FOLAR
Friends of the Landscape Archive at Reading

Women In Landscape

20C Women in Landscape Design

Although perhaps uniquely the profession of landscape architecture has enjoyed an equal balance of male and female members, the lives, work and records of women members, however, has been less equally represented. FOLAR's ongoing talk series, some, like this one, with the Gardens Trust, has endeavoured to correct this imbalance. This particular group of six - Susan Jellicoe, Sheila Haywood, Brenda Colvin, Mary Mitchell, Marjory Allen and Marian Thompson - comprise some of the earliest pioneers in the profession who contributed to the expertise, development and awareness of the landscape profession in many different ways. It also includes two women from later generations, invariably inspired by the work of earlier designers, and their contemporaries, and who went on to lay down their own paths. We will never run out of valuable candidates for this ongoing series of talks.

The speakers we invited to share their knowledge about these remarkable women - Sally Ingram, Paula Laycock, Hal Moggridge, Joy Burgess, Wendy Titman and Bruce Thompson - have each known, worked with or researched into one of these six women.

6 Marian Thompson

The work of Marian Thompson (Grierson) 1936-1999, was driven by a love of plants and nature. She is fondly remembered not only for her professional achievements but also for her great sense of humour, infectious smile, enthusiasm, and ability to teach and inspire others. There was never a dull moment in her company.

She was born in Budapest to a Hungarian father and an English mother (both sculptors) who moved to England at the outset of World War II. Gardening was an integral part of her early family life providing food for the table and making beautiful settings for the odd sculpture. With an aptitude for the sciences and interest in plants, she studied Horticulture and later Landscape Architecture - wanting to use her knowledge of plants to create better places.

Marian began her career at Timothy Cochrane Associates before undertaking many commissions ranging from landscape restoration, new gardens, planting for public spaces to habitat creation. Notably, she was commissioned by Stanley Seeger to work on his Sutton Place estate and gardens of The Deanery. For many years she was also a part time lecturer at Thames Polytechnic (now Greenwich University). In retirement, she combined her passion for plants and watercolour painting, joining a plant-hunting group at Jardin Botanica in Brazil, where she explored and painted the coastal rainforest.

BRUCE THOMPSON was exposed to Marian’s interest from an early age, studied Landscape Architecture and worked for Land Use Consultants. With more of an interest creating built places, he spent two years working in California, where he shifted towards property development. He now heads Development and Regeneration at Dorrington PLC. MIKE WESTLEY studied landscape architecture at the University of Greenwich where Marian Thompson taught planting design; he is a chartered landscape architect, designer & senior university academic with 30 years practice experience in the U.K, Europe, U.S.A & Australia.

MORE INFORMATION

Marian Thompson archive at The MERL https://merl.reading.ac.uk/collections/thompson-marian/

The Landscape Institute collection at MERL: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/collections/landscape-institute/

More information about FOLAR and joining: https://www.folar.uk

Speakers Bruce Thompson and Mike Westley

30 April 2025

Annabel DownsComment