Many aspects of garden design were informed by experiments conducted in the 18th century. Mausolea and spaces of remembrance were toyed with by John Soane and his students to push their architectural potential. Images of these designs echo the grandeur of earlier times and sites be it monuments along the Via Delle Tombe in Pompeii or monuments of Palmyra in Syria.

Most of these designs were never built, yet their imprint on successive buildings and sites looms large in the architectural record, particularly in the 19th century cemeteries. Emulating the discovery many contemporary architects experienced as they journeyed on the Continent and further afield, Sheldon will assess some of these architectural sketches and how they would develop as the 18th century progressed.

£5 Register through the Gardens Trust and Eventbrite HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

Sheldon K Goodman is a public historian, tour guide, heritage professional and founder of Cemetery Club, which seeks to show cemeteries as ‘Museums of People’ that are full of social history rather than as morbid, mournful spaces to be avoided. As a heritage communicator, he has worked with museums and other heritage spaces, including co-developing the first event to celebrate queer history in a historic cemetery (the first in the U.K) entitled ‘Queerly Departed’ for the Royal Parks, with successful sequels for Arnos Vale and Birmingham Jewellery Quarters Cemeteries Trust. He has also worked with the Brunel Museum, created visual content for Schools Out UK and has given talks at the National Archives and at the BBC. Sheldon is also a qualified City of Westminster guide and regularly leads walks around the British Museum and London’s pubs.