie over een levering van 3000 elzen vanuit Rotterdam naar Audley End in Essex in 1775. Op basis van rekeningen gevonden in het archief van Huys ten Donck probeer ik te bepalen of deze specifieke levering economisch zinvol was.

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Summary

Het derde en laatste deel van mijn serie over een levering van 3000 elzen vanuit Rotterdam naar Audley End in Essex in 1775. Op basis van rekeningen gevonden in het archief van Huys ten Donck probeer ik te bepalen of deze specifieke levering economisch zinvol was.

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Dutch alders from Rotterdam for Audley End – part 2

In 1775 kocht men ten behoeve van Audley End in Essex, 3000 elzen in Rotterdam. In deel twee van deze serie kijken we naar Britse douaneregisters, en naar het belang van ‘Britse’ handel voor Rotterdam.

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Summary

In 1775 kocht men ten behoeve van Audley End in Essex, 3000 elzen in Rotterdam. In deel twee van deze serie kijken we naar Britse douaneregisters, en naar het belang van ‘Britse’ handel voor Rotterdam.

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Dutch alders from Rotterdam for Audley End – part 1

Een bijzin in een publicatie over Lancelot Brown, met betrekking tot zijn werk op Audley End, leidde tot een speurtocht in Rotterdamse en Britse archieven. Dit is deel één van het resultaat.

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Summary

Een bijzin in een publicatie over Lancelot Brown, met betrekking tot zijn werk op Audley End, leidde tot een speurtocht in Rotterdamse en Britse archieven. Dit is deel één van het resultaat.

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De tuinen van Bierens aan de Amstel

Filling in some blanks: the couple owning a garden I wrote about, was looking for a new gardener in 1788. For Willem Roeters, one of the candidates, information about his previous experience pointed towards two now virtually unknown gardens. The ever increasing indexes of the Amsterdam Municipal Archives helped identify one of these gardens (or rather: two adjacent ones from one owner), a garden poem and even its head gardener. But it doesn’t seem to have been a garden where Roeters could have learned the craft of modern gardening. There still is one garden left to identify, though.

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Summary

Filling in some blanks: the couple owning a garden I wrote about, was looking for a new gardener in 1788. For Willem Roeters, one of the candidates, information about his previous experience pointed towards two now virtually unknown gardens. The ever increasing indexes of the Amsterdam Municipal Archives helped identify one of these gardens (or rather: two adjacent ones from one owner), a garden poem and even its head gardener. But it doesn’t seem to have been a garden where Roeters could have learned the craft of modern gardening. There still is one garden left to identify, though.

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Het temmen van Woestduin

Consensus has always been that a 1766 design for Woestduin by Adriaan Snoek was never realised. While that is probably true, new research into the owner’s financial records shows considerable involvement of Snoek in the layout of this park. As a surveyor, Snoek played an important role for two consecutive owners when they expanded the park to its current size. His name can also be attached to specific parts of the layout. Some of his work is still visible today, even after the creation of a racecourse (for horses) on this site in the early twentieth century.

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Summary

Consensus has always been that a 1766 design for Woestduin by Adriaan Snoek was never realised. While that is probably true, new research into the owner’s financial records shows considerable involvement of Snoek in the layout of this park. As a surveyor, Snoek played an important role for two consecutive owners when they expanded the park to its current size. His name can also be attached to specific parts of the layout. Some of his work is still visible today, even after the creation of a racecourse (for horses) on this site in the early twentieth century.

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Een buurman als influencer?

The publication of a richly illustrated travel journal, a trip through Southern England and to London undertaken by four Dutchmen in 1769, leads to new ideas about a garden in the Netherlands. Paul Hurgronje, one of the 1769 travellers, went on to buy an estate in Heemstede in 1775 (Spruytenbosch). I have written extensively about the garden layout of Westerhout, bordering to the north of Spruytenbosch, in these years. And I am now left wondering whether Hurgronje’s direct knowledge of English gardens and parks may have influenced the landscape style layout of Westerhout, his direct neighbours?

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Summary

The publication of a richly illustrated travel journal, a trip through Southern England and to London undertaken by four Dutchmen in 1769, leads to new ideas about a garden in the Netherlands. Paul Hurgronje, one of the 1769 travellers, went on to buy an estate in Heemstede in 1775 (Spruytenbosch). I have written extensively about the garden layout of Westerhout, bordering to the north of Spruytenbosch, in these years. And I am now left wondering whether Hurgronje’s direct knowledge of English gardens and parks may have influenced the landscape style layout of Westerhout, his direct neighbours?

Continue reading