Dunorlan Park
Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells
Landscape Design
Type:
Urban Park Landscape Restoration
Client:
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
A Stage 2 Heritage Lottery Fund restoration of a Registered Historic Park, delivered in collaboration with ACTA landscape historians.
Originally laid out in the 1850s by the Victorian landscape designer Robert Marnock as the pleasure grounds to a private villa, the site was opened as a public park in 1945. Decades of limited capital investment and constrained maintenance resulted in a marked deterioration of both its condition and its public appeal.
The brief called for the restoration of the key historic features alongside the sensitive reconfiguration of the Victorian landscape for contemporary public use. Works included the design and supervision of lake improvements; new sitting and viewing terraces; the restoration and partial realignment of the path network; extensive vegetation clearance and the reinstatement of the original planning structure — including the cedar avenue; plus two new car parks, new entrances, and re-defined park boundaries.
The project received both BALI and Civic Trust awards.
