On Richmond Hill
Edmund John Niemann View from Richmond Hill, 1830, courtesy of the Richmond Art Collection, Orleans House
On Richmond Hill
In all my travels I never clapt eyes
on a more beautiful spot than this!
Here would I live and here would I die!
Captain George Vancouver (Buried in Petersham Chuchyard),
The benches facing the most famous view in England were fully occupied. A woman of venerable years sat with her shoulders hunched and with her head on one side, staring up at the sky. On the next bench a couple of youths crouched over their phones, elbows on their knees whilst ignoring each other as well as the view. The third seat in the arc, was occupied by a Deliveroo delivery man who was sprawled over his bench, feet up and eyes shut. Beyond him, two mothers discussed their daughters, looking earnestly into each other’s eyes.
The vista from Richmond Hill on the outskirts of West London is the only view in the whole of England protected by an Act of Parliament. Below is the meandering Thames, a carpet stretching as far as the eye can see of verdant woods. Rounded hills, meadows grazed by cattle and homes so stately that they give new definitions to beauty, are seen through trees. In the distant grey-purple haze, the North Downs mound.
The view from Richmond Hill
You’ll be familiar with the Arcadian view even if you’ve never seen it from Richmond. It has been widely reimagined in some of the great parks and estates of England. Think Hyde Park in Central London with its sinuous body of water and classical structure on its banks, a bridge, extensive grassland and trees. Think St. James’s Park, Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth, or Stowe. They all bear the hallmarks of the view - water, woods, structures in the Ancient Greek style and grasslands.
To photograph the scene I have placed my bicycle with the ‘matchless vale of Thames; Far-winding up to where the muses haunt’ as backdrop, exactly as JMW Turner did in 1809 for his painting ‘Thompson’s Aeolian Harp’. However, there the comparison ends as Turner had eight dancing women gyrating around the harp.
Pashley Guv'nor and the view
In the river, a ferry boat chugs across the current. People are swimming near to the bank beside Ham House and two pleasure boats are gradually moving upstream. Swans glide, and beside the river, belted Galloway cattle complete the Arcadian scene as they graze in the water meadows.
Mid-stream is Glover’s island, an integral part of the view and privately owned. At the turn of the twentieth century, the landowners sought to capitalise on its position by erecting advertising boards along its length. So successful was the opposition against the proposal, that the Richmond, Ham and Petersham Open Spaces Act of 1902 was passed protecting the view in perpetuity. More importantly, it was not just the view itself which was protected, but also ‘the principle that the public has a legitimate right to challenge the development of private land’. *
It’s time for me to leave. The bike has been photographed without any Arcadian girls around it and no eyes have been cast from those on the benches upon the capital’s largest open space below them. I want to nudge everyone on those benches and implore them to look up at ‘England’s green and pleasant land’, but restraint prevails. Instead, I jump on the bike and freewheel back down the hill, grinning at the joy of it all.
From Richmond Hill, with Glover Island in mid-stream
*https://thames-landscape-strategy.org.uk/visitor-guide/newbox-three