How does our garden grow? a community science art project in the Friern Manor Farm Estate catchment area

[Langdale]

Hi all,

I’m working on a project for my Fine Art MA which looks at whether the wild plants, flowers and weeds now growing in the streets and gardens of the old Friern Manor Farm Estate originated from when this area was a dairy farm in the mid-19th century - filled with meadows, pastures, fields and hedgerows.

If you live, work or visit within the catchment area (see website link below for the area once occupied by the farm`), it would be amazing if you could take part in the 'citizen science' element of my project - which involves photographing and documenting the flora in this area.

During this project, I’ve been discovering a lot of history of the area and I am developing a live digital archive to connect all this local information. If you have any local historical information that you think would be of interest, please message me. At a later stage in the project I would like to interview local residents so their stories can be preserved for future generations.

I am also holding an exhibition on Sunday 14 July in the church hall of St Clement with St Peter in Friern Road (which is on the site of the old Friern Manor Farm) to document the results of the project and provide an insight into our local history. To find out more, please see my website (link below) or DM me.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Best wishes 
Sharon Neish

https://www.howdoesourgardengrow.com/

 

[Langdale]

Wood Vale SE23 boundary oak trees

I've just come back from a lovely walk with my neighbour who told me about the boundary oak trees on Wood Vale which he'd discovered during lockdown. We went on a mission to try to identify their age. We measured one outside Woodlands Court which we measured as 158 years old and another outside 83 Wood Vale as 173 years old, although it is likely that they are in fact much older than this. What we  do know is that they are the survivors from the Friern Manor Farm Estate sell off. This information will soon be documented on the live digital archive site for the project https://www.howdoesourgardengrow.com/

If you live on the Southwark side of Wood Vale and have what you think is a boundary oak in your back garden – please do get in touch. I would love to measure its age and add to the archive. We believe that they are located in the gardens of residents on the road towards Lordship Lane and it would be wonderful to record them in this project.

With best wishes

Sharon Neish