On Landscape Leaders: Jane Wood

We asked leading figures of landscape to recall the people who have had a significant influence on their life, work or practice.

Brian Clouston on Jane Wood

I was born in 1935 in South Liverpool. The city fathers invested wisely in magnificent civic buildings, libraries, art galleries, concert halls, museums and public parks. My home was close to two of the finest of these parks, Princes Park designed by Joseph Paxton who also designed Birkenhead Park, the worlds first public park; and Sefton Park which was designed by Edouard Andre of Paris and Lewis Hornblower.

It would be 22 years before I realised there was a landscape profession and that I wanted to be a part of it. On leaving school at fifteen I joined Liverpool’s Parks department as a student gardener. My career plan was to become a parks manager. Early in 1956 I applied to take advanced horticultural training at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.

At the end of my first year Jane Wood, a practicing landscape architect delivered a non curricular lecture. Jane’s presentation was a revelation. I had worked in some of Liverpool’s finest Parks and visited numerous important gardens but had given little thought as to how they were designed and built. By the end of Jane’s lecture I was convinced I wanted to become a landscape designer.

Jane explained that to enter the landscape design profession I would need to train at one of the established post graduate courses, Durham [Kings College Newcastle ] or Edinburgh. I chose Durham. The University informed me I would need a National Diploma in Horticulture and a degree equivalent qualification in addition to my RBG Edinburgh Diploma in order to gain entry.

Jane Wood was enthusiastic and supportive. She introduced me to Edinburgh architect Alan Riach. Alan agreed to allow me to design his garden as a set piece for the ILA Intermediate Examination which they felt I should take as a failsafe in the event of my not gaining a place in Durham University.

Alan was delighted with the design I prepared for his garden and asked me with a crew of RBG students to construct it. News of my planned change in career was leaked. Dr Harold Fletcher then Director of the RBG, was furious. He opposed my decision, threatening to throw me off the RBG course if the pursuit of my career change reduced the level of course work grades. This did not happen. I left RBG with a National Diploma in Horticulture, a Diploma in Parks and recreation Administration and the ILA intermediate examination.

Other members of the RBG staff were remarkably supportive. The curator of RBG, Eddie Kemp, helped me a great deal. He retired from RBG and created a new botanic garden for Dundee University. The garden was hugely innovative. He worked as an independent consultant and later assisted me in writing a feasibility study for the creation of botanic garden in Jeddah. In the early 1980s he worked with my practice in selecting and sourcing plant material for Britain’s first Garden Festival in Liverpool.

Jane Wood continued to advise me. She helped me in my election to the ILA Council and later supported me in my appointment as Honorary Librarian, a post I held for eight years. Her support was invaluable, I remain deeply grateful for her kindness in steering my career through its embryo stage, without her vision I would not have joined the ranks of the ILA in its most formative years.

During these years on Council it was my privilege to work alongside Geoffrey Jellicoe, Sylvia Crowe, Brenda Colvin and Peter Youngman, some pioneer founders of the LI. I have always tried to follow Jane’s example in helping others join the profession.

Brian Clouston OBE is a landscape architect, and founder of Brian Clouston and Partners. Brian is a past President of the Landscape Institute. The practice undertook large scale coal mine pit heap and derelict land reclamation projects in England in the 1960s and 1970s culminating in work on the reclamation of the Liverpool International Garden Festival.