Alternative Names: Headhouse Burn, Quarry Park
Location: The Murray, East Kilbride
NGR: NS 63061 53717
Classification: Park
Date: 1951
Landscape Architect: Brenda Colvin
Status: Not listed
Canmore ID: none
Recent research by academics at Manchester Metropolitan University on pioneering female landscape architects titled ‘Women of the Welfare Landscape’ serves to highlight the achievements of female landscape architects in the immediate years after the Second World War. From 1949 Brenda Colvin (1897-1981) delivered a number of schemes for gardens and greenways within the East Kilbride conurbation whilst also contributing to the overall planning and execution of the landscape plan.
Brenda Colvin (1897-1981) was born in India and, after being educated in Swanley Horticultural College, started her independent practice in 1922. She was the first woman to be elected president of any leading built environment institute, when she took on the role of President of the Institute of Landscape Architects in 1951. Her work not only defined the future of the Institute – and the profession – but also had lasting impact on the education of landscape architects. Her collaboration with Hal Moggridge through their practice Colvin & Moggridge ensured the lasting legacy of her work: the practice is now the longest running in the country, and it celebrates its centenary in 2022.
Women of the Welfare Landscape is an Arts and Humanities Research Council supported research project that commemorates the network of women and their collaborators who have had a major impact on shaping the post-war designed landscapes of the British Welfare State. The research shifts attention to their work as educators, campaigners or advocates; and projects of the everyday: landscapes in service of communities. It will analyse landscapes of public housing, public and country parks funded by municipalities and landscapes of infrastructure commissioned by publicly owned, nationalised industries, as material examples of landscapes for social benefits and ‘fair share for all’: a key objective of Welfare Planning.
Sco.Mo Landscape 