Forestry England Bedgebury National Pinetum
Bedgebury Pinetum is the largest and most complete pinetum of its kind in the world and one of only a handful of international botanic gardens which focuses specifically on this group of ancient plants. It is unique in the UK and incredibly important on a global scale for species conservation, scientific advancement and for the understanding of conifers. It was created as a partnership between the Forestry Commission and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1925 and is now owned and managed by Forestry England.
Our first curator, William Dallimore, kept copious and detailed ledgers, diaries and maps which are held at Bedgebury and at Kew Gardens archive. However, much of our archive lives within the trees themselves, such as a magnificent avenue of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Lawson’s Cypress which were planted by the Beresford family (the last owners prior to the Forestry Commission purchasing the forest) in the late 1800’s.
This living landscape, with over 11000 specimen trees, is documented in an online database designed specifically for Botanic Gardens, called IrisBG. Although primarily used as a management tool for the pinetum, IrisBG holds archival records on all trees planted in the pinetum since its creation in 1925 and before. This archival information includes details of where a plant (or seed) was sourced and by whom, including some with connections to the great plant hunters of the era, including Ernest Wilson and George Forrest. An online version of this database is available for the public to view at home and on site.
We have made a small start on collating and digitising the rest of our archival material, such as William Dallimore’s diaries. It is our desire for our centenary, in 2025, and going forward, to continue with this archiving.
With visitors at first “not encouraged” to the pinetum (as per William Dallimore’s diaries) we now welcome around 600,00 visitors every year, who visit to not only enjoy the conifer collection but for cycling in the forest, children’s trails, a very successful Christmas event and a beautiful place to just immerse themselves in.
