Online Spring Lecture Series 2026
Heroines and Heroes of the Arts and Crafts Movement
THESE TICKETS ARE FOR ONLINE ONLY. FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO ATTEND IN PERSON, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK.
As a result of the pandemic, the Victorian Society’s two annual lecture series have since autumn 2020 taken place online, where they have drawn very large audiences. With the spring 2026 series, organised by Steven Brindle, Maya Donelan and Michael Hall, we are moving to a hybrid arrangement of in-person lectures that will be live-streamed as well as being available as recordings. The subject is one of perennial interest, the Arts and Crafts movement. Although it might be thought that there is little more to be learned about its leading practitioners, our speakers will be drawing on a large amount of new research, much of which is highlighting the often-neglected role played by women in a movement that remains of direct relevance to architects, artists and designers today.
TO BOOK THE COMPLETE SERIES, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK.
NEW STARTING TIME: 6:30pm
Each lecture is recorded and sent out within a week after the talk. This recording can be accessed at any time.
There is new pricing in place. Each lecture costs:
£6 for members/ £8 for non-members / £3 for Young Victorians
Online Spring Lecture 2:
Gertrude Jekyll: ‘Artist Gardener Craftswoman’
Wednesday 4 February, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
As the home of celebrated gardener Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), Munstead Wood holds deep significance as the place where her ideal of the ‘artist-gardener’ achieved complete expression. A trained artist, Jekyll also applied her creativity to the decorative arts, design and collecting, and was a skilled craftswoman. Recent research on the interiors and furnishing of Munstead Wood, now in the care of the National Trust, offers insight into the collaboration between Jekyll and her architect Edwin Lutyens to create a domestic space shaped around arts and crafts ideals.
Dr Caroline Ikin is National Trust Curator at Munstead Wood. She has previously worked in museums and for the Gardens Trust and her research interest lies broadly in nineteenth century art, architecture and gardens. She is author of The Victorian Garden (2012), The Victorian Gardener (2014), The Kitchen Garden (2017) and is currently working on a new book on Victorian Gardens to be published by Bloomsbury. Caroline has written for publications including Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Garden History, Furniture History, Decorative Arts Society Journal and Museums Journal, and was awarded the Mavis Batey Essay Prize in 2022.
The Victorian Society is an IHBC recognised CPD provider.
Image: Frontispiece from the 1914 edition of the book “Gardens for small country houses” By Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), Sir Lawrence Weaver (1876–1930) – https://archive.org/stream/gardensforsmallc00jekyrich#page/n9/mode/1up, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46580563