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Bath Spa University celebrates Capability Brown with Bath Preservation Trust

Friday, 10 June, 2016

On Saturday 4 June, third year Heritage students from Bath Spa University hosted an afternoon of activities at No.1 Royal Crescent, celebrating the work of landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, a renowned eighteenth-century landscape architect who designed Newton Park, now home to the University.

In association with the Capability Brown Festival the students devised Capable Creations: Noticing Newton Park as part of their final degree project. They developed an interactive web-based map and printed leaflet which help connect students, staff, visitors and the local community with the origins and history of Newton Park, as landscaped by Brown.

A family event was organised on Saturday 4 June in partnership with Bath Preservation Trust and No.1 Royal Crescent. The Trust has provided valuable support to the University for many years and their hosting of this event allowed Newton Park to be connected to the rest of Bath. Children followed a trail looking for hidden clues whilst learning about Capability Brown.

Dr Amy Frost, architectural curator for the Bath Preservation Trust, said: “The students were very enthusiastic about the project and the landscape of Newton Park.”

Dr. Kristin Doern, Heritage course leader, said: “I am so impressed with the hard work our Heritage students have put into their engagement with our local heritage partners, and their efforts and commitment to this project. Creating both a print and web-based interactive map, has been a huge task that required terrific teamwork and research skills, and all successfully achieved within a very tight timeframe while they were doing the rest of the final year degree work.”

Student project manager Lauren Carey said: “The group have worked incredibly hard over the last few months and the fantastic outcome exemplifies this. This project has shown the quality and skill of the team and it has been a pleasure to be a project manager for this group.”