Front Gardens

This section discusses the materials and techniques used for front garden walls and paths in Victorian and Edwardian houses from 1830 to 1914.

The front garden of most Victorian and Edwardian was usually laid out in a formal, geometric and symmetrical pattern, influenced by the writings of John Loudon. There was a rectangle of lawn, perhaps with a small bed in the middle which was planted with flowers such as asters, marigolds and peonies. The 'bedding out' of annuals was used to achieve massed areas of single colours.

Beyond the front boundary, in urban areas there was generally a path before the roadway. This may have been bare earth but by the late Victorian period was generally shale or tarmac, with a stone kerb. Slabbed paving appeared later, after the 1920s. The roadway may have been simply compacted earth, or else cobbles or tarmac.