George Dillistone and the ‘other’ Goddards, York

George Dillistone and the ‘other’ Goddards, York

For most garden history enthusiasts, the name ‘Goddards’ probably suggests the Luytens and Jekyll collaboration in Surrey, created 1898-1900 for Frederick Mirrielees. There is another Goddards, however, in York - designed by Walter Brierley, built 1926-7 for Noel and Kathleen Terry, and now in the care of the National Trust. George Dillistone (1877-1957) who designed the garden is a neglected figure, despite the other gardens he planned, his contemporaries’ approval, his writing on garden design and planting, his support for the development of the British Iris Society, and his founding role in the Institute of Landscape Architects. This ‘other’ Goddards may be the only remaining Dillistone garden where he designed both hard landscaping and planting and that still exists in its entirety, attached to the house for which it was planned. The talk used this late Arts and Crafts garden as a framework for exploring Dillistone’s life and work.

Speaker biography:

Since retiring from a long career as a researcher in health and social care policy, Gillian Parker has been trying to turn herself into a garden historian. Gillian completed a Post-graduate Diploma in Garden and Landscape History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London in 2020 and, since 2021, has been a post-graduate research student in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield. Gillian’s research topic is the Backhouse nursery of York, supervised by Dr Jan Woudstra. 

Gillian’s interest in George Dillistone started with her role as a volunteer in his garden at Goddards in York and has become something of an obsession since, as Gillian’s fellow students in London and fellow volunteers in York would no doubt confirm.

Website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/landscape/people/research/gillian-parker

Image: ©National Trust

This talk was the fifth in our series of five online talks on Unforgettable Gardens on Weds @ 6pm presented in association with The Gardens Trust