Local distinctiveness and thevernacular garden Samantha Gibson explains why and how your garden should be different from mine. "Local distinctiveness is about what makes your locality different from those around it, and what makes it special to you." 1 "Local distinctiveness is about anywhere, not just beautiful places, it is about detail, patina, and meaning, the things which create identity." 2 It would appear that 'local distinctiveness' is the latest buzz phrase to hit conservation. The quotations above come from a leaflet by Common Ground extolling the virtues of local distinctiveness. Nor is Common Ground alone in its fnterest. The Countryside Commission has embarked on the pilot stage of a Local Heritage Initiative. Supported by the HLF, the scheme, it is hoped, will help communities to record and care for their local heritage. Gazebo Entwined among the tendrils of local distinctiveness, is the concept of the 'vernacular'. A locality may contain a specific stone and this stone may be used in n1any 'vernacular' structures thereabouts, although that does not mean that the same stone may not also be found in 'polite' local architecture. 'Vernacular garden space' wuth fruit trees and chicken coops surviving in Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire. If considering a definition of a 'vernacular' garden from a purist point of view, I would suggest that 'vernacular' ceases where a rising middle-class and cheap garden publications begin. This latter phase would represent a popular culture rather than a vernacular. However, if I take the delightfully straightforward approach of my concise dictionary, then vernacular architecture is "concerned with ordinary buildings, not cathedrals"; and, presumably, vernacular gardens include ordinary gardens, not those at Hampton Court, Stowe or Stourhead etc. For the purposes of this article 'vernacular gardens' include not only the older rural gardens, but also the suburban gardens of the middle classes. For a welcome change, the large and grandiose designed landscapes, shaped by Context59 September1998 national and international influences, will take a back seat. It is the turn of the more prosaic garden to come under the spotlight. Historical research always begins with the wealthiest, and most powerful men and women. Increasingly, during this century, historians have turned more to social and economic studies of the 'lesser' mass of people. Similarly, architectural history has moved from works on the grandest, cathedrals and palaces to more humble structures. The Vernacular Architecture Group was formed as recently as 1952 "to further the study of lesser traditional buildings". Designed landscape and garden history have followed in the wake of architectural studies. The vernacular garden, therefore, is at the bottom of this hierarchy, but serious research into this area has begun, and there is plenty of scope left for anyone who is interested. 3 By their very nature vernacular gardens are open to great, and sometimes rapid, changes. Designed landscapes often have elements from different historical periods, but the function of 'aesthetic statement' remains through alterations. The function of a vernacular garden may change greatly under a new owner. l\l'.lrJones may use his garden to grow fruit and vegetables, but Mr Smith may decide to create an ornamental garden in the same space. Within a few years the garden function may move from economic and practical to purely decorative. The speed with which these vernacular gardens can change underlines the usefulness and importance of recording examples of older survivals as, and when, we find them. While statutory protection, in most cases, is impractical, if not misguided, the creation of basic records, with photographs and/ or plans will benefit future garden historians. Such records, made now, may prove highly illuminating social and economic 'documents' in the next century and beyond. Of course, even survivals of older vernacular gardens probably contain 31
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