Abstract
THE area occupied by the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, as we know them to-day, is mainly the result of the union of two demesnes, both of them famous in a horticultural sense long before they came to be associated in particular with the science of botany. These two demesnes were, first, the grounds originally attached to a house in the Old Deer Park of Richmond known as Ormonde Lodge, Richmond Lodge, and finally, when it came to be occupied by George II. (then Prince of Wales) about 1721, as Richmond Palace; secondly, the grounds belonging to Kew House or White House, a dwelling that stood near the present Kew Palace, and which, after being occupied by the families of Bennett, Capel, and Moly-rieux, came into the possession of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1730. On the death of George II. in 1760, both properties came under the ownership of his grandson, George III. At that time they were divided by an ancient bridle-path known as “Love Lane,” which ran from Richmond Green to a horse-ferry over the Thames at Brentford. George III. obtained Parliamentary sanction to close Love Lane, with the obliteration of which, in 1802, Richmond Gardens and Kew Gardens became the larger Kew Gardens we know at the present time.
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The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Nature 110, 423–425 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/110423a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/110423a0