William Andrews Nesfield

[1] After a career in the military which saw him serve under the Duke of Wellington, he developed a second profession as a landscape architect, designing some of the foremost gardens of the mid-Victorian era.

He also established a professional dynasty; with his sons Arthur Markham and William Eden Nesfield, he developed over 250 landscapes across the United Kingdom.

[2] The Witley Court fountain in Worcestershire, which cost the equivalent of more than £1 million in 1853, is the triumphant centrepiece of elegant gardens designed by Nesfield, who described them as his “monster work”.

The gardens and fountain were designed to reflect the wealth of the 1st Earl of Dudley and the grandeur of his Italianate mansion, which was often visited by royalty and other rich landowners.

Ten years later between the South Lake and New River Bridge, the area was formalised with the construction of the Cascade, Temple Hole Basin and the Waterfall.

Oxon Hoath in Kent was built more than 600 years ago by Sir John Culpeper, a knight of King Henry V, as a royal park for oxen and deer.

In 1846 Sir William Geary commissioned the renowned French gothic revivalist architect Anthony Salvin to build the mansard dome, and the chateau tower.

This was a modest work but typical of his style with a semi circular lawn, borders and neatly trimmed yew hedges including a tazza, identical to that he installed at his Regents Park project.